Yes, a Kadri re-sign would have been problematic on its own, obviously no one expected him to repeat his stellar career year and that deal would've aged like milk left outside. It just irritates me to no end that there was no Plan B whatsoever. They just threw up their hands and said "Eh, we'll just go with center-by-committee (again) and figure it out at the deadline," which of course they didn't.
And I don't believe for a second that the Avs truly believed Newhook would evolve into a viable #2 center. At least the coaches had to have known at that point. If management didn't, then they were either deluding themselves or are even worse at talent evaluation than I feared.
It's just stupid to me that the team won a Cup and followed up their title defense by failing to shore up the very weakness that, when addressed, directly led to their first championship in over 20 years.
Again, getting Manson was a great idea. Keeping him was not.
I agree in part. I agree that they didn't truly think Newhook would be their 2C. They only tried him there for a few games to start the season, before trying something else.
We have no proof, but I very strongly believe they did have a plan B, and that was a deadline deal. Maybe not a long term 2C option, but a stop gap move that would have bumped Compher back to 3C. Then something changed their mind. Either the market, injuries to their trade targets which there were a few, or injuries piling up on the team and likely making that move a waste of assets.
2C wasn't a long term weakness they needed to address before winning though. The Avs almost always had good center depth. 2C was only a weak point for about 3.5 years out of the last 15.
Kerfoot for a couple years when they weren't ready to contend yet anyway, and 1.5 years with Compher and co before trading for Mitts at the deadline. Aside from that they had good center depth, because the Avs are good at identifying skill forwards. Just can't expect them to have a good 2C every year long term.
2009>2013 - Duchene - Stastny - ROR
2013>2014 - Duchene - Stastny - ROR - MacKinnon
2015>2015 - MacKinnon - Duchene - ROR - Soderberg
2016>2017 - MacKinnon - Duchene - Soderberg - Mitchell
2017>2018 - MacKinnon - Kerfoot - Soderberg
2019>2022 - MacKinnon - Kadri - Compher
2023>2023 - MacKinnon - Compher - Eller
2024>2024 - MacKinnon - Mitts - Colton - Trenin
The area that was a weakness for a long time, that they needed to improve before winning, wasn't 2C, it was the D core. Added Girard in 2017. Added Makar in 2018. Added Toews and Byram in 2020. Then the final touch was getting harder to play against by adding Manson at the deadline of 2021-22.
And they're in a similar position as they were before IMO. Good center depth, but need to tweak the D core, to win again.