Why on earth is TO adding a first lol

Kaprisov, Boldy, Eriksson EK. Minnesota easily declines that trade. That's 3 top 6 players, one who is a gamechanger like Matthews, and they all have the better contract situation. Toronto can add another 2 1sts and Knies, and Minnesota still declines.

I don't know.

Why is Minnesota giving up a Franchise level winger whose value isn't that much far off from Matthews. That they're also adding arguably the best young shutdown centerman in the league, and best young players/power forwards in the league on top of said franchise winger?

Matthews isn't just a game changer, he's a generational talent. Kaprisov is not. You just don't ever trade Matthews

It absolutely is far off from Matthews. Kaprisov is closer to Marner than Matthews much much closer. Both are franchise wingers and they are not remotely close in value to a generational centre.

Kaprisov is closer to Matthews than Marner, the thing about Marner is that he has his two way game sure, but at the end of the day, you're getting 3 top 6 players, one is locked at 5m, Boldy has the same amount of team control as Robertson but is way ahead in development, it just makes no sense, at the end of the day Minnesota is going to get worse for sure.

Toronto declines

That's like saying 3 top 6 wingers equal McDavid. They don't he's just that good. Kaprisov is a good player yes, like Marner. Both make people around them better but neither is remotely as impactful as a centre. It's just the way it goes.

Difference is Kaprisov is a gamechanger, Marner is not, as good as he is. A center is impactful, sure, but Eriksson EK is a center, Boldy seems to be able to play all 3 positions. So, it's irrelevant to the point. We aren't discussing trading Matthews for Kaprisov 1 for 1, 2 for 2 to balance out the trade a bit. It's Matthews+ a depth player + futures basically, and Matthews only has 2 years. Matthews might be the top scorer since entering the League, but Kaprisov is top 5 in goals since he joined as well.

So, essentially they are upgrading on Kaprisov, while downgrading overall it makes zero sense. You don't make that trade for even McDavid if you are Minnesota.

1) Matthews IS NOT a *generational* center. FULL STOP!

Matthews is ELITE but he's not generational.

There are currently only TWO generational centers in the league. McDavid and Crosby. And Crosby is on the back 9 of his career, while McDavid is just hitting his prime.

The thought or notion that Matthews belongs in that discussion is ludicrous. The only one that might get into that territory is possibly Bedard, and we're still a long ways from knowing for sure on that one.

But in terms of talent, McDavid blows Matthews out of the water.

2) Kaprizov is better than Marner, who is predominantly a playmaker. While Kaprizov is both playmaker and goal scorer. His impact on a game is much closer to Matthews than to Marner.

Furthermore, while Matthews value is certainly the highest of the 3. It's not THAT much more than Marner's or Kaprizov's. And it is most certainly not an Eriksson-Ek and Boldy inclusion level of value either.

That is anti leaf nonsense. Matthews is elite offensively, the single best goal scorer in the game and very high end defensively. He's the 2nd best player in the game. Full stop. The distance between him and McDavid is greater than him and MacKinnon the 4th best player is pretty far behind those 3. Kaprisov is not in that realm.

Matthews is a generational goal scorer (he was scoring 40G+ since his rookie season, when 30G was impressive). He's the Ovechkin of his generation. He also has a strong two-way game like Crosby, so he is a generational C. The trade however is a pre-cap era style trade and should cost Guerin his job if he were to do it.

I also think Kaprizov could be generational but won't rush to say that, he's the same age as Matthews and McDavid, and a ton of skill like them but he has so much less NHL experience. So, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw a ton of growth from him in the next couple of years.

Matthews and Marner are both complete players like Crosby (difference was he was elite defensively), while Kaprizov is more of a complete offensive players like McDavid (he'll probably improve his 2-way game soon enough) and Kucherov.

Only Crosby, Ovechkin, McDavid, and Matthews are generational in the League, and perhaps Makar but we'll see about that in the long-term.
Matthews, Crosby. Crosby is generational because he could do everything at an elite level, Ovechkin and Matthews because of their goal scoring, and McDavid because of his offense (playmaking and scoring ability).

Minnesota wouldn't do this. Mathews is a free agent next year going to demand outrageous money. Minnesota isn't trading Eriksson ek, boldy or especially kaprizov

After next year but yes.

Do I agree and consider that Matthews is a generational goal scorer?

Yes.

Do I agree that he's a generational center?

No.

Additionally, Kaprizov is as good defensively as Matthews and Marner are.

https://frozenpool.dobbersports.com/frozenpool_compare.php?players%5B%5D=5801&players%5B%5D=4169&players%5B%5D=4491&period=2022-2023%3AR%3A99

I just have to agree with the Wild proponents above. This is a trade the Wild would definitely not consider, it would make the team so much worse.
I think the Leafs fans in this thread over values Matthews just slightly...
A comparable trade would be something like:
Leafs get: McDavid, Bourgault, Foegele, 1rd
Oilers get: Samsonov, Matthews, Nylander, Tavares

That's fair on Kaprizov, but how is McDavid a generation center when Matthews is the better centerman? You would have to say McDavid is a generational forward but not a generational C, if you're saying Matthews is a generational goal scorer but not center.

To be clear I'm not saying Kaprizov and McDavid are defensive liabilities or they can't play defense if they wanted.