Speculation: Avs / Sabres Trade

[Richard88]

I think Girard's contract is too good to trade away, and in the flat cap era, you need contracts like that in order to be able to invest into other roles in the team.

Plus, if you trade away Girard, we're one EJ long-term injury away from a defense that looks like (and this is assuming everyone else can stay healthy):

Toews-Makar
Byram-Murray
JMFJ-MacDonald/MacDermid/other AHLer

You're not winning the Cup with that defense. I guess in Year 1 you could use the Eichel LTIR savings to add a defensemen into the mix, but we're rapidly running out of trading chips.

We'd definitely lose a bit on D, no doubt about it. But Mackinnon-Eichel down the middle would be incredibly difficult to match up against for other teams.

 

[Ararana]

I'd do it. But for Newhook AND Girard Buffalo is coming to their f***ing senses and retaining some damn money.

I'm not as high on Girard as other here are. I believe we've already seen the best Girard has to offer and I believe Byram will be on par with him and better than him sooner than later. We've talked for over a year now about potentially trading one of our LHD to get a long term 2C and I think Girard makes the most sense.

I have no problem trading Newhook for Eichel. Newhook will never be the player Eichel is and Eichel immediately replaces Newhook for the next 5 years.

I have very little faith Sakic was willing to offer BOTH Newhook and Giarard though. My guess is he was thinking a package that centered around Newhook alone.

 

[Richard88]

I'd do it. But for Newhook AND Girard Buffalo is coming to their f***ing senses and retaining some damn money.

I'm not as high on Girard as other here are. I believe we've already seen the best Girard has to offer and I believe Byram will be on par with him and better than him sooner than later. We've talked for over a year now about potentially trading one of our LHD to get a long term 2C and I think Girard makes the most sense.

I have no problem trading Newhook for Eichel. Newhook will never be the player Eichel is and Eichel immediately replaces Newhook for the next 5 years.

I have very little faith Sakic was willing to offer BOTH Newhook and Giarard though. My guess is he was thinking a package that centered around Newhook alone.

The issue I see with Sakic and this trade idea is loyalty. Girard is the obvious piece to move, but as Friedman said yesterday one of the reasons why Colorado hasn't landed big fish like Stone, Pietrangelo, Panarin, etc has been because Sakic has been unwilling to go after those targets at all costs, even if it means jettisoning some guys off the roster. Would Sakic trade Girard just 1 year into a team-friendly 7 year deal?

 

[TruePowerSlave]

Getting Eichel would also mean committing close to 50M per season on 5 players in two years. The Avs are already top heavy, but that would kill any chance of icing deep lineups.

 

[Avs71]

Tough to say.

A top 4 of Byram,Girard, Makar, and Toews is the best in the NHL. If Kuemper has a good season, the Avs have an elite top-4, elite top line, and elite goalie. But they’ve been flirting with that combination the last few years and it has not paid off.

MacKinnon-Eichel would be the best 1-2 punch in the NHL, but Eichel’s health is TBD, and the defence would lose a major piece.

Either way it’ll be fun to watch this roster with everyone healthy, but Sakic will have to make a bigger move at the deadline to shore up the forward depth.

It also seems to be a pattern of at least one of Toews, Byram, Makar, or Girard being hurt, so it would be tough going from four great defencemen to two.

 

[Bonzai12]

The cup chances already hinge enough on Kuemper staying healthy - Eichel would just be adding even more risk.

 

[Vaslof]

Just curious. Would you trade:
Newhook, Girard and Compher for Jack Eichel?
Probably what it would take to get it done and make cap work. Is it fair or overpayment?

I wouldn't do that trade as Buffalo. I don't think the trade happens without Byram as the main piece. Byram could very well become a #1D, but Eichel is one of the top 1C's in the league and still young.

Now, do we want to make that trade as Colorado? I honestly don't know. We definitely need a 2C, but it could be someone else and we could keep Byram in the team.

 

[The Abusement Park]

Buffalo probably says no.

I know LD isn’t a need for them really. But Newhook and Girard I would think would be a tough offer to top. A 21 year old top pairing dman and a potential top 6C would as good an offer as they’d get I’d imagine.

 

[Shinjuku Calling]

I really hope this doesn't happen

 

[John Mandalorian]

This is one of the better topics Ive seen here in a while.

It's a tough call. Hertl will need a raise very soon. And this could minimize the benefit of making him the target. He's also not exempt from injuries. He's older. The fact that he's healthy might make him more in demand than Eichel, whose salary and health might be a non-starter for some teams.

If we get Eichel, and we lose the gamble on his health and he retires early. We then become a 1 line team, which isn't ideal. But that hasn't been all that unusual for this team. We'd still have a formiddable defensive group even without Girard. Our D group is almost like an extra forward. I think I'd take the risk. The upside is huge. The downside still leaves the team with a lot to work with.

 

[Richard88]

This is one of the better topics Ive seen here in a while.

It's a tough call. Hertl will need a raise very soon. And this could minimize the benefit of making him the target. He's also not exempt from injuries. He's older. The fact that he's healthy might make him more in demand than Eichel, whose salary and health might be a non-starter for some teams.

If we get Eichel, and we lose the gamble on his health and he retires early. We then become a 1 line team, which isn't ideal. But that hasn't been all that unusual for this team. We'd still have a formiddable defensive group even without Girard. Our D group is almost like an extra forward. I think I'd take the risk. The upside is huge. The downside still leaves the team with a lot to work with.

Any Eichel deal could have a large portion of the package being conditional on him actually playing, whether that would be conditional draft picks going from the acquiring team to Buffalo based on games played, or picks from Buffalo that get transferred in the event that Eichel can't play again. That way if Eichel doesn't play at all again the acquiring team would receive back some assets that they can use to trade for another 2C.

 

[John Mandalorian]

Any Eichel deal could have a large portion of the package being conditional on him actually playing, whether that would be conditional draft picks going from the acquiring team to Buffalo based on games played, or picks from Buffalo that get transferred in the event that Eichel can't play again. That way if Eichel doesn't play at all again the acquiring team would receive back some assets that they can use to trade for another 2C.

I'm not sure low firsts are going to get us a 2C. They'd have to be throw ins to get a deal like that done. But fair enough. It's just not significant enough to focus on extensively on at this point. But yes, I agree and would expect there to be a hedge for this contingency.

 

[SaltySkywalker]

With Compher's addition by subtraction alone I would do this.

 

[jabubenice]

I would do this trade in a heart beat. the bottom line is mackinnon needs a 1B center as support. kinda like a joe sakic/peter foresberg combination. I dont think we win the cup with our current roster and center depth...major risk will be Eichel's health

 

[Sea Eagles]

I would do this trade in a heart beat. the bottom line is mackinnon needs a 1B center as support. kinda like a joe sakic/peter foresberg combination. I dont think we win the cup with our current roster and center depth...major risk will be Eichel's health

Full strength, we beat anyone in this league.

 

[Richard88]

Full strength, we beat anyone in this league.

Our center depth would get shown up against the best in the league over a seven game series, like Tampa, Florida, Carolina, and NYI, just as it did against San Jose, Dallas, and Vegas after Kadri got suspended. A mobile D group is an advantage, but that can only carry you so far with weak center depth.

 

[Vaslof]

Byram is playing himself out of any trade, so I don't think we'll be in on Eichel.

 

[John Mandalorian]

Our center depth would get shown up against the best in the league over a seven game series, like Tampa, Florida, Carolina, and NYI, just as it did against San Jose, Dallas, and Vegas after Kadri got suspended. A mobile D group is an advantage, but that can only carry you so far with weak center depth.

Ideally we address 2C. I think that’s what most of us prefer. But, alternatively, it’s also worth considering that we have a dearth of useful forwards, period. And even the ones we do have aren’t exactly complementary after the top line. Maybe Jost and Nichushkin but that was moreso last year. Kadri doesn’t make Burakovsky better and vice versa. If not by addressing 2C, we need a couple of guys to make the 2nd and 3rd lines better/more cohesive.

 

[Foppa2118]

What is the deal with Eichel anyway? If they did trade for him, would he play out this season, and then have surgery in the off season? Or is he trying to have the surgery before he plays?

 

[Pokecheque]

What is the deal with Eichel anyway? If they did trade for him, would he play out this season, and then have surgery in the off season? Or is he trying to have the surgery before he plays?

He can’t play until he has the surgery. If he has the disk replacement the projected recovery time is shorter than the fusion but if this keeps dragging out it could knock him out for the season.

 

[Foppa2118]

He can’t play until he has the surgery. If he has the disk replacement the projected recovery time is shorter than the fusion but if this keeps dragging out it could knock him out for the season.

Which is another reason why it seems an Eichel trade might be unlikely for the Avs. Maybe for any serious contender.

Unless the price is cheap or just all futures that aren't NHL ready right now, whoever trades for him would just be depleting their roster, with no guarantee that Eichel would be available for the playoffs anyway. Not to mention the uncertainty after the surgery.

If the Avs put together a package of Newhook+Compher+whatever else, then that's two players (possibly more) that could potentially help them this year, or that would cost more assets to replace in separate moves.

Seems like a trade with a rebuilding or bubble team for Eichel might be more likely, since there's less pressure for them to do well in the playoffs, but who knows.

 

[MarkT]

The main reason I wouldn't do it is the salary cap. After we pay the salaries of Landeskog, MacKinnon, Rantanen, Eichel and Makar, how much money is actually left to ice a competitive roster? Are we always going to have to go cheap in net? I'd rather not end up as the next Toronto. Plus even if Eichel's surgery is successful, there's no guarantees he'll be the same player he was before the injury.

 

[Patagonia]

AVs decline with the value being reasonable. Chasing the Cup losing Girard for the uncertainty of Eichel playing this season is not worth the risk. Cap would also be a problem. BUF likely trades for a rebuilding team ie. CLB, DET or LAK.

 

[Drury_Sakic]

Would roll the dice on a Newhook and conditional futures based trade, but that’s basically it. (Probably have to plug Compher or Jost in for cap reasons for this season as well - presuming he will be out a huge chunk of the regular season so LTIR most of his cap this year)


Newhook
Compher

and a few conditional picks ranging from 3rd rounders to first rounders over a few year window based on games played and/or team results. Also lotto protect the hell out of them.

 

[Pokecheque]

To hell with Eichel, get Girgensons!