Nah if this trade was available before bjorkstrand, I wouldn’t have minded this. However with bjork already gone. We are solid and done moving cap.

I don't think they'd be willing to give up Ceulemans to save Bjorkstrand. Bjorkstrand was great, but he's not worth giving up a top 4 RD prospect and Voracek considering he may have been a cap casualty in a couple years anyway. The harsh truth is that Bjorkstrand was only going to be useful for the next 2 or 3 years and after that he would be pushed out of the top 6 by better, younger players.

With jiricek in the system and having 2 young guys like boqvist and peeke I would’ve been fine using cuelemans to save bjorky. Now I don’t disagree with you that bjorky could get pushed out but that’s a different problem. That’s a too many solid top 6 guys scenario. And bjorky as a 3rd liner would be a killer. But this isn’t that. This is our 2nd (now third) best forward moving out for peanuts.

Prospects are great. But how many actually hit their potential.

I keep forgetting about Pilut, he'll be a nice 7th D, but I think Bryson beats him out for 3P LHD.

That's why they need to keep Ceulemans and Jiricek though. Nothing says that Jiricek or even both can't still bust. Keeping both at least helps to hedge their bets a bit at getting another top 4 RD. Even Peeke and Boqvist haven't really earned the designation of top 4 RD yet. I wouldn't be very comfortable taking a much higher upside guy like Ceulemans out of the system to save Bjorkstrand who, like I said, is probably an overpaid 3rd liner for the Blue Jackets in 2 or 3 years that they may have to pay to dump.

It sucks because we've really grown attached to some of the guys on the team now, but a lot of the veterans were a part of a team that finished 27th OA in the league just two years ago. The majority of the guys from that team are already gone and when the Blue Jackets are a contender again the remaining few may be gone too. I'm preparing myself for the day Boone and Elvis are gone with that in mind because there's just so much young competition coming for their spots in the lineup. It could be very possible that they're both cap victims in the last years of their current contracts.

But use that point in reverse. Bjorkstrand is a proven commodity. What if china and march both bust out. That leaves us with a completely depleted forward group. Nyquist and voracek are solid middle 6 pieces but bjorky could put up 30 and 30 while being impactful on both sides of the puck. I love cool’s. I go watch him live at the kohl center here in Madison. But a prime player like that locked up to be a secondary threat. That is value.

There's more depth at the wings beyond just Marchenko and Chinakhov though. They still have Texier and possibly Johnson too to fill in the top 6 wing roles. Three of those players are also older and more known quantities than Ceulemans and Jiricek so I think it's much less of a gamble that one of them will be able to handle a top 6 role than laying the future of the defense on just Jiricek. Bjorkstrand also just wasn't going to be around as long as any of those other guys are. It's the same concept Jarmo has been preaching all year that he isn't going to trade young promising futures for older players. Bjorkstrand helps now, but 2 or 3 years down the road there's no guarantee that he'll be capable of the same level of play.

I don’t disagree but we are handing the keys to the candy store with reguards to the offense. Tex is great in stretches but hasn’t put his full game together. KJ falls into the same spot as china and march. I single out those 2 as they are locks at wing, unlike KJ who could be a center. Nyquist and voracek are fine but are older and aren’t apart of the near future after the next year. I could see both moved out by free agency.
As for the regression in bjorkstrand, it is a possibility, however I just don’t see him as the guy to move in a dump situation. Keep the known proven top 6 goal scorer and move on from magic beans in dump.
Obviously I was partial to bjorky. But I do wonder if we are giving too much (in terms of role on a line/ on the team) to the younger players too quickly.

I don't think it's too young. If you look around the league there are plenty of guys that currently are or started in their teams top 6 at 23 or younger. Tex will be 23 to start the year and Marchenko is 22. A 2nd line wing role also isn't the most high pressure responsibility to get one of these guys going with and Nyquist is there still as an option for this year if neither can quite handle it yet.

I guess. Nyquist is a nice stop gap but we shall see how they look, then make a trade to facilitate the youth if needed.