Compher

[Belgican]

Looking at last playoffs, we need to add some high value rentals, while keeping the players, even Compher, Timmins, and others, we will need a deep team for sure

 

[John Mandalorian]

Looking at last playoffs, we need to add some high value rentals, while keeping the players, even Compher, Timmins, and others, we will need a deep team for sure

There are only a handful of sellers. And I’m not sure that will change by the tread deadline.

 

[Pokecheque]

I mean, if they're grooming him for a trade then I see the logic here. I just hope this doesn't continue indefinitely, certainly not past the deadline, which is on April 12, less than three weeks away.

The best news about this is that they can put him in the best possible position to showcase his abilities because they don't have to slot him in at center anymore. He can be a 4RW and play with abandon, getting limited, if not sheltered minutes.

O'Connor is just gonna have to be a little patient. I'm fairly confident this will all work out, even though at present t's a tad frustrating.

 

[LTC Pain]

Anyone scouting JT's play can't see him more than a depth forward. Probably a 4th liner. I don't see him any higher than that. So, I wouldn't expect to get much for him. Maybe a trade for another underwhelming player who needs a change of scenery?

 

[duckbear]

I'm not a big fan of Compher, and agree he is having a bad season. He is also clearly better on the wing than at centre.

But for 3.5m a guy that puts up 30-40 points, is gritty (or at least antagonizing), is positionally flexible, kills penalties, and has historically elevated his game in playoffs is not as bad as people want to make it out to be.

The biggest issue I see is that he is sort of without a role on the team since his ideal position is currently occupied by Donskoi, and his 2nd most likely spot (3c) has been filled by Jost. To make matters worse for him, a legitimate replacement for him exists on the 4th line in O'Connor. Playing on the 4th line will also decrease his production.

That all said, I keep him for this playoff run no question. He provides depth in case of injury, and has been good in the playoffs in the past. After the playoffs it's fair to re-evaluate.

 

[Belgican]

There are only a handful of sellers. And I’m not sure that will change by the tread deadline.

There will be 10-15 teams selling by the deadline

 

[PAZ]

I'm not a big fan of Compher, and agree he is having a bad season. He is also clearly better on the wing than at centre.

But for 3.5m a guy that puts up 30-40 points, is gritty (or at least antagonizing), is positionally flexible, kills penalties, and has historically elevated his game in playoffs is not as bad as people want to make it out to be.

The biggest issue I see is that he is sort of without a role on the team since his ideal position is currently occupied by Donskoi, and his 2nd most likely spot (3c) has been filled by Jost. To make matters worse for him, a legitimate replacement for him exists on the 4th line in O'Connor. Playing on the 4th line will also decrease his production.

That all said, I keep him for this playoff run no question. He provides depth in case of injury, and has been good in the playoffs in the past. After the playoffs it's fair to re-evaluate.

I agree, Compher still has value, even if it's minimal. The only thing I disagree with is that Joe should be considering trading him to free up cap space, if he can find a team that gives Compher value. If not, see how the cards fall in the offseason.

 

[McMetal]

Staple him to Timmins in a trade for a bottom 6 forward/C. A bottom feeder might see an opportunity to acquire a young RHD without giving up a top 6 forward or high draft pick, and also get a reclamation in Compher who could turn out well if he reverts to playing like he did the last 2-3 years.

Even then, it still stings to lose our most NHL-ready RHD prospect just to get rid of Compher. That's no different than losing Ranta or Kovalenko in my mind. We do have Helleson and Barron coming up behind him but neither will be ready to play in the NHL next year when we'll start to need cheap contracts back there.

 

[Pokecheque]

Even then, it still stings to lose our most NHL-ready RHD prospect just to get rid of Compher. That's no different than losing Ranta or Kovalenko in my mind. We do have Helleson and Barron coming up behind him but neither will be ready to play in the NHL next year when we'll start to need cheap contracts back there.

I gotta be honest, I don't think it stings all that much. I don't see Conor Timmins having much of an NHL career, and that's not his fault. If indeed he ends up allowing the Avs to dump a very undesirable contract, that's a win for the Avs.

That just ended up being a bad pick. May as well get what you can while you can.

 

[Balthazar]

But for 3.5m a guy that puts up 30-40 points, is gritty (or at least antagonizing), is positionally flexible, kills penalties, and has historically elevated his game in playoffs is not as bad as people want to make it out to be.

This is the player we thought we'd get when he signed that contract. He never showed up.

 

[John Mandalorian]

I gotta be honest, I don't think it stings all that much. I don't see Conor Timmins having much of an NHL career, and that's not his fault. If indeed he ends up allowing the Avs to dump a very undesirable contract, that's a win for the Avs.

That just ended up being a bad pick. May as well get what you can while you can.

Yeah. Just focusing on losing Timmons is a little myopic. People should look at this as a choice (to a degree at least) between Compher and Saad/Danault/Whoever.

 

[The Abusement Park]

This is the player we thought we'd get when he signed that contract. He never showed up.

Well he showed up until he got paid.

 

[Pokecheque]

Well he showed up until he got paid.

To be fair, I don't think this is a lack of work ethic. The new extension was signed in 2019, right around the same time the Avs acquired Kadri and let Soderberg walk. So the extension coincides with the move to 3C, and looking back there was just no real indication that he was ready for this role. He had only played very sparingly at center up to this point and only in a 4th line role. Also, he remains one of the few players on the team that doesn't drive play on a team that prizes puck possession, and he's not good defensively. Lastly, he's abysmal at faceoffs.

I don't blame the player, I blame management and coaches for falling in love with a guy who shows a good motor and work ethic and ignoring all the red flags that made him unsuitable for a key role on a team that was shifting from transition team to full-blown contender. Joe has not made many bad calls in his tenure as Avs GM, but this might very well be his worst.

 

[Richard88]

Even then, it still stings to lose our most NHL-ready RHD prospect just to get rid of Compher. That's no different than losing Ranta or Kovalenko in my mind. We do have Helleson and Barron coming up behind him but neither will be ready to play in the NHL next year when we'll start to need cheap contracts back there.

You're not wasting Timmins' value here "just" to move Compher, as you'd be getting Miles Wood back in the trade as well. Personally I'm ok with moving Timmins, though ideally it would be in a move for a 3C.

 

[McMetal]

You're not wasting Timmins' value here "just" to move Compher, as you'd be getting Miles Wood back in the trade as well. Personally I'm ok with moving Timmins, though ideally it would be in a move for a 3C.

I'm just not enamored with Wood that much. Not that he isn't a good player, but don't we already have four good bottom six wings? Nuke, Donskoi, LOC and Calvert are more than fine for that, what we need are centers. If you could move Compher and Timmins for a C, I would consider that more of a "two birds, one stone" kind of move, but Wood would be a lateral move for that bottom six IMO.

 

[Balthazar]

I don't blame the player, I blame management and coaches for falling in love with a guy who shows a good motor and work ethic and ignoring all the red flags

I still remember entering the playoffs in 17-18 against the Preds with a 2nd line of Compher-Kerfoot-Jost. You could tell that the Avs loooooooved those 3 kids.

That line got caved in so much...

 

[Richard88]

I'm just not enamored with Wood that much. Not that he isn't a good player, but don't we already have four good bottom six wings? Nuke, Donskoi, LOC and Calvert are more than fine for that, what we need are centers. If you could move Compher and Timmins for a C, I would consider that more of a "two birds, one stone" kind of move, but Wood would be a lateral move for that bottom six IMO.

I agree with you. It could be anyone, not necessarily Wood. A 3C would be ideal obviously.

 

[Pokecheque]

I still remember entering the playoffs in 17-18 against the Preds with a 2nd line of Compher-Kerfoot-Jost. You could tell that the Avs loooooooved those 3 kids.

That line got caved in so much...

I don't remember that. The playoff lineup was pretty much this:

Landeskog - MacKinnon - Rantanen
Nieto - Soderberg - Comeau (they were always listed as the third line but we know damn well it was the first)
Kerfoot - Jost - Andrighetto (I don't remember who the center was here, pretty sure it was Jost though)
Bourque - Compher - Wilson

Zadorov - Barrie (speaking of "getting caved in")
Nemeth - Girard
Barberio Warsofsky

Bernier
Hammond

We can thank that f***ing moron Tomas Jurco for injuring Varly in a completely meaningless regular season game for that goaltending tandem.

Colorado Avalanche @ Nashville Predators, 2018-04-12

It is astounding they took it to six games with this lineup in retrospect. And I'd argue they had an okay-ish chance of winning the series if they had a goalie that wasn't playing hurt (familiar theme, eh?). I just remember that Rinne was not a ton better than Bernier in that series.

Bednar only really put together the "Roomies" when he wanted a bit of energy, maybe the occasional clutch goal. I think that's what oversold them on Compher, his penchant for the big clutch goal. I don't know where that guy went--too often I just don't see the same scrappy guy who used to crash the net with gusto.

 

[Mr Zappalanche]

I hate Compher so much. What the hell happened with that guy? He was so energetic, gritty, clutch guy with fantastic wrister and excellent skating. He is now a warm body, NPC, Borg, someone who is there just because he needs to be, without any kind of identity as player. Last year people were busy shitting on Jost (totataly justifed) so they missed on Compher, but really this kind of play from him started last season and it continued to this day. He should be priority number one to move from this team. Kadri looks like he is going this way also, but at least you can sense some kind of frustration from him, Compher is just emotionless corpse.

 

[Richard88]

I hate Compher so much. What the hell happened with that guy? He was so energetic, gritty, clutch guy with fantastic wrister and excellent skating. He is now a warm body, NPC, Borg, someone who is there just because he needs to be, without any kind of identity as player. Last year people were busy shitting on Jost (totataly justifed) so they missed on Compher, but really this kind of play from him started last season and it continued to this day. He should be priority number one to move from this team. Kadri looks like he is going this way also, but at least you can sense some kind of frustration from him, Compher is just emotionless corpse.

I don't disagree, but he's at least been better since being moved back to the wing, including a 13 game stretch prior to the recent break where he got 8 points. Since the start of that stretch (March 22nd) his underlying metrics are much better too, such as a 56.15 CF%.

His projected points (in 82 games) is also at 25.8 now despite the slow start this season, which isn't too far off 30-35 point pace that is typical for a 3rd liner.

That isn't to say that I'm a fan of his play this year, but the improvement lately does at least probably give Sakic something to bargain with when trying to trade him. His numbers as a winger are clearly far better than when he plays center, so there might be a GM out there willing to buy low on him as a 3rd liner in the hope that he can return to producing at a 0.48 ppg rate that he did between the 2018 playoffs and the start of this season (including 0.515 ppg across 3 playoffs).

 

[John Mandalorian]

I hate Compher so much. What the hell happened with that guy? He was so energetic, gritty, clutch guy with fantastic wrister and excellent skating. He is now a warm body, NPC, Borg, someone who is there just because he needs to be, without any kind of identity as player. Last year people were busy shitting on Jost (totataly justifed) so they missed on Compher, but really this kind of play from him started last season and it continued to this day. He should be priority number one to move from this team. Kadri looks like he is going this way also, but at least you can sense some kind of frustration from him, Compher is just emotionless corpse.

 

[Mr Zappalanche]

I don't disagree, but he's at least been better since being moved back to the wing, including a 13 game stretch prior to the recent break where he got 8 points. Since the start of that stretch (March 22nd) his underlying metrics are much better too, such as a 56.15 CF%.

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His projected points (in 82 games) is also at 25.8 now despite the slow start this season, which isn't too far off 30-35 point pace that is typical for a 3rd liner.

That isn't to say that I'm a fan of his play this year, but the improvement lately does at least probably give Sakic something to bargain with when trying to trade him. His numbers as a winger are clearly far better than when he plays center, so there might be a GM out there willing to buy low on him as a 3rd liner in the hope that he can return to producing at a 0.48 ppg rate that he did between the 2018 playoffs and the start of this season (including 0.515 ppg across 3 playoffs).

I'm just curious to see how will he perform in playoffs. If he will not show any kind of life then, I would ship him somewhere for a bag of pucks or just waive him asap.