With Gardiner in Carolina now, that likely puts Faulk on the block. Colorado could use another RHD to balance the defence, as only Makar and Johnson are RHD's on the roster. Timmins & Meloche need another year in the AHL, so Faulk for a year would fit well in the meantime.
Carolina were reported at the time of the Reimer/Darling trade to be looking to flip Reimer, and Colorado are one of few teams who have a need for a veteran No.3 goalie AND capspace to acquire Reimer's $3.4m for 2 years, and/or Faulk's hit.
Specifically, Colorado currently has $15.6m space. Assuming that Rantanen signs for ~$9.5m, that would leave ~$6.1m in space. Reimer ($3.4m) + Faulk ($4.83m) combined are $8.23m, so Avs would need to open about $2.1m, which could be found by for example including Connauton ($1.375m) or Barberio ($1.45m) in the trade and sending Nichuskin down ($850k).
A trade around Reimer + 2nd +3rd for Barberio/Graves/Connauton has been discussed earlier this summer. I wrote a detailed post outlining why a trade like that would make sense for both sides here:
Reimer + 3rd + 3rd <---> Barberio
- $3.4m / 2 years <-----> $1.45m / 1 year
From Carolina's perspective:
- Nedeljkovic just won the Calder Cup and deserves a chance at No.2 in net for them.
- Trading Reimer and promoting Nedeljkovic would ease the log-jam at AHL level. Going forwards Carolina would still have Forsling / Booth / Helvig in the AHL.
- There's a risk involved with going with an inexperienced No.2, but Mrazek is an experienced NHL goaltender and would help Nedeljkovic settle in the NHL.
- Carolina has the assets with 3 2020 3rd round picks (and 6 picks in the first 3 rounds).
- Carolina only has 6 defenseman on their NHL roster, so Barberio would be nice insurance to add as 7D.
- Carolina is a small-market team who operate on gate receipts, and are going to be paying out big on Aho's signing bonuses after matching his offersheet. Getting out of Reimer's $3.4m would make financial sense for them in the short-term.
- There was noise about Carolina looking to flip Reimer immediately when they acquired him:
From Colorado's perspective:
- Colorado needs an experienced NHL-calibre goaltender as No.3 to insulate Grubauer/Francouz and support Werner in the AHL. Reimer ticks these boxes.
- They have a gluttony of depth defenseman (Barberio/Connauton/Graves/Rosén/MacDonald) along with some younger guys looking to make the team (Timmins/Byram/Meloche), so moving a depth defenseman to fill a need makes sense.
- Colorado will have around $5-8m in capspace this season after signing their remaining RFA's, and can easily afford to take on Reimer's cap hit.
- In summer 2020 Barrie's retention ($2.75m) and Orpik's buyout ($1.5m) open up another $4.25m in capspace, meaning that Avs can afford to take on the 2nd year of Reimer's $3.4m contract as well. In 2020 Colorado's only significant contracts up for renewal are Jost; Girard; Zadorov; and Francouz, and Colorado should have more than enough capspace to resign them even with Reimer on the books.
- Colorado lack a 2020 2nd pick so I could see them pushing for a 2nd here instead of two 3rds, but with these 2 3rds they could package them (perhaps with their other 3rd) in another trade to get a 2nd.
Building on that suggestion - which seemed to be more or less agreeable to Canes fans (give or take a pick), perhaps a trade could work with Faulk included instead of the picks? That is, Reimer + Faulk for Barberio/Connauton.
That might be a bit underwhelming for Faulk in isolation, but it would get Carolina out of Reimer's contract and the capspace they need. Maybe Colorado would need to include a pick as well to make it work, but as a basis for a trade I think it works well for both sides.
Carolina is currently $1.55m over the cap, and a trade like the one mentioned would see them gain about $6.8m in capspace ($8.23m from Reimer/Faulk, minus $1.375 / $1.45 for Connauton or Barberio), leaving them $5.25m under the cap, which they could to make some other moves, like adding another forward for example. Carolina defense would then look like this:
Slavin - Hamilton
Gardiner - Pesce
Forsling - Van Riemsdyk
(+ Fleury, Priskie, and one of Connauton/Barberio)
For Colorado it would really solidify two positions of need in one go (i.e. 3rd pair RHD, and veteran No.3 goalie), without giving up anything significant other than capspace and a depth defenseman (and maybe a pick). Colorado defense would look like this:
Girard - Makar
Zadorov - Johnson
Cole/Byram - Faulk
(+ 3 of Barberio / Rosén / Connauton / Graves)
