Since we're discussing potential trades with the Ducks... the Ducks cannot conceivably pay and play all of Carlsson, McTavish, Zegras, Gauthier, and Terry. This is just their young forward group. They have a young goalie and young stud defensemen who will need raises as well, alongside whoever ends up being their 3rd overall pick this year.
- Terry $7M until 29-30
- Zegras $5.75 until 26-27, when he will need a raise
- McTavish on ELC this year, needs his first big contract in 25-26
- Dostal on ELC this year, needs his first big contract in 25-26
- Carlsson on ELC, first big contract in 26-27
- Gauthier on ELC, first big contract in 26-27
- Zellweger on ELC, first big contract in 26-27
- Mintyukov on ELC, first big contract in 26-27
Terry, Carlsson, Gauthier, Zellweger, and Mintyukov seem to be Verbeek's guys. More questions around McTavish and Zegras.
Verbeek said he wants to improve and make a push for the playoffs in 24-25. He has said he's looking for a RW who can score and he he likes big bodies. He signed Killorn last year ($6.25 until 27-28) so we know he's not afraid of older vets with championship experience. You need a solid mix of vets and younger guys.
Signing and extending Rantanen would not really help with their future salary situation, but it would address their need at RW and desire to improve next season. They have a logjam of left-shot centre/LW prospects and young players.
I think McTavish would be a better fit for the Avs than Zegras in terms of play style. Avs need guys who will get in dirty areas and score greasy goals, they have enough top 6 playmakers, especially if they re-sign Drouin. Not that McTavish doesn't have the potential to be a great playmaker, because he does, but he does both pretty well. Also both McTavish and MacKinnon are very intense and kinda unhinged so watching the two of them on the same team would be very entertaining lol.
Avs are likely trying to sign Mittlestadt to be their 2C, and McTavish has always played centre, so that's not perfect, but I think McTavish has more potential on the wing than Zegras does. From what I've seen, Zegras plays much better at centre than he does on the wing. McTavish at 21 is already decent at faceoffs with 51.72% this season, compared to Mack's 46.19%, and Mittlestadt's 47.06%. Avs really need guys who can win faceoffs... Rantanen was at 53.82% but he took way less faceoffs than any of those three.
McTavish needs a contract next year, and it won't be cheap, but it'll be cheaper than Rantanen's and they will have clarity on the Landeskog & Nichushkin situations by then.
There would obviously be a lot more involved in a trade like this than just "Rantanen for McTavish" (mostly from Colorado's side, which isn't the end of the world considering they have very little cap space and need to move off some contracts anyway) and trades like this very rarely happen (Rantanen would also need to agree to go to Anaheim if they're on his no-trade list), but it's an interesting thought.