Confirmed with Link: Avs sign Miles Of Wood to 6-year deal × $2.5M AAV

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Fair enough but I don't think it was clear as evidence from ABasin's post and mine. I just took your comment as "For now he has been good for a 4th liner..."

I mean, the post I directly responded too specifically mentioned the last 2 years of the contract.


I think today he's maybe a low end 3rd liner. In previous years before this year he was clearly a 4th liner though. There's more to what makes a player than just points and his usage in New Jersey pretty clearly points to a 4th line guy on his team.


That being said, this year, among forwards in the league right now he ranks ~230th for points, 220th for P/GP(Of guys with at least 20 games played). If you think there's 96 1st line players, and 96 2nd line players, then Woods production fits with a middle tier 3rd line guy.


Personally, you're not going to convince me that Ryan O'Reilly is a 1C, Gustav Nyquist is a 1st line player, or Blake Coleman is a 1st line player. So for me we don't have 96 true 1st line talents in the league, or 96 2nd liners, 96 3rd liners, etc... So for me Woods production is actually closer to that of a high end 4thine guy then a true 3rd liner.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

If the deal turns bad and it probably will at some point, it´s still only 2.5M. Maybe Wood will be overpaid 1M or something like that. You can make that contract disappear.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

If Miles took Nate's lecture on nutrition seriously, there's no reason to think he won't be playing exactly the same in six years time.

 

[Foppa2118]

I like this strategy of continuing to call Wood a 4th liner, but not wanting to debate it when it's obvious it isn't true.

@dahrougem2 I'm going to continue to say Compher played 2C when Kadri came back in the playoffs, but I'm not going to debate it with you.

 

[ABasin]

I mean, the post I directly responded too specifically mentioned the last 2 years of the contract.


I think today he's maybe a low end 3rd liner. In previous years before this year he was clearly a 4th liner though. There's more to what makes a player than just points and his usage in New Jersey pretty clearly points to a 4th line guy on his team.


That being said, this year, among forwards in the league right now he ranks ~230th for points, 220th for P/GP(Of guys with at least 20 games played). If you think there's 96 1st line players, and 96 2nd line players, then Woods production fits with a middle tier 3rd line guy.


Personally, you're not going to convince me that Ryan O'Reilly is a 1C, Gustav Nyquist is a 1st line player, or Blake Coleman is a 1st line player. So for me we don't have 96 true 1st line talents in the league, or 96 2nd liners, 96 3rd liners, etc... So for me Woods production is actually closer to that of a high end 4thine guy then a true 3rd liner.

You had it right in your post before this one. Dude's a 3rd line NHL player.

And this season, not only is his play well worth his contract, it's one of the best contracts on the whole roster. He's been a very good addition.

Anyway, you're also correct that we've probably beaten this to death and it's not worth the disk space or bandwidth to run with it too much longer.

Shifting gears a bit, given how well this 3rd line is playing, who goes where at wing if/when Lehkonen, Nichushkin, Parise and (beyond hope) Landeskog are all in the lineup?

 

[expatriatedtexan]

You had it right in your post before this one. Dude's a 3rd line NHL player.

And this season, not only is his play well worth his contract, it's one of the best contracts on the whole roster. He's been a very good addition.

Anyway, you're also correct that we've probably beaten this to death and it's not worth the disk space or bandwidth to run with it too much longer.

Shifting gears a bit, given how well this 3rd line is playing, who goes where at wing if/when Lehkonen, Nichushkin, Parise and (beyond hope) Landeskog are all in the lineup?

If we were to get a 2C:
Drouin-MacKinnon-Nichushkin
Lehkonen-2C-Rantanen
Landeskog-Colton-O'Connor
Wood-Cogliano-Parise
Kovalenko

When we ultimately strike out on said 2C:
Drouin-MacKinnon-Nichushkin
Lehkonen-Landeskog-Rantanen
Wood-Colton-O'Connor
Parise-RyJo-Cogliano
Kovalenko

I really hope the Avs continue to play well down the stretch because it's going to be fun watching Kovalenko come over and try to earn Bednar's trust and show what he has. We should be getting more clips of Landy skating to help judge where he's at. How does Parise click with the team? How much rust and how long does it take for him to round into game shape? If we get a 2C, the Bednar Blender is going to be set at 11 for a few games while he searches for chemistry with the new guy.

I am so much more optimistic today than I was at this point last season. Need to be wary of Edmonton and Winnipeg this year. Neither is going to be a fun team to out.

I have to say, having a good team and playing with the idea of making it better as you enter the playoffs is so much more fun than being bad for a decade and only deriving joy from watching prospects and losses (for a better draft pick).

 

[Foppa2118]

If Wood plays like a 3rd liner for 3 years, then the contract is more than fine. Where the cap will be in 4 years time will be interesting. Assuming there's no freeze again, the minimum player contract could be 1.2 million by then.

I think this is a very sneaky good depth contract that'll last for the rest of our window. It's like Landy's contract. It wasn't designed to age well. It's to win now.

Could still be a good deal in the final years too. He'll be 31-33 in the last three years. He could potentially still play at a $2.5M level at that age, especially with a rising cap.

Avoiding big injuries will probably be key to how he plays in his 30's.

 

[Foppa2118]

The way LOC is producing, he will more than double his salary on his next contract.

Also one of the best contracts on the team right now.

If he doesn't go back to 4th line production next year, it would be great to get him on Wood's 6 x $2.5M deal. He'll be one year older than Wood was when he signed.

Have to see how he finishes this year, but LOC's on pace to have slightly better production than Wood ever had though in goals and points, so he may price himself out of Colorado with their cap restraints.

Maybe he values being a Denver lifer though. He'll have lived in Denver for 10 years after next season going back to his DU days.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Shifting gears a bit, given how well this 3rd line is playing, who goes where at wing if/when Lehkonen, Nichushkin, Parise and (beyond hope) Landeskog are all in the lineup?

What I would like to see the most:

Drouin - Mack - Nuke
Landy - 2C - Mikko
Wood - Colton - Lehky
Cogs - Olofsson - LOC
Parise/Kovalenko/Kiviranta


I was rewatching some footage of the 2022 run and I still to this day thing a huge reason that team was so dominant was being able to split up Mack/Mikko and have them each dominate on a separate line. If they get a capable 2C I would stick Landy and Mikko with that 2C to make a really strong 2nd line. Then we know Drouin/Mack work magic together and Mack usually takes his defensive game up a notch or two in the playoffs, throw Nuke on the wing with them and that trio could easily dominate as well.

The key of course being that Landy is actually able to return and play like a Top 6 forward.

 

[McMetal]

Could still be a good deal in the final years too. He'll be 31-33 in the last three years. He could potentially still play at a $2.5M level at that age, especially with a rising cap.

Avoiding big injuries will probably be key to how he plays in his 30's.

I do kind of worry about how Wood is going to age though. He plays a really physical game, and that can age a player a lot faster than normal. He's also very reliant on his speed, and if he loses a step there to negate that advantage he could fall off a cliff pretty quickly.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

I do kind of worry about how Wood is going to age though. He plays a really physical game, and that can age a player a lot faster than normal. He's also very reliant on his speed, and if he loses a step there to negate that advantage he could fall off a cliff pretty quickly.

Chances are he'll be showing his age at the end of the deal. It's a matter of how badly does he show it. However, that's a problem for another day. No need to worry about him breaking down in year one of his deal. He's surpassed my expectations so far. In fact, I was told that he had lost his speed and was a pure 4th liner. I'm glad Miles didn't get the memo.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

Chances are he'll be showing his age at the end of the deal. It's a matter of how badly does he show it. However, that's a problem for another day. No need to worry about him breaking down in year one of his deal. He's surpassed my expectations so far. In fact, I was told that he had lost his speed and was a pure 4th liner. I'm glad Miles didn't get the memo.

Or maybe he got the memo and that pissed him off. Unless he gets hurt I am not too concerned about the first 4 years especially with the rising cap.

 

[Foppa2118]

I do kind of worry about how Wood is going to age though. He plays a really physical game, and that can age a player a lot faster than normal. He's also very reliant on his speed, and if he loses a step there to negate that advantage he could fall off a cliff pretty quickly.

It's a concern, but then again it was a concern after his hip surgery, and he's still very fast and plays the same way.

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Good chance he can be LTIRred, if he starts performing way too bad.

Not something I would worry about right now.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Good chance he can be LTIRred, if he starts performing way too bad.

Not something I would worry about right now.

Too bad we can't LTIR RyJo for not being able to skate.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

 

[AllAboutAvs]

Good read. Wood's overall game is much better than last year in NJ. His playmaking skills are very underrated. So far he is earning his contract. I really don't care about years 4,5 and 6 for now. If it took those terms to keep the AAV lower so be it.

 

[Foppa2118]

Yeah props to Corey on a good article with some good quotes.

Lindy Ruff's not gonna like it though.

 

[ChicagoBlues]

Blues fan just passing through.

Bump.....

I posted after his signing that Wood was the best FA pickup last summer.

How has he been this season?

--

Otherwise, Go Avs!

HellBoy can be shaken, just like Bitchington.

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

So far good for the playoffs, Regular season not as good.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

Playoff style player. Great add, just wish he could finish better regularly. Generally as advertised.