2022 Offseason / Cap Situation

[Pierce Hawthorne]

It's still a good team, yes. But with the right moves Sakic could have cemented this team as THE team to beat. He didn't.

That's mostly because you think of the offseason and roster moves as a video game when the reality isn't anywhere close to that.


The Avs already have had incredibly high roster turnover this year. Completely ridiculous to be expecting some of the additional moves you think he could have made.

 

[letsgoavs1921]

That's mostly because you think of the offseason and roster moves as a video game when the reality isn't anywhere close to that.


The Avs already have had incredibly high roster turnover this year. Completely ridiculous to be expecting some of the additional moves you think he could have made.

Come on man. He was supposed to sign $35 million worth of players with $25 million without also putting us in bad shape next season and beyond

 

[shadow1]

I try not to complaint too much but frankly the negativity is justified.

Yes, the salary cap was always going to be an issue this off-season. But Sakic had options on the table (buying out Erik Johnson) that he chose not to exercise. Arizona is actively tanking and recently acquired several bad contracts (like Beagle, Eriksson, and Ladd), yet Colorado didn't shed a bad contract (Compher) when making the trade for Darcy Kuemper.

The thing that stings me the most is Brandon Saad. He's only 28 and had a good first year in Colorado. If Saad was seeking a massive payday, I would've understood the Avalanche moving on. But he ended up signing for less money ($4.5M) than he made last year ($5M COL + $1M CHI), with a division rival no less. It's poor management that he's not on the roster but JT Compher ($3.5M) is.

The Avalanche are a good team but they're objectively worse on paper than they were last year. Center ice depth is still an issue, defensive depth is a new issue, and there wasn't any kind of identity change in the roster. Vegas is a better team and will beat Colorado if they play again in the playoffs, barring Kuemper stealing the series.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Come on man. He was supposed to sign $35 million worth of players with $25 million

Not even so much that....


Just constantly trading assets and players and overhauling 80% of the roster every year. Simply doesn't happen, only in video games.


Things like player morale matter and team chemistry matter in real life. These guys spend them majority of their time together. Constantly trading players and overhauling a roster every year or every time a slightly upgrade is maybe available can quickly have a much bigger negative impact on the off ice things then whatever slight upgrade you might get.

This Avs team from last year to this year has already lost Saad, Donskoi, Bellemare, Calvert, Graves, Timmins, and Grubauer... That's 7 guys.


And then beyond that, this isn't a video game in the other direction either. Not every player in the league will sign with you if you offer them money. Different guys have different reasons to want to stay in a certain area or with a certain team or to move to a certain team.



Like the poster right above me, thinking we should just buy out Erik Johnson and dump Compher. It costs real money to buy out EJ, and then real money to replace him. An EJ buyout results in a 2M cap hit on our roster for the next 4 years... And then creates a hole at the 2RD spot. It would cost us a lot more then 4M in free agency to get a player potentially as good as EJ for that spot, or even more in trade assets to acquire a guy via trade. Likewise with Compher, it costs assets and good ones at that to dump a negative value contract. What's the point when JTC is actually a decent contributor?


And on top of all that, we'd be talking about turning over almost half of our roster from last year to this year and replacing them with completely new people and new faces and new chemistry to try and build up in the locker room.

It's completely unrealistic and stuff driven from hours of playing NHL 21 and thinking its that easy.

The Avalanche are a good team but they're objectively worse on paper than they were last year. Center ice depth is still an issue, defensive depth is a new issue, and there wasn't any kind of identity change in the roster. Vegas is a better team and will beat Colorado if they play again in the playoffs, barring Kuemper stealing the series.

Just going to completely ignore that Vegas just traded away its number 1 Goalie I guess? Remember when we put up 7 on Lehner in Game 1 against them? If these two teams were to meet in the playoffs right now its not Fleury in net.


But yeah sure "Justified negativity". This Avs team would have a field day against Lehner and that Vegas team right now.

 

[shadow1]

Just going to completely ignore that Vegas just traded away its number 1 Goalie I guess? Remember when we put up 7 on Lehner in Game 1 against them? If these two teams were to meet in the playoffs right now its not Fleury in net.


But yeah sure "Justified negativity". This Avs team would have a field day against Lehner and that Vegas team right now.

Remember when the Red Wings put up 7 on Roy? Are you seriously going to pretend Lehner isn't an above average starting goalie based on one game?

 

[letsgoavs1921]

Not even so much that....


Just constantly trading assets and players and overhauling 80% of the roster every year. Simply doesn't happen, only in video games.


Things like player morale matter and team chemistry matter in real life. These guys spend them majority of their time together. Constantly trading players and overhauling a roster every year or every time a slightly upgrade is maybe available can quickly have a much bigger negative impact on the off ice things then whatever slight upgrade you might get.

This Avs team from last year to this year has already lost Saad, Donskoi, Bellemare, Calvert, Graves, Timmins, and Grubauer... That's 7 guys.


And then beyond that, this isn't a video game in the other direction either. Not every player in the league will sign with you if you offer them money. Different guys have different reasons to want to stay in a certain area or with a certain team or to move to a certain team.



Like the poster right above me, thinking we should just buy out Erik Johnson and dump Compher. It costs real money to buy out EJ, and then real money to replace him. An EJ buyout results in a 2M cap hit on our roster for the next 4 years... And then creates a hole at the 2RD spot. It would cost us a lot more then 4M in free agency to get a player potentially as good as EJ for that spot, or even more in trade assets to acquire a guy via trade. Likewise with Compher, it costs assets and good ones at that to dump a negative value contract. What's the point when JTC is actually a decent contributor?


And on top of all that, we'd be talking about turning over almost half of our roster from last year to this year and replacing them with completely new people and new faces and new chemistry to try and build up in the locker room.

It's completely unrealistic and stuff driven from hours of playing NHL 21 and thinking its that easy.



Just going to completely ignore that Vegas just traded away its number 1 Goalie I guess? Remember when we put up 7 on Lehner in Game 1 against them? If these two teams were to meet in the playoffs right now its not Fleury in net.


But yeah sure "Justified negativity". This Avs team would have a field day against Lehner and that Vegas team right now.

yep, stuff like this where people say Vegas is clearly better than us or whatever is the type of knee-jerk overreaction I hate. It was possibly the two best teams in the league, at the very least two of the top three. It was a tossup series when it started, and we happened to lose three close games at the end of the series that could easily have gone our way with a bounce here or there. If Saad’s post shot in game 3 goes in we win the series. In game five we played an absolutely amazing game for the first two periods and probably deserved to be up by three or four. Fleury kept them in it, Grubauer did not make one big save and we lose. Refs refused to call anything after DeBooer complained after game two.

I’m comfortable saying I believe if we play them again with the same exact teams as last year we win.

I like our team this year, and I definitely don’t think Vegas got better. They aren’t winning a cup with Lehner

 

[letsgoavs1921]

I will say he’s not above average. He’s average. I’m pretty sure there are 15 or 16 goalies I would rather have instead of him

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Remember when the Red Wings put up 7 on Roy? Are you seriously going to pretend Lehner isn't an above average starting goalie based on one game?

I didn't say he wasn't above average. Fleury just won the VEZINA.

Are you seriously going to act like losing him isn't an absolutely massive loss for that team?


But actually yeah, Lehner is not anything special. He's an average starter. That's pretty evidently clear by his career numbers.

 

[Bonzai12]

Come on man. He was supposed to sign $35 million worth of players with $25 million without also putting us in bad shape next season and beyond

yeah I agree with this.

I mean if we had just signed Grub to 8 x $2M, Landy to maybe 8 x $3.5M, Makar to 12 x $4.0M and then extended Mac to 10 x $6M we would be in a great spot.

After Sakic was done with those deals, we could send him to Mars where he could discover water and then move our entire world population there. And then he’d give us all $3M dollars because he’s a good GM.

 

[Avaholic29]

yeah I agree with this.

I mean if we had just signed Grub to 8 x $2M, Landy to maybe 8 x $3.5M, Makar to 12 x $4.0M and then extended Mac to 10 x $6M we would be in a great spot.

After Sakic was done with those deals, we could send him to Mars where he could discover water and then move our entire world population there. And then he’d give us all $3M dollars because he’s a good GM.

I think it’s more relying on the same things to get you over the hump. I’ll wait to see what maltsev and helm bring, but the rest of the bottom 6 remains the same. Now for Erik Johnson, if he gets hurt we have no 2RD and our top dmen will now have to eat the Majority of PK minutes (they’ll already get a lot). We also don’t have a dman to facilitate a rookie byram. I’ve personally calmed down a bit and think nuke and Jost are going to take a step in an 82 game season together but the issue of physicality and not getting pushed around seems like it will be an issue again. I see why people are frustrated, but let’s wait and see if sakic has a trade up his sleeve.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

For all you whiners, and people who just like to complain and be miserable instead of having perspective of a particular situation look at this...

Sakic had his hands tied this offseason. I've done my best to reply in some of the other threads over the last week and point this out, but most don't want to hear it or acknowledge it. He had a flat cap, a limited amount of space to work with and 3 big dogs (two of which wanted top dollar) to extend. In addition to a couple other role players. Not sure what most of you expected him to do. When all is said and done he did great, especially if Kuemper pans out. The most important part is we are still one of the top 5 teams in the league this year, which is all you want to do....give yourself a shot, but he didn't do anything to screw us for the next few years. What do I mean? Here you go

If you take the forwards and defenseman we already have under contract next season, and assume we will spend about $7 million combined on our two Goaltenders, we are sitting at about $63.5 million if we assume O'Connor gets around $2 million/year. That's WITH EJ on the books. Let's assume he retires, we trade him, or for the sake of this conversation we buy him out. That drops us down to right at $60 million. At that point we have 8 forwards, 4 defenseman, and 2 goaltenders signed.

For the sake of this conversation let's say the cap goes up to $83.5 million. And the 5th/6th defenseman we sign are someone like a MacDonald but maybe costs a little more. We are sitting at about $63 million with a full set of D, both goalies and 8 forwards even with JTC factored in. Let's assume we still have him as a worst case scenario. We have about $20 million we can spend for 4 forwards....that's an AVERAGE of $5 AAV per forward. So if one of the ones we sign is a fourth line type for say $1 million we can go get 3 guys at about $6.5 each.

Most of you need to chill. We can win a cup with this roster. If we have learned anything the last few years, it is that you don't have to be the best team up and down the lineup to make a run. You need to have a good team with some talent, that works hard, gets hot at the right time and gets timely goaltending (were never going to get that with Grubauer). We have given ourselves a chance now with this lineup and have the ability to improve dramatically next offseason while other teams have bad contracts due to overspending this offseason (while Sakic didn't). And if the cap goes up again in 2023 we shouldn't have much of an issue having space for Mackinnon and Byram. Compher alone coming off the books combined with the cap going up to $85-$86 alone creates the extra money for Mackinnon. Then just have to make sure we have some money for Byram.

Your choice if you want to complain with no perspective on the overall situation Sakic faced. He did great

 

[Sea Eagles]

For all you whiners, and people who just like to complain and be miserable instead of having perspective of a particular situation look at this...

Sakic had his hands tied this offseason. I've done my best to reply in some of the other threads over the last week and point this out, but most don't want to hear it or acknowledge it. He had a flat cap, a limited amount of space to work with and 3 big dogs (two of which wanted top dollar) to extend. In addition to a couple other role players. Not sure what most of you expected him to do. When all is said and done he did great, especially if Kuemper pans out. The most important part is we are still one of the top 5 teams in the league this year, which is all you want to do....give yourself a shot, but he didn't do anything to screw us for the next few years. What do I mean? Here you go

If you take the forwards and defenseman we already have under contract next season, and assume we will spend about $7 million combined on our two Goaltenders, we are sitting at about $63.5 million if we assume O'Connor gets around $2 million/year. That's WITH EJ on the books. Let's assume he retires, we trade him, or for the sake of this conversation we buy him out. That drops us down to right at $60 million. At that point we have 8 forwards, 4 defenseman, and 2 goaltenders signed.

For the sake of this conversation let's say the cap goes up to $83.5 million. And the 5th/6th defenseman we sign are someone like a MacDonald but maybe costs a little more. We are sitting at about $63 million with a full set of D, both goalies and 8 forwards even with JTC factored in. Let's assume we still have him as a worst case scenario. We have about $20 million we can spend for 4 forwards....that's an AVERAGE of $5 AAV per forward. So if one of the ones we sign is a fourth line type for say $1 million we can go get 3 guys at about $6.5 each.

Most of you need to chill. We can win a cup with this roster. If we have learned anything the last few years, it is that you don't have to be the best team up and down the lineup to make a run. You need to have a good team with some talent, that works hard, gets hot at the right time and gets timely goaltending (were never going to get that with Grubauer). We have given ourselves a chance now with this lineup and have the ability to improve dramatically next offseason while other teams have bad contracts due to overspending this offseason (while Sakic didn't). And if the cap goes up again in 2023 we shouldn't have much of an issue having space for Mackinnon and Byram. Compher alone coming off the books combined with the cap going up to $85-$86 alone creates the extra money for Mackinnon. Then just have to make sure we have some money for Byram.

Your choice if you want to complain with no perspective on the overall situation Sakic faced. He did great

Not sure attacking people's opinions rather than hearing them out and counter arguing the "topic" is the way to put your point across mate? Just my opinion of course. In regards, to next season, I'm thinking we break it down like this though.

+ Top line is still the top line (possibly best in the league)
+ Still have the best defensemen (in my opinion) in the league (and tbh, best forward - again, opinion)
+ EJ is basically a new player to the squad. He's still actually relatively young, and on his day, a ,top pairing D.
+ Francouz is basically a new player (people forget this but he was pushing Grub for the starting spot) Bednar had to confirm (through the media) that Grub was his guy.
+ Calvert has been replaced by Maltzev. While I think Matt was a better player, we still go forward, because Matt never really played?
+ I loved Bellemare. When he signed elsewhere I'm like there goes the lockeroom guy. We got Darren Helm (who has wheels for his age and is faster)
+ Jost improved substantially last season. I copped it left, right and center a season and a half a go for saying he'd come good. I still think he has miles of improvement in him.
+ At SOME point, we have to blood (fulltime) Kaut, Bowers, Newhook & others, they are too good a talent for the juniors, and you don't want too many older players taking their spot. Who knows what their trajectory is, but if it comes off, they could be anything.

BUT, I can't be ALL positive. I hated losing our players. Just hated it, and I went off / bananas on social media. I think we need ONE more buy to balance the team out (you need cheap, but someone with high potential) - i.e. Parise.

This team challenges for the Cup next season (top 2-3 in the league too) - remember people laughed when I said first overall?

Landeskog - Mackinnon - Rantanen
XXXXXX - Kadri - Burakovsky
Jost - Newhook - Nichushkin
Maltzev - Helm - Compher

(Note, EVERY line can score there - 4 forwards I'd say are top 15 in the league - possibly the best potential rookie this coming season)

Toews - Makar
Girard - Johnson
Byram - Macdermid

(More skill, than any other defense in the league - I'd say leagues best)

Kuemper
Francouz

Where did we struggle last season? Size, grit and experience. That's been added to in every sense.
Think about our depth now as well. LOC, Macdonald, JJ are all amazing. Goes even deeper Kaut...and know who I actually loved last season? Middleton - total beast mode (if Macdermid or EJ go down).

Lots and lots to get excited about. Imagine we got say Parise, and he lit it up again on top of all that? Wow. What a team to watch.

 

[Belgican]

Not sure attacking people's opinions rather than hearing them out and counter arguing the "topic" is the way to put your point across mate? Just my opinion of course. In regards, to next season, I'm thinking we break it down like this though.

+ Top line is still the top line (possibly best in the league)
+ Still have the best defensemen (in my opinion) in the league (and tbh, best forward - again, opinion)
+ EJ is basically a new player to the squad. He's still actually relatively young, and on his day, a ,top pairing D.
+ Francouz is basically a new player (people forget this but he was pushing Grub for the starting spot) Bednar had to confirm (through the media) that Grub was his guy.
+ Calvert has been replaced by Maltzev. While I think Matt was a better player, we still go forward, because Matt never really played?
+ I loved Bellemare. When he signed elsewhere I'm like there goes the lockeroom guy. We got Darren Helm (who has wheels for his age and is faster)
+ Jost improved substantially last season. I copped it left, right and center a season and a half a go for saying he'd come good. I still think he has miles of improvement in him.
+ At SOME point, we have to blood (fulltime) Kaut, Bowers, Newhook & others, they are too good a talent for the juniors, and you don't want too many older players taking their spot. Who knows what their trajectory is, but if it comes off, they could be anything.

BUT, I can't be ALL positive. I hated losing our players. Just hated it, and I went off / bananas on social media. I think we need ONE more buy to balance the team out (you need cheap, but someone with high potential) - i.e. Parise.

This team challenges for the Cup next season (top 2-3 in the league too) - remember people laughed when I said first overall?

Landeskog - Mackinnon - Rantanen
XXXXXX - Kadri - Burakovsky
Jost - Newhook - Nichushkin
Maltzev - Helm - Compher

(Note, EVERY line can score there - 4 forwards I'd say are top 15 in the league - possibly the best potential rookie this coming season)

Toews - Makar
Girard - Johnson
Byram - Macdermid

(More skill, than any other defense in the league - I'd say leagues best)

Kuemper
Francouz

Where did we struggle last season? Size, grit and experience. That's been added to in every sense.
Think about our depth now as well. LOC, Macdonald, JJ are all amazing. Goes even deeper Kaut...and know who I actually loved last season? Middleton - total beast mode (if Macdermid or EJ go down).

Lots and lots to get excited about. Imagine we got say Parise, and he lit it up again on top of all that? Wow. What a team to watch.

I think you’re right, I agree on most of your points. I’m not even sure Sakic feels he needs to add as he said Maltsev would center the 4th, which means Jost will center the third, and Newhook will land on the second. He had particular good chemistry with Kadri and they can shift place to try Newhook at center too.

I think MacDermid is here to play every game, at least the majority of them, as a D or as a F. He will have to protect the Byram and G as needed.

It’s a good lineup for the season, I just have my reserve for the playoffs. I feel Jost and Compher are not good enough to provide the danger and the energy you expect from a 3rd line.

Therefore Sakic should use his cap at the TDL, but he lacks assets. One of the reason is that the Kaut and Bowers have lost every value. They didn’t play enough and they are not attractive anymore in any deal. And there are not even in the lineup for next season.

Landeskog - MacKinnon - Rantanen
Newhook - Kadri - Burakovsky
Nichushkin - Jost - Compher
Helm - Maltsev - LOC

Toews - Makar
Girard - Johnson
Byram - MacDermid

 

[arun]

Joe already has a deal worked out with barkov so thats why this offseason is a bit underwhelming lol

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

LOL exactly

Back to my original point. Most people just like to complain instead of looking at the actual situation and acknowledging someone did a good job

Hindsight is and will always be 20/20. Welcome to discussion boards where people argue leveraging hindsight and the shroud of predicting a future never to come to protect themselves from their takes never panning out.

The reality is Sakic did ok. He's been doing great on the whole and our cap situation isn't a single offseason analysis to provide it. We've avoided killing the cap numerous times before. But Sakic missed out on plenty of cheaper solid players and overspent to acquire Kemps. Still lacking center depth and goalie depth. Unlike most I'm OK with JTC and EJ. But for a team expected to be a cup contender, we look more like another 2nd-3rd round exit unless someone steps up (Kemps stays healthy, Byram/Newhook are ready, etc).

 

[shadow1]

I didn't say he wasn't above average. Fleury just won the VEZINA.

Are you seriously going to act like losing him isn't an absolutely massive loss for that team?


But actually yeah, Lehner is not anything special. He's an average starter. That's pretty evidently clear by his career numbers.

You implied it, but then came out and said it right there.

Lehner has a career .918 SV%, and a .923 SV% over the last three years. He's finished top-6 in the Vezina Trophy race twice in the last three seasons, and has a career .919 SV% in the playoffs.

Frankly Fleury's Vezina season was a surprise, considering his age (36) and how poorly he played in 2019-2020. But if losing him is a massive loss for Vegas, doesn't it beg the question that Colorado losing its Vezina nominated goalie isn't also an "absolutely massive" loss?

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

Largely I agree with the OP. People acting like this team is finished because they lost Brandon Saad is weird.

The tendency on this board is to always look at the most negative outcome of what the team could look like and it’s worse now then it’s been in a long time. Player growth and gained experience get shrugged off like they’re irrelevant.

Even if you look at the roster to start the season and you feel they’ve gotten slightly worse. That doesn’t mean they’re finished.

Winning the Presdients Trophy didn’t mean shit for the Avs last year and if they drop to like 6th best record in the league that doesn’t mean anything either. You put yourself in the mix, try to peak at the right time and hope for good health.

In terms of the cap for next year, the Avs have a lot of flexibility. There’s definitely a chance to reshape some things.

 

[Goulet17]

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Here’s our turnover based on the playoff roster

Grubauer — Kuemper
Dubnyk — Francouz
Graves — EJ
Timmins — Byram
Saad — _________
Donskoi — Newhook
Bellemare — Helm
Newhook (fourth line) — Maltsev
Nemeth — Macdermid

There’s one glaring hole and that’s Saad. The rest of the fear lies in the durability of Kuemper/EJ vs Grubauer/Graves. Newhook coming close to living up to what Donskoi brought is a big question mark too. But it’s silly to suggest this offseason has been bad.

 

[Belgican]

Here’s our turnover based on the playoff roster

Grubauer — Kuemper
Dubnyk — Francouz
Graves — EJ
Timmins — Byram
Saad — _________
Donskoi — Newhook
Bellemare — Helm
Newhook (fourth line) — Maltsev
Nemeth — Macdermid

There’s one glaring hole and that’s Saad. The rest of the fear lies in the durability of Kuemper/EJ vs Grubauer/Graves. Newhook coming close to living up to what Donskoi brought is a big question mark too. But it’s silly to suggest this offseason has been bad.

Saad — Kadri

 

[Richard88]

Here’s our turnover based on the playoff roster

Grubauer — Kuemper
Dubnyk — Francouz
Graves — EJ
Timmins — Byram
Saad — _________
Donskoi — Newhook
Bellemare — Helm
Newhook (fourth line) — Maltsev
Nemeth — Macdermid

There’s one glaring hole and that’s Saad. The rest of the fear lies in the durability of Kuemper/EJ vs Grubauer/Graves. Newhook coming close to living up to what Donskoi brought is a big question mark too. But it’s silly to suggest this offseason has been bad.

You forgot Soderberg and Nemeth. They don't need to be replaced though, it's addition by subtraction lol

 

[NOTENOUGHJTCGOALS]

You forgot Soderberg and Nemeth. They don't need to be replaced though, it's addition by subtraction lol

Not having to print those two on the roster page saves ink. Printer ink is a more valuable asset to the organization than either of those two.

 

[the_fan]

If you want to win the cup right now, you can't worry too much about what's gonna happen in the future cap wise. You gotta take the chance, get good players who you know will help you win the cup, as I said...right now. Just look at all the past winners recent or not, they all go for it and don't care about the future.

What good is keep saving cap space for the future gonna do when MacK, Mikko, Gabe get older over 30 having not won the cup? I guess Sakic can start rebuilding the team again with all that cap he saves

 

[Richard Doll]

Spending a shit ton of money doesn't guarantee a cup.

I would rather be as good as I can be, good enough to contend, while maintaining assets and cap flexibility to do it again next year. And the year after. And the year after that.

I don't believe in throwing all my eggs in 1 basket for that all in, not if it lowers my chances of competing in the future.

This is hockey. Having the most stacked team doesn't guarantee a cup. If that was the case, the Avs would have won more than 2 back in the day.

 

[Vaslof]

I try not to complaint too much but frankly the negativity is justified.

Yes, the salary cap was always going to be an issue this off-season. But Sakic had options on the table (buying out Erik Johnson) that he chose not to exercise. Arizona is actively tanking and recently acquired several bad contracts (like Beagle, Eriksson, and Ladd), yet Colorado didn't shed a bad contract (Compher) when making the trade for Darcy Kuemper.

The thing that stings me the most is Brandon Saad. He's only 28 and had a good first year in Colorado. If Saad was seeking a massive payday, I would've understood the Avalanche moving on. But he ended up signing for less money ($4.5M) than he made last year ($5M COL + $1M CHI), with a division rival no less. It's poor management that he's not on the roster but JT Compher ($3.5M) is.

The Avalanche are a good team but they're objectively worse on paper than they were last year. Center ice depth is still an issue, defensive depth is a new issue, and there wasn't any kind of identity change in the roster. Vegas is a better team and will beat Colorado if they play again in the playoffs, barring Kuemper stealing the series.

You probably won't remember this by then, but Saad is something you'll want to revisit in 5 years when his contract is over. You might think signing him is a no-brainer right now, but perhaps not in 5 years when you've seen his stint. NHL GM's need to have some foresight into these things. You could also revisit this in say 3 years and look at who we have on the 2nd line and if Saad would be an improvement on them. I'm not saying that you will without a doubt be wrong, it could be Sakic who gets this one wrong, but he bet on not signing Saad long term.