Confirmed with Link: [COL, CAR, CHI] Rantanen-Hall to CAR, Necas-Drury-25 2nd-26 4th to COL, Chi 25 3rd to Chi (Ret 50% on Mikko)

[EdAVSfan]

I know some of you wanted this Rantanen trade done earlier, as in, in the off-season. I’m thinking off the top of my head @Bender @Ararana @Balthazar
Just curious what you guys think, assume the trade is still with Carolina, how different are the pieces acquired in an offseason trade vs what we got now?

Anyone else who wanted this done earlier, feel free to chime in.

 

[CobraAcesS]

I applaud C-Mac for making this move. I was lobbying for this since last season, so I'm really happy overall!

I mentioned after training camp that the team seemed stale and it was. This was exactly the kind of shake-up that was needed within the forward group.

Not really surprised that Necas was the main piece coming back but I am extremely surprised that they moved him + Drury + 2 solid picks without any type of guarantee that #96 was going to be signing there.

I'm also not surprised that in the end, the Avs decided to take this route and trade Rantanen. I thought they'd do it last summer but I think they wanted to give him a chance to see if he could bounce back from last year.


I don't think there's an 'almost' about it - he ABSOLUTELY did.

This is my personal take on it. To me, it's pretty obvious what happened. For the first 7-8 years, Mikko Rantanen was a very productive player who would put in a solid effort and would get rewarded nightly. No one would ever mistake him for a Selke candidate but he'd at least give it a go and could be 'adequate' defensively and when you add that to his production, it was a winning combination.

Then about 2-3 years ago, something happened - Nathan MacKinnon took his game to another level. Nate went apeshit with his game in a good way so much so that gradually, little by little over time, Mikko kinda noticed that he didn't have to do nearly as much work and he was still getting his points. Since Mack was already doing all the heavy lifting and was on such a tear, he could kind of half-ass it at times and kind of get away with it because he was still putting up points. For me, this went on ALL of last season and pretty much almost all of this season as well though I think Mikko's been better this year than last year.

So then, when Mikko would get placed on the 2nd line in order to try and balance out the scoring as we've seen at various times this season - it never worked because Rantanen knew that if it didn't work-out almost immediately, Bednar would just put him back with MacKinnon on the top line after a period or two anyways. It was never in his best interest to NOT play with Nate and to be honest, I think there are a TON of players of who have probably done the same.

To be fair here - I don't think Nate cared AT ALL that he had to do the 'heavy lifting' or whatever. I think he just loved playing with Mikko.

Even after ALL of that - C-Mac was still prepared to make Mikko the highest paid winger in the NHL. Imagine that, the highest paid winger in the cushiest spot possible.

In the end, Mikko overplayed his hand. I'm quite certain he figured that he'd be there holding firm on his number in the wee hours of June 30th right before the TDL just like his pal Gabe was. I don't think he thought there was a chance in hell they would trade him during the season.

How will they ever sell tickets now ???

A shout-out to C-Mac and all others who saw the same thing I did.

Called it : Rumor: - 2024 Trade Rumors and Free Agency Thread: Post Deadline

I think you're spot on.

 

[BobRossColton]

I'm already beginning to convince myself that a long term under 10aav will be wonderful. Can it also be 8 years.. Since it sounds like Mikko could still get 8 from the canes?

9.5-10
76-80m

 

[AvsCOL]

I finally watched Mack's response on Saturday to the trade. I have no issue whatsoever with his response. He was obviously surprised and sad about Mikko leaving and there is no issue showing some emotions about it but i didn't a demoralized guy...just sadness. He certainly looked like he was fine by the start of Sunday's game. He looked like he really enjoyed playing with Necas.

He wants his friends to get paid but he understands that it is a business and above all he wants to win more than anything so winning will make it ok in the end.

MacKinnon also said after the Rangers game that Necas is "better than I ever thought." Nice to hear those words after a tough few days for him I'm sure.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

I know some of you wanted this Rantanen trade done earlier, as in, in the off-season. I’m thinking off the top of my head @Bender @Ararana @Balthazar
Just curious what you guys think, assume the trade is still with Carolina, how different are the pieces in the offseason vs what we got now?

Anyone else who wanted this done earlier, feel free to chime in.

I was one of them as well. I don't think it changes a lot as most signings where on D. Drouin would have probably got more and maybe Parsy doesn't happen.

 

[CobraAcesS]

I'm already beginning to convince myself that a long term under 10aav will be wonderful. Can it also be 8 years.. Since it sounds like Mikko could still get 8 from the canes?

9.5-10
76-80m

Yes it can

 

[EdAVSfan]

I was one of them as well. I don't think it changes a lot as most signings where on D. Drouin would have probably got more and maybe Parsy doesn't happen.

I re-worded my post as I see now it wasn’t clear.

What I meant was, how different is the package from Carolina in the offseason va what we actually got from them now?

 

[forsbergavs32]

I’m kind of excited to see where the PP goes from here. It looked rough the first game but yesterday they score on the first and even though they didn’t score on the 2nd one it was more dangerous than I’ve seen in years. Just imagine having Mack, Necas, Makar and whoever else (Drouin, Lehk) skating around while Nuke has his big ass parked in front of the net.

That said, 5v5, if Mack and Necas continue to show chemistry like they are now I wouldn’t be opposed to them staying together.

Nuke - Mack - Necas
Lehk - Mitts - Drouin
Colton - Drury - LOC
Wood - Kelly - Parsnip

 

[Pacman33]

Kinda funny he says he was willing to take a significant discount when being highest paid winger wasnt enough for him. Discount maybe, but significant?

 

[CobraAcesS]

I re-worded my post as I see now it wasn’t clear.

What I meant was, how different is the package from Carolina in the offseason va what we actually got from them now?

Less actually, I thought I seen something that they were not willing to do it, but came around recently.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

I re-worded my post as I see now it wasn’t clear.

What I meant was, how different is the package from Carolina in the offseason va what we actually got from them now?

I don't think it changes much. The Avs obviously wanted Drury as their new 3C. Maybe they would have add something to Mikko to get Nikishin instead of Drury which I would have liked as well.

Kinda funny he says he was willing to take a significant discount when being highest paid winger wasnt enough for him. Discount maybe, but significant?

Well it depends what he thinks a significant discount is for him. I'd be willing to bet 13M instead of 14M was a big discount for him but not for the Avs.

 

[CobraAcesS]

I’m kind of excited to see where the PP goes from here. It looked rough the first game but yesterday they score on the first and even though they didn’t score on the 2nd one it was more dangerous than I’ve seen in years. Just imagine having Mack, Necas, Makar and whoever else (Drouin, Lehk) skating around while Nuke has his big ass parked in front of the net.

That said, 5v5, if Mack and Necas continue to show chemistry like they are now I wouldn’t be opposed to them staying together.

Nuke - Mack - Necas
Lehk - Mitts - Drouin
Colton - Drury - LOC
Wood - Kelly - Parsnip

That top line may just become nickname worthy. That's just scary to think about on the wall. Drouin is hanging in there though.

Nuke just gives that line that unstoppable cycle that 9296 brought.

 

[Avs_19]

 

[Bender]

I know some of you wanted this Rantanen trade done earlier, as in, in the off-season. I’m thinking off the top of my head @Bender @Ararana @Balthazar
Just curious what you guys think, assume the trade is still with Carolina, how different are the pieces acquired in an offseason trade vs what we got now?

Anyone else who wanted this done earlier, feel free to chime in.

I thought that if the Avs made the trade last summer that they could also get one of Carolina's top prospects on D as well as Necas since Mikko still had 1 year left on his deal.

I posted about the Necas trade in May 2024 thinking if that trade had gone down that the Avs could have re-signed him for a $7M per year contract. He signed a 2 year extension at the end of July for $6.5M per so with his breakout year, that number is obviously out the window.

Having said all that, the return C-Mac got for a player who can still choose to test UFA no matter what - is actually incredible.

 

[myperbixhurts]

Link?

 

[Richard88]

Evans, but he's a UFA in 5 months and due for a big payday. We wouldn't be able to keep him.

Drury is signed through next year and an RFA at that point. Simply makes much more sense for the Avs moving forward.



Link?

It would probably be overkill and isn't a big need after acquiring Drury, but with two 2nd's in this year's draft there's definitely the possibility to trade for Evans as a rental and really stack the center depth.

Evans is a RHS which would give the Avs a LHS faceoff guy (Drury) and a RHS faceoff guy (Evans) for key draws. Faceoffs are overrated but those details can matter in the playoffs and right now there's no RHS forward who's any good at faceoffs on the roster.

Drouin - MacKinnon - Necas
Lehkonen - Mittelstadt - Nichushkin
Colton - Evans - Parssinen
Wood - Drury - O'Connor
Kivi/Kelly

 

[AllAboutAvs]

It would probably be overkill and isn't a big need after acquiring Drury, but with two 2nd's in this year's draft there's definitely the possibility to trade for Evans as a rental and really stack the center depth.

Evans is a RHS which would give the Avs a LHS faceoff guy (Drury) and a RHS faceoff guy (Evans) for key draws. Faceoffs are overrated but those details can matter in the playoffs and right now there's no RHS forward who's any good at faceoffs on the roster.

Drouin - MacKinnon - Necas
Lehkonen - Mittelstadt - Nichushkin
Colton - Evans - Parssinen
Wood - Drury - O'Connor
Kivi/Kelly

Faceoffs are not overrated on PK, PP and end of 3rd period in one-goal games.

I am so done with the Avs to only have about one minute of PP Ozone time because they lose faceoffs.

 

[NOTENOUGHRYJOTHINGS]

Two thoughts after we've heard more and the dust has settled.

First off if Rants rightfully thinks his value is 14 millions like Draisatl got then a 10% discount is right at the MacK cap. I'm kinda bad at math, sex (according to my wife and her boyfriend), and hockey. But I think it adds up. So a significant discount and staying at the MacK level. Rants is probably telling the truth from his point of view. But the Avs wanted lower. 11.7 millions to 12.6 millions doesn't seem like a lot. But the difference between those two numbers is like having JTC instead of spending picks to acquire Ross Colton. Or somebody who isn't Miles Wood.

Getting two guys who are cost controlled for next season and more draft picks to spend on guys named Stienberg can't be under estimated.


Secondly the search function is acting weird. I tried to find every post that said Necas is 6'3" and like it. But I am sure I missed many.

 

[hockeyfish]

Faceoffs are not overrated on PK, PP and end of 3rd period in one-goal games.

I am so done with the Avs to only have about one minute of PP Ozone time because they lose faceoffs.

Also after icings. And it always seems to be a massive issue when we end up in playoffs overtime.

 

[chet1926]

I applaud C-Mac for making this move. I was lobbying for this since last season, so I'm really happy overall!

I mentioned after training camp that the team seemed stale and it was. This was exactly the kind of shake-up that was needed within the forward group.

Not really surprised that Necas was the main piece coming back but I am extremely surprised that they moved him + Drury + 2 solid picks without any type of guarantee that #96 was going to be signing there.

I'm also not surprised that in the end, the Avs decided to take this route and trade Rantanen. I thought they'd do it last summer but I think they wanted to give him a chance to see if he could bounce back from last year.


I don't think there's an 'almost' about it - he ABSOLUTELY did.

This is my personal take on it. To me, it's pretty obvious what happened. For the first 7-8 years, Mikko Rantanen was a very productive player who would put in a solid effort and would get rewarded nightly. No one would ever mistake him for a Selke candidate but he'd at least give it a go and could be 'adequate' defensively and when you add that to his production, it was a winning combination.

Then about 2-3 years ago, something happened - Nathan MacKinnon took his game to another level. Nate went apeshit with his game in a good way so much so that gradually, little by little over time, Mikko kinda noticed that he didn't have to do nearly as much work and he was still getting his points. Since Mack was already doing all the heavy lifting and was on such a tear, he could kind of half-ass it at times and kind of get away with it because he was still putting up points. For me, this went on ALL of last season and pretty much almost all of this season as well though I think Mikko's been better this year than last year.

So then, when Mikko would get placed on the 2nd line in order to try and balance out the scoring as we've seen at various times this season - it never worked because Rantanen knew that if it didn't work-out almost immediately, Bednar would just put him back with MacKinnon on the top line after a period or two anyways. It was never in his best interest to NOT play with Nate and to be honest, I think there are a TON of players of who have probably done the same.

To be fair here - I don't think Nate cared AT ALL that he had to do the 'heavy lifting' or whatever. I think he just loved playing with Mikko.

Even after ALL of that - C-Mac was still prepared to make Mikko the highest paid winger in the NHL. Imagine that, the highest paid winger in the cushiest spot possible.

In the end, Mikko overplayed his hand. I'm quite certain he figured that he'd be there holding firm on his number in the wee hours of June 30th right before the TDL just like his pal Gabe was. I don't think he thought there was a chance in hell they would trade him during the season.

How will they ever sell tickets now ???

A shout-out to C-Mac and all others who saw the same thing I did.

Called it : Rumor: - 2024 Trade Rumors and Free Agency Thread: Post Deadline

This is pretty much feelings to a T.

96 became very comfortable getting easy points, fed to him by 29 who has been arguably the best player on planet earth for going on 2 years.

And despite the fact that 96s play and effort has gone downhill, the Avs were willing to offer the biggest winger contract in the history of the league.

What else could a guy ask for, a huge contact and possibly the cushiest job in the entire league.

It's no shock to me that I've seen more effort out of 88 in 2 games than 96 has put in basically all year. It's also not shocking that all of a sudden the PP looks semi competent again. The PP goal against NYR was a direct result of 88 hustling to win the puck. 96 would never have done that.

It's mind blowing that he let his agent screw him this badly. And I know it's tough to see a fan favorite top end guy get traded, but it will be for the better is the team long term.

 

[NOTENOUGHRYJOTHINGS]

Necas and Drury are a breath of fresh air. But I think the lack of movement and urgency are partially a stale locker room culture and coaching issue.

Before calling out Rants for looking like he's been dogging it let's see how much Necas is still moving on the PP by game 20.

 

[AvBuff]

Pretty sure that Mikko is not happy with his agent right now. But history is prologue, and CMac no doubt vividly remembers Mikko's dog and pony show that lead up to his last extension - and he had no stomach to play Russian Roulette again with Mikko's agent with no safety net beyond the TDL.

Don't wanna become the richest winger in the league while getting your table set by Nathan MacKinnon? Adios Amigo. No hard feelings. Thanks for 2022. It's business, not personal.

 

[dahrougem2]

I'm kinda bad at math, sex (according to my wife and her boyfriend),

So people just liked this and nobody stopped to ask NEB some f***ing questions?

 

[EdAVSfan]

Necas and Drury are a breath of fresh air. But I think the lack of movement and urgency are partially a stale locker room culture and coaching issue.

Before calling out Rants for looking like he's been dogging it let's see how much Necas is still moving on the PP by game 20.

I’m not concerned about the PP not moving. Reality is, Necas is a RH forward and literally cannot replace how Rantanen was on the power play just on handed was alone. The PP is already different because Drouin was in Rants’ spot. Since Drouin isn’t a trigger man like Rantanen, there’s naturally going to be more puck movement.

Rantanen had essentially become a stationary one-time shooter on the power play. And all movement stops if the shooter on the half board doesn’t move. Mack and Rantanen essentially stood in the same section of the zone the entire time. Drouin will move, which forces everyone else to shift around also.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

So people just liked this and nobody stopped to ask NEB some f***ing questions?

His wife and me have already explained it to him many times.