I don't think there's anyway Kirill signs with Colorado as a UFA. Likely NYC or Florida bound. Only way he would end up here would be via trade, like Mikko (re-signed) + Colton?? + Ritchie/high pick and even then I don't think Minny would trade him to Colorado.
There are different ways to skin a cat. Sign and trade is one way, a three team trade is another. Heck even letting Mikko walk is another as we could use his cap hit to sign a high end winger. That would be assuming you can bring in a player that wants to come here though which would be dangerous to end up with nobody.
I know the poster probably tried to be funny about our lack of depth if we re-sign Mikko. And there is a small truth in that, some moves would have to be made. But the biggest problem is not going to be the lack of depth because of Mikko's cap number, the biggest problem is likely going to be the same problem we have right now: the other top-6 forwards can't stay healthy (or get healthy in Landeskog case) OR are playing like a minor league player (Mittelstadt). Getting rid of Rantanen isn't going to solve these issues.
I mean the upcoming winger class in FA is fine-ish. It has a high end winger in Marner, but isn't realistically isn't going to be the Mikko replacement because he doesn't add anything more in talent/production and will still eat up a similar amount of cap. Then you have Ehlers and Boeser who could potentially fill that role, but also come with some risks/downsides. I mean Ehlers/Boeser at ~9 is cheaper than Mikko at 13 but I wouldn't say the value in those contracts is necessarily better. And even it's not a guarantee those guys will fit the team/system or in Ehlers case, when he gets to the playoffs he becomes an absolute ghost.
I have no clue why, but I read that as "if he signs elsewhere for 13mil". So that parts definitely an error on my part.
Another team that acquires him would have the same incentive for 8 years as the Avs: lower the caphit.
People can choose to come to their own conclusions but personally, if you say stuff like "f*** the defensive impact"... I think that's a pretty weak argument. One-way forwards are a very rare breed in the NHL these days, you have to be absolutely elite in order for the coach to put up with it. Mikko enjoys 'blowing his own tire' in the corner of the offensive zone every single game - so he doesn't have to bother to backcheck as hard 98% of the time.... Bednar ignores it because of his offensive contributions.
While it was partially tongue in cheek, he’s not going to have high end linemates for the most part in this scenario. A 13 million dollar player should be expected to drive offence, as in apply sustained pressure with a decent amount of that resulting in actual production.
So should we put LOC and Kiviranta with Nate as well?
When you watch a game and see both Rantanen and MacKinnon, do you see a difference ?
Nate would still drive offence with those two, Mikko would not. Of course his production would take a hit but that’s not the point I am making.
Hey at least we might finally get people here to complain about something else than "the Avs have a terrible bottom-6 or ""Bednar overplays his top guys again". Change is good.
So maybe we should indeed play Kiviranta and LOC with MacKinnon then, spread the wealth.
Anyone know an easy way to figure that out? I'm guessing there's some advanced stats website out there that has this kind of thing?
Ok cool, lets put Nate with them and then see how Mikko does with Drouin and Lehky then. I mean Mack is the highest paid player on the team, he should be able to handle that responsibility no?
Above I already admitted fault in misreading you're quote. For whatever reason I thought you were talking about him playing for another team not here. But in the case of the Avs it's a more likely possibility than elsewhwere.
