Rumor: Avs Proposals/Rumors/Free Agents 2017-18 Part V

[Avs44]

That means something should be announced here today? Or maybe he expects Z will show up without a contract as they hammer the final details out? If Sakic's saying that then I'm assuming Z is already on his way or in Colorado for tomorrow.

 

[lonelybadger]

That plus Zadorov being in Ottawa where his agent is makes sense.

 

[JoemAvs]

I never said Ekholm is Doughty. I said he's a top 30D which I strongly believe he is.

Anybody who would have taken Hamonic over Ekholm 12 months ago are absolute moronic idiots. That opinion would be even worse than not wanting to trade Duchene for Ekholm.

I was never a huge Hamonic fan. So no I did not hold that opinion.

Plenty others did.

Ekholm is a very good player. But you and a few others are overrating him here by quite a bit...
Same way Hamonic was 12 months ago or so.

He wouldn't be that cornerstone defender that you want to build your team around. At best IMO he is similar to EJ a couple of years ago. Probably worse.

Atleast I don't want to come out off yet another rebuild in 2 years with 29 year old Ekholm as the guy you built your defense around...

No thank you...

Lets agree to disagree...


Hanifin obviously is a completely different story. Too bad that we can't get our hands on him.
That is the guy we needed in exchange for Duchene (before his value went down the drain). Not Ekholm...


Sounds like Zadorov has told them that he will report.
Hopefully that happens...

 

[dahrougem2]

Lol Duchene is so walking as a UFA in a couple of seasons

 

[Balthazar]

Lol Duchene is so walking as a UFA in a couple of seasons

When Stastny did it Sakic implied that it would never happen again. We'll trade him for rental value.

 

[Avs_19]

I'm very curious about what the reaction is going to be if Duchene actually doesn't show. At first I thought they could downplay it a bit to try and improve the relationship but now I wouldn't be surprised if they suspended him immediately.

 

[henchman21]

I'd think they have to suspend him immediately. Sets a bad precedent league wide if the Avs don't.

 

[LieutenantDangle]

Or people that would just like to see this franchise to do the smart thing for once and aspire to turn into more than a perenial playoff bubble team...

Avs roster and system is not nearly good or deep enough to turn into anything special right now...
As it stands it looks more like another failed rebuild coming up (especially if Z won't be here for long)...

Making a win-now move like this would only cement that position...

But sure.

Lets try to finish 20th next season. Go for it!

So the "smart thing" to do is continue to be a cellar team with no talent on the left side of the D corps for the foreseeable future and pray that finishing bottom 3 the next several years somehow creates a better future for the team than finishing bottom 10 and actually winning hockey games? And this makes sense because 27 is too old for a player thats already developed, yet still on the rise? At some point you have to realize some day never comes. If the avs don't start fixing their problems now, they will never be fixed. We have no top 4 talent on the left side besides Zadorov. Not even in the pipeline. Pray we land one in the draft and he actually develops in our org and can contribute in what 4 years? How about do that, AND fill the void immediately to make us better now and in the future?

 

[JoemAvs]

I'm very curious about what the reaction is going to be if Duchene actually doesn't show. At first I thought they could downplay it a bit to try and improve the relationship but now I wouldn't be surprised if they suspended him immediately.

Of course they will suspend him immediately.

Not surprised that Sakic hasn't even tried to talk with Duchene to somewhat improve the relationship.

Wouldn't surprise me at all if he wouldn't have talked to Duchene about getting traded at all after hanging him out to dry in the media over the last few months...


Ultimately Duchene will report tomorrow IMO unless something happened in the lockerroom that I don't know about that was way worse than expected...

He really has not much to gain from it...


@LieutnantDangle:

At some point you have to realize that the current rebuild (we already on the second version anyways) has failed because we keep making the same mistakes.

I don't give a damn about the talent level of our defense in the next 1-2 years as long as it does not end in another historically bad season like last year (which is unlikely).
Avs are not winning a cup or making the playoffs anytime soon.

I'd prefer to build for the future not for next season or the season afterwards. Which is exactly where the biggest benefit of Ekholm would lie for the Avs.

Avs have always just tried to plug holes season for season and it simply hasn't worked at all for obvious reasons. That is not how this works...

You need a vision and a plan. You can't just try to trade the 26 year old Duchene for years in part because you want to start another youth movement and then turn around and trade him for a 27 year old defender in his prime.

If you do that, you might as well scrap the whole youth movement because it will fail anyways if you keep trying to do different things at the same time...

 

[cgf]

They can't sign anything. If one party soured on the other it wouldn't be legally obliged to do anything, which makes the whole process worthless.

Not legally obliged, but Brisson's reputation isn't nothing.

 

[lonelybadger]

Do we start a Will Duchene report to camp poll?

I can see sakic not wanting to announce a zadorov deal the same day Hejduk is announced out of respect. Zadorov will probably show up to camp tomorrow and cap friendly will have his new 2 year 2.25 contract up.

 

[twostroke27]

Of course they will suspend him immediately.

Not surprised that Sakic hasn't even tried to talk with Duchene to somewhat improve the relationship.

Wouldn't surprise me at all if he wouldn't have talked to Duchene about getting traded at all after hanging him out to dry in the media over the last few months...


Ultimately Duchene will report tomorrow IMO unless something happened in the lockerroom that I don't know about that was way worse than expected...

He really has not much to gain from it...


@LieutnantDangle:

At some point you have to realize that the current rebuild (we already on the second version anyways) has failed because we keep making the same mistakes.

I don't give a damn about the talent level of our defense in the next 1-2 years as long as it does not end in another historically bad season like last year (which is unlikely).
Avs are not winning a cup or making the playoffs anytime soon.

I'd prefer to build for the future not for next season or the season afterwards. Which is exactly where the biggest benefit of Ekholm would lie for the Avs.

Avs have always just tried to plug holes season for season and it simply hasn't worked at all for obvious reasons. That is not how this works...

You need a vision and a plan. You can't just try to trade the 26 year old Duchene for years in part because you want to start another youth movement and then turn around and trade him for a 27 year old defender in his prime.

If you do that, you might as well scrap the whole youth movement because it will fail anyways if you keep trying to do different things at the same time...

See what I dont get though is what does holding on to duchene do? Wouldn't they be better off to grab ekholm and then flip him than hang onto duchene?

 

[JoemAvs]

See what I dont get though is what does holding on to duchene do? Wouldn't they be better off to grab ekholm and then flip him than hang onto duchene?

If Ekholm has more value around the league than Duchene right now then sure. Make the deal and flip him immediately.

But if that is the case why would Poile do that deal in the first place?


Also do you really think Sakic would flip Ekholm?

I highly doubt it. Can't even blame him. Casual fans like Dater would crucify him for trading a legit top4 D once he finally gets his hands on one...


I don't want to hold onto Duchene at all if the offers are good enough.

But for the above stated reasons, I wouldn't be a fan at all of doing a straight up swap for Ekholm...

 

[Ararana]

Do we start a Will Duchene report to camp poll?

I can see sakic not wanting to announce a zadorov deal the same day Hejduk is announced out of respect. Zadorov will probably show up to camp tomorrow and cap friendly will have his new 2 year 2.25 contract up.

I just want to see that big smiling face in tomorrows interviews. Make it happen people!

BTW, watch the video BSN posted on Sakic talking about the Z situation. Way less confident than Chambers made it sound.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

Dater recorded that video up on BSN with his shoe apparently.

 

[Balthazar]

Not legally obliged, but Brisson's reputation isn't nothing.

Brisson isn't deciding in advance that UFA Duchene will want to stay in Carolina instead of signing in, say, Nashville though. But even if Matt was OK with that...what if Carolina's offer isn't what they want? Like they want 7 years but Canes are only offering 5? Are they morally obligated to sign it? Does Francis have to give his word that he will offer 7 years to Duchene in 2 years? Or Duchene gives his word that he'll accept whatever the Canes are offering?

It doesn't work, sorry.

 

[StayAtHomeAv]

I'm very curious about what the reaction is going to be if Duchene actually doesn't show. At first I thought they could downplay it a bit to try and improve the relationship but now I wouldn't be surprised if they suspended him immediately.

Hasn't even talked with them

 

[twostroke27]

If Ekholm has more value around the league than Duchene right now then sure. Make the deal and flip him immediately.

But if that is the case why would Poile do that deal in the first place?


Also do you really think Sakic would flip Ekholm?

I highly doubt it. Can't even blame him. Casual fans like Dater would crucify him for trading a legit top4 D once he finally gets his hands on one...


I don't want to hold onto Duchene at all if the offers are good enough.

But for the above stated reasons, I wouldn't be a fan at all of doing a straight up swap for Ekholm...

I guess my thought process is as follows: With defenseman being at a premium and Ekholms sweetheart contract, perhaps we could get a player more suited to the team based on that. I'm thinking a younger excellent defensive prospect for a more NHL ready prime top four dmen. I can see what you're saying about the casual fan thing, but I'm not so sure Sakic is overly concerned about that based on how this whole Duchene thing is playing out.

As for Polie, it would be more of a organizational need than anything I suppose. If you remove their injuries, they are super deep defensively with some prospects coming and their center depth is lacking, as the playoffs proved. Duchene is literally what they need when I look at their roster.

EDIT: im not saying sakic would be smart enough to make a move like this, I'm just saying it seems like a reasonable game plan to me.

 

[Papa Francouz]

Hasn't even talked with them

I don't really see what's so shakehead-worthy about an employer expecting an employee to show up to work.

 

[AvsGuy]

My own theory is that there's only one team truly in the running in the Duchene sweepstakes, and it's Nashville.
- I think it's where he wants to be, and if that is the case, it won't matter if Carolina or Columbus or the Islanders get 2 years out of him and they already know that.
- I think Sakic has been asking for Ekholm all along, and has been wisely turned down (I think the two players are even but Duchene had a down year and Ekholm a very up year).
- I think Nashville has the pieces outside of their top 4 to get a deal done. A package around Fabbro, Fiala, Smith and a 1st for Duchene and Comeau is my guess.

 

[twostroke27]

My own theory is that there's only one team truly in the running in the Duchene sweepstakes, and it's Nashville.
- I think it's where he wants to be, and if that is the case, it won't matter if Carolina or Columbus or the Islanders get 2 years out of him and they already know that.
- I think Sakic has been asking for Ekholm all along, and has been wisely turned down (I think the two players are even but Duchene had a down year and Ekholm a very up year).
- I think Nashville has the pieces outside of their top 4 to get a deal done. A package around Fabbro, Fiala, Smith and a 1st for Duchene and Comeau is my guess.

I don't know much about the three players listed, but I'd almost do that just to see comeau gone lol.

 

[StayAtHomeAv]

I didnt say anything about expecting someone to show up. It's absurd he hasn't he talked to these guys. The apparently lack of communication in this org is aweful.

As it stand right now though, Zadorov is not an employee. He is not under contract. Expecting him to show up is the same as expecting him to cave and take the offer on the table. This is something they should be talking about. I don't care if you think Z should cave or not, but how in the world is there no communication?

Duchene better freakin show up.

 

[RockLobster]

I didnt say anything about expecting someone to show up. It's absurd he hasn't he talked to these guys. The apparently lack of communication in this org is aweful.

As it stand right now though, Zadorov is not an employee. He is not under contract. Expecting him to show up is the same as expecting him to cave and take the offer on the table. This is something they should be talking about. I don't care if you think Z should cave or not, but how in the world is there no communication?

Duchene better freakin show up.

There is communication w/ Zadorov. He said they're continually talking.

In regards to Duchene and the other players already under contract, I don't see Sakic not talking to him/them about reporting to camp as weird or headshake worthy...

 

[StayAtHomeAv]

My own theory is that there's only one team truly in the running in the Duchene sweepstakes, and it's Nashville.
- I think it's where he wants to be, and if that is the case, it won't matter if Carolina or Columbus or the Islanders get 2 years out of him and they already know that.
- I think Sakic has been asking for Ekholm all along, and has been wisely turned down (I think the two players are even but Duchene had a down year and Ekholm a very up year).
- I think Nashville has the pieces outside of their top 4 to get a deal done. A package around Fabbro, Fiala, Smith and a 1st for Duchene and Comeau is my guess.

Thats what I'm thinking. I'm just not sure a deal like that gets done though. And if Sakic takes his head out of his ass and actually takes a futures package I think NY and CBJ are in the mix. NY seems desperate to win this year. And CBJ has a great roster and might what to make a serious run before key ELC's run out.

There is communication w/ Zadorov. He said they're continually talking.

In regards to Duchene and the other players already under contract, I don't see Sakic not talking to him/them about reporting to camp as weird or headshake worthy...

And Sakic said......actually, I wasn't thinking about the "already under contract" part.

Duchene/Brisson has hinted at the idea of not showing up. That's something a GM should be talking to them about.

 

[lonelybadger]

We need social media detectives to find out the whereabouts of Duchene or zadorov. Probably only a few yyz to Denver flights left to get him there for 9am.