Massive overpay. Canucks decline

What do you see in this return from NJD that make you think this is a good thing? Bastian = meh, McLeod is a bust, and Smith is a geezer who is closer to retirement than he is to helping the Canucks. We'll be giving up one potential awesome d-man prospect in HB, a solid middle 6 performer in Podkolzin, a 1st rounder, and a guy who scored 39 goals last year, but has fallen out of favour with the coach. Bad idea, ba bad bad bad bad!

McLeod has been elite this year but this is a massive overpay

This is almost Benning-esque

Easy there on using the word "elite" to describe McLeod. He was a 12th overall pick who was drafted with the expectation to be an above average scoring Centreman. Although he's having a career year this year, he's still only on pace for 36. He turns 26 in Feb and has never had a season over 26 points before. He only averages 15 mins TOI, which I would expect to be higher this year with all the time missed by Hughes and Hischier. I will say that his ability to win faceoffs is elite though, there's maybe no one better. McLeod might be an above average 'defensive centre', but even if you look at the average SH TOI for New Jersey centermen, he isn't the #1 penalty killer, Nico Hischier is. If you want to see what elite looks like, you have many examples:
- Jesper Bratt is elite
- Jack Hughes is elite
- Nico Hischier is elite
- Dougie Hamilton is elite
- Luke Hughes is on his way to being elite
But Michael McLead? In no way shape or form is he elite. I'll take back my "bust" comment, although he hasn't lived up to the expectations of when he was drafted. That said, in that same year we took Olli Juolevi at #5 overall, so compared to him, McLeod is a Hall of Famer.