Rumor: 2024-2025 Trade Rumors and Free Agency Talk | The Slow Crawl to the Season

[Gumballhead]

Can we change the name of the thread, too? Slow crawl to the Season seems a bit behind the times.

And would you please sit up straight for chrissakes, you’re not a teenager anymore!

That actually fits CMac's MO. Especially if he's paying a decent price.

They don't like throwing away assets on pure rentals. Hence their plan to re-sign Blackwood already.

Yes it is exactly. Get him for a year and a half and if he fits they’ll try to keep him.

 

[GoNordiquesGo]

Goes in line with what Kypreos said on Tuesday.

CMac had the target(s) identified and wasn’t going to wait around for somebody to outbid them or sit until closer to the trade deadline.

He said it’s the same thing for the D we are looking for. Avs have their guy(s) identified and might be willing to overpay or meet the asking price to get a deal done soon. Won’t wait until the deadline.

We can only add a D if Landeskog isn't coming back before the playoffs... if they make that move, it would be quite a strong statement regarding Landeskog's health!!

 

[Foppa2118]

100% to all of that. To further that, and granted it was a couple of years ago, he was one of their best D in that playoff series against the Avs. Stylistically, that Seattle team was similar to how most recent iterations of the Avs play. And he did well in that scenario.

Like I said, it was a couple of years ago but based on his game, there’s a decent chance it ages well. He’s 6’7” and uses that to take away space. How has that been diminished substantially?

Yeah my preferred plan (if Oleksiak was playing a decent level) for CMac to shakeup the Avs D core and save some cap a while back was to let Toews walk as UFA, trade Girard for a stop gap 2C, and go with this top 4. I think that would have extended their contention window.

Oleksiak - Makar
Byram - Manson

They can still do a version of that with Toews-Manson. Then they can play Girard on the 3rd pair and maybe bring in a two way guy at the deadline to pair with him in the playoffs, if Malinski isn't quite at the level needed.

They can also just shuffle all the LD around in the pairings, depending on the game situation, like they used to do more often.

Oleksiak - Makar
Toews - Manson
Girard - RD

or

Toews - Makar
Girard - Manson
Oleksiak - Malinski

 

[Bender]

Oleksiak!

He's got another year left on his deal at $4.6M after this one and I doubt very much that Seattle would be in sell-mode this early in the season.

Marcus Pettersson is on the last year of his deal at roughly $4M and on a team probably not going anywhere. I think that's a more plausible target.

 

[John Mandalorian]

Yeah my preferred plan (if Oleksiak was playing a decent level) for CMac to shakeup the Avs D core and save some cap a while back was to let Toews walk as UFA, trade Girard for a stop gap 2C, and go with this top 4. I think that would have extended their contention window.

Oleksiak - Makar
Byram - Manson

They can still do a version of that with Toews-Manson. Then they can play Girard on the 3rd pair and maybe bring in a two way guy at the deadline to pair with him in the playoffs, if Malinski isn't quite at the level needed.

They can also just shuffle all the LD around in the pairings, depending on the game situation, like they used to do more often.

Oleksiak - Makar
Toews - Manson
Girard - RD

or

Toews - Makar
Girard - Manson
Oleksiak - Malinski

Yeah. Even though Girard is small, he’s better defensively than offensively. So you’re kind of loading the defensively conscious D on the left side. It’s not a horrible idea. Teams value right handed RD with physicality so maybe at some point Manson gets traded for some offense on the right side if they go all in on this?

 

[Foppa2118]

Yeah. Even though Girard is small, he’s better defensively than offensively. So you’re kind of loading the defensively conscious D on the left side. It’s not a horrible idea. Teams value right handed RD with physicality so maybe at some point Manson gets traded for some offense on the right side if they go all in on this?

Yeah there's lots of compounding benefits.

Frees them up to lose Manson's salary if need be (UFA or trade), with another big body in the top 4, and also as you allude to, Oleksiak's low offense, not super high level play, and age, put him in a range where they may be able to find a comfortable number to re-sign him.

Not sure what the market will look like after the cap rises, but If he fits well, maybe they can get him at a similar number (4-5M).

 

[RoyIsALegend]

He's got another year left on his deal at $4.6M after this one and I doubt very much that Seattle would be in sell-mode this early in the season.

Marcus Pettersson is on the last year of his deal at roughly $4M and on a team probably not going anywhere. I think that's a more plausible target.

I can see Pettersson being one of the identified targets.

As you said, expiring deal and on a team ready to sell.

 

[Tommy Shelby]

Provorov is my guess as to who they target

 

[RoyIsALegend]

Provorov is my guess as to who they target

Questionable attitude and culture issues, I don’t think the Avs will target a guy like that when they’ve been raving about the change in vibes from George/Annunen to the Woods.

 

[Gumballhead]

Questionable attitude and culture issues, I don’t think the Avs will target a guy like that when they’ve been raving about the change in vibes from George/Annunen to the Woods.

He’ll get one look at wood and colton’s love affair and run for the hills.

 

[CobraAcesS]

Questionable attitude and culture issues, I don’t think the Avs will target a guy like that when they’ve been raving about the change in vibes from George/Annunen to the Woods.

It's going to be something out of left field, should be interesting to see how serious they are about forcing the trade.

 

[Foppa2118]

Petterson would probably be a pure rental though. Not really the Avs MO.

Also a RD, and I feel like they still want Manson in the top 4, so he'd mostly just be stapled to the 3rd pair as a Malinski replacement. Not a lot of room to have a big impact on improving the D core.

They'd probably have to move their 2026 1st either way, and if it's for a rental, that means the player won't help them next year, and they won't have next year's 1st at the deadline either.

Whoever it is, if CMac is overpaying especially, I think it's more likely for a guy with at least a year left so they can get two playoff runs out of them, and I think LD is more likely than RD, but we'll see.

Edit: Petterson is a LD not RD.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

Petterson would probably be a pure rental though. Not really the Avs MO.

Also a RD so he'd mostly just be stapled to the 3rd pair as a Malinski replacement. Not a lot of room to have a big impact on improving the D core.

They'd probably have to move their 2026 1st either way, and if it's for a rental, that means the player won't help them next year, and they won't have next year's 1st at the deadline either.

Whoever it is, if CMac is overpaying especially, I think it's more likely for a guy with at least a year left so they can get two playoff runs out of them, and I think LD is more likely than RD, but we'll see.

Pettersson is a left-handed defenseman who plays the left side.

We just played against him two nights ago.

 

[Foppa2118]

Pettersson is a left-handed defenseman who plays the left side.

We just played against him two nights ago.

Oh my bad. I was just looking him up the other day, and I must have mixed him up with someone else.

Makes that a lot more likely IMO. More likely to re-sign him as well.

 

[BobRossColton]

How about 2027 1st for Fehervary, Capitals could use all the firsts since they'll probably be in re build after ovie gets the record.

 

[hockeyfish]

Pettersson is arguably the top rental D this year. Jumping the market to get him is going to be super expensive.

 

[Pokecheque]

How about 2027 1st for Fehervary, Capitals could use all the firsts since they'll probably be in re build after ovie gets the record.

They’re not going to do anything that makes the team worse in the short term, at least not this year.

 

[SoundwaveIsCharisma]

I’d be so happy if they could find a defensive dman that they could pair with Makar to just free him up a bit more. Ekholm would’ve been amazing

 

[Alienblood]

Because he's not as good as MacKinnon.

by alot more than 1%

 

[Jasenr]

by alot more than 1%

Hi Matt Duchene, can you go back to the Dallas board?

 

[cinchronicity]

I'm just trying to introduce a new controversial take in order to get this thread off the Mikko track. I think @RoyIsALegend is absolutely correct: In August of 2025, Mikko is either signed or he goes UFA.

So is there a possibility of trading Toews for a decent 2LD +, then use the + and a 2026 1st for a good 3LD? Better yet a 3 team trade to get it all done. I really don't want to restart the '$250,000 too much' meme, but Toews is overpaid for what he provides the past 2 years. My wife, who is an enthusiastic yet light on knowledge fan, says to me last night, "Toews isn't very smart, is he? He seems to always make the bad decision." And she is right ( third goal last night being a prime example. In pee-wees we were taught to play the man, not the puck. Toews took an ill-advised swipe at the puck, and left his man wide open - just like the net. I was always taught that if I was going to take a swipe at a puck, make damn sure that I did not miss.)

In a way, this hypothetical is just like the Mikko conversation we have all beat to death: I don't hate Toews. He seems like a really good guy. He is a good hockey player. But in a cap-constrained world, he makes $2M more than Girard, and it has been 2+ years since he outplayed Girard consistently. In a non-cap world, I love Toews on this team ( though I would still consider Sammy / Cale, then Toews / Manson.)

To be clear, I do NOT see this ever happening. But it is - at minimum - an opportunity to talk about anything but Mikko and the trade that is absolutely never going to happen.

 

[SoundwaveIsCharisma]

If the Ducks sour on McTavish with his continued struggles, I'd love for the Avs to jump in to get him as a possible gamble.

 

[Pokecheque]

If the Ducks sour on McTavish with his continued struggles, I'd love for the Avs to jump in to get him as a possible gamble.

Ducks need to fire Cronin (and probably Verbeek) as soon as humanly possible before they do anything rash.

McTavish seems like a really good talent but just once, I'd like for the Avs to avoid the oft-injured player. Wouldn't say no if he were available but...yeesh.

 

[The Abusement Park]

I'm just trying to introduce a new controversial take in order to get this thread off the Mikko track. I think @RoyIsALegend is absolutely correct: In August of 2025, Mikko is either signed or he goes UFA.

So is there a possibility of trading Toews for a decent 2LD +, then use the + and a 2026 1st for a good 3LD? Better yet a 3 team trade to get it all done. I really don't want to restart the '$250,000 too much' meme, but Toews is overpaid for what he provides the past 2 years. My wife, who is an enthusiastic yet light on knowledge fan, says to me last night, "Toews isn't very smart, is he? He seems to always make the bad decision." And she is right ( third goal last night being a prime example. In pee-wees we were taught to play the man, not the puck. Toews took an ill-advised swipe at the puck, and left his man wide open - just like the net. I was always taught that if I was going to take a swipe at a puck, make damn sure that I did not miss.)

In a way, this hypothetical is just like the Mikko conversation we have all beat to death: I don't hate Toews. He seems like a really good guy. He is a good hockey player. But in a cap-constrained world, he makes $2M more than Girard, and it has been 2+ years since he outplayed Girard consistently. In a non-cap world, I love Toews on this team ( though I would still consider Sammy / Cale, then Toews / Manson.)

To be clear, I do NOT see this ever happening. But it is - at minimum - an opportunity to talk about anything but Mikko and the trade that is absolutely never going to happen.

I guess I just don't see the point in another team giving up their 2D for Toews who's also a 2D?

A 3 team trade would make more sense, but probably doesn't happen because 3 team trades are damn hard to make work.

 

[Perratrooper]

If the Ducks sour on McTavish with his continued struggles, I'd love for the Avs to jump in to get him as a possible gamble.

Agreed, I would be very intrigued to land him as our 3C. Long term it could give us some very interesting options if Ritchie wasn’t involved in the trade (unlikely imo.