Compher

[John Mandalorian]

Yes

Probably one of the most succinct posts in the history of this board.

 

[Pokecheque]

For me, Nichushkin's play is concerning too. He can drive net, mostly unsuccessfully and that's about it. I didn't like his game in the bubble either. His play is a far cry from the pre-covid Nichushkin we all fell in love with.

The question becomes, is Compher at center the black hole that brings all of his linemates down? Or this more in line with the 'real' Nichuskin?

All I know is if the first line isn't scoring, we probably aren't winning (unless we can play San Jose every game).

Edit - Since the bubble, Nuke has 6 points in 27 games. That's just not good enough...

Nuke is not the issue. He is still the best defensive forward on the team. His season last year was a bit of an anomaly—he’s not really a huge driver of offense. I’m not saying he’s playing great but he should be more than well-equipped to play a third line role. And also, Donskoi is perfectly fine as a third line guy as well. But you have to have an actual center between them, and Compher is, at present, the worst player on the team by a country mile.

 

[forsbergavs32]

The biggest issue with our bottom 6 is down the middle (though I though PEB looked better last night against Vegas). Compher just looks disengaged 99% of the time and has since he got paid. Unfortunately for us the flat cap is going to make it hard to move him and his salary. Tbh, I’m not even interested in moving him to the wing either since we’re fine with Donskoi and LOC on the right side.

 

[Richard88]

Move him to Chicago. Remind Bowman that Compher always played great in front of his family and friends there, and then point to Roslovic's ressurgence in his home town. Stan took Zadorov off our hands so it's probable that his decisions aren't driven by analytics much which would help.

 

[Balthazar]

Move him to Chicago. Remind Bowman that Compher always played great in front of his family and friends there, and then point to Roslovic's ressurgence in his home town. Stan took Zadorov off our hands so it's probable that his decisions aren't driven by analytics much which would help.

We could make a swap that'd make sense for both teams....but the only C in Chicago who makes ~3M is Dylan Strome

 

[crue7]

Compher still playing like leftover garbage juice. Holy f***.

 

[tigervixxxen]

Compher was always overrated but he just does absolutely nothing now. With the contract he has he has a negative value.

 

[The Merchant]

Would take his sister over him at this point

 

[LTC Pain]

Compher is digging himself into a hole. I wonder what Super Joe will do with him during the upcoming offseason?

 

[Richard88]

Compher is digging himself into a hole. I wonder what Super Joe will do with him during the upcoming offseason?

We'll add a 3C or Newhook at the deadline which will push Compher to 4RW.

Then in the offseason half the league will lose their 5th or 8th forward to Seattle which should create a trade market for players like him as those teams will want replacement middle 6 forwards and have some capspace freed up. His $3.5m x 2 year contract is an issue for a contender where he's pushed down the depth chart, but it's not necessarily prohibitively onerous for a lesser team to take on, especially after losing a forward to Seattle.

He has obviously had a poor start to the season, but some GM's may nonetheless like the look of his stat sheet between 2018 and the start of this season (where he scored 0.48 ppg between 2018 playoffs and the start of this season including 0.515 ppg in 33 playoff games), and they may see it as an opportunity to acquire a replacement 3rd liner with proven pedigree at little trade cost.

Also worth noting that although he's had a notable decline since signing this contract, he did perform well last time he had a contract year to earn this contract in the first place, and a team acquiring him will be getting him for the final 2 years of his current deal which is typically the timeframe when players step up their game to earn another contract when this deal expires.

 

[John Mandalorian]

I don’t think it’s a guarantee they’ll add a 3C this year.

I think if you consider what they’re looking for, availability, and cost, it’s a pretty small area if represented as a Venn diagram. But they’ll still want to be shrewd and not settle or be trapped. That makes this summer more realistic.

 

[Pokecheque]

I don’t think it’s a guarantee they’ll add a 3C this year.

I think if you consider what they’re looking for, availability, and cost, it’s a pretty small area if represented as a Venn diagram. But they’ll still want to be shrewd and not settle or be trapped. That makes this summer more realistic.

If they don’t address this then they’re not all in on this season. And they need to be.

 

[John Mandalorian]

If they don’t address this then they’re not all in on this season. And they need to be.

I think they'd love to address it but its about opportunities and trade offs.

When the Avs needed to trade Duchene, did it happen right away?

 

[Pokecheque]

I think they'd love to address it but its about opportunities and trade offs.

When the Avs needed to trade Duchene, did it happen right away?

They could afford to wait. The team was recovering from their worst season in franchise history and did not have playoff aspirations.

They cannot afford to wait now. This is the last year of Makar’s ELC and Landeskog will be due a new deal. The window of contention is open NOW, it wasn’t open when Duchene was sitting around waiting to get traded. They have to find a solution at 2G and 3C. Whatever you gotta do, do it.

 

[nammerus]

I think they'd love to address it but its about opportunities and trade offs.

When the Avs needed to trade Duchene, did it happen right away?

The trade-off is that they likely don’t win the cup without a 3C/Compher replacement. I’d say that’s an opportunity lost.

 

[John Mandalorian]

They could afford to wait. The team was recovering from their worst season in franchise history and did not have playoff aspirations.

They cannot afford to wait now. This is the last year of Makar’s ELC and Landeskog will be due a new deal. The window of contention is open NOW, it wasn’t open when Duchene was sitting around waiting to get traded. They have to find a solution at 2G and 3C. Whatever you gotta do, do it.

The trade-off is that they likely don’t win the cup without a 3C/Compher replacement. I’d say that’s an opportunity lost.

They were ok with Compher at 3C last year and didn't address it in the off-season.

 

[The Abusement Park]

I think they'd love to address it but its about opportunities and trade offs.

When the Avs needed to trade Duchene, did it happen right away?

Very different situations. Time is of the essence currently.

 

[Pokecheque]

They were ok with Compher at 3C last year and didn't address it in the off-season.

And that was very obviously a mistake both times. Especially when Bednar had to run his fourth line as a third line and the “third” line of Compher, Jost, and Namestnikov got completely run over in the playoffs every single time they took the ice.

They bet a lot on Jost and Compher developing into at least adequate depth players. Those bets both ended up being bad.

 

[Pokecheque]

I’m willing to bet Sakic realizes Compher isn’t the answer and he has a real issue on his hands, but the flat cap, Compher’s bad contract, and injuries are really tying him up at present. He has to move out salary in order to make any sort of deal happen, and that in and of itself is a huge problem.

I’m guessing he will wait until closer to the deadline to make a deal when there’s a larger delineation between teams going for it and teams that know they’re out of it, but not addressing the goaltending and third line center were major, major mistakes on Sakic’s part, even in light of the really good moves he made this offseason.

 

[Richard88]

I don’t think it’s a guarantee they’ll add a 3C this year.

I think if you consider what they’re looking for, availability, and cost, it’s a pretty small area if represented as a Venn diagram. But they’ll still want to be shrewd and not settle or be trapped. That makes this summer more realistic.

3C will without a doubt be something Sakic fixes at the deadline, take it to the bank. Every man and his dog knows that the 3rd line is the Avs biggest issue and it stems from a lack of a 3C.

Tampa were in a similar situation last year with a dysfunctional 3rd line in the regular season, but they went out and got Coleman and Goodrow and then their 3rd line was a huge advantage in the playoffs.

Avs need to follow that example and make an upgrade at 3C.

They were ok with Compher at 3C last year and didn't address it in the off-season.

Sakic made a move to try to shore up the 3rd line last season by acquiring Namestnikov (and the season prior with Brassard). Namestnikov had some time at 3C but wasn't effective either.

Landeskog --- Mackinnon ---- Rantanen
Burakovsky ----- Kadri -------- Donskoi
Nichuskin ------ Compher ---- Jost/Namestnikov
Nieto ----------- Bellemare ---- Calvert

In the offseason Avs had $9m in capspace to use, and Sakic clearly prioritised adding a partner for Makar (Toews) and a top 6 forward (Saad) to bump Donskoi down to a more appropriate place on the 3rd line. After those two additions capspace was completely used up, to the point that Jost basically had no choice but to sign a cheap deal if he wanted to stay.

Given the efforts they've made with roster moves to maximise cap accrual and deadline capspace it seems pretty clear that their plan is to make additions at the deadline, with 3C being the most glaring need. Needless to say I think it's pretty safe to say that Avs will most certainly be shopping for a 3C at the deadline. Unless of course they are extremely confident of Newhook making an immediate jump and filling the 3C role, but even then it would be prudent to acquire a 3C to shore up the depth down the middle.

 

[Pokecheque]

BTW you could argue the Avs wasted at least one year of discounted Nathan MacKinnon waiting for Tyson Jost to be a legit 2nd line center, or even 3rd line center, or scoring line winger. Someone on here argued the Avs should’ve just gone for it and gotten that legit 2C, gone with MacKinnon, that guy, and Soderberg down the middle. Would it have worked? I don’t know, and I’m not sure I would’ve signed off on that. But now there’s no room for argument. They HAVE to figure out the third line, it’s hampering them in so many aspects.

 

[John Mandalorian]

3C will without a doubt be something Sakic fixes at the deadline, take it to the bank. Every man and his dog knows that the 3rd line is the Avs biggest issue and it stems from a lack of a 3C.

Tampa were in a similar situation last year with a dysfunctional 3rd line in the regular season, but they went out and got Coleman and Goodrow and then their 3rd line was a huge advantage in the playoffs.

Avs need to follow that example and make an upgrade at 3C.


Sakic made a move to try to shore up the 3rd line last season by acquiring Namestnikov (and the season prior with Brassard). Namestnikov had some time at 3C but wasn't effective either.

Landeskog --- Mackinnon ---- Rantanen
Burakovsky ----- Kadri -------- Donskoi
Nichuskin ------ Compher ---- Jost/Namestnikov
Nieto ----------- Bellemare ---- Calvert

In the offseason Avs had $9m in capspace to use, and Sakic clearly prioritised adding a partner for Makar (Toews) and a top 6 forward (Saad) to bump Donskoi down to a more appropriate place on the 3rd line. After those two additions capspace was completely used up, to the point that Jost basically had no choice but to sign a cheap deal if he wanted to stay.

Given the efforts they've made with roster moves to maximise cap accrual and deadline capspace it seems pretty clear that their plan is to make additions at the deadline, with 3C being the most glaring need. Needless to say I think it's pretty safe to say that Avs will most certainly be shopping for a 3C at the deadline. Unless of course they are extremely confident of Newhook making an immediate jump and filling the 3C role, but even then it would be prudent to acquire a 3C to shore up the depth down the middle.

Did Tampa make that trade pre - covid?

Would you agree that it’s more difficult to make trades now?

It’s not that I don’t think they’ll try. But like I said, it comes down to specifics and not making a worse situation.

I think there will be more of an opportunity once teams fall out of the play off race. But, again, it will depend on the specifics. And I think some teams will want to exploit the Avs’ desperation and maybe ask for more than they would otherwise. I don’t think the Avs will stop being shrewd. That’s why I can see them waiting.

 

[Richard88]

I’m willing to bet Sakic realizes Compher isn’t the answer and he has a real issue on his hands, but the flat cap, Compher’s bad contract, and injuries are really tying him up at present. He has to move out salary in order to make any sort of deal happen, and that in and of itself is a huge problem.

I’m guessing he will wait until closer to the deadline to make a deal when there’s a larger delineation between teams going for it and teams that know they’re out of it, but not addressing the goaltending and third line center were major, major mistakes on Sakic’s part, even in light of the really good moves he made this offseason.

Sakic is most certainly aware of Compher's struggles. I mean, if we can look at the advanced stats and see with our eyes that he's not contributing much then Sakic most definitely has as well.

As mentioned in my response to Gabe above I think it's somewhat excusable that they prioritised acquiring a partner for Makar and a top 6 forward. They made a calculated gamble that they could make it to the deadline before addressing the 3C position once they had accrued some capspace. They were probably also hoping that the 3rd line could improve somewhat with Donskoi being moved down from the 2nd to the 3rd line, and though Donskoi has been productive, that's mainly only when he's played with top 6 forwards (like last night for example), so that hasn't exactly improved the 3rd line much.

With that said, I think the jury is still out on Sakic with that 3C position. It's certainly not a problem that can't get fixed at the deadline, and Sakic certainly deserves some benefit of the doubt when it comes to trades.

However, the 3rd goalie situation is absolutely a problem Sakic should have addressed in the offseason, or at the start of the year when there were numerous goalies on waivers. Having suffered season-ending injuries to both our goalies last season it was quite predictable that we could be starting the season with some bumps in net in what was also going to be a very compressed season, so it was a bit absurd how the Avs have seemingly been totally nonchalant about acquiring another goalie. And this is something that stems back several seasons too. Last year they needed a 3rd goalie and their move was to acquire Bibeau. This season their "solution" was to bank on Miska. Basically the only time the last few years that we've been deep in net was with Varlamov, Grubauer, and Francouz in the AHL. Why it has to be so frustratingly difficult for them to bring in another proper No.3 goalie is beyond me.

 

[Richard88]

Did Tampa make that trade pre - covid?

Would you agree that it’s more difficult to make trades now?

It’s not that I don’t think they’ll try. But like I said, it comes down to specifics and not making a worse situation.

I think there will be more of an opportunity once teams fall out of the play off race. But, again, it will depend on the specifics. And I think some teams will want to exploit the Avs’ desperation and maybe ask for more than they would otherwise. I don’t think the Avs will stop being shrewd. That’s why I can see them waiting.

There will be a rental market at the deadline, just like every year. In fact, there might be more movement than usual as teams will be making final moves to prepare their rosters for the expansion draft. Travel restrictions may counteract that though, but not enough that teams will altogether stop trading deadline rentals to manage their assets.

I don't think teams will "exploit" the Avs. There will be a limited buyers market with plenty of teams selling, so if a GM digs his heels in Sakic will just move on to the next target. For example if Minnesota (who are last in the division btw) want the moon for Bonino, move on to Tierney, or Cizikas, or Staal, or Haula, etc etc. There will always be a team willing to make a deal at the right price for players on expiring deals.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

I don’t think any 3C in the league drags their line-mates down more than Compher.