It costs more the a couple of mid to late round picks to move Husso and the final year of his contract with a $4.75m cap hit.

Laine is being valued as a near-PPG top line scoring winger; the Jackets are under no pressure to move him so there's no reason to do otherwise. One can presume that you would agree with such an evaluation since you've put him on your top line. Do you really think two depth forwards and a 2nd will get you a near-PPG top line scoring winger, with full retention so he's only $4m/year?

No. Hell no. Not even remotely close.

Minnesota would decline as the value isn't there.

What would the cost be?

I do agree that he is worth more. I have seen so many trades on here with his value being all over the place, some even paying to move the contact. I wanted to throw something out there that fell in the middle. What do you think a fair trade with Detroit would look like?

Fair. Would they have interest in Fabs? Would it take a higher pick? What do you think would be fair?

The Jackets' biggest needs are an experienced defensive defenseman (preferably second pair or better; we already have Gudbranson on the bottom, after all), skilled mentors in general (e.g. more Boone Jenners), and to figure out what the hell we're going to do with the goaltending. Picks are nice but not really all that compelling in and of themselves because we've built our prospect pool; we just need to develop it.

Based on Davidson’s past similar transactions he would be looking for a 2nd round pick. As an example he received a 2nd and 4th round picks from Ottawa for taking Zaitsev and his $4.25m for 1 1/5 th seasons.

higher pick

I would stay away from Laine all together. He has been known to be a passenger instead of driver in the game way too often. Consistency just isn't there to warrant the money or top 6 assignment.