Bender
Registered User
- Sep 25, 2002
- 17,316
- 8,567
Generally speaking, I think you're right (I think Dreger does this all the time) but this time around I think McKenzie is probably on to something and he's just not blowing smoke.
It's funny, after the season came to an end, I started working on an 'off-season plan' for the Avs and what I would do if I was GM. I was going to post it here but got caught up doing a bunch of other stuff and I don't have much free time anymore but anyways...basically, it was this :
1) Release Tim Army - Just need someone new to run the PP (done)
2) Buy out #32 - I still believe this needs to happen...and I think it will
3) Re-Sign Goloubef to a 1 year - 2way deal (to protect Barberio) *not sure if this will happen, depends on returns from trades.
4) Re-Sign Zadorov to a long-term deal (I like the way he's progressing - I would give him the Josi deal 7 years - $4M per year)
5) Trade Duchene prior to the expansion draft - (being rumored right now) As I've been saying for the past 6 months, this will be the best opportunity to get a great return as teams are analyzing their expansion draft scenarios. I expect Duchene to be moved between the end of the Cup Finals (between June 5th and June 14th) and the day where teams have to send in their protection lists (June 17th)...that's when he'll be traded...so sit tight, make some popcorn and let's hope for the best.
In my scenario, I have Duchene going to the Islanders for Hamonic + 1st + Barzal and we'd add Will Butcher or something but it's possible that it might even be a bigger trade...I could see the Avs adding Pickard and I could see them protecting Picks instead of Greiss since he's pretty much a known career backup who's unlikely to get selected by Vegas anyways.
(go to Cap Friendly's expansion draft tool NYI Page to see how screwed the Islanders are with the expansion draft - https://www.capfriendly.com/expansion-draft)
5) Trade Barrie at the Entry Draft - (being rumored right now) I don't know many teams that have a protection slot that's actually open that they'd want to use on a player they just traded for. It's not impossible but I think the more likely scenario is the Avs protecting Barrie and then trading him at the draft. I would LOVE for the Avs to move him to Dallas for #3 overall (and I don't think the Stars could get a much better deal than that from other teams especially since they are rumored to be wanting a d-man).
In my scenario, I have him being moved for Drouin even if we have to add a good piece like Bigras that has apparently fallen out of favor with management for some unknown reason but I'm not certain that happens. I do think Barrie is moved out though. It's not that he's a bad d-man, he's very good at what he does but it's just a bad fit for us, right now. The D-Men that are going to play big minutes on this team need to be able to defend better than Barrie has shown to be able to do. On a team with a stronger base (Tampa Bay) he'd probably look amazing.
6) Trade Joe Colborne back to Calgary for Lance Bouma - Gives Calgary a player that fit in with them a hell of a lot better than he does with us. We get a real 4th line player that won't put up points but should be a decent option on the forecheck. The money is about the same and they both have 1 year remaining on their contracts. - It's more of a "let's get this guy out of here for another guy who's NOT Joe Colborne" type of situation rather than a "hey, let's acquire Lance Bouma".
7) Trade Blake Comeau to Boston for Jimmy Hayes - Same kind of situation...practically the same money and term with 1 year left. We're trading for a player that's "not Blake Comeau" just to switch it all around. Hayes could bounce back and have a decent year, who knows. I'm just sick of Blake Comeau and his 'macho head-games'.
In my scenario, the Golden Knights take an unprotected Soderberg. Now a lot of people will suggest that this is wishful thinking and that there is no way that this is going to happen. I just don't know how many top-6 forwards are actually going to be available for Vegas and prior to last season, Soderberg was essentially a top-6 forward for 3 straight seasons. They also need to get to the salary cap floor. We'll see what happens.
That in a nutshell would be my off-season plan. Obviously, all players that are set to be released, would be (Malkin, Tyutin, Weircioch, R.Bourque etc...) and I wouldn't be bringing anyone back. Grigorenko I'm on the fence about him...I don't care if he is brought back as long as it's ONLY a 1 year deal.
In my analysis of this team, the players that need to be moved out (because of various reasons) for different assets are Barrie and Duchene, which is now what's rumored to be happening. I'm not expecting ALL of these moves specifically to happen but I would love it if we turned the roster over significantly to change the mindset in that dressing room.
