Very interesting info from Friedman. If you want my conspiracy theory, I think CMac might've been leaning towards trading Mikko all along. He'd been spitballing a trade with Carolina since the draft, gave the Mikko camp a (first and?) final offer and didn't even use the extra time he had to negotiate. I think they had the analytics to back up their argument that Mikko is more a product of MacKinnon than anything else, saw his effort level continue to fall flat and, most importantly, I think CMac was just sick of having virtually zero breathing room to work with in their cap structure.
Necas was probably a name that was thrown around early and after he exploded this year, CMac decided to peel the bandaid and pull the trigger early. I have little doubt they targeted Drury specifically as well, to become a much-needed defensive boon in the bottom-6 with offensive upside that's young and cost-controlled.
Given Mikko's "surprise" of the trade, the Avs essentially gave their final offer (one you could argue is a bit of a lowball, despite making him the priciest wing in the league), which was the lowest amount they would've been comfortable with while also knowing it was one Mikko's camp would never accept.
Regardless, it definitely took a set of brass ones to go in the direction that they did. Now there's no excuse to not maximize the cap and add the depth needed to give them another legitimate shot.
