Rumor: 2023-2024 Trade Rumors and Free Agency: Off-season is in full swing

[Pierce Hawthorne]

I can get on board with a ZAR signing but getting 20 points from him would be asking a lot. However that still doesn’t fix our LOC on the 3rd line problem.

True, but at least we know we'd be getting a top tier defensive player and strong PKer

Right now we aren't getting 20 points from any of our 4th liners, and they're all pretty dirt defensively.

 

[NateTheGreat]

True, but at least we know we'd be getting a top tier defensive player and strong PKer

Right now we aren't getting 20 points from any of our 4th liners, and they're all pretty dirt defensively.

Yup, if you aren’t bringing much offensive ability to the table you’d better be solid defensively, play on the PK and forecheck like hell. ZAR checks those boxes.

ZAR and Tatar would be ideal but that would leave no forward spots up for grabs and management seems inexplicably insistent on having open roster spots in camp.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Yup, if you aren’t bringing much offensive ability to the table you’d better be solid defensively, play on the PK and forecheck like hell. ZAR checks those boxes.

ZAR and Tatar would be ideal but that would leave no forward spots up for grabs and management is seemingly insistent on having open roster spots in camp.

Yeah of the remaining UFAs, ZAR and Tatar would be my 2 targets for sure...


Drouin - Mack - Nuke
Lehky - RyJo - Mikko
Wood - Colton - Tatar
ZAR - Cogs* - LOC
Meyers/Olofsson


Still wouldn't really be ideal as none of the 4th line guys are real Centers, but Cogs played some Center for them last year and could probably do it again this year. And that group all of a sudden looks actually pretty good with a legit 4th line that would have a real identity to it instead of the disaster put together right now.


Unfortunately I agree with you, it feels like a certainty at this point that they wont get 2 more guys, maybe they grab one though.

 

[JH21]

Because it's f***ing terrible lol...

Which means our Star players get rode into the ground again and get injured or run out of gas by the playoffs. Great strategy!

They don't even need cap space(Ignroing the fact we still have over $2M today anyway). They could have easily signed 4th liners for league minimum that are significantly better than two AHL players lol.


Only 1/3 of those player will play in Vegas Top 9... Probably Ammadio who was better then our entire 3rd line last year anyway lol.

Barbashev - Eichel - Stone
Karlsson - Smith - Marchessault
Dorofeyev - Roy - Ammadio

That will be Vegas' Top 9 next year. Clearly deeper then ours. Our depth is a disaster right now, if they don't sign anyone else... It's legit bottom 10 in the league bad.

Signing Tatar would make a huge difference, signing a guy like ZAR or Motte would make a small difference, so we'll see if they do anything else. If they don't, flat our this is a worse roster then last year even if the new big risk additions all work out reasonably well.

How is that clearly better than our top 9?

Wood- Colton- O'Connor is better than Vegas 3rd line.

And not one team can match up with:

Drouin- Mackinnon- Nichushkin
Lehkonen- Johansen- Rantanen

That's a much more dynamic top 6 than Vegas.

 

[the_fan]

When Kovalenko turns into Kaprizov, we’ll see how Vegas matches up against us

 

[TruePowerSlave]

When Kovalenko turns into Kaprizov, we’ll see how Vegas matches up against us

Never happening, Kovalenko doesn't have the talent to get anywhere near Kaprizov. A solid 3rd liner is a good result.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

Yeah of the remaining UFAs, ZAR and Tatar would be my 2 targets for sure...


Drouin - Mack - Nuke
Lehky - RyJo - Mikko
Wood - Colton - Tatar
ZAR - Cogs* - LOC
Meyers/Olofsson


Still wouldn't really be ideal as none of the 4th line guys are real Centers

Avs are on a quest to have as few natural centers as possible. It's only an incredibly important position in hockey so who cares. No way that plan backfires.

 

[LOFIN]

Just like how JT2C wasn't an issue last season right?

I mean we won the division with him as the #2C, while having massive injury problems through the entire year. We knew that it wouldn't cut it come playoff time.

The roster is fine as it is for regular season.

 

[Metallo]

Suter signs in Vancouver...

Tatar and ZAR might be the only 2 UFAs left that could make an actual impact for us.


Gotta say we're in pretty rough shape if we actually go into the season with all of:

- Drouin on Line 1
- LOC on Line 3
- Meyers as 4C
- Olofsson as 4W



That's honestly so bad.

Wait, I was told that there is plenty of good players left to beef up the lineup when CMac was still doing jackshit. I guess I knew he was done.

 

[UncleRisto]

Did I miss a competition where we try to be annoying in this thread?

 

[Cousin Eddie]

I wish J Toews would come at a million bucks. I know it’s hard to count on him but he just gives them options. He could be a damn good 4C. Perhaps even a capable 3C which could move Colton to the wing.

 

[Tommy Shelby]

For me, the most annoying thing our management does is believe time and time again that our "Young guys will step up"

They have zero ability to draft or develop young forwards especially, and the entire success of the team relies on our Pro scouts.

Ain't nobody stepping up for the 10th year in a row, Chris.

 

[Metallo]

For me, the most annoying thing our management does is believe time and time again that our "Young guys will step up"

They have zero ability to draft or develop young forwards especially, and the entire success of the team relies on our Pro scouts.

Ain't nobody stepping up for the 10th year in a row, Chris.

For fun I compiled the production of our callups last year and it was like 2 pts in 100+ games combined or something ridiculous like that.

 

[Alienblood]

How is that clearly better than our top 9?

Wood- Colton- O'Connor is better than Vegas 3rd line.

And not one team can match up with:

Drouin- Mackinnon- Nichushkin
Lehkonen- Johansen- Rantanen

That's a much more dynamic top 6 than Vegas.

Also Smith is in Pittsburgh not Vegas

Because it's f***ing terrible lol...

Which means our Star players get rode into the ground again and get injured or run out of gas by the playoffs. Great strategy!

They don't even need cap space(Ignroing the fact we still have over $2M today anyway). They could have easily signed 4th liners for league minimum that are significantly better than two AHL players lol.


Only 1/3 of those player will play in Vegas Top 9... Probably Ammadio who was better then our entire 3rd line last year anyway lol.

Barbashev - Eichel - Stone
Karlsson - Smith - Marchessault
Dorofeyev - Roy - Ammadio

That will be Vegas' Top 9 next year. Clearly deeper then ours. Our depth is a disaster right now, if they don't sign anyone else... It's legit bottom 10 in the league bad.

Signing Tatar would make a huge difference, signing a guy like ZAR or Motte would make a small difference, so we'll see if they do anything else. If they don't, flat our this is a worse roster then last year even if the new big risk additions all work out reasonably well.

Smith is in Pittsburgh 1st off

 

[Alienblood]

For me, the most annoying thing our management does is believe time and time again that our "Young guys will step up"

They have zero ability to draft or develop young forwards especially, and the entire success of the team relies on our Pro scouts.

Ain't nobody stepping up for the 10th year in a row, Chris.

how do we know a Foudy won't. I mean people are pining for ZAR lol

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Smith is in Pittsburgh 1st off

Stephenson, not Smith. Doesn't change a thing lmao

 

[The Abusement Park]

How is that clearly better than our top 9?

Wood- Colton- O'Connor is better than Vegas 3rd line.

And not one team can match up with:

Drouin- Mackinnon- Nichushkin
Lehkonen- Johansen- Rantanen

That's a much more dynamic top 6 than Vegas.

Not sure about that…

 

[ABasin]

Yep and as of right now its going to happen again. That 4th line is so terrible today. They're going to get abused big time.


Our 3rd line, at full health, is decent enough. Although you really want LOC on the 4th line at full health, but they're not terrible by any means as long as Wood bounce back(If he doesn't that's even more trouble moving forward).... Its our 4th line where we get absolutely killed compared to other playoff teams. Meyers and Olofsson aren't NHL caliber anymore, Cogliano is old and was barely replacement level last year. They would get absolutely crushed against a team like Vegas who can roll out big, 25-35 point 4th liners against them.

Ultimately the difference between a good and a bad 4th line in the regular season is probably only ~3-4 wins realistically, but that's the difference between home ice advantage or not in the 1st round for this team. And in the playoffs is where the depth matters even more.

All of this discussion around a member of the 4th line playing one line up?

I certainly wouldn't mind the addition of another offensively-capable forward to the top 9. But I still feel that the 4th line isn't really anywhere near the top of my list of roster concerns for 23-24.

The play of Johansen at 2C is waaaayyyyy >>>>>>>>>>>> more important than the the 3rd member of the 4th line.

The play of Colton at 3C is also more important.
The play of Drouin is also more important.
The health of the 2nd pairing is also more important.
Nichushkin sticking to beer is also more important.
Heck, the health of the backup goaltender is probably more important.

It's August. We're all bored.


New discussion topic: I'd like to start a petition to eliminate all shitty hazy/juicy IPAs sold at the arena on game nights. Who's with me?

 

[UnkleKraker]

The Avs themselves worked hard to have the chance to face Seattle. Seattle was still probably the easiest matchup in the West anyway.

On paper. Unfortunately the games are played on ice.

 

[EdAVSfan]

Lehkonen - MacKinnon - Rodrigues
Nichushkin - Compher - Rantanen
Cogliano - Newhook - O'Connor

That was in general, the Avs top 9 last year.

Drouin for ERod
RyJo for Compher
Wood for Cogliano
Colton for Newhook.

I don’t see how we’re worse than last year. And that team finished 9th overall in scoring.

 

[LOFIN]

The 4th line matters f*** all in the regular season really. When you get to the playoffs, you need all hands on deck. But the regular season team can be carried by superstars, a good system and a competent goalie. The Avs should tick those boxes. Worrying about the 4th line is not really high on the priority list at this point.

 

[dahrougem2]

I wish J Toews would come at a million bucks. I know it’s hard to count on him but he just gives them options. He could be a damn good 4C. Perhaps even a capable 3C which could move Colton to the wing.

Health aside, I don't know if Jonathan Toews' ego would allow him to play 4th line.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

All of this discussion around a member of the 4th line playing one line up?

No, it clearly isn't if you actually read the post.

It's about having one of the worst 4th lines in the league. And despite what you seem to think, it absolutely matters. Having a terrible 4th line versus a good 4th line is the difference of roughly ~4 wins in a season. That's the difference between finishing Top 2 in our division this year, and finishing 3rd or as a Wild Card team.


Sure, other things matter more right now(Although quite frankly I would argue only the success of RyJo is more important), but that doesn't mean having an absolutely terrible 4th line isn't a big issue either.


You'd honestly think after watching the 1st round against Seattle last year, and watching our bottom 6 get absolutely destroyed in that series, more people would understand how valuable and important good depth is... But I guess not lol.

 

[the_fan]

Never happening, Kovalenko doesn't have the talent to get anywhere near Kaprizov. A solid 3rd liner is a good result.

Never say never but yeah, you’re probably right

 

[lionsDen]

Mile

All of this discussion around a member of the 4th line playing one line up?

I certainly wouldn't mind the addition of another offensively-capable forward to the top 9. But I still feel that the 4th line isn't really anywhere near the top of my list of roster concerns for 23-24.

The play of Johansen at 2C is waaaayyyyy >>>>>>>>>>>> more important than the the 3rd member of the 4th line.

The play of Colton at 3C is also more important.
The play of Drouin is also more important.
The health of the 2nd pairing is also more important.
Nichushkin sticking to beer is also more important.
Heck, the health of the backup goaltender is probably more important.

It's August. We're all bored.


New discussion topic: I'd like to start a petition to eliminate all shitty hazy/juicy IPAs sold at the arena on game nights. Who's with me?

Life isn’t right without old Rasputin, working class stout. Just saying