I find it a little humorous that several threads in this forum lament the lack of depth on the Avs. Then the possibility of more cap space arrives, and suddenly it is just fine to pay Mikko $14M or whatever number his agent hears from other teams. Perhaps a Mack cap is not the worst thing. What if Wedgie turns out to be a great backup? What about Drouin, who is one of very few players not in Bednar's doghouse? What about a 5D and 6D that might cost $2.5M each, instead of added together? Or a 4th line without over-the-hill journeymen? All of these would be smart cap allocations as well.
There actually is an answer for all of these needs: Draft better and always have a handful of quality players on ELCs. But the Avs draft like crap, and have squandered virtually all of the remotely viable assets in trades for Ryjo, Eller, Trenin, etc. It will likely be 4 or 5 years before anyone not named Ritchie makes the roster on an ELC.
Either Miller or EP - in a hypothetical trade merely as an example - would give the Avs potentially $3M ( EP) or $6M (JTM) in cap room over the $14 Mikko seems determined to receive.
Sure, the Avs have had many injuries that impact depth, but who is to say that the Avs don't have the same injury issues next year, with a Mikko $14M contract choking the salary cap? Mitts falling into a sinkhole surely does not help either. But I am 100% willing to die on the hill of not paying Mikko $14M, instead finding a wing making $8M, then spreading the extra $6M around to increase the quality of the depth players on the roster.
