Is Walker that much of an upgrade from Ceci that you're willing to pay a 2nd to dump him? Imo that seems like poor asset management but I haven't watched much of either to know if the cost is worth it. Fwiw I think Chicago accepts.

You've overpaid in both trades and likely underpaid Walker. Kostin is very unlikely to be worth much more than a late pick (at which point I imagine SJ just keeps him for "beef") and Ceci likely shouldn't cost anything to dump but might because of perceptions. What a Ceci trade will look like depends almost entirely on finding a GM that values what he brings. If a GM likes him and thinks they have a spot where he can find success (either at 3RD or 2RD with the right partner), he should at least be moveable without cost. If not, I imagine the maximum cost would be a 4th which, in conjunction with the return he'd bring if traded at the deadline (~3rd), should give the acquiring team value equivalent to a 2nd.

How does a late 4th and late 3rd at the deadline equal a 2nd?

Notice how you left out the "late" on the 2nd? I reckon that a 3rd and a 4th hold similar (hence the '~') value to what a late 2nd holds.

I left it out because a late 4th and late 3rd equal a mid 3rd in value.

Sharks say yes to both trades. We'd gladly take Ceci for a 2nd. No need to include Chicago.

Do you find joy in being pedantic about exact pick values? Since you seem to, let's dive into it.

The Atheltic's picks value chart suggests that a late 2nd coming from a team where EDM finished is worth between 1.1 and 1.2 whereas a late 3rd (from another playoff team) and a late 4th (from EDM) are worth between 0.5-0.7 and 0.3 respectively. So your choice to nitpick is at best based on a difference of 0.4 value points (25%) and at worst 0.1 value points (<10%) and, at the end of the day, equates to a difference of ~10 to 15 spots (a difference I'd say is sufficiently accounted for by my inclusion of the '~' symbol). And you chose to approach this by asking "How does a late 4th and late 3rd at the deadline equal a 2nd?" instead of just correcting me in the first place? Congrats on being both pedantic and inefficient, I guess.

Since you want to get into specifics. Most people here tend to use PuckPedia's draft pick values and they have a better correlation to historical trades.

Pick 121 (4th) & Pick 89 (3rd) have a value of 2.4
Pick 64 (last pick of round 2) has a value of 3.15

To find a more equivalent value you be looking at an Early 3rd round pick. For instances pick 73 (9th pick of 3rd round) has a value of 2.41

So yeah, Late 4 + Late 3 = Early 3. Not a late 2.

2021 Canes & LA trade

Canes trade 72 (Early 3rd) & 109 (mid 4th) - Value 3.51
to
LA for 59 (late 2nd) - Value 3.69

Avs decline

Tough one for me as I like McLeod and think he would fit well on the Avs. If he had term I'd probably be all over it with LOC a UFA and due for a raise but they can probably lock LOC down to only a little more than McLeod is on now and McLeod is due a raise as well. For that reason I think the Avs pass.