He was the last pick in the expansion draft. If I could have taken an inactive + 3rd, I would have, like DA did with the second last pick. Since an active was exposed, that wasn't an option. I'm happy to take the 3rd + 4th as more or less equivalent value to what DA got out of Toronto.
I don't think there's anything overly malicious about the deal either, but there's obviously some grey area there, as there always is when a GM's main player gets traded.