St. Louis 1st Round Draft Pick

[Tom - Washington]

Dave (Senators) made the case that the trade I made with the owner of St. Louis (then rangers) in October turned out to be highway robbery for me. I can't disagree and I don't think it could have turned out any better.

I think it is 100% wrong to force back a trade unless collusion between the GMs is involved. However, for the good of the league I am prepared to consider voluntarily try to revise history. I would hope this would increase the chance of bringing in a good replacement. I wanted to post a poll to the group to get peoples thoughts on the best thing to do.

I will make the case for the trade that at the time we were debating the 2015 pick and Kevin Fiala (his 2014 first round pick) as if they were equal parts. Obviously, it turned out that Dupuis is a bum and the draft pick was not in line with a team who had finished 5th and 7th in the previous two years.

My case to keep the pick and to make it better by offering other decent not great players/prospects/picks (think guys like Staal, Neal, Comeau, Ceci, etc.) is the middle of the road option for me. It recognizes that I made a trade in good faith and that involved work/smarts on my part. Turned out great for me but if it hadn't that would be my risk too.

Please let me know what you think as your opinions are important to me and will help me make my decision.

[Norm - Tampa Bay]

I dont think this should even be an issue. If Mike wants to escalate it then I guess we will.

What are we supposed to do, have a probationary period in which a team can not trade because they may quit one day, and therefore make bad decisions.

I have known Tom for 10 years and I vouch that he made this trade in good faith, the other guy who knows, he isn't around to ask. But should another GM pay the price cause of someone elses stupity? No.

Besides if there is an issue you should have brought it up then, not 6 months later. If you were to scared to or for whatever reason back then, then you are just to blame as much as the GM who makes a bad deal.

We have all made bad deals, I wish I could have Steven Stamkos back from that crappy trade I made for Bryzgalov, but I screwed up. Oh maybe I should ask for that one to be vetod since that GM isnt around either.

We want to encourage movement in this league, we start hampering GMs and setting rules like you never know this trade might not be legit one day will deter everyone from trading.

I will not poll this, it is a done deal in my eyes.

[Commish]

when the trade was made there the team was not that bad it was a playoff team that got neglected and how the pick ended up should make no bearing on the trade.
no one voiced their opinion when it was made it is only how it turned out that is an issue
the trade stands
Tom you have done nothing but continue to be a good owner no one needs to vote here the pick is yours
we have never voted on trades here If i feel there is a bad trade I will take action if I feel it is necessary

guys feel free to comment but the poll is locked

[mustard (Montreal)]

I agree with Boston on this one, but I do think we should have Gm polls for trades that would at least allow the other GM to see if there was an error made or something. I don't exactly know how we could go about that.

[Dave - Sens GM]

Please do not interpret my concern as a slam against Tom - that was absolutely not the intention. I have traded with him and know that he is a tough negotiator so I understand how this trade could have unfolded. And I agree that with a little more attention that the St. Louis team probably wouldn't have fallen to last place. But you can't convince me that the end result was not a brutal trade and that St. Louis team will be that much harder to fill with their standing and lack of a first round pick. It is just unfortunate that the owner that made the trade left almost immediately after. If there is rule change that could fix situations like that it would be great - but I couldn't even offer a guess as to how you would do that.
I appreciate everyone's feedback on this issue and am happy to let it go. I will certainly jump in immediately with any comments if another situation of concern occurs.
Cheers,
Dave (Sens GM)