The goalie trade market can be brutal for sellers.

Goalie trade values are never what people expect or hope, and that is especially true when you are dealing a mid-30s goalie who has probably already played his best hockey and is still signed for two more years.

But this was another trade involving a significant player where Conroy did not get anything that wows you.

Kevin Bahl is still only 23 years old but has not really done much to offer much in the way of excitement or hope that he is going to be a meaningful player.

Getting a first-round pick is nice, but it is top-10 protected, and if Markstrom helps improve the Devils as expected, you could be looking at a mid-to-very-late first-round pick. That might be a 50-50 bet to be an NHL regular in a few years.

In this trade, he also had to retain more than $1.8 million in salary in each of the next two seasons.

Since last year's trade deadline, Conroy has traded Markstrom, Elias Lindholm, Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin—some of the biggest players available at their positions—and received more quantity over quality.

The return on that group: Bahl, Artem Grushnikov, Daniil Miromanov, Andrei Kuzmenko, Joni Jurmo, Hunter Brzustewicz, a 2024 first-round pick (No. 28 overall), a 2025 first-round pick (top-10 protected), a 2026 first-round pick, a 2024 fourth-round pick and a 2024 second-round pick.

The most valuable assets there are the first-round picks, but they are all looking like later picks, and if one of them becomes an NHL player, that should be a success.