I have so many thoughts on this trade at this point, I need to flesh them out a bit with a long post here.
My original thoughts were it was highly unlikely they trade Mikko in season, because teams don't trade players like that, and it would risk deflating the team, especially Nate. I thought it would most likely play out the same way negotiations played out with Gabe signing at the last minute.
Then Lavoie’s report came out and I started to think wow they really may trade him. Which I would have been ok with if a few things happened.
1) They made a strong last minute push to sign Mikko to a fair number close to or at Nate’s $12.6M and had an honest conversation with Mikko about not being able to go higher and that they would have to move if if he wanted more.
2) They had a good idea that the Avs core, especially Nate would understand the business side of this, or could pull a habit out of their hat to bring in his buddy Crosby, to avoid deflating the team, it’s stars, and killing off any chance of winning this year.
3) They got a good return and used the cap savings on a good 2C and D man.
The first two look like they didn’t really happen and we’re still waiting on the third. I’m ok with Nate’s presser, but the fact he said he talked with Gabe and Cale after talking to Mikko, and didn’t say it was about how they’d regroup moving forward, sounds like they might have all been caught off guard and might be pretty pissed. EJ’s “what the hell” comment might sum up how they feel. He knows them pretty well.
It sounds like they were only willing to give him an AAV in the $11M’s, likely about $11.75M, while Mikko is saying he didn’t need $14M, and reports are he would have been ok with a number close to Nate’s.
Quite frankly, the Avs saying they were willing to make him the highest paid winger in the NHL is a bunch of bullshit. Panarin has the highest AAV at $11.642M. Nylander is making $11.5M. Panarin signed his deal 6 years ago and Nylander a year ago. If they were both UFA’s this year they’d make a lot more. Meanwhile Mikko is better than both, and when Marner and Kaprizov sign their next deals, they will likely be getting at least $13M+. Possibly $14M+.
Which makes any contract in the $11M’s kind of a slap in the face. It was obvious the whole time that an AAV close to Nate’s made the most sense. His deal will be very underpaid soon and Mikko is signing with a much higher cap in place.
Combine that with reports that the Avs talked about this deal in the off season and their seeming unwillingness to get close to Nate’s deal, and it’s starting to sound to me like they might have never intended to sign Mikko in the first place.
It sounds like the plan all along might have been to use his cap hit to spread around and improve the depth. Which I think makes sense, but how much do you really need when the cap could be $98M next year, and over $100M in a couple years?
I don’t expect them to come out and admit this was their plan, but at the same time, it kind of feels like we got taken for a ride by the team. Thinking they wanted to sign him when perhaps they never did.
Will wait to reserve judgement on this new team building strategy until I see what else they do with their new found cap space, but if Mikko would have taken around Nate’s deal, I feel like they might have been able to get the depth they needed, with the cap jumps coming up. They don’t even know if Gabe will be on the team long term.
Very interested to see what trades CMac makes the rest of the year. Gonna need to replace Mikko's goal scoring somehow.