I think it
can and
should be done.
Unfortunately, the Avs don't have like 10-15 kicks at the can to get this right - year after year - so if they are devoid of picks and prospects afterwards, so be it but it has to be worth it in the end.
Acquiring Lindholm and re-signing him would absolutely solve the #2C position behind MacKinnon for the foreseeable future and add a great two-way player who is strong on faceoffs. He would force guys down to their proper slotting in the lineup and give Bednar the chance to rely on him and his line, (which would likely be Nuke and Leks) - giving some of the top guys a bit of a break from all the minutes they've been playing as of late.
I believe it is possible to trade for and re-sign Lindholm.
Let's say the Avs do :
Byram - $3.85M
Ryjo - $4M
2024 1st
(+ more if frikkin' necessary)
for
Lindholm - $4.85M
Tanev - $4.5M
Then the Avs re-sign Lindholm to an 8X8M contract. Tanev would be here for the cup run and then go to UFA.
Drouin-MacKinnon-Rantanen
Lehkonen-Lindholm-Nichushkin
Wood-Colton-Kovalenko
Cogliano-Olofsson-O'Connor/Kiviranta
Toews - Makar
Girard - Manson
JMFJ - Tanev
Malinski
George
A better backup
That is a roster that can win the Cup again, imo and that should be
the ultimate goal. Keeping picks and prospects that are 3-4-5 years away from helping you shouldn't be the MO of the front office, at this particular time.
Now for the salary cap issue, it's basically Landeskog and his long-term health that will have a bearing on what the GM would do next. If he's able to come back healthy in the playoffs and for next year, then you'd probably have no choice but be looking at trading Rantanen this summer - while he still has 1 year left on his contract.
People will say 'You don't trade an elite high-scoring winger like Rants' but you DO if keeping him means you never have any depth beyond the top line. He's a great player when he's ON and he can sure put up points but I don't see any kind of real situation where he's going to be worth something like $13M per season. A winger with that kind of salary has to pretty much control and dictate the play whenever he's on the ice regardless of who he's playing with - like Jagr did in his prime - and while Mikko can be fantastic at times, he's certainly not that kind of player
on a regular basis.
In my view, Rants is pretty much worth what he's making right now but that's neither here nor there because I believe that there's a large chance that Landeskog goes back on LTIR or stays on LTIR kind of like Carey Price did for a few years to try and come back. If that's going to be the case, then maybe you can work on keeping #96 if it's going to be something that's fair and if the cap is set to increase even more the season after next. I truly believe that if Mikko wants to break the bank, they'll move on and get a pretty good haul.
thednvr.com
