I think it's going to be Horseface. In the end, Horvat will be too expensive to re-up with a new contract and in assets to acquire and the other usual suspects (ROR, Toews, Dubois, etc...) are going to be really expensive to trade for.
I could see the Avs rolling the dice on what that guy still has in the tank for the next 3-4 years even though he has 5 years left (including this one) on his contract. Obviously, the Sharks would need to retain a portion of that like they did with the Burns trade. So my suggestion is this :
Girard, LD (5 years remaining @ $5M) <-> Couture, C (5 years remaining @ $8M)
San Jose retains $2.5M per year on that deal making Couture a $5.5M cap player for the Avs.
Now obviously, Mike Grier was hired to mop up Doug Wilson's mess and I have to believe he would jump at the chance to make this kind of deal when you consider that he'd be getting a 24 year old Top-4 D-Man + saving $500K against the cap even if it means giving up your captain. That team is going nowhere fast and it's going to take a long time for them to get out of that hole.
From an Avs standpoint, you probably can't make that deal without something else coming your way because trading a 24 year old like Girard for a 33 year old, is a pretty big gamble. I was a big fan of Artemi Kniazev his draft year so maybe that kind of prospect is added in or a 2nd round pick and the Avs can maybe add a decent prospect like Foudy on their side to round it out.... maybe even agree to reunite the Megna brothers - which would be kind of like crossing the streams in Ghostbusters.
So part of me thinks... this is crazy, the Avs can't give up a solid player like Girard for a 33 year old with 5 years left but then another part of me thinks, well if they want to acquire a #2C, it's probably not going to be cheap under any circumstances. So I don't think it's that far off... under this scenario, at least they hang on to their best prospects and picks.
