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

[Colorado Avalanche]

32 points in 37 games. He's on a 70 point pace over 82. I think he's been quite good.


The injuries should only help further to keep his number down.


$3M aav for however many years he wants is what I'd be offering him. A top 6 Forward for that kind of money is simply something we can't turn our backs on.

Exactly. He is a bargain what he produced. The new Lehkonen.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Whether Necas is playing centre or wing I think I want him on line 2 from now on. Sure it’s a lot of fun watching him and Mackinnon snap it around together but Necas is a possession guru. Give that guy the puck and let him be the line 2 version of Mackinnon like our favorite Habs fan @Balthazar suggested above.

I know it’s just one game but that game against Ottawa was crazy. If the top 2 lines were on the ice for us they had the puck and were making things happen.

 

[MarkT]

You wouldn't be able to get that roster to the 2027-28 cap over the next 2 years.

Also, where the hell did Drake Batherson at $5m come from? He'll be a UFA and will make way more than $5m.

Uh, care to explain? I ask because I based in on roster I made first for the next two offseasons, and just continued from there. I think you're probably making some assumptions that don't add up. Oh, and Batherson is just meant to represent a 5m winger. I have no idea who will be worth than in two years.

Yeah it's really only this offseason where there's a cap crunch where they're forced to choose between Colton/Drouin and Lindgren/Manson effectively.

In 2026 the rising cap (projected to be $104.4m) will take care of raises for Necas and Drury which are the only two notable contracts that year. 2027 will have Lehkonen, Girard, and Makar up which will potentially require some maneouvering again.

In 2025 there's $8.7m in space to re-sign Nelson, Drouin, Kiviranta, Lindgren, and Malinski. Or make that $11.2m if you send Miles Wood away (which they absolutely need to do).

If they move Wood the $11.2m in capspace basically breaks down to:

• $7m Nelson
• $1,5m Malinski
• $800k for a 6/7 Dman (eg. EJ)
• $1.7m for two depth forwards (12F and 13F) at up to $850k each

Those moves already make a 22 man roster with little to no capspace to spare. After that you essentially have two decisions:

1. Keep Colton at $4m VS Trade Colton and sign Drouin for up to $4m.

2. Keep Manson @ $4.5m VS Trade Manson and sign Lindgren for up to $4.5m.

If there's any change left over from Drouin/Lindgren that can go towards Kiviranta or giving Malinski a bit more for an extra year.

From an asset management standpoint it makes sense to move Colton and Manson and re-sign Drouin and Lindgren.

I agree with almost everything there, but we keep circling back to my question about having a very small defense core, and yet expecting to contend. Based on our discussion, I'm less 100% on Girard being the one to trade, but what I'd do is if it comes to it, put both out there and see which can get us the best return, and make that deal. Trading either player produced problems for us, so I don't see it as cut and dry like you seem to (not even mentioning moving Girard as an option in this post)

I mean I would assume there'd be retention in a Murphy deal as he'd be on an expiring contract.

As for who I'd move before Girard in the scenario above. I wouldn't re sign Lindgren at 5mil per year, his body will spontaneously combust at some point with how he plays. I'd also move Manson before Girard as well and maybe Coyle... But not 100% sure on that. I get that Manson fills a role we need, but the dude has played only 291 games out a possible 549 games over the last 6 7/8 seasons. Like... yes he fits a role but does he really fill that role if he's only available for ~50% of games? And he's also just been objectively bad this year. I really don't think it'd be terribly hard to replace Manson at his current level right now in the summer or at the deadline. It'd be expensive, but so would replacing Girard.

Toews/Makar/Lindgren/Manson/Malinski is a decent d core no doubt, but that much loss in the PMD department would be not be great if Bednar is still the coach. We've seen what happens to this team when there's a lack of PMD and transition ability and it isn't pretty.

The Murphy in that roster was on a new contract signed with us.

I also disagree with the premise that replacing Manson and Girard are equally difficult. In the short term, we could replace Girard with Malinski. Lindgren might work somewhat as a Manson replacement, but he's not a big guy like Manson is. And if we lost Lindgren we'd need a Lindgren replacement too. The point is I think there are two gritty defenseman roles to fill in this core, and I'd much rather that be Manson and Lindgren than Lindgren and Middleton. Oh, and apparently you wouldn't even want to sign Lindgren (I doubt he's going to take a discount on his last contract, and he'll probably want term), so who exactly is going to provide grit on the back end for us if we trade Manson and let Lindgren walk? And how can we afford that person given the whole reason we'd be moving Manson is to shed his 4.5m salary.

 

[Richard88]

Whether Necas is playing centre or wing I think I want him on line 2 from now on. Sure it’s a lot of fun watching him and Mackinnon snap it around together but Necas is a possession guru. Give that guy the puck and let him be the line 2 version of Mackinnon like our favorite Habs fan @Balthazar suggested above.

I know it’s just one game but that game against Ottawa was crazy. If the top 2 lines were on the ice for us they had the puck and were making things happen.

Yeah I'd like to see those lines together for another few games. Having Necas on his line takes pressure off Nelson as he doesn't have to be the primary driver and can simply focus on finding open ice and being dangerous around the net with screens and tips.

Drouin - Mackinnon - Nichushkin
Lehkonen - Nelson - Necas
Colton - Coyle - Kiviranta
Kelly - Drury - O'Connor

 

[Richard88]

Snip

I agree with almost everything there, but we keep circling back to my question about having a very small defense core, and yet expecting to content. Based on our discussion, I'm less 100% on Girard being the one to trade, but what I'd do is if it comes to it, put both out there and see which can get us the best return, and make that deal. Trading either player produced problems for us, so I don't see it as cut and dry like you seem to (not even mentioning moving Girard as an option in this post)

Snip

The defense core I'm suggesting isn't smaller than what we have now as you'd add a Dman by the deadline just as we did this year.

If it's a straight choice between Manson and Lindgren the choices would break down like this:

A) Keep Manson and let Lindgren walk:

Toews - Makar
Girard - Manson
Middleton - Malinski
EJ

B) Trade Manson and sign Lindgren:

Toews - Makar
Girard - EJ
Lindgren - Malinski
Middleton

In option A ideally you'd certainly have to sign a LHD no.6 to push Middleton down. Then at the TDL you add a LHD similar to Lindgren for the bottom pair (exactly like this year).

In option B you obviously don't give EJ typical 2nd pair minutes but use him situationally in defensive situations as the no.6 in TOI. Girard-EJ has always worked as a pairing though so they should be fine for the regular season. Then by the TDL you work towards finding a long term 2 RHD to push EJ to 7D for the playoffs.

 

[MarkT]

The defense core I'm suggesting isn't smaller than what we have now as you'd add a Dman by the deadline just as we did this year.

If it's a straight choice between Manson and Lindgren the choices would break down like this:

A) Keep Manson and let Lindgren walk:

Toews - Makar
Girard - Manson
Middleton - Malinski
EJ

B) Trade Manson and sign Lindgren:

Toews - Makar
Girard - EJ
Lindgren - Malinski
Middleton

In option A ideally you'd certainly have to sign a LHD no.6 to push Middleton down. Then at the TDL you add a LHD similar to Lindgren for the bottom pair (exactly like this year).

In option B you obviously don't give EJ typical 2nd pair minutes but use him situationally in defensive situations as the no.6 in TOI. Girard-EJ has always worked as a pairing though so they should be fine for the regular season. Then by the TDL you work towards finding a long term 2 RHD to push EJ to 7D for the playoffs.

Option B scares the heck out of me. If we re-sign EJ to me it's so he can split time with Middleton, not be an everyday player.

Option A looks like bad asset management to me.

Option C is still my preference:

Toews - Makar
Lindgren - Manson
Middleton/FA - Malinski
EJ

or better yet Option Ω
Toews - Makar
Girard - Manson
Lindgren - Malinksi
EJ
Middleton

 

[AvsMakar08]

Man, if only Nuke doesnt get himself suspended every year, his 6M is such a steal as a hockey player.

We need to promote Nuke to have an A on his jersey and then sprinkle some white powder on that A like the other poster said a day ago.

 

[Pokecheque]

Any chance someone would overpay for Scott Wedgewood this summer? If so, would you recoup assets in a Wedgewood trade and then sign a backup?

Absolutely not.

 

[Pokecheque]

I’m fairly confident EJ will hang them up after this season. I wouldn’t bet on it but I think that’s one of the reasons Briere and MacFarland made the deal.

 

[forsbergavs32]

I’m fairly confident EJ will hang them up after this season. I wouldn’t bet on it but I think that’s one of the reasons Briere and MacFarland made the deal.

He did an interview with Roenick and Tim Peel recently. He said he’ll either sign another one year deal with the Avs or he’ll retire, said he’s not moving again.

If he retires I’d be willing to bet he’ll have some sort of job within the FO

 

[Vaslof]

He did an interview with Roenick and Tim Peel recently. He said he’ll either sign another one year deal with the Avs or he’ll retire, said he’s not moving again.

If he retires I’d be willing to bet he’ll have some sort of job within the FO

Philly also let him go so that he can retire as an Av, so it would be weird if he didn't.

 

[MarkT]

The offseason hasn't been this interesting in a while because there are so many variables to consider. Just a few of the things that make watching the games the rest of the season/playoffs that much more interesting:

• Can Landeskog come back, and if so, how does he look? Will he play next season?
• Will Nelson thrive as the 2C? Will he want to re-sign here?
• What will Necas's role be long-term? Could he potentially play center?
• Can Lindgren maintain his solid play? Will he want a raise? How much?
• Will Blackwood maintain his strong play as the pressure ramps up?
• Could Coyle work at the 2C next season?
• Who will be our bottom 6 wingers from the choices of Landeskog, Colton, Kiviranta, O'Connor, Kelly, Wood, and Vesey?
• Can Malinski maintain his strong play, opening up the possibility of him being a top 4 defenseman in the future?
• Can Girard withstand the rigors and play effectively in the playoffs?
• How will Manson look when he comes back?

I haven't seen enough of Olivier's play to really know what makes him so coveted but I assume he has one thing in common with Wilson--he's a big guy who can skate.

He's coachable, defensively responsible, hard-working, goes to the tough areas, plays physical, has some decent hands, provides vocal leadership, and is probably pound-for-pound the best fighter in the league. Think a mix between Cody McLeod and Lehkonen. Skating speed is actually not one of his strengths. He's not slow, but he's not a burner by any means.

So to confirm what everyone else said in this thread, he's not a good comparable for Miles Wood.

 

[Toothless Legend]

He did an interview with Roenick and Tim Peel recently. He said he’ll either sign another one year deal with the Avs or he’ll retire, said he’s not moving again.

If he retires I’d be willing to bet he’ll have some sort of job within the FO

Maybe he can put Rycroft out of a job.

And I don’t mean the liquor store.

 

[Drury_Sakic]

100% would take EJ back on a league min deal to be the 7/8th D man with possibly being the 8/9th D man come post deadline next year.

He seems to completely understand his role moving forward. Play him 20-30 games, probably dont play him in the playoffs maybe even next year, type of role. If he is willing to do that, he has seemed decent enough.

 

[Richard88]

Was just wondering how the Avs would have made the cap work to pull of a Carlo trade.

For reference the Toronto trade was:

Carlo (15% retained, $4.1m down to $3,485,000 x 2 years left)

for

2026 1st (top 5 protected)
Fraser Minten (38th overall, 2022)
2025 4th

Considering what Toronto paid to outid the Avs, it's likely that the Avs were offering 2027 1st + Malinski as the base. Moving Malinski would have left them with $1.749 in capspace. That wouldn't have been enough capspace on its own even if Boston retained 50% (in that case Carlo's caphit would have been $2.05m).

They would have needed to move someone else to open up more space. Not trading for EJ, or sending Vesey to Boston would have opened another $800k, putting them at $2.549m in space. Boston would have had to retain $1.551m for this year and another two years after this one, which I doubt they would have had an appetite for without another 1st being offered. That simply wouldn't have been viable.

Including Miles Wood in the deal would have worked out perfectly capwise. Removing Malinski and Wood would have left the Avs with $4.249m in capspace, enough to fit Carlo's full $4.1m caphit with $149k to spare, leaving them with the roster below (with Landeskog on LTIR).

That said, an offer of 2027 1st + Malinski + Wood clearly wasn't appealing to Boston given that they took Toronto's offer instead. Toronto had a 2026 1st instead of a 2027 1st, and from Boston's perspective retaining 15% ($615k) for a little over 2 seasons (comes out to around $1.3m) was obviously preferable to taking on Wood as a $2.5m x 4 year cap dump. This was a bidding war CMac simply didn't have the assets or capspace to win.

 

[Richard88]

Option B scares the heck out of me. If we re-sign EJ to me it's so he can split time with Middleton, not be an everyday player.

Option A looks like bad asset management to me.

Option C is still my preference:

Toews - Makar
Lindgren - Manson
Middleton/FA - Malinski
EJ

or better yet Option Ω
Toews - Makar
Girard - Manson
Lindgren - Malinksi
EJ
Middleton

In Option B you'd trade Colton, Manson, and Wood and then those assets used to land a 2 RHD to play with Girard and bump EJ down to 7D...,

As I said: "Then by the TDL you work towards finding a long term 2 RHD to push EJ to 7D for the playoffs."

There would be nothing stopping you from adding that 2 RHD this offseason instead of waiting until the TDL (hence I said "by" the TDL)... so option B could also be viewed as the group below if you're proactive with getting the RHD this summer instead of waiting until the TDL.

Toews - Makar
Girard - RHD
Lindgren - Malinski
Middleton - EJ

 

[Foppa2118]

Was just wondering how the Avs would have made the cap work to pull of a Carlo trade.

For reference the Toronto trade was:

Carlo (15% retained, $4.1m down to $3,485,000 x 2 years left)

for

2026 1st (top 5 protected)
Fraser Minten (38th overall, 2022)
2025 4th

Considering what Toronto paid to outid the Avs, it's likely that the Avs were offering 2027 1st + Malinski as the base. Moving Malinski would have left them with $1.749 in capspace. That wouldn't have been enough capspace on its own even if Boston retained 50% (in that case Carlo's caphit would have been $2.05m).

They would have needed to move someone else to open up more space. Not trading for EJ, or sending Vesey to Boston would have opened another $800k, putting them at $2.549m in space. Boston would have had to retain $1.551m for this year and another two years after this one, which I doubt they would have had an appetite for without another 1st being offered. That simply wouldn't have been viable.

Including Miles Wood in the deal would have worked out perfectly capwise. Removing Malinski and Wood would have left the Avs with $4.249m in capspace, enough to fit Carlo's full $4.1m caphit with $149k to spare, leaving them with the roster below (with Landeskog on LTIR).

That said, an offer of 2027 1st + Malinski + Wood clearly wasn't appealing to Boston given that they took Toronto's offer instead. Toronto had a 2026 1st instead of a 2027 1st, and from Boston's perspective retaining 15% ($615k) for a little over 2 seasons (comes out to around $1.3m) was obviously preferable to taking on Wood as a $2.5m x 4 year cap dump. This was a bidding war CMac simply didn't have the assets or capspace to win.

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I have a feeling a Coyle+Carlo trade didn't include getting Nelson from NYI. I think they might have switched that up a bit when they heard Mikko could go to Dallas. Just a guess.

 

[Mooserton]

He did an interview with Roenick and Tim Peel recently. He said he’ll either sign another one year deal with the Avs or he’ll retire, said he’s not moving again.

If he retires I’d be willing to bet he’ll have some sort of job within the FO

How the f*** does that have an audience. I'd rather drink hydrochloric acid.

 

[MarkT]

In Option B you'd trade Colton, Manson, and Wood and then those assets used to land a 2 RHD to play with Girard and bump EJ down to 7D...,

As I said: "Then by the TDL you work towards finding a long term 2 RHD to push EJ to 7D for the playoffs."

There would be nothing stopping you from adding that 2 RHD this offseason instead of waiting until the TDL (hence I said "by" the TDL)... so option B could also be viewed as the group below if you're proactive with getting the RHD this summer instead of waiting until the TDL.

Toews - Makar
Girard - RHD
Lindgren - Malinski
Middleton - EJ

A second pair RD is going to cost money. The whole point is if we need to move Colton, Wood, and Manson, it's because we have a cap crunch. Who exactly are you targeting who is likely available, cheap, and capable of playing top 4 minutes?

 

[expatriatedtexan]

A second pair RD is going to cost money. The whole point is if we need to move Colton, Wood, and Manson, it's because we have a cap crunch. Who exactly are you targeting who is likely available, cheap, and capable of playing top 4 minutes?

Parayko is capable, but he's only cheap or available in my dreams.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

I have a feeling a Coyle+Carlo trade didn't include getting Nelson from NYI. I think they might have switched that up a bit when they heard Mikko could go to Dallas. Just a guess.

That would make sense, but I can confirm Carlo was still on the table after acquiring Nelson.

As of Thursday night, post-Nelson acquisition, the Avs were still in on both Coyle and Carlo.

Early Friday, the Leafs were finally willing to include Minten in a Carlo deal. The Avs did not have a prospect of that level after giving up Ritchie for Nelson and gave up on that package, focusing instead on just getting Coyle.

EJ was the last resort after Carlo wasn’t a possibility anymore.

Carlo and one more guy that got moved on Friday were Avs targets until Friday morning/noon time.

I got this first hand from somebody close to CMac(pretty obvious who, lol). I also posted this a couple of days after the deadline.

 

[dahrougem2]

That would make sense, but I can confirm Carlo was still on the table after acquiring Nelson.

As of Thursday night, post-Nelson acquisition, the Avs were still in on both Coyle and Carlo.

Early Friday, the Leafs were finally willing to include Minten in a Carlo deal. The Avs did not have a prospect of that level after giving up Ritchie for Nelson and gave up on that package, focusing instead on just getting Coyle.

EJ was the last resort after Carlo wasn’t a possibility anymore.

Carlo and one more guy that got moved on Friday were Avs targets until Friday morning/noon time.

I got this first hand from somebody close to CMac(pretty obvious who, lol). I also posted this a couple of days after the deadline.

Lmao. This makes it go from "wow the Avs brought EJ back for one last ride!" To "ah f**k, I guess we gotta get EJ now" after missing on Carlo.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Warran Zevon has a song about how there is always a spot for a goon... Not sure I believe that anymore, but there is always a spot for EJ. Until the day he hangs them up and hopefully realizes he still likes hockey more than horses and joins the Avalanche as Nolan Pratt's replacement. Even then, there is a spot for EJ.

I'm gay for Gabe, Nate and EJ. Cale Makar might be the best of the bunch... but he wasn't here that year. The fact that those three all wanted to stay and get this shit sorted once and for all says a lot. I can't imagine being upset at this team or this organization at this point in time considering the dramatic turnaround and championship they brought us fans.

But the fact remains, at this late stage in the core's age and contract situations, you simply can not build the kind of depth that allows you to wipe away your entire 2nd pair and continue on like nothing happened. It's just simply not possible.

 

[Foppa2118]

That would make sense, but I can confirm Carlo was still on the table after acquiring Nelson.

As of Thursday night, post-Nelson acquisition, the Avs were still in on both Coyle and Carlo.

Early Friday, the Leafs were finally willing to include Minten in a Carlo deal. The Avs did not have a prospect of that level after giving up Ritchie for Nelson and gave up on that package, focusing instead on just getting Coyle.

EJ was the last resort after Carlo wasn’t a possibility anymore.

Carlo and one more guy that got moved on Friday were Avs targets until Friday morning/noon time.

I got this first hand from somebody close to CMac(pretty obvious who, lol). I also posted this a couple of days after the deadline.

Interesting, so I was half right kinda. Thanks for sharing.

Yeah I had a feeling EJ was a backup plan for Carlo. Similar style RD.

I wanted another top 4 RD, but I'm not that upset at not getting Carlo. He'd have fit well on the 3rd pair perhaps, but I'm not sure he has the hands to pass in transition the way the Avs would need him to.

 

[Foppa2118]

Lmao. This makes it go from "wow the Avs brought EJ back for one last ride!" To "ah f**k, I guess we gotta get EJ now" after missing on Carlo.

I think EJ said he heard a couple weeks or so before the deadline (can't remember exactly) that he might go to Colorado. Think he said Briere came to him.

Also EJ said CMac watched him earlier in the season a couple times. So they probably had him as a backup plan for a bit.