- Apr 25, 2006
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Rumor: 2024-2025 Trade Rumors and Free Agency Talk | The Slow Crawl to the Season
- Thread starter forsbergavs32
- Start date
SoundwaveIsCharisma
Moderator
SoundwaveIsCharisma
Moderator
I mean, I loved the KGB line and they only played together for a bit.
Ah, yes, I was a fan of that line too. I miss Lacroix deadline craziness.
Probably... I have a few games from the 05 season saved on my server still somehow and I watch them every once in a while. So many loveable guys on that roster...
The post-lockout Avs were a fun, scrappy bunch. I believe they put up far better offensive numbers than the more talented (on paper at least) rosters that preceded them.
dahrougem2
Registered User
I'll never understand the 02 Avs being SO inept offensively. Yes, Forsberg was gone but the roster wasn't a bunch of plugs.
Saw the discussion about needing help in the GDT thread so bringing this up here as it makes more sense in this thread, but...
Losing Kovalenko in the Blackwood trade has definitely hurt our forward depth which is further compounded by the two injuries right now to Wood and Drouin. Not to mention Colton looking so much better at Wing then C meaning the Center depth looks especially suspect once again.
Not that Kovalenko is some amazing player, but I think he was clearly a legit NHL quality guy and Smith just isn't.
Kelly has settled in reasonably nicely but a 3C he absolutely is not. If Colton is staying on the Wing moving forward(And IMO he should) then getting a 3C needs to be a priority at the deadline as well.
If you ever get reasonably healthy with the forwards, minus Landy... It probably should look something like this:
Drouin - Mack - Nuke
Colton - Mitss - Mikko
Lehky - ???? - LOC
Wood - Kelly - Kivi
Ivan
You could interchange Lehky and Colton for sure, but if they can get a legitimately solid 3C I like the idea of spreading things out a little more and you could have one hell of a tenacious 3rd line with Lehky and LOC as the forechecking wingers.
The biggest question is who do you get for the 3C in this situation. A rental wouldn't cost that much, but a guy with term who the Avs can also afford cap wise next year wouldn't be cheap. Laughton is the guy I immediately look at. His $3M would work cap wise for us. But we'd be looking at the 2026 1st + for sure, probably Goulash as that + even.
I do think the Avs have enough assets to add a 3C and a 4/5D if they wanted too... But it would run them pretty dry. You're likely talking 2025 2nd(NYR), 2026 1st at least for those two pieces, and then probably a Goulash prospect. Basically signaling this as maybe the last year of being able to go all in with this group, they simply wouldn't have the assets to do it again at that point. But given where we're clearly heading, this probably should be the last year of putting our chips all in the middle and so at least IMO they might as well truly go all in.
Losing Kovalenko in the Blackwood trade has definitely hurt our forward depth which is further compounded by the two injuries right now to Wood and Drouin. Not to mention Colton looking so much better at Wing then C meaning the Center depth looks especially suspect once again.
Not that Kovalenko is some amazing player, but I think he was clearly a legit NHL quality guy and Smith just isn't.
Kelly has settled in reasonably nicely but a 3C he absolutely is not. If Colton is staying on the Wing moving forward(And IMO he should) then getting a 3C needs to be a priority at the deadline as well.
If you ever get reasonably healthy with the forwards, minus Landy... It probably should look something like this:
Drouin - Mack - Nuke
Colton - Mitss - Mikko
Lehky - ???? - LOC
Wood - Kelly - Kivi
Ivan
You could interchange Lehky and Colton for sure, but if they can get a legitimately solid 3C I like the idea of spreading things out a little more and you could have one hell of a tenacious 3rd line with Lehky and LOC as the forechecking wingers.
The biggest question is who do you get for the 3C in this situation. A rental wouldn't cost that much, but a guy with term who the Avs can also afford cap wise next year wouldn't be cheap. Laughton is the guy I immediately look at. His $3M would work cap wise for us. But we'd be looking at the 2026 1st + for sure, probably Goulash as that + even.
I do think the Avs have enough assets to add a 3C and a 4/5D if they wanted too... But it would run them pretty dry. You're likely talking 2025 2nd(NYR), 2026 1st at least for those two pieces, and then probably a Goulash prospect. Basically signaling this as maybe the last year of being able to go all in with this group, they simply wouldn't have the assets to do it again at that point. But given where we're clearly heading, this probably should be the last year of putting our chips all in the middle and so at least IMO they might as well truly go all in.
It's a miracle the '01 team was as good as it was. They lost Deadmarsh in the Blake trade, but that was offset somewhat with Drury, but then Forsberg went down so the 2nd line was Nieminen-Drury-Hinote for the latter half of the playoffs and somehow that worked down the stretch (it did not work afterward). Couple that with a third line of Messier-Yelle-Podein that was really good defensively but COULD NOT for the life of them score, and you have a team that's pretty top-heavy.
It cannot be understated just how good Sakic was that season. He was far and away the best player in the National Hockey League and it wasn't even close. When he finally came back to Earth, the offense went out the window. Also, losing Bourque, one of the best PPQBs and outlet passers the game has ever seen. Blake was good but IMO he was actually not a good QB. That's why I agreed with Lacroix going out and getting Derek Morris, even though that trade ended up being a total bust.
Lastly, as much as people bitch and moan on here about Mikko Rantanen, I'd argue Chris Drury's attitude was a thousand times worse. I remember Hartley had him center the 3rd line because injuries severely limited his options and I've never seen anyone do an on-ice pout as bad as that until Pierre-Luc Dubois nearly 20 years later. For all the accolades he got for his clutch playoff heroics, not nearly enough is said about how much he dogged it during the regular season. I think the only real "complete" season he ever turned in was in Buffalo right before he jumped ship to the Rangers.
Oh, sorry...forgot about Alex Tanguay, also a much, MUCH more frustrating player IMO than Mikko. Completely disappeared for vast stretches either due to lack of confidence or injury. Never hit 100 points IIRC.
Put all that together and, yeah, I wasn't terribly surprised when the team struggled to score following the '01 Cup win.
Bill Peckerskull
Fargin' Icehole
Ivan and Kelly IMO are worn the f*** out, and who could blame them? This is similar to what happened to Colton around this time last year after being the de facto 2C because of Johansen's worthless ass.
Maaaaaan if Nashville seriously gives up that 1st rounder for another old fart...well let's just say I hope that happens. But I'm also guessing whatever player gets selected with that pick will find his way back to Nashville eventually.
- Oct 24, 2008
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Ivan has been playing 5-6 minutes per game for the past 3 weeks.
He better not be burnt out!
Avs9296
Registered User
- Jul 1, 2019
- 3,195
- 4,897
Ivan is averaging 10 minutes of ice time per game this season lol if he can't handle 10 minutes per game then he's got big problems.
Even Kelly is at 12 minutes which for him is a bit high but it's nothing crazy for an NHL athlete.
These are excuses. The truth is they just aren't very good.
Bender
I'll eat pancakes on his grave!
- Sep 25, 2002
- 18,018
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Poor Predators... Barry selling one day then buying the next - they are doomed
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Based off the recent trades Parssinen or Novak are probably available without giving up a 1st. Much prefer Parssinen over Novak given their contracts.
Honestly wouldn't be surprised if we could swap Wood + mid pick for either one, given it's Trotz at the helm.
dahrougem2
Registered User
hockeyfish
Registered User
I mentioned it yesterday, but McLeod would be a great fit at 3C. But I doubt Buffalo will be looking to move him after paying a big price for him a few months ago.
- Oct 24, 2008
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Toronto media are talking a lot about that exact tandem as well.
They want Gourde as 3C behind AM34/JT91 and to re-unite the Tanev brothers.
shadow1
Registered User
- Nov 29, 2008
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AvalancheSpeedsters
Registered User
shadow1
Registered User
- Nov 29, 2008
- 16,789
- 5,674
Ivan is a 4th liner stuck playing with 5th and sometimes even 6th liners, IMO.
I like the Kelly line...as a fourth line. It's been a shockingly productive unit this month, chipping in 6 goals. But that's not going to last.
I like the Kelly line...as a fourth line. It's been a shockingly productive unit this month, chipping in 6 goals. But that's not going to last.
expatriatedtexan
Illegitimati non carborundum
- Aug 17, 2005
- 19,413
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I honestly have no recollection of that. I was out of the Navy by then, so I didn't miss it because of deployments...I wonder if it was because ESPN was the only one covering hockey and well....so I only got to see those games that were broadcast on ESPN/ESPN2. Which back then... they actually covered the Avs quite a bit becaues of how good they were.
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