It's crazy to me that some people would prefer to trade away Toews going forward. Especially when you consider that the Avs are in their window for now and the short-term future.
He may not have had a great year compared to the year before but I thought for the most part, he was good and was a top pairing quality defender. When Makar was out, he was leaned on heavily and played well. Put it this way, there are a lot of teams out there that would take his 'off-year' in a heartbeat, if you could even call it that.
I don't think you trade away a guy like that especially when the guys behind him - while good in a middle pairing role - have not shown that they can fill in that spot on the top pair.
I do believe that they probably have tried to sign Byram and the reason he remains unsigned is probably a major reason why they held onto Sammy G.
There may be a situation where - what Byram could get you in a trade outweighs the risk in signing him to a bridge and then potential long-term deal. If his camp won't recognize that a max of 42 regular season games in any season so far is not enough to warrant top dollar, then the Avs could be better off moving him for a #2C.
In an ideal world, you keep Toews and Byram signs for something reasonable and you probably move out Sammy G.
I thought he had a great turnaround in the 2nd half of the season but was kind of a non-factor in the playoffs. Still, I could see him having value throughout the league even though a lot of people on here seem to think he's a cap dump.