Other than one year from Kovalev you have to go back to the 90s with Damphousse and Turgeon for the last PPG+ player on the Habs. Have to go back to 86 with Mats Naslund for their last 100 point player
Rumor: 2024-2025 Trade Rumors and Free Agency - Offseason Edition
- Thread starter forsbergavs32
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Offseason wishlist:
Re-sign Trenin and Drouin
Trade Colton, Sign Kotkaniemi for 3C for cheap assuming he gets brought out.
Get rid of Fourgiev and trade for Ullmark.
Should be doable assuming Nuke and off the books at least to start the year.
We'll need Kovalenko and Malinski to be full time NHLers.
Re-sign Trenin and Drouin
Trade Colton, Sign Kotkaniemi for 3C for cheap assuming he gets brought out.
Get rid of Fourgiev and trade for Ullmark.
Should be doable assuming Nuke and off the books at least to start the year.
We'll need Kovalenko and Malinski to be full time NHLers.
dahrougem2
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The Abusement Park
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So we want to get rid of Colton, an actual 3C for Kotka who isn’t a 3C?
Ararana
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He's a natural Centre. Also you need to get rid of Colton if you want to keep Drouin. You have to shred salary somewhere.
Anyone with half a brain could tell that their pettiness was going to backfire. Offer sheets are part of the game. You can't do stupid shit because you are pissy about an offer sheet.
The Abusement Park
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He wasn't bad last season at all? Not to mention he's still young. Colton was an absolutely non factor in the playoffs. I didn't think Colton is smart enough to be a Centre in the NHL. Plus there's the salary reason too, if you can pick up Kotkaniemi for cheap then just do it.
I feel like you're alone on the Trenin thing. He looked good in the playoffs and was a much better Centre than most here expected. He's also a much better PKer than probably every player on the roster.
henchman21
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I'm with @dahrougem2 on Trenin. He really never fit with the Avs. Couldn't be a force as a 4C and didn't really fit as a 3rd line wing (to the point where he got passed for Kiviranta of all players). He might be the only player that looks more like Bambi on ice than Rants. He can fly when he gets a few strides, but outside that, his skating is just soooo bad.
Ya Trenin was disappointing. The worst of the deadline adds for me. Just felt like he never really fit in.
I think part of the issue was that he's known for his physical play on the forecheck, finishing big hits, etc. But Bednar doesn't really have his forwards playing that way. They're all about skating and constant pressure on the puck carrier rather than throwing hits. Not that he doesn't want them throwing the hit at all, but more that he doesn't want them throwing a "late" hit once the puck has been moved. He wants them chasing the puck and being hounds on the puck rather than taking themselves out of that pursuit to throw a hit on someone who no longer has the puck.
Which for Trenin not being super fast, just meant he wasn't throwing hits as much. Wood for example fits what Bednar wants from his guys better because he's so fast, he gets to the Dman at a reasonable time to throw hits more consistently.
I thought Duhaime was a solid fit for the 4th line but I don't think Bednar trusted him too much.
I honestly don't think a single one of our deadline guys will be back and quite frankly it's the right decision. They're all going to get raises we can't afford, and we can just spend 3rd round picks on similar players next deadline again anyway.
I hope the Avs entire focus this summer is getting a legit Top 6 forward group. Worry about the bottom 6 at the deadline. They aren't nearly as expensive and also nearly as impactful in the regular season. Need to make sure the Top 6 Forwards are loaded up.
We'll still have Wood/Colton/LOC and a wildcard in Kovaleno at least in the bottom 6 which will keep it above water until the deadline.
I think part of the issue was that he's known for his physical play on the forecheck, finishing big hits, etc. But Bednar doesn't really have his forwards playing that way. They're all about skating and constant pressure on the puck carrier rather than throwing hits. Not that he doesn't want them throwing the hit at all, but more that he doesn't want them throwing a "late" hit once the puck has been moved. He wants them chasing the puck and being hounds on the puck rather than taking themselves out of that pursuit to throw a hit on someone who no longer has the puck.
Which for Trenin not being super fast, just meant he wasn't throwing hits as much. Wood for example fits what Bednar wants from his guys better because he's so fast, he gets to the Dman at a reasonable time to throw hits more consistently.
I thought Duhaime was a solid fit for the 4th line but I don't think Bednar trusted him too much.
I honestly don't think a single one of our deadline guys will be back and quite frankly it's the right decision. They're all going to get raises we can't afford, and we can just spend 3rd round picks on similar players next deadline again anyway.
I hope the Avs entire focus this summer is getting a legit Top 6 forward group. Worry about the bottom 6 at the deadline. They aren't nearly as expensive and also nearly as impactful in the regular season. Need to make sure the Top 6 Forwards are loaded up.
We'll still have Wood/Colton/LOC and a wildcard in Kovaleno at least in the bottom 6 which will keep it above water until the deadline.
SoundwaveIsCharisma
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I think it's going to be hard to find depth guys that Bednar will like. He's quite particular, you need a high motor and decent hockey smarts. At what we can afford, you are either getting a high motor, or decent hockey smarts. If they are well known for their physicality, they are going to suck here since Bednar neuters that completely
henchman21
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I don't agree there... Avs target a lot of guys who are not real smart. And we can squabble with the actual quality of Wood's play this year, but he fits what Bednar wants and he might be the dumbest player in the league. You need to skate and win battles over everything else.
SoundwaveIsCharisma
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He kind of fits with what Bednar wants, I'd say this about Colton as well. There are brief windows where they look like they fit well, but there's also a bunch of times where you can tell the Bednar system is too complicated for them. I think LOC is basically the picture perfect depth guy for the Bednar system. Can skate his ass off, but has enough defensive and offensive awareness to not get completely lost.
I think Bednar likes those fast, forechecking/pressure guys a lot. But I also think he demands more of them than some can provide. I do wish he'd just let the reigns go a bit and allow some of the more physical players to just do their thing.
Iceberg
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Without coke, Nuke is probably just a lazy russian... we don't want that.
henchman21
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I think there is the realistic side of this... if Wood and Colton were smart, their are both paid 2+m more. If you want their athletic ability for the price that can be afforded, you're getting dummies (are very flawed in a different way). So the Avs target athletic gifts over smarts. This is also why Ranta even got a run, because he has those gifts.
In more ideal world, you have the smarts to go with it but those players tend to price themselves out. LOC is likely going to do just that. If he at all has a season like last year, even if he doesn't stay fully healthy... he's going to get near $4m on his next contract. Which is unaffordable for the Avs.
This gets off topic a bit, but the Avs do have to ask themselves if they can afford a team to play this system and have it overpower... if that answer is no, they need to tweak the system.
The Abusement Park
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You know who else was a complete non factor in the playoffs in a 2nd round playoff loss?
BobRossColton
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Well at least he won’t be 4M. I feel like you’re not getting it, we don’t have the cap space to keep Drouin unless we shred salary.
henchman21
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The Abusement Park
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I do get it. If you’re going to get rid of Colton it needs to be for someone who doesn’t suck. Who cares if Kotka is making less money, it still makes the 3C spot far worse than it is now.
As for the Drouin stuff, if it works it’ll work. If not we’ll probably do the same thing we did with him, Tatar and Erod.
henchman21
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This is the crux of moving Colton. Market value of a better 3C is in the 4.5-5.5 range. Replacing Colton with a any player that is making less as a UFA or last contract RFA is going to be replacing him with a worse player.
The Avs should gobble up Kotka if he is bought out though. He's not going to live up to his draft billing, but he's an excellent defensive player who has shown spurts of offense. More likely though is Kotka goes to a bad team with a clear opening for a year to establish a bigger role.
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If Kotkaniemi was good enough to play 3C Carolina wouldn't buy him out.
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