As good as Markström is playing this season there is absolutely zero chance that he'd return Mercer if traded.
Between his cap hit, NMC and numerous of very weak seasons behind him I wouldn't want the Devils to go anywhere near this deal.

Such a massive overpay for Markstrom when in reality COL wouldn’t do Byram straight up for him

Markstrom returning both Byram+ and Mercer+ in too different trades tells me that the 34-year old goalie may be mispriced here. Goalies rarely return such a premium.

Further, Calgary has said they will not move him. And would not even bring it up with him to waive NTC.

Lastly, if Devils were to move Mercer, we would probably prefer the Byram+Olausson+1st return.

Personally, I think it should take more to move RyJo, but a 3rd might get it done. Zero interest in Ranta, though.

Dude...what are you thinking?

You’re a pretty big fan of Markstrom, huh?

Hawks probably decline. A 3rd and a prospect might get the deal done, but it's going to have to be a better prospect than Ranta. Someone the Hawks would actually want.

Ranta would be a good reclamation project in Chicago. He has everything Chicago looks for (Speed, Size, Motor). The same reasons we like to play the wait and see game with Reichel is what makes Ranta very appealing imo. He was mismanaged in Colorado to a degree and asked to play a style he wasn't comfortable with. On top of that, Colorado's AHL affiliate was decimated with injuries last year and he was skating with ECHL level guys. He was LIGHTS OUT as a Gopher and I think he could very well be a steal if Colorado were to include him in this trade.

For sure. I always liked him when he was younger, but he showed so little at the pro level that I'm not sure he has another level to get to. Regardless, I really just meant that CHI isn't likely to assign much value to him at this point. As a throw in reclamation project, sure, it could pay dividends. But i'm also not sure how interested CHI is in reclamation projects. We have a TON of guys coming up through the pipeline over the next few years and need to keep an eye on reserve and contract limits. Also, a big influence on how CHI wants to build and deploy this team comes directly from COL. If he isn't suited for that style, he might not be suited for CHI in the long run either. Probably worth a shot, but I am not in favor of giving COL a discount dumping RyJo because Ranta is included.

All valid points.

Same to you. I probably would've made similar points in my original response, if had felt like elaborating at all. I was just being lazy. haha

The lazy bug bites me all the time! Especially if I feel someone is being unreasonable in a trade proposal.

Yeah. I tend to put as much effort into my response as someone does into their proposal.