Quoting: westleysnipez
That's a laugh. JEE is not Matthew Tkachuk. He's not earning Huberdeau + Weegar + 1st. He's not Jack Eichel, he's not earning Tuch + Krebs + 1st.
JEE has scored more than 50 points once in his career, he's on pace to do it again. He has finished Top-10 in Selke voting, but has never won. His closest comparison that has been traded recently is Ryan O'Rielly, who was signed to a long-term deal.
O'Rielly earned Buffalo 1st + 2nd + Thompson (struggling prospect) + Sobotka (bottom-sixer) + Berglund (long-term cap dump)
You could reasonably ask for a 1st + struggling prospect + roster player, more if a team requires you to take a cap dump back.
Comparable to the O'Rielly trade, Vancouver could offer 1st + Podkolzin + Blueger, or 1st + 2nd + Podkolzin + Garland.
His value was literally pegged to be around a PLD level of return by the Athletic. Or Elias Lindholm.
PLD is making $7M+ from LA. Lindholm is asking $9M for his next contract.
JEE is making $5.25M AAV for the next 6 years. He currently has 13 goals, 7 assists, for 20 points in 26 games played. That's a .80 PPG pace. He's on pace for well over 70 points this season, and he had 65 last season, so he's not just on pace to be over 50 points again? His numbers are improving every year.
So to summarize, he's a Selke caliber 2nd line center who has improved every year he's been in the league. On a steal of a contract. That's a lot of value, value that's increased by his contract being so cheap for so long. There's not a better contract for a top-six center in the league.
You think that doesn't cost in today's market?
And to be blunt it doesn't matter what his value is. It's what's his value to Minnesota. Which is immeasurable.
1) He's Minnesota's best center. He's still young, on a stupidly great contract, and arguably their most important player after Kaprizov.
It's going to take a stupidly asinine levels of overpay to pry him out of Minnesota.
2) Selke voting is extremely biased to East Coast players. Eriksson-Ek hasn't won yet primarily because Bergeron was still playing. Now that he's retired, Eriksson-Ek has a realistic and legitimate chance to win.
Not that I expect him too, given the severe East Coast bias for that award. If he played on the East Coast, he'd be a no-brainer lock for the award.
But Eriksson-Ek has been arguably the best shutdown center in the league after Bergeron by analytics for the past few years.