Rumor: 2022-2022 Trade Rumors and Free Agency Part 14: Sakic goes back to bed
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Lou is 80, needs Cap Space, has a better starting Goalie, already tried trading him this deadline and made three salary dump trades in the last two seasons. If he trades out Varlamov and replaces him with a $1M back up it will free up $4.5M.
Isles have 12m in cap space for 5 spots as they sit. ~5-6 will go to Dobson. So ~6m for the other 4 spots. ~1.5 to Bellows. 3.5 for 3 spots that are 5-7 defensemen. They don't need cap space, it would just allow them to build up more depth on the blueline.
If Lou wants to take a shot he needs to improve that blue line and he needs cap for that. Not to mention he couldn’t get Varly to bite on Edmonton at the deadline.
They have a good top 4 if they can stay healthy... Dobson is a budding star and Pulock is one of the best defensive defensemen in the game. Pelech and Mayfield are legit top 4 guys. They could really use one more good LD to balance the R/L better. A guy like Cole would slide in very nicely there and be within budget.
That would be a pretty awful replacement. Slow perimeter player with a decent, but not great, shot. If the Chicago effin' Blackhawks are willing to part with him for literally nothing, then that should tell you all you need to know.
Frankly the Hawks would be stupid to let him go, even if they've decided to tank it, which I don't think they have.
- Jan 18, 2016
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I mean there’s a reason he’s getting let go.
If yer gonna try and find a replacement for Kadri, there are WAY better options. Vinny Trocheck, a trade for Nick Schmaltz, hell, even the worn out and rapidly aging Paul Stastny is a better option than Dylan Strome. Hell, he isn't even the best Strome on the market this year--Ryan is, and I am by no means a fan of his either.
Bill Peckerskull
Fargin' Icehole
Schmaltz would be a solid option IMO. Not sure if Arizona trades him or not. Haven't seen any rumors of his availability but he has a contract that would make a lot of sense for Arizona to be trying to get out of right now..
5.85M cap hit for 4 more seasons... But he's owed $28.95M in real dollars over those 4 years, over $7M a season including a $1.5M bonus next summer.
Pretty much his entire career he's been a ~50 point player(Or at least pace of 50 points), and this year he broke out as one of Arizona's go to guys. I think he'd be a great candidate for the 2C spot here and at a reasonably good cap hit as well.
Piggybacking off that Schmaltz idea.... Here's a potential roster that would actually sit under the 82.475M cap for next year:
- Trade Girard + JTC to Arizona for Schmaltz + Ghostisbere(@2.25M)
- Re-Sign Nichushkin(6x5.0M)
- Re-Sign Kuemper(3x4.5M)
- Re-Sign Lehkonen(4x3.5M)
- Re-Sign Manson(3x3M)
- Re-Sign NAK(1x1.25M)
- Re-Sign Helm(800k)
- Re-Sign Cogliano(800k)
- Sign Nick Paul(5x4.25M)
Nuke - Mack - Rantanen
Landy - Schmaltz - Newhook
Lehks - Paul - NAK
LOC - Meyers - Helm
Cogliano
Toews - Makar
Byram - EJ
Ghost - Manson
MacDermid/????
Kuemper
Francouz
That roster would be at a salary of 80.25M leaving just over 2M left in space still as well. To potentially upgrade NAK into a more reliable 3rd liner at say ~2M instead, and/or to add a better 7th Dman so MacDermid fits as the #8.
- Trade Girard + JTC to Arizona for Schmaltz + Ghostisbere(@2.25M)
- Re-Sign Nichushkin(6x5.0M)
- Re-Sign Kuemper(3x4.5M)
- Re-Sign Lehkonen(4x3.5M)
- Re-Sign Manson(3x3M)
- Re-Sign NAK(1x1.25M)
- Re-Sign Helm(800k)
- Re-Sign Cogliano(800k)
- Sign Nick Paul(5x4.25M)
Nuke - Mack - Rantanen
Landy - Schmaltz - Newhook
Lehks - Paul - NAK
LOC - Meyers - Helm
Cogliano
Toews - Makar
Byram - EJ
Ghost - Manson
MacDermid/????
Kuemper
Francouz
That roster would be at a salary of 80.25M leaving just over 2M left in space still as well. To potentially upgrade NAK into a more reliable 3rd liner at say ~2M instead, and/or to add a better 7th Dman so MacDermid fits as the #8.
Arizona already has one of their retention slots locked up due to OEL, so I don't think they'll give the other two cheap.
Gigantor The Goalie
Speak for the Goalies
Really curious about your thought process here. So EJ gets the trust not only in his playoff play translating into the regular season but his body holding up too? I like EJ but he was 5th among regular Avs D in terms of Average TOI. I can't imagine Bednar decides he needs more ice time next year when he was managed so much this year. I don't mind the Manson deal. He seems to really embrace Bednar's system especially the directive the defenders get to get into the play.
I'm so-so on Kuemper. Generally goalies who have had his statistical success at this age tend to age well though they don't always keep those numbers by being the starters. They do get pushed into back-up or tandem roles quite often or just get injured. I just wonder if there's a better fit to the Avs system. He was a Top 5 goalie statistically this year which is a lot to be happy about & while you can say "hey Grubauer last year now look" Kuemper played the whole league while Gru got to feast on terrible teams regularly. This whole playoffs for Kuemper is a big bag of "only the Avs know the full story". Can only speculate how the eye has been effecting him.
The biggest question I have though is...why are we paying so much for a guy whose career high in points is 32 and he's 27yo? There's really not much further upside to him. I get points aren't everything but he's not Blake Coleman who actually had 20 goal seasons before joining Tampa.
Side note...can MacDermid just be down in the AHL "defending" prospects instead.
GirardSpinorama
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- Aug 20, 2004
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Honestly, I just put EJ as the 2RD cause he's playing a lot with Byram right now and they're playing pretty well. You could just as easily slot Manson as the 2RD and EJ the 3RD as far as I'm concerned or hell even just dump EJ this summer and use his cap space on a cheaper 3RD and more help elsewhere in the lineup.
On Kuemper, I just dont really see any options in the goalie market that are really an upgrade on him, at least not in UFA. And if the Avs want to go the trade route to get a bonafide #1G and clear upgrade on Darcy that's also cool with me but its going to cost us quite a bit, enough that people wont like the cost here. I think Darcy has played himself out of the big pay raise this summer with his stretch run and issues in the playoffs but I also trust the sample size of the regular season at least that I think he can be good enough here with the offense we have, and maybe a little more focus on defensive play. The only UFA goalie that I'm intrigued by would be Campbell, maybe Fleury if he wants to take a dirt cheap deal to sign with us sort of thing. Otherwise from a UFA perspective I'd just take my chances on DK at ~4-4.5M again honestly.
As for Paul....
I think he's pretty clearly showing with Tampa Bay that he's not only capable of playing 3C, but playing very well in the role. He's basically the Center version of Nichushkin and with Tampa he showed that like Nichushkin there's some untapped offensive potential to his game as well. Honestly if folks here are completely onboard with giving Nuke $5M as a winger doing what he does, I'm kind of shocked folks are so completely against giving Paul $4.25M to do largely the same thing as Nuke does but from the Center position instead.
Having a long term, big bodied, two-way work horse of a Center like Paul at the 3C spot completely solidifies out Center depth in the bottom 6. He's also a versatile guy that can play Wing as well so if Meyers really surprises and plays his way up the depth chart quickly next year you can just as easily shift Paul to the Wing and all of a sudden you have an insane forechecking, defensive 3rd line with Lehkonen - Meyers - Paul that would give teams absolute fits. Would be very similar to the 3rd line Tampa used with Gourde at Center to win b2b cups with.
It's so unfortunate that Kuemper had that eye injury for so many reasons, because his poor play could easily be attributed to that. Now we have no idea if Kuemper actually choked because he was pretty solid the first 2 games against Nashville.
Richard88
John 3:16
- Jun 29, 2019
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Can Tampa Bay afford to offer Paul $4.25m AAV? Gotta think they'd be his first preference, given their contender status, low taxes, weather, familiarity, etc
Tampa basically only has ~4m in space next year and Palat will likely be the guy they want to keep around... but they could figure out a way to make it work.
Paul at 4.25m per would be panned by the media, but would end up being a steal. At worst you have a high end 3C who can play both ends of the ice. At best you have a middle 6 guy who can play anywhere in a pinch.
I think you're looking right at 5.5m at minimum for Kuemper and up to 6.5m.. and there will be term attached to it. That's the going rate for starters. If the Avs won't pay it, Edmonton will.
As it has been pointed out--Kuemps was not good in the final month of the regular season, and quite shaky the final 10 games of the season. His lone elite performance in that time was the shutout against these Oilers.
He also let in more than a couple stinkers against Nashville prior to the eye injury.
The eye injury and possible concussion obviously made things much worse but I don't buy that the eye thing was the lone cause of Kuemper's faulty play. He was bad prior to that.
Foppa2118
Registered User
- Oct 3, 2003
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This has felt like a likely plan for a little while now. Just not a lot of other options and at least Varly is a known commodity, and knows the system.
Problem is they don't have a 2nd the next there years, so they'll have to find one, or move something comparable.
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