AVS off-season thread

[Ararana]

It just comes across as really nitpicky. Like...it's a 2-year two-way deal. The Avs need veteran players down in Loveland this year, and Alt can be a valuable member of that team AND those players can still get minutes.

It's about as close to a non-issue as one could get.

For sure it's definitely nit picky, and I'm really not complaining too much about it. Just makes me wonder where they're going to fit all these guys if they end up keeping the Siemens/Graves/Grahams around.

 

[RockLobster]

Plus Timmins and Anderson will be rookies, that will need to be taken into consideration.

And I understand that there's a number situation and that someone (or some people) will end up starting and/or playing most of the year in the ECHL. That's where you hope it's people like Graves, or other AHL journeymen defensemen, not the likes of Timmins/Meloche.

There's still a lot to shake out, we don't know what the Avs are thinking for their NHL club yet. It's entirely possible (and I'd say likely) that being upset at something in May is just a case of "looking for something to be upset about". We don't know if they will bring back Siemens, we don't know what other roster changes may take place (perhaps a swap of AHL bodies like Warsofsky for a FWD).

Even if those don't happen, the Avs will still likely roll with a minimum of 7D up with them, and then you take into consideration that injuries are just part of the game.

So basically like I said--it's way too early to know if a 2-year two-way buriable contract for Mark Alt is worth being upset/irritated about.

 

[Ararana]

Nope. I'm upset

 

[cgf]

I don't see the problem

Peacock - Barrie
Girard - Kondor
Nemeth - Barbie
Alt

Siemens - Meloche
Graves* - Timmins
Geertsen* - Warsofksy
Anderson* - Lindholm*

 

[Pokecheque]

Alt taking AHL minutes away from Timmins, Meloche, Andersen, Geertsen, etc is the part I don't like. I don't trust AHL coaches to not play vets over the kids who need the ice time to develop. I'd rather him sit in the NHL pressbox, which isn't fair to him.

Why is that not fair? Are you honestly saying you'd rather have a worse player in there? Alt is precisely the kind of player you want in there. He's still young, but no longer developing as a player, and he's capable of playing in the NHL but not good enough to warrant a permanent role.

He alone will not take any crucial minutes from vital prospects. And I think we can all agree that Mason Geertsen is no longer a prospect. Oh, and I'm pretty sure if he gets waived that means one of those prospects has bumped him off the roster.

The new coach will develop talent. The Eagles are not going to be run like the Hershey Bears or the Chicago Wolves, or prior to Pegula buying the team, the Rochester Americans. I'm reasonably confident a balance will be struck between putting out a winning product and developing talent. Given what the roster is shaping up to be I'm not really certain they CAN bench prospects.

 

[RockLobster]

I don't see the problem

Peacock - Barrie
Girard - Kondor
Nemeth - Barbie
Alt

Siemens - Meloche
Graves* - Timmins
Geertsen* - Warsofksy
Anderson* - Lindholm*

I can see where a potential issue arises, and that would be if Joe signs someone like Carlson or CDH for the NHL roster, thus pushing Barbie to the #7 and either Alt stays up as the #8, or goes down to the AHL.

Now the AHL lineup, I'd say it's entirely likely to be vet-heavy in minutes at first. So players like Siemens, Lindholm, Alt, and Warsofsky, if they're all still in the organization at the time, will likely have bigger roles. Meloche seemed to get better as the year went on, so as of now I'd say it's likely he gets decent minutes on the outset, while Timmins and Anderson will be rookies and will likely be brought along a bit slower. I personally am not sure where Graves or Geertsen fits in, and I actually won't be surprised if Geertsen is swapped out for another "change of scenery" prospect.

 

[henchman21]

Alt taking AHL minutes away from Timmins, Meloche, Andersen, Geertsen, etc is the part I don't like. I don't trust AHL coaches to not play vets over the kids who need the ice time to develop. I'd rather him sit in the NHL pressbox, which isn't fair to him.

Don't re-sign Geertsen... problem solved!

Barbie is a fine bottom pairing guy. I'm okay with him sticking around.

Staring next season with this NHL lineup would be pretty solid:

Z-Barrie
Girard-EJ
Nemeth-Barbario
___
___

 

[Iceberg]

I can see where a potential issue arises, and that would be if Joe signs someone like Carlson or CDH for the NHL roster, thus pushing Barbie to the #7 and either Alt stays up as the #8, or goes down to the AHL.

Now the AHL lineup, I'd say it's entirely likely to be vet-heavy in minutes at first. So players like Siemens, Lindholm, Alt, and Warsofsky, if they're all still in the organization at the time, will likely have bigger roles. Meloche seemed to get better as the year went on, so as of now I'd say it's likely he gets decent minutes on the outset, while Timmins and Anderson will be rookies and will likely be brought along a bit slower. I personally am not sure where Graves or Geertsen fits in, and I actually won't be surprised if Geertsen is swapped out for another "change of scenery" prospect.

If Sakic somehow manages to sign Carlson, Barrie is out.

 

[McMetal]

It will be interesting to see if Graves and Geertsen even get QOs. If they're looking to make room down there, those guys are the likely victims to get cut loose. Outside chance of it being Siemens, but the org seems to really like him so I'd be a little surprised.

 

[cgf]

I can see where a potential issue arises, and that would be if Joe signs someone like Carlson or CDH for the NHL roster, thus pushing Barbie to the #7 and either Alt stays up as the #8, or goes down to the AHL.

Now the AHL lineup, I'd say it's entirely likely to be vet-heavy in minutes at first. So players like Siemens, Lindholm, Alt, and Warsofsky, if they're all still in the organization at the time, will likely have bigger roles. Meloche seemed to get better as the year went on, so as of now I'd say it's likely he gets decent minutes on the outset, while Timmins and Anderson will be rookies and will likely be brought along a bit slower. I personally am not sure where Graves or Geertsen fits in, and I actually won't be surprised if Geertsen is swapped out for another "change of scenery" prospect.

Meloche was the best blueliner the Rampage had once he got over his injury and got steady PT. I can't imagine them not at least giving him the chance in camp to stake his claim to big-time PT. Similarly, I can't see the team not giving Timmins every chance to earn serious PT right out of camp, not with the way Joe has gushed about him. So even if we have to fit in Dunk, Alt, Wars & Lindholm/Graves around them, then that just means Anderson has to start in the ECHL (which wouldn't be a bad thing & could well be the case regardless) & that Geertsen starts off eating Nachos if he's brought back at all.

Not to mention that if we do sign an NHLer who pushes Alt down to the AHL, then I would suspect that we wouldn't see Dunk or Graves brought back.

 

[cgf]

If Sakic somehow manages to sign Carlson, Barrie is out.

Or EJ would be out, or we would just hold onto all three of them until Barrie's extension was signed and we were moving EJ out to make room for Meloche/Timmins/Makar.

 

[Pokecheque]

For sure it's definitely nit picky, and I'm really not complaining too much about it. Just makes me wonder where they're going to fit all these guys if they end up keeping the Siemens/Graves/Grahams around.

I'll agree with you there but we just don't know what they're going to do to fill out the AHL Eagles roster. For now, I'm guessing Alt will be the 7D on opening night.

I wouldn't shed any tears if they moved on from Geertsen and Siemens. Neither of those guys have any real upside apart from AHL depth. I don't know much about Graves.

 

[RockLobster]

If Sakic somehow manages to sign Carlson, Barrie is out.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. I know that's a popular thought around here, and while I do admit I'm not sure how much longer Barrie will be in the organization, the Avs need to be smart about it. I don't normally subscribe to this type of thinking, but if the Avs intend to trade Barrie this offseason (or really at any time), MacKinnon's reaction to that needs to be something they take into consideration. Again, that's not something I usually subscribe to, because this is a business at the end of the day. But I can't help but feel like they'd be taking a huge risk needlessly pissing off their best and most important player by trading his best friend...especially considering that TB4 would still be highly valuable even with the addition of Carlson.

 

[Ararana]

I'll agree with you there but we just don't know what they're going to do to fill out the AHL Eagles roster. For now, I'm guessing Alt will be the 7D on opening night.

I wouldn't shed any tears if they moved on from Geertsen and Siemens. Neither of those guys have any real upside apart from AHL depth. I don't know much about Graves.

For sure guys. I agree with RL, there's really no point to complaining mid-may. There's a lot of summer left for next year's NHL and AHL rosters to pan out. I didn't mean for that one comment in my Barbs post to turn into a page of disagreement.

 

[LTC Pain]

Mark Barberio is ready to return to the Colorado Avalanche

 

[Pokecheque]

For sure guys. I agree with RL, there's really no point to complaining mid-may. There's a lot of summer left for next year's NHL and AHL rosters to pan out. I didn't mean for that one comment in my Barbs post to turn into a page of disagreement.

I can't speak for everyone but my arguments were not direct at just you. There's been a surprising amount of blowback on that deal from a lot of fans, including AJ Haefele, and I just don't get it.

 

[Iceberg]

I wouldn't be so sure about that. I know that's a popular thought around here, and while I do admit I'm not sure how much longer Barrie will be in the organization, the Avs need to be smart about it. I don't normally subscribe to this type of thinking, but if the Avs intend to trade Barrie this offseason (or really at any time), MacKinnon's reaction to that needs to be something they take into consideration. Again, that's not something I usually subscribe to, because this is a business at the end of the day. But I can't help but feel like they'd be taking a huge risk needlessly pissing off their best and most important player by trading his best friend...especially considering that TB4 would still be highly valuable even with the addition of Carlson.

I don't think we'll ever know, since i don't see us getting Carlson, but if so, Barrie becomes our best asset to address other needs. And i think MacKinnon would be less upset if Barrie were to be traded for proven and imediate help.

 

[Pokecheque]

It is kinda funny to see how most GMs treat the waiver wire like it's radioactive and yet the Avs had a team that entered the playoffs with FOUR guys acquired through waivers (Nemeth, Barberio, Alt, Nieto).

 

[Iceberg]

Or EJ would be out, or we would just hold onto all three of them until Barrie's extension was signed and we were moving EJ out to make room for Meloche/Timmins/Makar.

I get the impression EJ has a bigger influence in the locker room and that probably means a lot to Sakic, he also plays tougher minutes than Carlson or Barrie normally would.

I think it will go like this, we keep EJ and Barrie until one of Timmins/Makar/Meloche is ready, we'll trade Barrie first and then EJ, when the second one is ready.

Or, if we sign Carlson, we trade Barrie now to help other areas, and EJ in the future when one of Timmins/Makar/Meloche is ready.

 

[cgf]

It is kinda funny to see how most GMs treat the waiver wire like it's radioactive and yet the Avs had a team that entered the playoffs with FOUR guys acquired through waivers (Nemeth, Barberio, Alt, Nieto).

Yeah, some folks like to gripe about "having to rely on the waiver wire", but that's a perk to me and speaks well of our pro-level scouting.

 

[Iceberg]

Yeah, some folks like to gripe about "having to rely on the waiver wire", but that's a perk to me and speaks well of our pro-level scouting.

It speaks to how crap this franchise have been over the years.

 

[cgf]

It speaks to how crap this franchise have been over the years.

How does their current ability to identify talent speak to that? It's not like Nieto is an AHLer that we've just been forcing minutes to. He's a legit NHLer that we just so happened to be able to snag via an avenue that most teams only get crap from.

 

[dahrougem2]

Mark Barberio is fine as a 6/7 but no more than that. He was good when Tyson Barrie went down but prior to that, and after that, especially when he came back, he was not good at all imo.

Fine with him on the 3rd pairing with Nemeth, but it's a catch-22 since EJ is going to get hurt once again next year in all likelihood and so one of Barberio/Nemeth will be pushed into playing top-4 minutes. That isn't fun to watch.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Mark Barberio is fine as a 6/7 but no more than that. He was good when Tyson Barrie went down but prior to that, and after that, especially when he came back, he was not good at all imo.

Fine with him on the 3rd pairing with Nemeth, but it's a catch-22 since EJ is going to get hurt once again next year in all likelihood and so one of Barberio/Nemeth will be pushed into playing top-4 minutes. That isn't fun to watch.

That's exactly why I think we need an upgrade on Barbie not just to bring him back again. He would be fine as the #7 and Nemeth as the #6 with both guys going in and out of the lineup for each other and when EJ inevitably goes down with an injury they can form the bottom pairing together.



Problem is if the speculation is true(Of him coming back for 3 years at 2M or more) they're obviously not planning to bring him back as the 6/7 and I imagine if that was his role coming back he'd probably be looking at Free Agency and seeing if he can find a bigger role elsewhere.


Zadorov - EJ
XXX - Barrie
Girard - Nemeth
Barbie - Alt


That's what the Defense should be. With the XXX being filled in by a free agent like CDH, Hickey, or if we're lucky enough John Carlson. That way when EJ inevitably does go down, It's Girard jumping into the Top 4 instead of those two hooligans.

 

[cgf]

Mark Barberio is fine as a 6/7 but no more than that. He was good when Tyson Barrie went down but prior to that, and after that, especially when he came back, he was not good at all imo.

Fine with him on the 3rd pairing with Nemeth, but it's a catch-22 since EJ is going to get hurt once again next year in all likelihood and so one of Barberio/Nemeth will be pushed into playing top-4 minutes. That isn't fun to watch.

It's far from ideal, but a Nemo - Girard middle pairing can be solid for a couple weeks...especially if EJ doesn't get hurt until the holidays, so Meloche or Timmins will have time to get ready to step in next to Barbie on a third pairing that gets more than 8 minutes a night.

That's why I won't be to upset if we stand pat on D, even if I'm also down to sign someone like Hickey to start the year on our third pairing and force Nemo/Barbie to battle for the #6 job.