Not even close; it's going to take another 1st or very high end prospect to get a conversation going

That doesn't even sniff DeBrincat. NJ will have to include Holtz in that package.

For a year of DeBrincat, that’s not worth it. Take the pick, and the money saved, and spend it somewhere else

If NJ includes Holtz on top of 2OA the hawks would have to add more value as I think Holtz currently projects as a long term 30 goal scorer, I think 2OA and basically two B tier prospects straight up for Cat is fairly even if DeBrincat is being shopped. If he’s not being shopped I would be good with replacing the second rounder with next years first but that’s stretching the value a bit.

For a 40 goal scorer that can be thrown on Jacks wing right away I think it’s worth it assuming we lock him down.

he’s an RFA, it wouldn’t be a pure rental

I don't think Debrincat is what Fitzgerald is looking for. His goal is to add "heavier skill" on wing. Although we have few who could shoot the puck like Debrincat, we have a lot of forwards that are good on the perimeter and in transition. We need an interior big-body-soft-hands type to work in front of the net (tips, screening, cleaning up rebounds) and win puck battles in corner to retrieve puck. Could also use another defensive wing who can block shots from point and play PK.

I do not think Fitzy will trade 2oa for any top winger just to have "a guy to play with Hughes/Hischier".

An RFA doesn’t mean long term though. His (well deserved) future raise is what turns me off though.

Locking him down would make it a lot nicer of a piece, but my issue is the cost. ELCs are incredibly valuable when it’s a top prospect playing well in the NHL, and it frees up dollars to find those goals elsewhere

Totally agree, I personally think we should be targeting Timo as the main piece of a trade for 2OA if we choose to trade the pick or keep the pick and target Nichushkin in FA. With the DeBrincat trade talk heating up I thought it would be worth throwing up a realistic trade for him.

Maybe Strone or Kubilik depending on what other moves we make.

Islanders would be my best guess for Debrincat.

That's simply a bad take, never going to happen.

Cat is a proven 24 year old elite player in the league and specifically a elite goal scorer. A "potential" elite goal scorer (holtz) doesn't equate to one that already is obviously, and the risk for taking on "the potential" for a player to be close to or as good as Cat is significant. It's the bird in hand argument. Chicago would have to get at least (3) top prospects or mid to early first round draft picks or the equivalent.

Put this into perspective; Cat is worth more then Eichel was when he was traded....Why? Because Cat would be traded in the offseason when teams have more cap flexibility. He's not a UFA in 4 years. He doesn't carry a $10m cap hit that very few teams can afford to add mid season only to be gone in 4 years thus significantly limiting the market of teams interested. He's a year younger. He's not injured and headed for an unknown surgery and unknown long term future because of a major surgery, and maybe most importantly, he's not in dispute with his current team and no need for either the Hawks or Cat to move on. Had all these things been equal between Cat and Eichel then no question Eichel is more valuable but these attributes significantly hurt Eichel's value thus making Cat more valuable. So a good starting place is understanding the Eichel value he was moved for won't convince Chicago to let go of Cat; they will need a little more then that.

Therefore, you can easily understand why the 1st and (2) B prospects isn't remotely close...not a chance in a million years half the teams in the league don't offer a better a package for Cat let alone Chicago accepting that kind of offer. If Chicago shops Cat, he easily becomes the top target of pretty much every team in the league. They will get a king's ransom for him and is completely irrelevant what the fans of a particular team feel they would give up, but what is relevant is realizing there will likely be plenty of other teams giving up more then the fans of a particular team want to. Any trade that happens for Cat will be painful for the fans of that team to accept; it's that simple. I'm willing to bet Chicago would get a top 1st round pick (top 10), top A prospect (such as Holtz) possibly a role player as well, or (2) mid to late 1sts, and a top prospect all day long. Throw in the fact that Chicago can take on cap dumps as well since they have plenty of cap space and the price will go up further.

With the one problem that your proposal is completely unrealistic; see my comments above as to why.

Understand where you are coming from but I think you are undervaluing the trade proposal, the 2OA pick its self is worth at least 2 mid to early first rounders and the second rounder + Nolan Foote equates to a late first rounder IMO. Which is in the same ballpark of the value you proposed of three mid to early first round picks or equivalent, and if you read my response to your post I said I’d replace the Second rounder with next years first if he’s not being shopped(he isn’t rn) which is definitely meeting the value you are placing on Cat.

For your bird in hand argument, obviously a trade only works in the real world if the Hawks choose to trade cat which most likely means they would rather go the high risk high reward route and receive picks and prospects. Since the POTENTIAL value going to the hawks outweighs Cats current value.

Not true in this 2022 draft. There is not elite franchise level player based on all analysts review of this draft class. It's a bunch of players in the top 10 that would typically go #5 (Shane Wright) to mid 1sts in a normal draft year; so no, the #2OA does not even come close to equating to (2) early first round picks in a normal year and in fact is nothing more then (1) early first round pick.

The potential value would have to equate to multiple chances becoming a Cat like player and a high probability one of them eventually develops. Bottom line, it would have to be a minimum of the 2OA, 2023 1st, plus Foote but the Hawks better be pretty high on Cooley or Nemec for this to work, but more likely it would be Holtz and this years #2OA or next year's 1st round rounder. Too many teams will offer a their top prospect plus and Hawks will look for exactly that is my guess.