Rumor: 2023-24 Trade Rumors and Free Agency: Season Thread

[AvalancheSpeedsters]

Even if Johansen has a good year, that guy is going to be 32 next season. 2C is still a massive problem for the Avs going forward, with no one in the pipeline who could fill that spot.

Not to mention Mikko will be walking 20 months.

Yeah , it’s not that the value is not fair , just can’t imagine not have Mikko on our team anymore . Ugh

 

[shadow1]

2023 NHL Free Agents Tracker

Tracking the status and signings of all 2023 NHL free agents.

www.spotrac.com

Possible top 9 options: Kane, Bailey, Tatar and Kase (?)

Others/long shots: Poolparty, Comtois and Colin White (?)

RD: Bear (?)

Danton Heinen is a player I've been keeping an eye on all summer.

He's coming off a bad year (8g22p) where he was scratched at times, but has generally been a decent even strength contributor with good-ish underlying fancy stats.

Problem is he, like every other forward Colorado has brought in this off-season, does not PK...or at least hasn't in recent seasons. Still, ~$800K isn't a lot for a guy who won't hurt you defensively and could chip in 25+ points.

 

[The Abusement Park]

Danton Heinen is a player I've been keeping an eye on all summer.

He's coming off a bad year (8g22p) where he was scratched at times, but has generally been a decent even strength contributor with good-ish underlying fancy stats.

Problem is he, like every other forward Colorado has brought in this off-season, does not PK...or at least hasn't in recent seasons. Still, ~$800K isn't a lot for a guy who won't hurt you defensively and could chip in 25+ points.

He’s just another Malgin/Ghetto type. We‘d get by fine during the RS, but once you get to the playoffs and depth starts to really matter he’d stick out like a sore thumb.

 

[Mighty Makar]

I want Kane!

 

[redacted]

I think the larger issue as a whole is with simply 2 injuries (RyJo or MacK and one top 6 wing of Drouin/Lehky/Rants/Nuke) we are not just looking at LOC up the lineup... we're looking at pretty brutal lineup as a whole.

Assuming RyJo/Drouin are the injuries to keep it as good as possible:

Lehky-MacK-Nuke
Wood-Colton-Rants
Cogs-Meyers-LOC
Olofsson-Pavel-Stienburg/Foudy/OO

That is absolutely brutal with just 2 injuries. We'll see rather quickly that Wood is basically LOC in a bigger frame, but not nearly as smart... so another 4th liner. As I see it... that is a 4th liner on the 2nd line, 2 on the 3rd line, then 4 AHL guys to round out the lineup. If there is a rather large disappointment I have with the offseason, it is the lack of suitable depth with injuries. I get taking the risks on guys for roles... but this close to that lineup is not great. Especially with the Avs' injury history.

 

[UncleRisto]

I think the larger issue as a whole is with simply 2 injuries (RyJo or MacK and one top 6 wing of Drouin/Lehky/Rants/Nuke) we are not just looking at LOC up the lineup... we're looking at pretty brutal lineup as a whole.

Assuming RyJo/Drouin are the injuries to keep it as good as possible:

Lehky-MacK-Nuke
Wood-Colton-Rants
Cogs-Meyers-LOC
Olofsson-Pavel-Stienburg/Foudy/OO

That is absolutely brutal with just 2 injuries. We'll see rather quickly that Wood is basically LOC in a bigger frame, but not nearly as smart... so another 4th liner. As I see it... that is a 4th liner on the 2nd line, 2 on the 3rd line, then 4 AHL guys to round out the lineup. If there is a rather large disappointment I have with the offseason, it is the lack of suitable depth with injuries. I get taking the risks on guys for roles... but this close to that lineup is not great. Especially with the Avs' injury history.

No one can see it coming.

 

[Balthazar]

Wood is basically LOC in a bigger frame, but not nearly as smart

6 years though.

 

[Belgican]

Who isn’t brutal with 2 top 6 players injured ?

We were supposed to be brutal when we won the cup without Kadri, Bura and even Girard. But Some players were on a mission.

We were brutal indeed last season without Landy and Nuke, and also Manson. Some players looked hurt, Makar was a shade of himself, so was Lekhy, Toews and Byram were sub par. Clearly that team couldn’t recover from their SC run and the constant many injuries they got, no team can.

 

[Avs9296]

We are definitely a top 9 player short right now. If 1 guy gets hurt in the top six Colton can play up as a top six winger or a 2C if RyJo gets hurt.

But if 2 go down we are pretty hooped.

 

[shadow1]

He’s just another Malgin/Ghetto type. We‘d get by fine during the RS, but once you get to the playoffs and depth starts to really matter he’d stick out like a sore thumb.

Do you mean Heinen would stick out due to his size?

NHL.com has him listed at 6'1", 188lbs. He's not huge, but he's bigger than decent chunk of Colorado's forwards, and certainly larger than Andrighetto and Malgin (5'10"/5'9").

 

[Avs_19]

I hear Tatar is still available.

So is @henchman21’s boy Puljujarvi.

 

[Balthazar]

I'm surprised that no one is talking about Kase. He's exactly the kind of late signing that the Avs absolutely love.

Much more so than Kane or Tatar.

 

[redacted]

Who isn’t brutal with 2 top 6 players injured ?

We were supposed to be brutal when we won the cup without Kadri, Bura and even Girard. But Some players were on a mission.

We were brutal indeed last season without Landy and Nuke, and also Manson. Some players looked hurt, Makar was a shade of himself, so was Lekhy, Toews and Byram were sub par. Clearly that team couldn’t recover from their SC run and the constant many injuries they got, no team can.

Those are the lowest level top 6 guys hurt and it looks like that. It'll be worse if it is one of the bigger names (and they always tend to miss some games) Most Cup contending teams are not brutal with two injuries. The Edmonton's of the world are... but Jersey could lose two of their best (Hughes and Meier) and still look like this:

Bratt-Hischier-Palat
Haula-Mercer-Toffoli
Nosek-McLeod-Bastian
Holtz-Tierney-Lazar

Vegas (a team I don't consider that deep) could lose Eichel and Stone and still have:

Barbashev-Stephenson-Marchessault
Howden-Karlsson-Dorofeyev
Brisson-Roy-Amadio
Carrier-Cotter-Kolesar

Yeah both teams take a hit and have to call up a prospect. But the 2nd and 3rd lines are still filled with capable players. Even the 4th lines have NHLers that have shown more capability than 4 of the guys the Avs have in the roster stated (4th line + Meyers).

I'm surprised that no one is talking about Kase. He's exactly the kind of late signing that the Avs absolutely love.

Much more so than Kane or Tatar.

He signed in Czechia

 

[LOFIN]

Who isn’t brutal with 2 top 6 players injured ?

We were supposed to be brutal when we won the cup without Kadri, Bura and even Girard. But Some players were on a mission.

We were brutal indeed last season without Landy and Nuke, and also Manson. Some players looked hurt, Makar was a shade of himself, so was Lekhy, Toews and Byram were sub par. Clearly that team couldn’t recover from their SC run and the constant many injuries they got, no team can.

Before coming to Colorado, he had never scored 20 goals, or 40 points. He did tha in 64 games last season (21+30). On top of that, he had 6 points in 7 games against Seattle while recovering from a broken finger.

Lehkonen was outstanding. Better than I actually imagined he could be.

 

[UncleRisto]

So is @henchman21’s boy Puljujarvi.

That's that shit I don't like.

 

[Balthazar]

Before coming to Colorado, he had never scored 20 goals, or 40 points. He did tha in 64 games last season (21+30). On top of that, he had 6 points in 7 games against Seattle while recovering from a broken finger.

Lehkonen was outstanding. Better than I actually imagined he could be.

Lehky is probably the Avs forward with the highest ratio of good games vs bad games. I don't even remember him having a bad game despite getting top 6 minutes against good competition.

 

[redacted]

Before coming to Colorado, he had never scored 20 goals, or 40 points. He did tha in 64 games last season (21+30). On top of that, he had 6 points in 7 games against Seattle while recovering from a broken finger.

Lehkonen was outstanding. Better than I actually imagined he could be.

Lehky got a lot of PP1 time and that was the primary driver of the difference. He has 8 goals, 1 primary assist, and 11 secondary assists. This after having a combined 1 point in his prior 3+ seasons with Montreal on the power play. The secondary assists suggest a good amount of points leeching, especially as it is from a forward. If he's on the top PP unit, he should continue to get those points. If he's moved down, I'd expect that production to go down. His 30 ES points and 27 5v5 were roughly in line with his time in Montreal.

 

[LOFIN]

Lehky got a lot of PP1 time and that was the primary driver of the difference. He has 8 goals, 1 primary assist, and 11 secondary assists. This after having a combined 1 point in his prior 3+ seasons with Montreal on the power play. The secondary assists suggest a good amount of points leeching, especially as it is from a forward. If he's on the top PP unit, he should continue to get those points. If he's moved down, I'd expect that production to go down. His 30 ES points and 27 5v5 were roughly in line with his time in Montreal.

Sure. Top players have a big % of their points coming from the PP, tell us something new.

The point stands, Lehkonen was hardly disappointing. In fact, I think for the most people he played a pretty damn good season. 65 point, 26 goal pace had he played all the games. Even if his production falls off to say 50 points and 18 goals, that's still pretty damn good value for 4,5mil, not to mention what else he does besides his scoring.

 

[Freaky Styley]

@henchman21 we will add another capable top 9 forward before the season begins, and have Kovalenko coming at the end of the year. I think we will also get another guy off waivers/league min for some insurance but not banking on it. Overall I think we will be okay, and be a lot better come playoff time.

I know you want to rest the top guys for the regular season, and hopefully they won't be leaned on as much but they've had a long summer, way longer than last year. They should be refreshed.

 

[Chiarelli]

Send Byram +++++ whatever it takes to get Petey out of Van.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

@henchman21 we will add another capable top 9 forward before the season begins, and have Kovalenko coming at the end of the year. I think we will also get another guy off waivers/league min for some insurance but not banking on it. Overall I think we will be okay, and be a lot better come playoff time.

I know you want to rest the top guys for the regular season, and hopefully they won't be leaned on as much but they've had a long summer, way longer than last year. They should be refreshed.

Do you believe that Kovalenko will actually be an add to the team for the playoffs? I'm not sure he'll have enough games for Bednar to grant him trust by the time the real season begins. He's a tantalizing player for me because we could really use a solid 3rd liner for the foreseeable future and if he can fill in on the second even better, but I've been really trying to hold my excitement in check as I'm afraid the KHL just isn't as strong of a league as it used to be.

 

[Belgican]

Yeah that’s what I said, Lekhy was hurt. Makar looked hurt too, so was Toews, nothing against these players, just saying that our top players were not healthy and on a mission like the previous year !

But outside of that, the Avs would have been very competitive, the same way as other teams without 2 top 6 guys

 

[The Abusement Park]

Do you mean Heinen would stick out due to his size?

NHL.com has him listed at 6'1", 188lbs. He's not huge, but he's bigger than decent chunk of Colorado's forwards, and certainly larger than Andrighetto and Malgin (5'10"/5'9").

I mean he’d stick out in a the fact that he’s not a good bottom 6 fit and not good enough for the top 6. Like Malgin and Ghetto were.

 

[pockets]

Extension coming?

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Extension coming?

Gotta be