GDT: NHL Free Agent Frenzy 2024

[S E P H]

According to The Athletic staff, Avs and Preds have the same chance to win the cup next year.

Cale in his own league

Canucks have a much better chance at the Cup than us until otherwise noted.

 

[The Moops]

I'm digging the new Rangers logo.

 

[Bender]

How you guys manage to piss off

Sea Eagles​

enough to quit the forum is beyond me. Sure, he's a huge homer and sometimes it's a bit much - even for me - but maaan, he also seems to be one of the nicest guys in here. Great job fellas!

 

[AslanRH]

Come December when the Avs are on a pre-Christmas tear and Landeskog is leading the league in captain fights and overall hotness, @Sea Eagles will return to this board like the phoenix he is

 

[NOTENOUGHRYJOTHINGS]

There is very little to suggest that the roster as it stands with 3 of the top 5 wingers injured or uncertain to play, mediocre goaltending, and no cap room or depth should be considered a contender.

The publications putting the Avs at low ends are correct. If Nuke comes back and doesn't go AWOL and Landy is still a top line player then thing start to look good. But those are two huge long shots.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

There is very little to suggest that the roster as it stands with 3 of the top 5 wingers injured or uncertain to play, mediocre goaltending, and no cap room or depth should be considered a contender.

The publications putting the Avs at low ends are correct. If Nuke comes back and doesn't go AWOL and Landy is still a top line player then thing start to look good. But those are two huge long shots.

Yep. If publications/models are currently projecting Landy and Nuke out of the lineup, we're a bubble team at best. If they come back and play at a high level it obviously has a significant impact.

The question with Nuke isn't so much about whether he plays at a high level, but more whether he plays at all. Funny enough I think the opposite is true for Landy. He's going to play and give things a go. The question for him is more along the lines of, how well can he actually play and how much can he play.

I have a feeling both will end up playing at some point.

 

[LOFIN]

There is very little to suggest that the roster as it stands with 3 of the top 5 wingers injured or uncertain to play, mediocre goaltending, and no cap room or depth should be considered a contender.

The publications putting the Avs at low ends are correct. If Nuke comes back and doesn't go AWOL and Landy is still a top line player then thing start to look good. But those are two huge long shots.

It does sound pretty dire, until you actually go around the league rosters and realize that none of them are that good.

The Avs are unironically in a better spot than one year ago, even with the Landy and Nuke situations.

 

[Bender]

We should start a petition to change the Colorado Eagles to the Colorado Sea Eagles :

 

[expatriatedtexan]

I'm digging the new Rangers logo.

Man, the Athletic absolutely sucks anymore. They've basically got Russo (covering the Wild), Portzline (covering the Blue Jackets), Dom making spreadsheets that are just getting worse by the year with his market evaluations of players, and Down Goes Brown writing about how much it sucks to be a Maple Leaf fan the last half century plus. I mean even LeBrun doesn't really do anything anymore other than social pieces and coverage of GM and owners meetings.

I hate to keep dogging them but they hired sooo many good journalists and then just fired them which took them straight back into all the problems that initially led them all to create the Athletic in the first place.

We should start a petition to change the Colorado Eagles to the Colorado Sea Eagles :

View attachment 894165

I'll sign. Hell, I'll start working on a way to stuff the f***ing box.

 

[NOTENOUGHRYJOTHINGS]

Yep. If publications/models are currently projecting Landy and Nuke out of the lineup, we're a bubble team at best. If they come back and play at a high level it obviously has a significant impact.

The question with Nuke isn't so much about whether he plays at a high level, but more whether he plays at all. Funny enough I think the opposite is true for Landy. He's going to play and give things a go. The question for him is more along the lines of, how well can he actually play and how much can he play.

I have a feeling both will end up playing at some point.

I don't think it happens but if Nuke is able to stay on the roster and Landy is still a top line forward this team does look very good going into the playoffs.

The top two Cs are locked in. Rantanen is still Rantanen and with Nuke and Landy you've got the ability to score in the dirty areas and some size and two way play from the top 6Ws. And that pushes Lehkonen onto the third line (or Drouin). And that third line becomes really good if you have LOC Lehk and Colton. Considering its a 10 million dollar third line it better be good.

But will Nuke be able to stay in the lineup? Will Landy actually be a good top line winger?

My guess is No to both of those questions. But we can always dream.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

I don't think it happens but if Nuke is able to stay on the roster and Landy is still a top line forward this team does look very good going into the playoffs.

The top two Cs are locked in. Rantanen is still Rantanen and with Nuke and Landy you've got the ability to score in the dirty areas and some size and two way play from the top 6Ws. And that pushes Lehkonen onto the third line (or Drouin). And that third line becomes really good if you have LOC Lehk and Colton. Considering its a 10 million dollar third line it better be good.

But will Nuke be able to stay in the lineup? Will Landy actually be a good top line winger?

My guess is No to both of those questions. But we can always dream.

It definitely has potential. There's a lot of unanswered questions though, including some significant ones(The two you alluded to with Landy/Nuke being the biggest ones).


You've also got the uncertainty in net, the lack of a 4th line(Particularly 4C), questions about the defense after the Top pairing... And then there's the question of age. We simply aren't a young group anymore. At what point does that start to really impact the top end of this team.


Every team has questions, the Avs aren't really any different then the others. But I definitely think we have more uncertainty then you'd want to have as a contender. Still, there's clearly a path for this team to be a favorite in the West again. Just need a lot of things to go right.

 

[LOFIN]

It definitely has potential. There's a lot of unanswered questions though, including some significant ones(The two you alluded to with Landy/Nuke being the biggest ones).


You've also got the uncertainty in net, the lack of a 4th line(Particularly 4C), questions about the defense after the Top pairing... And then there's the question of age. We simply aren't a young group anymore. At what point does that start to really impact the top end of this team.


Every team has questions, the Avs aren't really any different then the others. But I definitely think we have more uncertainty then you'd want to have as a contender. Still, there's clearly a path for this team to be a favorite in the West again. Just need a lot of things to go right.

4th line remains a question, but that's something you can fix somewhat easily during the season if that is a real problem.The big question is how many top-6 wingers are we starting the season with? Is it 2/5 or 4/5?

But I think the goalie position is actually a bit more clear at this point. Not because of Georgiev, he is what he is at this point. He was pretty good on his first year, bad last year but bounced back a bit in the playoffs. I would expect him not to be as bad as last year. But more importantly, we know Annunen is going to be the backup, and should get games.

I also don't think the 2nd D-pair of Manson and Girard is a question mark. Manson's health maybe. CDH is probably an upgrade on JMFJ, as long as he stays healthy. Brannström definitely has more upside than any of our AHL d-men we call up from time to time. On paper, it's weaker because we lost Byram. As a whole, I think it can actually be a better D-corps this year.

I think overall there are less question marks. We know what Drouin can be. We know we have a #2C in Mittelstadt.

 

[Balthazar]

Have we traded for Askarov yet?

https://x.com/i/web/status/1811408821396574234

 

[UncleRisto]

We should start a petition to change the Colorado Eagles to the Colorado Sea Eagles :

View attachment 894165

Feels like Colorado twice is redundant.

 

[BobRossColton]

Have we traded for Askarov yet?

Please..

 

[Vaslof]

According to The Athletic staff, Avs and Preds have the same chance to win the cup next year.

Cale in his own league

I don't have access to the article, but I highly doubt those numbers are about chance to win the cup.
More likely they all chose 1 team to win the cup and combined the results.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

The best chance for our core to win another Stanley Cup is this year.

It gets worse next year and even worse the year after that. We will gradually be a worse team.

How does Nashville’s 3rd or 4th string goalie who had an .885 save percentage in the AHL last year help us win the Stanley Cup right now?

I’m all for upgrading from Georgiev, but that’s not it for a hopefully contending team.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

4th line remains a question, but that's something you can fix somewhat easily during the season if that is a real problem.The big question is how many top-6 wingers are we starting the season with? Is it 2/5 or 4/5?

But I think the goalie position is actually a bit more clear at this point. Not because of Georgiev, he is what he is at this point. He was pretty good on his first year, bad last year but bounced back a bit in the playoffs. I would expect him not to be as bad as last year. But more importantly, we know Annunen is going to be the backup, and should get games.

I also don't think the 2nd D-pair of Manson and Girard is a question mark. Manson's health maybe. CDH is probably an upgrade on JMFJ, as long as he stays healthy. Brannström definitely has more upside than any of our AHL d-men we call up from time to time. On paper, it's weaker because we lost Byram. As a whole, I think it can actually be a better D-corps this year.

I think overall there are less question marks. We know what Drouin can be. We know we have a #2C in Mittelstadt.

It's clear that we're going with Georgiev. It isn't at all clear that we can actually win with George as the starter. And if he plays like he did last year during the season again, I'd say it's a pretty significant question mark at the deadline as to whether we can upgrade or not.


The 2nd pairing is definitely a question. Can Girard play a full year at a level he's shown he can play only in stretches. Will Manson stay healthy. If he doesn't, we don't have much of a fallback option. He's also at the age where a drop off in play would be very normal, so we have to hope that doesn't happen.

 

[henchman21]

The best chance for our core to win another Stanley Cup is this year.

It gets worse next year and even worse the year after that. We will gradually be a worse team.

How does Nashville’s 3rd or 4th string goalie who had an .885 save percentage in the AHL last year help us win the Stanley Cup right now?

I’m all for upgrading from Georgiev, but that’s not it for a hopefully contending team.

The backers for Askarov see a high end starting goalie in him in time. Then a high end starting goalie can cover a lot of holes the Avs have. I can see that point. Where I think it falls apart is that Askarov is at least 2+ seasons from that level. People quickly overlook that he wasn't the starter in the playoffs for Milwaukee. He's played well and at times even great in the AHL, but nothing is really there that shows he's NHL ready for a backup role, let alone a starter's role... even further a starter's role on a team that would like to contend.

I'm with you... all for upgrading George, but Askarov shouldn't be the answer this year.

On the quality of the Avs on paper... I'd say the Avs are a slight step down compared to last year, especially if we are looking at the post deadline version. On the pre deadline, assuming health and clean piss tests... the forward group should be a better. Mostly from Mitts stabilizing the 2nd line, but having some better wing depth. The defense though is a strong step back. I wasn't on the Byram hypetrain, but at least he was a top 4D. The Avs had a legit 5 top 4D. They don't have that now. G and Manson have their own questions, but even Makar does. If he wasn't hurt, what happened to his defense? That has to change. In net, the personnel isn't really different, but the outlook is. George looked like an average to above average starter last summer to most. Now he's clearly below average and arguably even bad.

Right now this team looks like a 2nd round exit team. What they do at the deadline and what happens with Nuke/Landy will probably have a large determination with that. If Nuke never returns and Landy is only an okay 3rd liner... it wouldn't be unreasonable to think the Avs are fighting to stay out of the wild card spot (still think playoffs is a near sure thing). If Nuke is clean, Landy is a 1st liner, and the Avs add a good 4C, RD, and G at the deadline, they should absolutely contend.

 

[Balthazar]

How does Nashville’s 3rd or 4th string goalie who had an .885 save percentage in the AHL last year help us win the Stanley Cup right now?

I’m all for upgrading from Georgiev, but that’s not it for a hopefully contending team.

I'm with you... all for upgrading George, but Askarov shouldn't be the answer this year.

We have negative cap space and very, very limited assets. Askarov is on ELC and that's part of the appeal.

All he has to do in the first year is be better than Annunen. Last year the gap between Georgiev and Annunen was rather small.

Also he's 23, that's around the time that most goalies make the jump to the NHL. You don't need an experienced goalie to win the cup, you need a hot goalie.

 

[LOFIN]

I'm intrigued by Askarov, not going to lie. I'm less intrigued by the price Trotz is asking for him, which is absolutely ludicrous.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

The backers for Askarov see a high end starting goalie in him in time. Then a high end starting goalie can cover a lot of holes the Avs have. I can see that point. Where I think it falls apart is that Askarov is at least 2+ seasons from that level. People quickly overlook that he wasn't the starter in the playoffs for Milwaukee. He's played well and at times even great in the AHL, but nothing is really there that shows he's NHL ready for a backup role, let alone a starter's role... even further a starter's role on a team that would like to contend.

I'm with you... all for upgrading George, but Askarov shouldn't be the answer this year.

On the quality of the Avs on paper... I'd say the Avs are a slight step down compared to last year, especially if we are looking at the post deadline version. On the pre deadline, assuming health and clean piss tests... the forward group should be a better. Mostly from Mitts stabilizing the 2nd line, but having some better wing depth. The defense though is a strong step back. I wasn't on the Byram hypetrain, but at least he was a top 4D. The Avs had a legit 5 top 4D. They don't have that now. G and Manson have their own questions, but even Makar does. If he wasn't hurt, what happened to his defense? That has to change. In net, the personnel isn't really different, but the outlook is. George looked like an average to above average starter last summer to most. Now he's clearly below average and arguably even bad.

Right now this team looks like a 2nd round exit team. What they do at the deadline and what happens with Nuke/Landy will probably have a large determination with that. If Nuke never returns and Landy is only an okay 3rd liner... it wouldn't be unreasonable to think the Avs are fighting to stay out of the wild card spot (still think playoffs is a near sure thing). If Nuke is clean, Landy is a 1st liner, and the Avs add a good 4C, RD, and G at the deadline, they should absolutely contend.

Yep pretty much. There's enough question marks around this team that they could easily range anywhere from a Wild Card team struggling to get into the playoffs(Though unless Makar or Mack go down with injury they should at least make it as a WC) on the low end where everything goes wron, to a Western conference heavyweight and legit Top tier contender on the high end where every question has a positive answer for the Avs.


It's a pretty wide range. The most likely scenario is somewhere in the middle and ya a 2nd round exit sort of season again.

 

[Balthazar]

I forgot a point:

Then a high end starting goalie can cover a lot of holes the Avs have. I can see that point.

Not only cover the holes but extend the current window as well. High end goalies can do miracles sometimes.

The downside is if they want to retool or rebuild while he's in his prime he could single handedly ruin that.

 

[NorthernAvsFan]

Goalies are voodoo. I’m not spending my assets trading for a goalie.

You never know if the guy you trade for is even going to be good, because the position is so volatile.

Go with Georgiev/Fatso.

 

[henchman21]

I forgot a point:


Not only cover the holes but extend the current window as well. High end goalies can do miracles sometimes.

The downside is if they want to retool or rebuild while he's in his prime he could single handedly ruin that.

Askarov specifically is very unlikely to do that. He'd have to be an elite starter basically right away. Whether or not people want to hear it, this window is closed soon with or without an elite goalie. Not enough money to go around and not enough young talent coming up the pipeline. It is basically this season, then hopefully Rants doesn't blow up all the depth.