Rumor: 2024-2025 Trade Rumors and Free Agency Talk | Part Deux

[Freaky Styley]

Here’s why I want EP40, it’s a rare opportunity to get a player of his upside. He has legit 100+ point, Selke-candidate upside. For all the talk that he won’t succeed in the playoffs, he’s been there twice. Once he was just over PPG, and the other time was last year where he struggled. If you can swing a deal around him for Mitts I think you have to do it, the upside is just too much

You just traded a 100pt player to free up cap space. I get he's a center but it's not going to happen

 

[Chibby]

Team needs a D man or two and at least a middle 6 with high end potential shooter.

 

[dahrougem2]

Here’s why I want EP40, it’s a rare opportunity to get a player of his upside. He has legit 100+ point, Selke-candidate upside. For all the talk that he won’t succeed in the playoffs, he’s been there twice. Once he was just over PPG, and the other time was last year where he struggled. If you can swing a deal around him for Mitts I think you have to do it, the upside is just too much

Absolutely. If you can run MacKinnon/Pettersson down the middle there isn't a team in the West outside of Edmonton that can match, and Edmonton doesn't have Cale Makar.

I'd seriously pay an absurd futures price for him to make it work.

Pettersson
Hoglander
Sherwood

for

Mittelstadt
Colton
Wood
Malinski
Ritchie
Zellers
2025 2nd (CAR)
2025 2nd (NYR)
2027 Conditional 1st (Canucks choice of 2026 or 2027 1st if Flyers receive Avalanche 2025 1st)

 

[Alienblood]

Absolutely. If you can run MacKinnon/Pettersson down the middle there isn't a team in the West outside of Edmonton that can match, and Edmonton doesn't have Cale Makar.

I'd seriously pay an absurd futures price for him to make it work.

Pettersson
Hoglander
Sherwood

for

Mittelstadt
Colton
Wood
Malinski
Ritchie
Zellers
2025 2nd (CAR)
2025 2nd (NYR)
2027 Conditional 1st (Canucks choice of 2026 or 2027 1st if Flyers receive Avalanche 2025 1st)

Oh man me too. A 1-2 punch is what we need. Would love to roll that again.

 

[The Merchant]

Just one? The defense needs a complete overhaul. No more small, soft, offensive-minded D. The top pairing will give you enough. Shift to some stay-at-home D, trade Girard if need be. Punt CDH and Middleton to the moon and staple Malinski in the AHL.

 

[Balthazar]

Just one? The defense needs a complete overhaul. No more small, soft, offensive-minded D. The top pairing will give you enough. Shift to some stay-at-home D, trade Girard if need be. Punt CDH and Middleton to the moon and staple Malinski in the AHL.

I'm OK with this but we need a new coach first. Bednar wants ALL his dmen to lead the offense and skate with the puck. No stay at home, good first pass, old time defense stuff.

 

[The Merchant]

I'm OK with this but we need a new coach first. Bednar wants ALL his dmen to lead the offense and skate with the puck. No stay at home, good first pass, old time defense stuff.

It's why they've prioritized almost nothing but PMD for years now. Walker, CDH, Malinski, Kylington, Brannstrom, etc. Guys like Middleton, MacDermid and Ludvig have been outliers, but Bednar has hated playing most of them (and I have no f***ing clue what he sees in Middleton).

If you look at the Cup-winning D: Cale, Toews, Bo, Manson, G, EJ, JMFJ, MacD. Leans towards offense, but still a great blend of PMD and stay at home guys. Today's iteration comes nowhere close.

 

[Alienblood]

Definitely need a better 2C to compete with , Dallas, Edmonton and Vegas simple as that

 

[Pokecheque]

Just one? The defense needs a complete overhaul. No more small, soft, offensive-minded D. The top pairing will give you enough. Shift to some stay-at-home D, trade Girard if need be. Punt CDH and Middleton to the moon and staple Malinski in the AHL.

They don’t need to adopt the Seattle way of building a defense. That ain’t working for them either. Besides, their top stay at home guy refuses to stay at home.

I’m willing to bet Sammy’s still hurt somehow. He hasn’t been the same since coming back. Manson is CLEARLY not 100%. Beyond that they got nothing.

I swear this is where losing Behrens for the year absolutely f***ing enrages me. He would have seen at least a brief callup by now if he were playing. Would he have sucked? Very possible. But there’s no way he’d be worse than the current parade of third pairing guys.

 

[Hasbro]

Here’s why I want EP40, it’s a rare opportunity to get a player of his upside. He has legit 100+ point, Selke-candidate upside. For all the talk that he won’t succeed in the playoffs, he’s been there twice. Once he was just over PPG, and the other time was last year where he struggled. If you can swing a deal around him for Mitts I think you have to do it, the upside is just too much

You forgot to list screwing the Canucks.

 

[PAZ]

I think the defense needs a bigger overhaul than our forwards. My priority would be #3D > #2C > #5/6D.

We can't use 4giev as an excuse anymore, the defense is simply garbage. Would love Andersson but I think Jones is the more realistic target. He has a NMC and would waive to Colorado. Chicago has a bunch of young defensemen they're going to want to make space for and would be willing to retain.

He's a bit of a gamble, but I think he'll be an overall upgrade over Girard on the 2nd pair. Let G feast on the 3rd pair or trade him if a #2C becomes available.

 

[SoundwaveIsCharisma]

You forgot to list screwing the Canucks.

I thought that was basically inherent with anything and everything I comment on. Even when I wish people a good day, I hope that somehow - through the butterfly effect the Canucks are screwed.

 

[SoundwaveIsCharisma]

I think the defense needs a bigger overhaul than our forwards. My priority would be #3D > #2C > #5/6D.

We can't use 4giev as an excuse anymore, the defense is simply garbage. Would love Andersson but I think Jones is the more realistic target. He has a NMC and would waive to Colorado. Chicago has a bunch of young defensemen they're going to want to make space for and would be willing to retain.

He's a bit of a gamble, but I think he'll be an overall upgrade over Girard on the 2nd pair. Let G feast on the 3rd pair or trade him if a #2C becomes available.

I would only be wanting Jones if Chicago is willing to retain 50%

 

[PAZ]

I would only be wanting Jones if Chicago is willing to retain 50%

50% is excessive, but if they retain and he comes in at $6 mil that would be feasible. I think he'd look a hell of a lot better in the Avs system than he does in Chicago. Plus he's a RHD which makes it a lot easier to find a partner for him.

 

[The Merchant]

They don’t need to adopt the Seattle way of building a defense. That ain’t working for them either. Besides, their top stay at home guy refuses to stay at home.

I’m willing to bet Sammy’s still hurt somehow. He hasn’t been the same since coming back. Manson is CLEARLY not 100%. Beyond that they got nothing.

I swear this is where losing Behrens for the year absolutely f***ing enrages me. He would have seen at least a brief callup by now if he were playing. Would he have sucked? Very possible. But there’s no way he’d be worse than the current parade of third pairing guys.

The key is balance. You're not going to turn into Seattle by adding some defensive D into the lineup. The scale is just tipped too far in the opposite direction right now

 

[Richard88]

You just traded a 100pt player to free up cap space. I get he's a center but it's not going to happen

They were willing to sign Rantanen for $11.75m so clearly they saw a way forward with someone making that amount.

They obviously added Necas' caphit but removing Mittelstadt would take care of that.

The only challenge would be when Necas is up in 2026, but then you have Manson's caphit rolling off and a rising cap to help. Then in 2027 you have Colton, Lehkonen, and Girard as UFA's aligning with Makar. You might need to restructure before then but you'd have at least two years of MacKinnon/Pettersson WITH solid depth as well to make a serious run at another cup.

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

You just traded a 100pt player to free up cap space. I get he's a center but it's not going to happen

Opinion: Mikko Rantanen should have returned a 1st rounder

Do you think Chris MacFarland and the Avs traded Mikko Rantanen too soon? I do.

www.milehighhockey.com

Rumoured last contract offer to Rantanen 11.75million.

Very very similar amounts, but you know the part Avalanche loves about Pettersson contract over Mikko? Pettersson will be only 33 years old when the contract is over. That's a big plus.

Saving 150k a season. Cmac is all about discounts.

Let's go even further and compare roughly the same amount of games from start of their careers:

Pettersson has played 450 games in the regular season, putting up 443 points in the NHL. Rantanen scored 510 points in the first 490 games. Meaning: Pettersson averages 0.984 points per game, while Mikko scored 1.04 points.

The similarities are kinda crazy, and if you take only 450 games for Mikko, the numbers are very very close to equal because the last season for comparing was Mikkos breakthrough season.

Insane similarities eh! Pettersson equals Mikko.

 

[Miri]

Just one? The defense needs a complete overhaul. No more small, soft, offensive-minded D. The top pairing will give you enough. Shift to some stay-at-home D, trade Girard if need be. Punt CDH and Middleton to the moon and staple Malinski in the AHL.

Offensive minded D pushing the play and jumping up to join the rush is how we play, our “trademark” tactic - asking to move away from that toward big stay at home D is pretty much asking to replace Bednar. I for one like this high octane offence Avalanche, so i disagree with you here. It worked for us in the past and if it doesnt know (to same extent), its because of injuries and trades we had to do cause of the cap crunch (losing Kadri, losing Byram to replace Kadri, losing Compher as 3C, losing EJ, no Landy, etc….)

 

[Alienblood]

New rumor has Pettersson linked to an Atlantic team for what it's worth.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

I know there have been reports that Vancouver would trade Miller/EP to a Western Conference team, but consider me skeptical especially when it comes to EP.

They don’t want that guy in their way of playoff success for the next 7 years.

Miller is one thing as he’s aging and probably drops off in 2-3 years, but EP could turn back into a 100 point, Selke level player for 7 years.

I think they would have to have their socks blown off on an offer and would likely still take less to send him to the East.

I don’t see an EP trade as realistic. This is ignoring that I have serious reservations on the player anyhow.

 

[a mangy Meowth]

Absolutely. If you can run MacKinnon/Pettersson down the middle there isn't a team in the West outside of Edmonton that can match, and Edmonton doesn't have Cale Makar.

I'd seriously pay an absurd futures price for him to make it work.

Pettersson
Hoglander
Sherwood

for

Mittelstadt
Colton
Wood
Malinski
Ritchie
Zellers
2025 2nd (CAR)
2025 2nd (NYR)
2027 Conditional 1st (Canucks choice of 2026 or 2027 1st if Flyers receive Avalanche 2025 1st)

For all of our sake, please don't propose this in the trade forum

 

[Freaky Styley]

They were willing to sign Rantanen for $11.75m so clearly they saw a way forward with someone making that amount.

They obviously added Necas' caphit but removing Mittelstadt would take care of that.

The only challenge would be when Necas is up in 2026, but then you have Manson's caphit rolling off and a rising cap to help. Then in 2027 you have Colton, Lehkonen, and Girard as UFA's aligning with Makar. You might need to restructure before then but you'd have at least two years of MacKinnon/Pettersson WITH solid depth as well to make a serious run at another cup.

Opinion: Mikko Rantanen should have returned a 1st rounder

Do you think Chris MacFarland and the Avs traded Mikko Rantanen too soon? I do.

www.milehighhockey.com

Rumoured last contract offer to Rantanen 11.75million.

Very very similar amounts, but you know the part Avalanche loves about Pettersson contract over Mikko? Pettersson will be only 33 years old when the contract is over. That's a big plus.

Saving 150k a season. Cmac is all about discounts.

Let's go even further and compare roughly the same amount of games from start of their careers:

Pettersson has played 450 games in the regular season, putting up 443 points in the NHL. Rantanen scored 510 points in the first 490 games. Meaning: Pettersson averages 0.984 points per game, while Mikko scored 1.04 points.

The similarities are kinda crazy, and if you take only 450 games for Mikko, the numbers are very very close to equal because the last season for comparing was Mikkos breakthrough season.

Insane similarities eh! Pettersson equals Mikko.

The only reason I think they were willing to go to that number with Mikko is because it's Mikko. He was a core player that won the Cup with them and was loved by teammates.

I think once they made the decision to trade him their cap structure ideas changed completely. I don't think they are looking to add another huge contract and Petey comes with a few yellow flags. To your point Richard, Necas is the Mikko replacement and by the time his contract is up he will be in the 10M range probably, if not more. I don't think they make a significant move like Petey just to be forced into another significant move in 1.5 years.

It's clear the team needs more help in other areas of the ice. Adding EP won't cure this team's defensive woes. I don't see them trying to outscore their issues.

 

[Richard88]

Just been perusing CapWages for RHD's that would be of interest.

The Avs probably need an upgrade on Malinski and/or Manson this year. Manson will probably also be let go in UFA in 2026, but the Avs have nobody in the pipeline to fill that role beyond 2026 (unless one overrates Malinski). So the likeliest avenue is a trade.

CMac typically likes to trade for guys about to hit (or having already hit), RFA (see Lehkonen, Graves, Grubauer, Burakovsky, Toews, etc), so that would logically be the most likely outcome, if there's a pending RFA who fits. He's also rented UFA Dmen before (eg. Walker, Nemeth, plus Manson though he re-signed). As such I've compiled lists below for each contract type.

2025 RFA's with Arbitration rights:

Nobody on this list seems like an obvious fit. Dobson would be a pipedream as he'll command a huge raise and the Avs likely don't have the assets they'd want for him.

2026 RFA:

Nemec name has been out there and the Avs should absolutely kick tyres. Ceulemans would probably be an interesting reclamation project if he's available.

2026 RFA with Arbitration rights:

Kesselring is the most interesting one here. He's done really well with Arizona/Utah and has a caphit of $1.4m for 2 playoff runs. Curious what it would take to shake him loose.

2025 UFA:

Not a whole lot to choose from as rentals here. Petry or Savard as rentals perhaps, though they've clearly declined a lot. Maybe Perbix in the off-season (though Avs dont typically enter bidding wars for UFA's so that seems unlikely).

2026 UFA:

Trouba (heavily retained)? Andersson, Murphy, Jensen, and Gudas are somewhat interesting to varying degrees; Andersson being the clear top choice and best fit.

UFA's with term (expiring 2027-2032), under age 32:

Seth Jones (retained), come on down.

Beyond him I wonder about Zub and Marino, either would be a decent partner for Girard. Also curious if/when Boston decide that they're comfortable letting Brandon Carlo go, and if he has the skating to play for Bednar.

Overall the names that intrigue the most are Jones, Nemec, and Kesselring.

Jones would be the most surefire fit in the top 4 next to Girard, but would need a bit of retention.

Nemec would be a bet on potential, but the ceiling is pretty high. Not sure the Avs have the asset(s) to win that bidding war though if he's available.

Kesselring would probably be more of a 4/5 Dman than outright 2nd pairing guy, but his low caphit would create a lot of options to upgrade elsewhere. Armstrong has no reason to trade him though unless there's an overpayment.

After doing this bit of perusing it's pretty clear why there wer/are rumours of Jones to the Avs. He'd clearly be the best fit of the guys potentially available, and due to his NMC wouldn't cost too much. Just need to get that retention.

 

[The Pwnerer]

Don't get your hopes up with EP. No way we could top an offer from say Buffalo. So I guess all that a Chicago scouting was really just to be a broker. Pretty lame.

 

[dahrougem2]

For all of our sake, please don't propose this in the trade forum

Only reason it isn't a Necas deal is their GM saying publicly he expects to lose the trade