Confirmed Trade: [NJD/COL] Ryan Graves for Mikhail Maltsev and 2021 2nd round pick

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Graves is underrated, I think he's a popular scapegoat, but not particularly good, though maybe with good coaching he could still improve even more. Particularly if he was in a different system and saw a shift in mentality, albeit I doubt NJ is that system.

Maltsev is a prize to lose though...

I like Maltsev a lot but he realistically won't ever be anything more than a 4th liner

 

[VanillaCoke]

Colorado continues to distance themselves from the Buffalo, Vancouver, Calgary tier managements.

 

[Osakahaus]

No, they are going to sign landeskog and makar, probably grubauer

so do nothing to bolster their team besides bringing back some guys? thats gonna get them over the hump of round 2 for sure!

 

[Paul4587]

Good deal for the Avs. Not sure about for NJ, depends if Graves was a product of his Colorado environment or not. Time will tell.

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

Is it me or did we give up a lot for Graves? I remember Avs fans wanting to run him out of town after the playoffs. I know nothing about the player though so I’m glad we got some desperately needed defensive depth.

Gravy is a more than competent NHL defender. He's a less than competent Stanley cup contending defender, especially on a team where he gets exposed for pinching or poor odd man rush defensive efforts.

You'll get a surprising amount of goals from him, lots of hustle, decent pk work and overall a likeable guy. You'll also pull out your hair over the goals he allows for brain dead decision making once you have a defensive core where he's your worst player. The year before Cole was that for us. Cole got run out of town and Graves was exposed.

 

[Maurice of Orange]

I like this deal for the Avalanche, Sakic clears over 2.3mil in cap, acquires a versatile depth player in Maltsev, that can be at center or wing and gain a late 2nd round pick for Graves who the Avs might have lost for nothing to the expansion draft.

Good move by Sakic.

With more ice time Maltsev could turn out to be a steal for Colorado, if he can play his way up the lineup.

 

[banks]

Great deal for NJD. And a necessary evil for Colorado.

 

[tucker3434]

so do nothing to bolster their team besides bringing back some guys? thats gonna get them over the hump of round 2 for sure!

Bad two games? Might as well blow up the roster!

 

[Brodeur]

Graves for pick 50ish in a c**p shoot draft? Absolutely NJ wins.

Makes sense for both clubs. Avs might've lost him in the Expansion Draft and it frees up a spot for Bowen Byram (plus cap space for others).

Devils hopefully get somebody who will help our penalty kill (dead last at 70.9% last season). We can possibly recoup a pick down the road a la Marcus Johansson (traded a 2nd+3rd for him, got a 2nd+4th back a couple years later).

 

[Osakahaus]

Bad two games? Might as well blow up the roster!

Gotta get past round 2 still. Time keeps ticking for the Avalanche.

 

[Jeff Whelbourn]

so do nothing to bolster their team besides bringing back some guys? thats gonna get them over the hump of round 2 for sure!

Tampa got swept in the 1st round, added maroon, coleman, and goodrow... then they won 2 cups..

Avs lose graves who was horrible, add byram, maybe johnson, maybe some depth bottom 6. Possibly a decent backup goalie.. they are still favorites to win the cup at this exact moment

 

[Gospel of Prospal]

Somewhere Chris Bigras is crying. Great asset management by Colorado.

You just had to mention it...ugh

But yeah, fair trade for both sides

 

[One Winged Angel]

More picks... Is Colorado planning for life after MacKinnon already?

I’d imagine cap space for Makar and Landeskog. Maybe even a shot at Jones.

 

[Sabreality]

Great deal for NJD. And a necessary evil for Colorado.

yeah Devils got who will likely be the best player in the deal at a position of need, Avs did what they had to do for a maybe 4th liner and a scratch off.

 

[Pia8988]

Improvement on what Jersey has, but that is more of an indictment of the NJ defense than about how good Graves is.

 

[tucker3434]

Gotta get past round 2 still. Time keeps ticking for the Avalanche.

It isn't a stair step thing. The Habs made the final this year. I'm more than happy going into next year's playoffs with the same basic team plus some TDL acquisitions.

 

[Brodeur]

Why not just re-sign Murray?

As another poster said, takes two to tango and maybe Murray wants to test the market. I thought Murray was fine last year but he and Graves would fill in different boxes. We had the worst penalty kill in the league last year, so it might not be sexy but we could use a Ben Lovejoy-esque guy for that role.

I would guess they're thinking Graves/Siegenthaler will be better penalty killing options than Kulikov/Murray. And then you have Smith/Severson/Subban for the PP.

 

[SJinNewJersey]

I like this deal for the Avalanche, Sakic clears over 2.3mil in cap, acquires a versatile depth player in Maltsev, that can be at center or wing and gain a late 2nd round pick for Graves who the Avs might have lost for nothing to the expansion draft.

Good move by Sakic.

With more ice time Maltsev could turn out to be a steal for Colorado, if he can play his way up the lineup.

I like Maltsev a lot, but define steal because he is nothing more then a bottom 6 project right now.

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

Good deal for Devils here

And Avs turn a sure expansion loss into a 2nd + meh

 

[Ambisextrous]

Basically Graves and 2nd for Toews lol

 

[Nico Hughes]

Graves is awful. Him and Girard almost single handedly lost the Avalanche the series against Vegas.

Avs were probably going to lose him for free to Seattle so this is yet another great trade for Sakic.

For some reason I have a feeling this is a bit dramatic

 

[Osakahaus]

Tampa got swept in the 1st round, added maroon, coleman, and goodrow... then they won 2 cups..

Avs lose graves who was horrible, add byram, maybe johnson, maybe some depth bottom 6. Possibly a decent backup goalie.. they are still favorites to win the cup at this exact moment

Colorado hasn't added much on their B6 still and they have not proven to me that Bednar is a solid coach. He actually didn't adjust to what the Knights did as the series went by. You see the issues with colorado? if they do not address their bottom 6 at all and instead act like adding Byram will fix everything, then they've learned absolutely nothing at all and will lose to Vegas again. Do it or else the entire hockey world will be mad at Denver for not winning Mackinnon a cup

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

Watch Maltsev become a stud now lol

 

[devils29]

Think the Devils over paid slightly. Would rather that have been our 3rd round pick instead of the Isles 2nd but whatever

 

[Mac Attack]

Think the Devils over paid slightly. Would rather that have been our 3rd round pick instead of the Isles 2nd but whatever

Those picks are almost the same honestly. Seems fair overall.