Trade for a rebuilding team

[Darkwing Puck]

My team is rebuilding this season and I'm trying to sell off John Carlson and maybe tweak my goalies a little while I'm at it.

I started with the following offer:
Give: Carlson, Chris Driedger
Get: Aaron Ekblad, Thatcher Demko

Which was rejected and countered with:
Give: Carlson, Ilya Samsonov
Get: Aaron Ekblad, Thatcher Demko

It's been tough to get any sort of read on Samsonov this season because he missed so much time with COVID, but I still feel like his long term value is higher than Demko's, so I don't think that's a good trade for me. Or do I have it backwards and Demko > Samsonov?

Alternatively, I could forget about the goalies and offer Carlson for Ekblad. His other goalies are pretty bad (Koskinen, Smith, Vanecek) so I could try offering Elvis Merzlikins instead of Samonov (though I'm currently negotiating a Merzlikins for Blackwood swap with another owner).

[Axeman33]

First off, I am surprised your first offer was rejected because I see this as a very fair trade for both sides.

I do not like the 2nd one at all. Samsonov is not someone you should be trading if you are a rebuilding team. You lose this trade IMO because the difference between Carlson and Ekblad is huge compared to the difference between Samsonov and Demko.

I think he's forgetting he's getting probably the best fantasy Dman and is just focusing on the goalies too much in both deals.

[4T2]

Carlson is still in his prime and is likely the top d-man in the league (or one of them for sure). I think the first offer was fair enough (still prefer your side). No need to improve the other piece going back to him in this deal

[J0e Th0rnton]

Demko is a stud. But he will be splitting with Holtby for the foreseeable future.

Samsonov is going to take full starter in his net very soon.

I'd reject that counter. He is not giving you 100c on the dollar for Carlson

[Darkwing Puck]

He's of the opinion that Ekblad is more valuable than Carlson (to be fair, Ekblad is currently the 15th ranked D in our league with Carlson at 19, based almost entirely on Ekblad's 21 PIMs to Carlson's 6). I think I'm going to walk away from this negotiation. I've offered him Driedger or Merzlikins plus a chance to move up in the draft but he won't budge off getting Samsonov back for Demko. I've shown I'm willing to lose the trade to get the players I want, but giving up Samsonov to get Demko doesn't benefit me at all.

[Axeman33]

If he truly believes Ekblad is worth more than Carlson simply based on Yahoo's rankings so far this year, he clearly doesn't have a clue what he's doing and you're wasting your time. I agree, time to walk away and look for other GMs who have a brain.

[TheNewKid]

Hes not serious about a trade. I agree time to move on, should be plenty of interest in Carlson elsewhere

[Magicstew]

He wants samasonov as he has Vanacek. I wouldn't take Dreidger for demko - Bob is still big dog in Fla. You going to have to trade him Samsonov. Can say that Demko still has Holtby for a couple more years. See what else he would take instead of Carlson as you lose trade if you trading Samasonov and Carlson. Moving forward a couple years and Ekblad will be the stud.
You could then look at trading Carlson to a contender - get some young assets there.

[Darkwing Puck]

He wants samasonov as he has Vanacek. I wouldn't take Dreidger for demko - Bob is still big dog in Fla. You going to have to trade him Samsonov. Can say that Demko still has Holtby for a couple more years. See what else he would take instead of Carlson as you lose trade if you trading Samasonov and Carlson. Moving forward a couple years and Ekblad will be the stud.
You could then look at trading Carlson to a contender - get some young assets there.

Agreed that part of the reason he wants Samsonov is because he has Vanecek, but he's been after Samsonov from a while. He actually got Demko from me in the offseason (for Merlikins and Kyle Connor), though it was Samsonov he really wanted. He's actually the first place team, but other than Demko and Ekblad, he doesn't have a lot of young players. The core of his team is all 30+. I might re-engage with him in a few days and see about a Carlson for Ekblad trade without the goalies. I'm actually reasonably well positioned with goalies for the future (Samsonov, Merzlikins, Petersen, and Driedger), but this league puts a premium on goalies (there are several teams carrying 5+ healthy goalies) so I've been trying to stockpile as many as I can.