For me it's the 5 yrs remaining on his contact why I wouldn't take the risk. He's not playing like a $4M dollar player right now, not to mention the $5.5M cap hit that goes along with it. He could very well play his way out of his troubles but this has been going on for 2-3 seasons now. The cap hit isn't a big deal for the next 2-3 years, it's after that when Mack comes off entry level, if we have a d-man with a $5.5M cap hit, he better be worth every penny and not a bottom pairing guy with an albatross contract that we can't move out.
It always depends on what kind of return we could get. I am still open to moving him depending on what we'd get back in return. I think the ROR on the wing experiment is to see what kind of team we have at center without him. I've mentioned this before,
the Avs received a bunch of offers for ROR before the Calgary offer sheet, the have a good idea what kind of return he can bring. I still like RoR as a player and depending on how open he is to negotiating an extension will likely dictate if he stays with the club or if they'll deal him.
I just don't see the Avs being too thrilled with the prospect of going to arbitration...if that's where it looks like it's heading, believe he'll be the one sent packing at the deadline.
I dunno, I'm not too worried about 'pace' especially this early when you consider that if those 2 or 3 posts/crossbars go in instead, he'd be at close to a ppg pace.
Bottom line is that line is getting their fair share of chances on top of the most difficult defensive assignments on a nightly basis. Considering that, if he puts up 55-65 pts, I'll be happy with that.
(I'd like to mention that this is what David Backes does yearly and he's revered but when Staz does it, he's berated)