Quoting: MNCountryClub
Your theory about that tanking his value is incorrect, as has been observed extensively in any equity market such as stocks or housing. That would be true if all GMs were in cooperation against Guerin, but they're not. They're in competition with each other, as well. The price only needs to reach the point where the highest bidder feels like they're getting good value.
But you are correct in that Guerin is essentially telling the market what he does/doesn't value. Not a great strategy by textbook standards, but honestly, in today's NHL these GMs are all pals and really don't gouge each other the way you'd think. For the most part, they try and make fair deals. There's enough precedent around young players getting traded, that it's gonna be pretty formulaic. Team A gets Player X and Team B gets Player Y + Draft Pick Z.
Hmm I still disagree with that first sentiment. NHL trading is different than stocks and the housing market but yes I do agree with the old boys club mentality of the GM's. I didn't mean to imply that teams were now going to bend Guerin over backwards as a result. More so that, in a vacuum, a player like Rossi after the season he had would reach a level of perceived value that would force other teams to start a higher starting point for negotiations. Making him available (With realistic expectations and not just "listening"), automatically changes the dynamic of that negotiation.
Again I didn't mean that now Minny would need to accept the first crap offer thrown at them and I agree 100% with the Team A gets Player X and Team B gets Player Y + Draft Pick Z assertion. The real question I was hinting to is what would be the difference between the hypothetical scenario mentioned above vs if Rossi was not being actively shopped. IMHO I think there would be a decent amount of value lost as a result.
A similar but not exact example of this was Philly with Gauthier. What would Philly have got in return if Gauthier never wanted out and they were just listening to teams offers? Different circumstance than with Rossi obviously but a parallel can be made.