Quoting: mynameisliang_
I assume you're a jets fan from your profile picture. I'll issue this comment from my house in St. Vital.
I don't think the Jets *need* Perfetti. We have Lambert and Mcgroarty who will graduate next season, and we have Barlow on the way, with Lucius waiting in the wings if he can ever stay healthy. What the Jets *do* need is cap space. We want to re-sign Monahan, and we *should* be trying to extend Demelo as well, but I don't know if that will be possible. Iafallo is a fine player, but he's not worth his $4m cap hit, and we need the roster spot for the aforementioned rookies. Gustafsson doesnt factor into our long-term plans. We can't afford to Re-sign Monahan and Demelo *and* extend Perfetti long-term. We also need to get Nikolaj Ehlers another contract on July 1 as well. I think that by converting Perfetti into a high draft pick and a couple of second rounders, we restock the cupboard of draft picks and are able to either extend Demelo or try to trade for a difference maker at RD using the acquired picks.
if the roster looks like this next year, I would be more than okay with it.
Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi
Ehlers-Monahan-Mcgroarty
Niederreiter-Lowry-Appleton
Barron-Lambert-Namestnikov
Kupari
Morrissey-???
Heinola-Pionk
Samberg-Schmidt
Jets use the assets returned in this trade to fill the ???. Either you flip some 2nd round picks to bring back a servicable d-man or you take the high 1st and other assets and bring back someone crazy from a team that is looking at a rebuild.
I'm not opposed to trading Perfetti at all, but only if the return is right. Like you said, it would need to be a 3-way trade for a 1RD/2RD with term. I like Iafallo, but I also understand that his contract makes him difficult to fit into the roster next year. I'm not willing to retain on Iafallo, he's worth more to the Jets at $4M than a free roster spot at $2M.
There's also the Winnipeg factor and the human factor to consider. Both of these guys like playing here, which can't be said for anyone the Jets acquire in return for them. The human factor complicates things too. Trading Perfetti would likely piss off Samberg, and trading Iafallo (assuming AI doesn't want to be traded) would piss off Vilardi. Both Samberg and Vilardi fit into the long-term plans for the Jets, and trading their friends might make them think twice about staying in Winnipeg long-term.
The good news is that Perfetti has kinda played himself out of signing an 8-year deal this summer, so the Jets can give him a bridge deal to keep his AAV low for a couple more years. Personally, I think Iafallo is the cap casualty this summer, Monahan getting re-signed is a 50/50. DeMelo is basically guaranteed to re-sign in Winnipeg. Heinola takes Dillon's spot like you said, and only one of Lambert/McGroarty makes the jump to the NHL. Either Perfetti re-signs and Kupari is the 13th FWD, or Perfetti is used to acquire that 1RD and the D-pairings look like:
JMo - New Guy
Heinola - DeMelo
Samberg - Pionk
Schmidt