Around The League Thread | Let the Games Begin

[Wry n Ginger]

Dahlin for Petey, who says no?

*(Other than Petey).

I don't think Petey gets to vote on it until after this trade-deadline no? (Officially after this season but effectively the same thing.)

 

[PG Canuck]

Avs are about as one line of a team as you could ever construct right now.

 

[Coffee]

Malkin absolutely dominating this year, he’s playing great.

Avs are about as one line of a team as you could ever construct right now.

Shitty luck for them, missing half of their top 6

 

[SelltheTeamFrancesco]

Expected more from Colorado.

Georgiev is playing unreal.

 

[StreetHawk]

Avs are about as one line of a team as you could ever construct right now.

For a team that won the cup in 2022 the Avs have fallen fast and that’s with Mack at 29, Rant at 28, Makar at 26. Nuke and Landy with personal issues causing uncertainty and injury with unknown timeline.
Their core guys are in their prime yet they don’t feel like a serious contender like they should be.

 

[Caspian]

Georgiev is playing unreal.

4giev has evolved in 6eogiev. dude is extra garbo.


Avs need to get a goalie

 

[RandV]

I thought the excuse was that Frankie was pretty much playing GM which made Benning a dickless pushover. Either way it was that or Benning being 95% regarded and or both

Nothing to back it up but I always assumed they were very much on the same page. That with Aquilini liking to push his involvement with the team he got a GM in Jim Benning that welcomed him in the room and valued his opinion.

 

[RandV]

For a team that won the cup in 2022 the Avs have fallen fast and that’s with Mack at 29, Rant at 28, Makar at 26. Nuke and Landy with personal issues causing uncertainty and injury with unknown timeline.
Their core guys are in their prime yet they don’t feel like a serious contender like they should be.

I mean Landeskog and Nichuskin represent a significant cap hit (not sure how the CBA works out for them) and loss of quality of players. That's two top line wingers simply gone from the lineup not leaving them much after Rantanen. Also the team that won the Cup had a lot of great value contracts with a handful of guys like Kadri going over a PPG at around $5M a season. Those guys all cashed out with bigger contracts on other teams.

I think they've done about as well as you could expect given the circumstances. What they have going for them is given the still young age of their elite players they'll be in the playoffs for a good while and will have a number of chances to find the right mix again.

 

[Vector]

Expected more from Colorado.

I didn’t. Basically relying on three players, although elite, to carry them until their dubious saviours returned. No room for error.

 

[mriswith]

For a team that won the cup in 2022 the Avs have fallen fast and that’s with Mack at 29, Rant at 28, Makar at 26. Nuke and Landy with personal issues causing uncertainty and injury with unknown timeline.
Their core guys are in their prime yet they don’t feel like a serious contender like they should be.

I pointed out repeatedly when they were dominating that it was going to be extremely hard to make it last because they had a massive cap advantage from a few contracts that are all gone now. Injuries and other circumstances are hurting them a lot, but those long gone sweetheart deals are what really made them a powerhouse.

Avs are a perfect example of how windows are shorter than you think because it's tied to the contracts, not the players, and you have to really commit to winning when you're in a legitimate window.

 

[I Hart Conor Garland]

I pointed out repeatedly when they were dominating that it was going to be extremely hard to make it last because they had a massive cap advantage from a few contracts that are all gone now. Injuries and other circumstances are hurting them a lot, but those long gone sweetheart deals are what really made them a powerhouse.

Avs are a perfect example of how windows are shorter than you think because it's tied to the contracts, not the players, and you have to really commit to winning when you're in a legitimate window.

 

[Hansen]

View attachment 916866

This is exactly it, Hughes and Demko’s current contracts are our window

 

[DFAC]

Colorado should’ve gone hard after Ullmark, their goaltending is going to be their downfall

 

[Coffee]

Colorado should’ve gone hard after Ullmark, their goaltending is going to be their downfall

They should trade for Binnington and Saad.

 

[PG Canuck]

This is exactly it, Hughes and Demko’s current contracts are our window

Yup, Colorado got a Cup from their window. What do we get from ours? The window isn’t getting any bigger, especially with Demko already in breakdown mode.

 

[WTG]

This is exactly it, Hughes and Demko’s current contracts are our window

Ehhhh, It all depends how much the rate of the cap continues to go up.

 

[arttk]

View attachment 916866

As long as he is playing at a Norris level, the window is not closed.
We’ll “just” need management to be really good at filling out the roster with low cost guys that can contribute more than their cap and have little to zero waste cap wise.

 

[arttk]

Yup, Colorado got a Cup from their window. What do we get from ours? The window isn’t getting any bigger, especially with Demko already in breakdown mode.

I think the only reason they didn’t get more is due to their window coinciding with the flat cap era and then coming out of the flat cap with their cap locked down with 2 top line guys that are unavailable for injury and just weird reasons.

If the cap is going up consistently in the next 5 years, we should be fine. Hell if it wasn’t for artificial restriction on cap growth, the cap would’ve been like 100M already based on current hockey rev. With Utah being a thing and multiple expansions in the horizon, there is no reason why the cap would not be north of 100 in like 3 years.

 

[ManVanFan]

Here we have Lane Hutson showing off his defensive skills

https://x.com/i/web/status/1846014659997876313

 

[StreetHawk]

I mean Landeskog and Nichuskin represent a significant cap hit (not sure how the CBA works out for them) and loss of quality of players. That's two top line wingers simply gone from the lineup not leaving them much after Rantanen. Also the team that won the Cup had a lot of great value contracts with a handful of guys like Kadri going over a PPG at around $5M a season. Those guys all cashed out with bigger contracts on other teams.

I think they've done about as well as you could expect given the circumstances. What they have going for them is given the still young age of their elite players they'll be in the playoffs for a good while and will have a number of chances to find the right mix again.

Landy isn't a permanent LTIR, so they could only replace his cap hit for a year. Not acquire someone long term since there was still a chance he could return. Nuke, they committed to him long term and he had that incident in Seattle and has now taken leave. Like Landy, he may return so they can't commit that cap to someone else long term. So, kind of stuck with short term options for that cap.

 

[bossram]

Avs are about as one line of a team as you could ever construct right now.

Yep. If there is a contender in danger...it's them. We can all laugh at the Oilers, but they'll be fine and pull out of it. They seemingly have a disastrous stretch early in the season ever year.

COL...they have 1.5 functioning lines and 1 D pair. The goaltending is horrific. They'll need to hope Nuke has actually kicked his powder addiction to have any shot.

 

[StreetHawk]

Yep. If there is a contender in danger...it's them. We can all laugh at the Oilers, but they'll be fine and pull out of it. They seemingly have a disastrous stretch early in the season ever year.

COL...they have 1.5 functioning lines and 1 D pair. The goaltending is horrific. They'll need to hope Nuke has actually kicked his powder addiction to have any shot.

Both Nuke and Landy have unknown returns. Not permanently gone thus can’t go out and replace their cap hits for anything with term as they could return then that puts them into a bad cap situation.

 

[credulous]

Yep. If there is a contender in danger...it's them. We can all laugh at the Oilers, but they'll be fine and pull out of it. They seemingly have a disastrous stretch early in the season ever year.

COL...they have 1.5 functioning lines and 1 D pair. The goaltending is horrific. They'll need to hope Nuke has actually kicked his powder addiction to have any shot.

colorado will ultimately be fine i think. they're down nearly 17m in cap between landeskog, nichushkin and lehkonen. tough to compete with that kind of penalty. if they can resolve any of those situations they'll turn it around pretty quick

 

[bossram]

Both Nuke and Landy have unknown returns. Not permanently gone thus can’t go out and replace their cap hits for anything with term as they could return then that puts them into a bad cap situation.

Yep. Very tough situation for them to navigate.

colorado will ultimately be fine i think. they're down nearly 17m in cap between landeskog, nichushkin and lehkonen. tough to compete with that kind of penalty. if they can resolve any of those situations they'll turn it around pretty quick

I think they will ultimately make the playoffs, but I wouldn't call them "fine". If there is no guarantee Nuke or Landy come back (and who knows how well Landeskog can even play after two years off), then there is no guarantee those situations get resolved.

The blueline is bad. And if 4giev spots their opposition a 2 goal lead every night, it will be very hard to win. Mackinnon will need another Hart calibre season to keep them afloat.

 

[tantalum]

Landy isn't a permanent LTIR, so they could only replace his cap hit for a year. Not acquire someone long term since there was still a chance he could return. Nuke, they committed to him long term and he had that incident in Seattle and has now taken leave. Like Landy, he may return so they can't commit that cap to someone else long term. So, kind of stuck with short term options for that cap.

While in player assistance Nichuskin's does not count against the cap. When he applies for re-instatement and if accepted he would then count.