Rumor: 2024 Trade Rumors and Free Agency Thread: Post Deadline

Bednar loathes it, as do nearly all NHL coaches. For defensemen it's a notable disadvantage—requiring them to clear the zone using their backhand or leaving them vulnerable to hits due to their positioning.

Lindgren seems better on his off side than most D men though. Certainly more so than any recent Av IMO.

Though his turnover that led to the mad scramble and goal against vs the Stars was on his off side along the wall trying to make an outlet chip pass on his backhand.

So it's still not ideal given the Avs reliance on D men for their quick transition game.
 
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Unless EJ starts to struggle playing with Girard in a bigger role, they really should just use these pairings. Then probably replace Malsinki with Manson when he gets back, and evaluate EJ vs Malinski on a game to game basis.

Toews-Makar
Girard - EJ
Lindgren - Malinski

I'm a bit surprised they haven't tried Lindgren-Malinski more yet. Seems like a no brainer, but maybe they wanted to see how other guys look together first.
 
Lindgren seems better on his off side than most D men though. Certainly more so than any recent Av IMO.

Though his turnover that led to the mad scramble and goal against vs the Stars was on his off side along the wall trying to make an outlet chip pass on his backhand.
Some defensemen handle it better than others, but I don’t believe any NHL defenseman truly excels in the defensive zone when playing on their off side. The moment the puck hits the wall and they’re under pressure from forecheckers they become in big trouble.
 
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Some defensemen handle it better than others, but I don’t believe any NHL defenseman truly excels in the defensive zone when playing on their off side. The moment the puck hits the wall and they’re under pressure from forecheckers they become in big trouble.

Yeah, they could get away with it in the pre cap/old rules era, because there was much less reliance on puck movement from D men, but now all the D men, especially on the Avs, have to make good passes under pressure in the D zone while skating with the puck.

Avs gave Dallas a point in a game they were dominating after two turnovers from D men (Lindgren and Girard) in their own zone trying to get the puck out. One on his off side. The margin for error is very slim.
 
Are you hearing from your insiders that EJ is leaning towards retirement after this season, or is that just you speculating?

He told several people after the trade that he won't play for any other team. He doesn't want to move again.

If the Avs don't want him, he'll retire. It'll be up to the Avs whether they want to keep him for another year or not.
 
He told several people after the trade that he won't play for any other team. He doesn't want to move again.

If the Avs don't want him, he'll retire. It'll be up to the Avs whether they want to keep him for another year or not.

If EJ keeps playing like he has they should definitely keep him. Probably won't cost too much and they'll need a 7D anyway.

He could probably have his level of play drop a bit and he'd still be a good #7 option, relative to what the Avs usually have in that role. Signing Middleton may complicate that through.

They can just do the same thing Philly did. Give him spot duty and let him sit most of the season so he's fresh if they need him for the playoffs. Then they won't have to trade for another guy like him at the deadline with very few assets left.
 
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If EJ keeps playing like he has they should definitely keep him. Probably won't cost too much and they'll need a 7D anyway.

He could probably have his level of play drop a bit and he'd still be a good #7 option, relative to what the Avs usually have in that role. Signing Middleton may complicate that through.

They can just do the same thing Philly did. Give him spot duty and let him sit most of the season so he's fresh if they need him for the playoffs. Then they won't have to trade for another guy like him at the deadline with very few assets left.
Middleton can still be sent down. He'd just be earning $775k in the AHL.
 
Middleton can still be sent down. He'd just be earning $775k in the AHL.

Yeah and that's the approach I think they should go with, but I have a feeling they might have signed him planning on him being the #7 next year. Guess that could change though.
 
Lindgren and Kiviranta walk.

Colton and Wood traded.

EJ retires.

Nelson and Drouin extended.

Landy plays.

Avs roll with Malinski and some bozo on the third pairing until the TDL.

Lehkonen - MacKinnon - Necas
Landeskog - Nelson - Nichushkin
Drouin - Coyle - O'Connor
Kelly - Drury - Ivan/Prishchepov

Toews - Makar
Girard - Manson
BOZO - Malinski
Middleton

Blackwood
Wedgewood
 
If EJ is willing to take league minimum, sure bring him back as a 7.

Idk if he will, though. He likes his money lol

He loves playing on the Avs though.

He took $1M to play with Philly after playing 67 games the year before. He'll play a lot less than that this year and he'll be a year older.

He's not gonna want more than $1M and I could easily see him taking less.
 
I know you're really upset with Mikko, but lets just be honest, if they were both UFA's this summer, Mikko would definitely get more. Would be kind of ridiculous if he didn't. Even if Necas outscored Mikko this year.

Mikko's Career High Points - 105, 104, 92, 87, 84
Necas' Career High Points - 71, 53, 41, 40, 36
Again, I'm talking about what I expect to see from each of them over the NEXT 8 years. The warning signs on Mikko dashboard has been binking for about 18 months now. If he would have taken 10x8, with the increase in cap coming I would have gladly welcomed him on that deal. But 12M for his shot, even as deadly as it is, just hurts the team very badly from a depth perspective.

As disappointed as i appear about Mikko, it's purely business. I'm willing to overlook anyone's shortcommings when they provide such a huge and unique plus. But it's still got to work within the framework of having a competitive team lines 1-4. So yeah, it kinda burns me that he got greedy, especially after having been one of the very first RFAs to get paid. Dude got 9.8M per on his SECOND contract. He opened the flood gates on the RFAs getting paid and now after having made more than MacKinnon for several years wanted to match his salary again or in the ball park. Yeah, I'm very upset at Mikko the businessman. But I do wish Mikko the player well, he's just not going to be worth 12per for 8 more years... in my opinion.

For what it is worth, I do actually believe Again, I'm talking about what I expect to see from each of them over the NEXT 8 years. The warning signs on Mikko dashboard has been binking for about 18 months now. If he would have taken 10x8, with the increase in cap coming I would have gladly welcomed him on that deal. But 12M for his shot, even as deadly as it is, just hurts the team very badly from a depth perspective.

For what it's worth, I do actually believe Nate and Cale have an easier row to hoe with Necas than they did with Mikko, when it comes to everything but that 13' diameter faceoff circle on the right side of the offensive zone.
 
According to some guy on twitter Nelson turned down a $7.5m x 3 years deal from NYI because he wants 4-5 years.

He'll be 34 in October, so signing him to a 4/5 year deal takes him to when he's 3 months shy of 39/40.
And CMac didn’t wanna re-sign Kadri to long term because he was older. Nelson’s probably gone. If Landy comes back and he’s good and plays next year, we’re gonna be in cap hell again. Coyle is signed one more year. He’ll be our 2C next year

Edit: I just saw you did mention this in your other post too.
 
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According to some guy on twitter Nelson turned down a $7.5m x 3 years deal from NYI because he wants 4-5 years.

He'll be 34 in October, so signing him to a 4/5 year deal takes him to when he's 3 months shy of 39/40.
I imagine CMac is waiting until the playoffs or, most likely, after them to negotiate. Especially if those are the parameters he's looking for. Need to make sure he's a fit first. We kinda cleaned out the cubbard of nice things for him. But that doesn't mean we have to double down and extend the dude if it doesn't work out.

Bednar loathes it, as do nearly all NHL coaches. For defensemen it's a notable disadvantage—requiring them to clear the zone using their backhand or leaving them vulnerable to hits due to their positioning.
Yeah, someone else mentioned this too. And I agree, given your choice it's not something you would want to do. But when injuries arise and a guy can play off-hand better than the next dman righty on the depth charts.... shouldn't you probably do it, considering the amount of ice time the second pair sees?

Toews-Makar
Girard-Lindgren
Middleton-Johnson/Malinksi

^Would be my preference while Manson is out...the only other way I can really see it working well is if you ramp up the 3rd pairs minutes to better balance with the 2nd pair and run:

Girard-Johnson
Lindgren-Malinski

If EJ keeps playing like he has they should definitely keep him. Probably won't cost too much and they'll need a 7D anyway.

He could probably have his level of play drop a bit and he'd still be a good #7 option, relative to what the Avs usually have in that role. Signing Middleton may complicate that through.

They can just do the same thing Philly did. Give him spot duty and let him sit most of the season so he's fresh if they need him for the playoffs. Then they won't have to trade for another guy like him at the deadline with very few assets left.
We're always going to need a nacho eater on this team. At this point, EJ is probably providing almost as much value as an unofficial coach as he is a player. And if he realizes that could be his role moving forward and will take league minimish and the A back on his chest when he does player, I would really love to see him stick around. We don't really have young d-men for him to really mentor unless Behrens, Gulyayev, Kempf or Saige make the team and I'm not really willing to put money on those options. However, he can still lead by example and his professionalism.
 
Again, I'm talking about what I expect to see from each of them over the NEXT 8 years. The warning signs on Mikko dashboard has been binking for about 18 months now. If he would have taken 10x8, with the increase in cap coming I would have gladly welcomed him on that deal. But 12M for his shot, even as deadly as it is, just hurts the team very badly from a depth perspective.

As disappointed as i appear about Mikko, it's purely business. I'm willing to overlook anyone's shortcommings when they provide such a huge and unique plus. But it's still got to work within the framework of having a competitive team lines 1-4. So yeah, it kinda burns me that he got greedy, especially after having been one of the very first RFAs to get paid. Dude got 9.8M per on his SECOND contract. He opened the flood gates on the RFAs getting paid and now after having made more than MacKinnon for several years wanted to match his salary again or in the ball park. Yeah, I'm very upset at Mikko the businessman. But I do wish Mikko the player well, he's just not going to be worth 12per for 8 more years... in my opinion.

For what it is worth, I do actually believe Again, I'm talking about what I expect to see from each of them over the NEXT 8 years. The warning signs on Mikko dashboard has been binking for about 18 months now. If he would have taken 10x8, with the increase in cap coming I would have gladly welcomed him on that deal. But 12M for his shot, even as deadly as it is, just hurts the team very badly from a depth perspective.

For what it's worth, I do actually believe Nate and Cale have an easier row to hoe with Necas than they did with Mikko, when it comes to everything but that 13' diameter faceoff circle on the right side of the offensive zone.

I don't know who's going to be better going forward, but I don't think anybody else does either.

If there's one thing that has proven true perhaps more than anything in the history of HF, it's that it's a mistake to evaluate players based off a 15-20 game sample.
 
adding hide avatars option

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