Rumor: 2023-2024 Trade Rumors and Free Agency: Offseason Edition

[Pokecheque]

I wouldn't say G played very well. He had one good game, one meh game, and a bunch of bad. G's role skews this, but he was worse than EJ this series and significantly behind Toews, Byram, and Makar.

Yeah, y'all know me when it comes to Sammy but I mostly did not like him in this series. A lot of bad decisions and turnovers. Even when he won puck battles down low, he failed to secure the puck afterwards so it was a moot point.

I hope whoever gets him next (and I think he's gone this offseason) will get him to slim down and bring back his speed. He just looks...slow these days. If indeed they made him bulk up in Colorado that was a gigantic mistake.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Yeah G was pretty meh this series... To be fair I thought our entire defense was pretty meh. Toews was probably the best, Makar wasn't close to 100% and you could tell, Byram was about the same level of meh as Girard I thought, definitely needed a lot more out of them.

 

[Pokecheque]

Yeah G was pretty meh this series... To be fair I thought our entire defense was pretty meh. Toews was probably the best, Makar wasn't close to 100% and you could tell, Byram was about the same level of meh as Girard I thought, definitely needed a lot more out of them.

Yeah I'd say Toews was the best among them and he too had some WTF moments. Manson never should have played--he wasn't remotely close to healthy enough.

What I think really plagued Sammy was that Seattle's forecheckers were faster than he was, he had no real edge over any of them.

 

[henchman21]

Yeah I'd say Toews was the best among them and he too had some WTF moments. Manson never should have played--he wasn't remotely close to healthy enough.

What I think really plagued Sammy was that Seattle's forecheckers were faster than he was, he had no real edge over any of them.

I'd say that plagued all the Avs. Seattle as a team is just as fast, if not faster than the Avs. The Avs were simply not used to the pressure. Add to that, G isn't great with that pressure to begin with an you have what happened here.

 

[Alex Jones]

Manson is basically a slower Zadorov out there. Doesn't contribute much outside of running himself out of position looking for big hits. Why did we give him that contract.

 

[The Abusement Park]

Not sure I agree that they don't value the 2C spot, they did go out and get Kadri. Centres are worth gold in this league and it's not easy to get one.

ROR would've been a great get at the deadline but he wanted to go to Toronto and St Louis granted his wish, 7 points in 6 games and a big reason why they beat Tampa. Might be worth visiting on July 1st.

I mean it took how many years for them to realize that Jost wasn‘t a 2C? It took way longer than it should’ve to get that 2C the team needed.

 

[Avs9296]

I actually didn't have a problem at all with G. I thought he was pretty good overall and surprisingly physical. Far better than EJ was. Anybody who says EJ played better than G has to be looking at some fancy stats and closed their eyes when watching the actual game.

I'd rank the defence in this series ( in terms of effectiveness, not their expectations)

Toews
Makar
Girard
Byram
JJ
EJ



Manson (he clearly wasn't right, just completely lost).

 

[henchman21]

I actually didn't have a problem at all with G. I thought he was pretty good overall and surprisingly physical. Far better than EJ was. Anybody who says EJ played better than G has to be looking at some fancy stats and closed their eyes when watching the actual game.

I'd rank the defence in this series ( in terms of effectiveness, not their expectations)

Toews
Makar
Girard
Byram
JJ
EJ



Manson (he clearly wasn't right, just completely lost).

How about a non-fancy stat? G was out on the ice for 8 goals against 5v5 in the series. Not a single other Av was out there for more than 5.

 

[dahrougem2]

How about a non-fancy stat? G was out on the ice for 8 goals against 5v5 in the series. Not a single other Av was out there for more than 5.

It is clear teams pick on him in the playoffs. Dallas did it, Vegas did it, now Seattle did it.

 

[jaisen73]

I was very surprised the Avs extended Manson last summer but I also understood why. Cup winning team, he was actually quite good in that run, and of course you want to keep the team in place. Injuries were such a big part of this season with him and I'm willing to see how next season goes before calling the contract a mistake. It made sense in the moment and with EJ gone and JJ gone he will be a necessary piece. The Avs have so many undersize defenseman and if nothing else a healthy Manson brings size and hitting.

 

[henchman21]

I was very surprised the Avs extended Manson last summer but I also understood why. Cup winning team, he was actually quite good in that run, and of course you want to keep the team in place. Injuries were such a big part of this season with him and I'm willing to see how next season goes before calling the contract a mistake. It made sense in the moment and with EJ gone and JJ gone he will be a necessary piece. The Avs have so many undersize defenseman and if nothing else a healthy Manson brings size and hitting.

The contract was a mistake from day 1. Injuries are nothing new for Manson. He's been dealing with them since 2019. Add to that how much skating and ability he has lost... his contract is terrible. It is the new EJ contract.

I know people think I hate Manson, but I was one of his biggest cheerleaders for a long time. He's just a shell of what he once was. Avs signed up for 4 years of that previous play and they are going to get injuries, poor play, and lot of penalties to support it. But hey, he'll have a few big hits a season!!

 

[AvsCOL]

The worst part about the Manson deal is that they just didn’t need him. They had their top-4 penciled in, and EJ on the bottom pair. Why go out and spend $4.5mil on a 5th D when you needed a forward?

We all questioned whether neglecting the forward depth in favour of building the best D core in the NHL would be worth it…. It wasn’t

i think they need to trade G at this point, even though I’d rather keep him. They’ve tied their own hands with their current D core, as Manson has a NMC until next offseason

 

[The Moops]

Find some way to trade G and Manson so you can re-sign Toews

 

[Muffin]

We're writing off Manson way too quick. Remember what a huge difference he made when he came back in the regular season? It's obvious he wasn't close to 100% in the playoffs, hell he was hurt enough he couldn't continue playing. Let's see what he can do when he's healthy again next year.

 

[Avs9296]

The worst part about the Manson deal is that they just didn’t need him. They had their top-4 penciled in, and EJ on the bottom pair. Why go out and spend $4.5mil on a 5th D when you needed a forward?

We all questioned whether neglecting the forward depth in favour of building the best D core in the NHL would be worth it…. It wasn’t

i think they need to trade G at this point, even though I’d rather keep him. They’ve tied their own hands with their current D core, as Manson has a NMC until next offseason

I think the thought was a top 4 of Toews/Makar/Girard/Byram is/was too soft to win a cup.

Don't forget we basically won the cup with Girard out and Manson on the top 4.

In hindsight it was a bit rich. I still maintain the biggest problem was they should've ditched EJ last year.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Find some way to trade G and Manson so you can re-sign Toews

I believe Manson has a full NMC until next summer... But that would coincide with a potentially new Toews contract.


Keep Manson for one more year and then send him back to Anaheim next summer to be a veteran guy in the lockeroom for that team.

Hopefully he bounces back a bit next year so it doesn't cost us a 1st+ just to dump him.

 

[Avs9296]

How about a non-fancy stat? G was out on the ice for 8 goals against 5v5 in the series. Not a single other Av was out there for more than 5.

Fair enough. Girard also averaged 21 minutes per game vs 14 minutes per game for EJ. Thats 50% more. EJs wheels would have fallen off (maybe literally ) if he played that much.

 

[dahrougem2]

The worst part about the Manson deal is that they just didn’t need him. They had their top-4 penciled in, and EJ on the bottom pair. Why go out and spend $4.5mil on a 5th D when you needed a forward?

We all questioned whether neglecting the forward depth in favour of building the best D core in the NHL would be worth it…. It wasn’t

i think they need to trade G at this point, even though I’d rather keep him. They’ve tied their own hands with their current D core, as Manson has a NMC until next offseason

I think it's obvious they do need a Manson style defensemen. Every team does.

Problem is I don't know if Manson can be that player anymore with his injury history and age.

IF he's healthy I do 100% believe a Toews/Makar and Byram/Manson top-4 is better than a Toews/Makar and Byram/Girard top-4. Health just doesn't seem to be holding up for Josh.

 

[The Abusement Park]

We're writing off Manson way too quick. Remember what a huge difference he made when he came back in the regular season? It's obvious he wasn't close to 100% in the playoffs, hell he was hurt enough he couldn't continue playing. Let's see what he can do when he's healthy again next year.

The issue is that Manson is never healthy anymore. And he’s old and plays a style that ages terribly. Maybe he comes back fine healthy again, but he’s going to regress a decent amount here over the next year/year and a half.

 

[dahrougem2]

The issue is that Manson is never healthy anymore. And he’s old and plays a style that ages terribly. Maybe he comes back fine healthy again, but he’s going to regress a decent amount here over the next year/year and a half.

Maybe we can convince Anaheim to take him back for a 6th or something lol

 

[henchman21]

Fair enough. Girard also averaged 21 minutes per game vs 14 minutes per game for EJ. Thats 50% more. EJs wheels would have fallen off (maybe literally ) if he played that much.

Yeah... and G played a lot which plays into this. Others did play more than him and didn't give up as much either. I like G and I'm a supporter of his, but the evidence has mounted pretty strongly. There is a way to be successful with him, I'm just not sure the Avs can afford what it takes.

 

[The Abusement Park]

Maybe we can convince Anaheim to take him back for a 6th or something lol

Lmao. We’re paying to get rid of him at this point.

 

[BobRossColton]

The issue is that Manson is never healthy anymore. And he’s old and plays a style that ages terribly. Maybe he comes back fine healthy again, but he’s going to regress a decent amount here over the next year/year and a half.

We just need to sign a Ufa defender that has some physicality, so Manson doesn't have to be the only defender who really hits.

 

[henchman21]

We're writing off Manson way too quick. Remember what a huge difference he made when he came back in the regular season? It's obvious he wasn't close to 100% in the playoffs, hell he was hurt enough he couldn't continue playing. Let's see what he can do when he's healthy again next year.

No we really aren't. People way over hyped that because of the hits... his actual play was bad. The Avs have locked themselves into a >30 year old physical defensive defensemen. They simply age like raw milk left out on 90 degree day.

We just need to sign a Ufa defender that has some physicality, so Manson doesn't have to be the only defender who really hits.

Absolutely not... any UFA of that type will be overpaid and older. Target a younger guy in a trade. It will cost more, but be a lot more worth it.

 

[jaisen73]

So the consensus seems to be that a defenseman should be traded and it breaks down like this:

1. Girard - For a good return if possible but also to shed cap space
2. Byram - If the return is too good to pass up
3. Toews - If it's a legit hockey trade and brings in a Top 6 forward with term
4. Manson - See Girard (and not likely as Manson has a NTC)