Rumor: 2024-2025 Trade Rumors and Free Agency - Offseason Edition

[forsbergavs32]

The season is done and we look towards the offseason. Trade away

Click to read more...

 

[Balthazar]

Cap crunch time

Avs just got beat cleanly by a team with little superstar power but better depth.

Time to retool and end the 3 superstar era. Trade Rantanen.

 

[Bensch88]

Really disappointed about being eliminated, here are my thoughts about a nightmare of an off season, dont want to be CMac right now.

Keep:

Mac (wonder if he's hurt, he never played like the guy he was in the regular season. He needs to save some energy for the playoffs, screw personal awards)
Cale (GOAT, wondering if he really needs surgery, could help with the cap hell we are in)
Lehky (clutch, good contract, likeable guy)
Toews (contract is a bit meh, but what can you do. He still delivers and they decided to keep him over Byram, i'm fine with that)
LOC (great contract, they really missed his hustle and energy in the POs)
Georgie (i was very critic of him but he really delivered in the POs. Dont think you can find another goalie for that kind of money who is a big upgrade. Maybe Broissoit or some that caliber, but I wouldnt mind keeping George)
Annunnen (cheap, solid contract, would like to see him more in action next year, dont play Georgie that often)
Drouin (do everything it takes to bring him back, what a redemption story, developed into a good 2 way guy, stick him next to Mac, he will deliever and i'm able to buy his jersey)
JJ (bring him back on a league minimum contract, he's a warrior, like him as the 6th or 7th d-man)
Kovalenko (let him play in the big league without playoff pressure and judge him after that)
Mittelstadt (i think he will look very good with a full pre season under his belt, wonder what it will take to sign him long term)
Trenin (would love to sign him but i think he will be way to expensive)
Manson (love him to death, he has his flaws and is quite injury prone but i think you still need him for one more year. He wont be replaced easy)
Malinski (give him a full year in the big mans league and decide after that if hes worth keeping for the POs. Liked a lot of what I've seen from him)

Not sure yet:

Sammy G (big big big props to my little dude. Went public with his problems, addressed them, went through the program, came back better and stronger, performed well in the POs. Not sure if i like his money for the role he plays, but we need puck moving d man. If the right offer comes in, i'd think about trading him)
Wood (contract not the best CMac handed out and i dont think he'd be easy to move. Dumb penalties over and over again but i quite like his style of play. Not a must keep but also not a send away asap either)
C. Jones (dont care, was solid but can be replaced easily)
Kivi (was surprisingly good in the POs, knows the system, would keep him if he's okay for signing for league minimum)

Let go:

Cogs (love him, what a guy, but hes past his best, gave us his all, time to move on and become younger)
Duhaime (liked him at the start but i think you can find guys like him for cheaper money)
Parise (thanks for your effort, it's a shame we couldnt help him get his cup, enjoy golfing)
Colton (i like him as a player, but the offense wasnt there and he's too expensive for our cap tight team. I know he just signed his big contract but i think we should move on from him)
Mikko (biggest question for the off season and the one we wont all agree on. Great player when/if he wants to be, but also a lazy f*** and his next contract will kill the team. Maybe Ismo was right. I'd try and get the best haul for him and re tool from there)
Walker (was good at the beginning, after that not so much, will ask for too much money. Thanks but goodbye)

Shoot to the moon (or KHL):
Nuke (dude, you killed this team twice in a row. This cannot be accepted, do everything you can to make sure he wont play for the Avs again. Great great player but also such a liability. Cant count on him, thats for sure)

Dark horse:

Landy (man i would love to have him back and the team needs to know what he's capable of. I still have hopes he can perform NHL level style of play but we cant count on him either)

Then there are the AHL/young guys like Foudy (whom i like but he cant stay healthy), Behrens (let him start in the AHL), Provy (you can find guys like him easily), Wagner and so on.

CMac has one hell of an off season in front of him and i wonder really what they are going to do. Dont think our window is closed yet, not with guys like Makar oder Nate on the team as other have said. You still need a ton of luck and it seemed we have sacrificed a lot for the last cup. Lets see what the future brings for the Avs. Also i f***ing hate the Dallas Stars since the days of f***ing Mike Modano and i also f***ing hate the Oilers. Rooting for the eastern teams now i guess.

 

[LOFIN]

This could go on so many threads around here, but I guess this is the most appropriate one. The amount of doom and gloom about the window shutting, how it's just mediocrity from now on forward... Give your head a shake. We lost against the best team in the West. And damn near took it to G7. Without our best playoff performer. The margins in the NHL are extremely thin. There might be years when your team is 10% stronger than the other year, 10% weaker than the other year. But even the team that is supposedly weaker can go all the way if the stars align. This is the most unpredictable league there is. Before the year, you can probably name around 10 contenders, yet still usually there is at least one surprise team in the conference finals. I'm looking at Vancouver here. The "cup window" isn't something that just opens up once and then shuts down after a certain time. It constantly flashes open and closes depending on the year. Dallas has never done a full rebuild, just worked around the edges and have had some luck with their picks. Many said they were done a few years ago, and here we are. Florida, a lot of people thought they were never going anywhere with Barkov. Well, they did do some major re-tooling in acquiring Tkachuck and hired Maurice, now they seem to be heading for their 2nd cup final in a row after bowing out multiple times in the 1st round. New York? A lot of people said last year was the best chance they had, and things have just continued to improve for them. Look at their roster, they have good pieces and probably the best goalie in the world. But it's not some super team.

What I'm getting at, is that as long as you can build around MacKinnon and Makar, you have an extremely solid foundation. The best D-man in the world and the 2nd best center in the world is a damn good place to start, and saying you don't have a window with those two is ludicrous. This offseason will be hard, but even if the team takes a step back in paper for next year, that doesn't mean that our "window" is somehow shut. Who knows, maybe trying a different look will actually work better.

Still too early to really say what they should do. Some quick thoughts:

- Georgiev deserves his final year, he was solid apart from G1 against WPG.
- Keep Drouin, sign him to another short term deal with low cap hit. That's probably the best option for him too.
- Jack Johnson is fine as a #6 if he's willing to stay for a league minimum.
- The rest of the "established" bottom sixers can go. LOC and some kids, can't afford much more. Bye Cogs, bye Trenin, bye Duhaime.
- You can explore a Rantanen trade, but not that optimistic about the return. It's would be mostly for capspace. And if Rantanen is willing to sign for less than 12mil, you take it.
- Nuke needs to be gone, his full cap hit. Not expecting this to be resolved immediately, but there will be teams interested. Next strike, he's out of the league. He's not that big of a risk contract wise.
- Explore a Ross Colton trade, just for capspace.

Buckle up boys, interesting times ahead! It sucks to lose again, but don't act like the sky is coming down. It's not. We will get another chance to compete for the Cup.

 

[BobRossColton]

Get kiviranta on the LOC contract. Or Duhaime.

 

[LOFIN]

Get kiviranta on the LOC contract. Or Duhaime.

Ain’t got no money for that

 

[henchman21]

We have all summer to debate this… but I think a few things are very clear.

Avs need to get younger. Vegas was the oldest team to win a Cup in a very long time and the Avs are older than them. Way older next year. The core is too old to survive a legit retool, so you have to find a way to get more 22-26 year old legs in the lineup.

Top guys need their minutes managed a lot better during the season. The wearing them out with 23-25 minute games all season leaves very little in the tank.

Bednar has to be more versatile in his attack. There has to be counters to the style the the Stars presented.

 

[Perratrooper]

People aren’t going to like it, but with Nuke likely on LTIR and then having his contract terminated we can effectively bring back the exact same team with the addition of Landeskog to replace Nuke and our young PMD to play on the third pair. This is the off-season I unfortunately expect.

However if I’m GM I’d want to get both younger and faster. Ship out Colton, Wood and Rantanen for a haul. Exam the market for Girard (although I thought he had a hell of a playoffs). Look at the goalie market to see if there’s a potential improvement.

Let’s hope for a fun off-season!

 

[Mighty Makar]

I know it won’t happen, but I hope Rantanen is traded this summer. I’m done with that guy.

 

[Alienblood]

Cap crunch time

Avs just got beat cleanly by a team with little superstar power but better depth.

Time to retool and end the 3 superstar era. Trade Rantanen.

need work on the blueline now , used to be a strength not anymore. Must draft one with our 1st , 1 of the Swedes

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

I know it won’t happen, but I hope Rantanen is traded this summer. I’m done with that guy.

If you look up and down our lineup, we really don't have anyone else to speculate on trading besides Girard and Manson. And the defensive depth is already depleted enough, especially letting Walker walk.

Wood and Colton just signed, they won't be moved (although at least one really should be).

No one will want Georgiev and the front office will just see his final playoff games. Not the months of insanity he put everyone through.

We really need to find a way to keep Trenin and Duhaime too, they were big missing pieces to our depth.

 

[Alienblood]

trade 4giev and Colton , sign Drouin , whatever with Nuke and trade Mikko

 

[Mighty Makar]

If you look up and down our lineup, we really don't have anyone else to speculate on trading besides Girard and Manson. And the defensive depth is already depleted enough, especially letting Walker walk.

Wood and Colton just signed, they won't be moved (although at least one really should be).

No one will want Georgiev and the front office will just see his final playoff games. Not the months of insanity he put everyone through.

We really need to find a way to keep Trenin and Duhaime too, they were big missing pieces to our depth.

I would like Trenin back.

 

[Alienblood]

This could go on so many threads around here, but I guess this is the most appropriate one. The amount of doom and gloom about the window shutting, how it's just mediocrity from now on forward... Give your head a shake. We lost against the best team in the West. And damn near took it to G7. Without our best playoff performer. The margins in the NHL are extremely thin. There might be years when your team is 10% stronger than the other year, 10% weaker than the other year. But even the team that is supposedly weaker can go all the way if the stars align. This is the most unpredictable league there is. Before the year, you can probably name around 10 contenders, yet still usually there is at least one surprise team in the conference finals. I'm looking at Vancouver here. The "cup window" isn't something that just opens up once and then shuts down after a certain time. It constantly flashes open and closes depending on the year. Dallas has never done a full rebuild, just worked around the edges and have had some luck with their picks. Many said they were done a few years ago, and here we are. Florida, a lot of people thought they were never going anywhere with Barkov. Well, they did do some major re-tooling in acquiring Tkachuck and hired Maurice, now they seem to be heading for their 2nd cup final in a row after bowing out multiple times in the 1st round. New York? A lot of people said last year was the best chance they had, and things have just continued to improve for them. Look at their roster, they have good pieces and probably the best goalie in the world. But it's not some super team.

What I'm getting at, is that as long as you can build around MacKinnon and Makar, you have an extremely solid foundation. The best D-man in the world and the 2nd best center in the world is a damn good place to start, and saying you don't have a window with those two is ludicrous. This offseason will be hard, but even if the team takes a step back in paper for next year, that doesn't mean that our "window" is somehow shut. Who knows, maybe trying a different look will actually work better.

Still too early to really say what they should do. Some quick thoughts:

- Georgiev deserves his final year, he was solid apart from G1 against WPG.
- Keep Drouin, sign him to another short term deal with low cap hit. That's probably the best option for him too.
- Jack Johnson is fine as a #6 if he's willing to stay for a league minimum.
- The rest of the "established" bottom sixers can go. LOC and some kids, can't afford much more. Bye Cogs, bye Trenin, bye Duhaime.
- You can explore a Rantanen trade, but not that optimistic about the return. It's would be mostly for capspace. And if Rantanen is willing to sign for less than 12mil, you take it.
- Nuke needs to be gone, his full cap hit. Not expecting this to be resolved immediately, but there will be teams interested. Next strike, he's out of the league. He's not that big of a risk contract wise.
- Explore a Ross Colton trade, just for capspace.

Buckle up boys, interesting times ahead! It sucks to lose again, but don't act like the sky is coming down. It's not. We will get another chance to compete for the Cup.

We looked bad against Dallas though in every single game.

 

[LOFIN]

We looked bad against Dallas though in every single game.

Many people thought the Canes dominated the Rangers. Guess who’s going to the ECF?

 

[Alienblood]

Many people thought the Canes dominated the Rangers. Guess who’s going to the ECF?

Ya not sure what the point is ?

I'm just saying the Avs didn't look good and are better than what they looked.

 

[UnkleKraker]

We have all summer to debate this… but I think a few things are very clear.

Avs need to get younger. Vegas was the oldest team to win a Cup in a very long time and the Avs are older than them. Way older next year. The core is too old to survive a legit retool, so you have to find a way to get more 22-26 year old legs in the lineup.

Top guys need their minutes managed a lot better during the season. The wearing them out with 23-25 minute games all season leaves very little in the tank.

Bednar has to be more versatile in his attack. There has to be counters to the style the the Stars presented.

Behrens and Ritchie or too soon?

 

[dahrougem2]

I'm not going to pretend the Avs deserved this series, because they didn't. But they were better than Dallas in games 1 and 5 in this series. They were better for half of game 6 before Dallas' fresher legs took over. They dominated Dallas in the 3rd period of game 2 and just fell short.

This wasn't some drubbing. Yeah, it sucks, but Dallas didn't ransack the Avs. Games and 4 were ugly, no doubt, but the human element comes into game 4 with that shock factor.

 

[hockeyfish]

I, for one, look forward to a summer of arm chair legal discussion as the Avs try to get rid of Valeri's contract.

 

[Eltuna]

The only Rantanen trade I could get on board with is if there is something that could be done with Ottawa for Tkachuk if he has asked for a trade.

Would basically be a repeat of the Huberdeau trade. Ottawas fan base would not accept a futures trade I don’t think and Rantanen would be the best single player offered for sure

 

[The Abusement Park]

Cap crunch time

Avs just got beat cleanly by a team with little superstar power but better depth.

Time to retool and end the 3 superstar era. Trade Rantanen.

I mean Johnston 100% looks like a future superstar out there. His postseason is kinda reminding me of when the Ducks won the Cup and Getzlaf had his coming out party that run. Even then this is different than losing to Seattle. Dallas may not have a Mack or Kucherov, but Johnston, Robertson, Stankoven, Benn, Seguin, Duchene is a talented and deep forward group.

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

The only Rantanen trade I could get on board with is if there is something that could be done with Ottawa for Tkachuk if he has asked for a trade.

Would basically be a repeat of the Huberdeau trade. Ottawas fan base would not accept a futures trade I don’t think and Rantanen would be the best single player offered for sure

Too much cap coming back imo. If the Avs expect Landy back, then the most you could do would be a Crouse cap-wise. Which might not be a bad thing if the additions are solid.

It's unfortunate, but the Avs have been hit by injuries or players being out for most of their cup window. First it was goaltending and Kadri. Then it was Nuke and Landy and other injuries. Team has never really been fully loaded outside it's one cup run and Franky still had to bail them out of a series.

 

[niwotsblessing]

Moose and Girard can serve as the core of the re-tool via cap space (14M+), and trade value.

Mitts and Drouin become part of our revamped Top 6.

Ismo's kid has cemented his place on this team.

No Nuke's.

 

[hockeyfish]

Too much cap coming back imo. If the Avs expect Landy back, then the most you could do would be a Crouse cap-wise. Which might not be a bad thing if the additions are solid.

It's unfortunate, but the Avs have been hit by injuries or players being out for most of their cup window. First it was goaltending and Kadri. Then it was Nuke and Landy and other injuries. Team has never really been fully loaded outside it's one cup run and Franky still had to bail them out of a series.

If they can buy out Valeri's contract, they'd have plenty of cap space.

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

People are sleeping on G if they want to move him. He held his own against Dallas, we're down to a single defensive pair without him.

I have a feeling he's going to have a huge bounce back year next year if he's staying on the straight and narrow.

If they can buy out Valeri's contract, they'd have plenty of cap space.

Not really. If Nuke is gone and you re-sign everyone but Walker, you'll have around 2.5-3.5mil to play with depending on reserve players and final contract values.

If you consider moving Rants is to make the team better and not cheaper, you need two replacement players. One in trade and one in free agency.