Compher

[John Mandalorian]

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.

One of your best suggestions as a possibility has been Tierney.

You think he might be acquired at the trade deadline? Well keep in mind, the trade deadline is only a month before the end of the season. And acquiring Tierney would require a two week quarantine that eats up half of his time with the team. If they acquired Tierney at the trade deadline, he’d only actually be with the team for a couple of weeks leading up to the playoffs.

So in the case of Tierney, it actually makes more sense to acquire him now. Ottawa is hopelessly in last place. There’s no reason to not do a trade on their end in terms of having something to play for.

So why has that trade not happened? Is the ask too much? There’s obviously either no interest yet or there’s interest but something preventing it from happening. Maybe the Avs have tunnel vision and focused on a different player?

I agree that Sakic is aware. But I’m not convinced he won’t wait until summer if it means getting what he wants.

 

[Richard88]

One of your best suggestions as a possibility has been Tierney.

You think he might be acquired at the trade deadline? Well keep in mind, the trade deadline is only a month before the end of the season. And acquiring Tierney would require a two week quarantine that eats up half of his time with the team. If they acquired Tierney at the trade deadline, he’d only actually be with the team for a couple of weeks leading up to the playoffs.

So in the case of Tierney, it actually makes more sense to acquire him now. Ottawa is hopelessly in last place. There’s no reason to not do a trade on their end in terms of having something to play for.

So why has that trade not happened? Is the ask too much? There’s obviously either no interest yet or there’s interest but something preventing it from happening. Maybe the Avs have tunnel vision and focused on a different player?

I agree that Sakic is aware. But I’m not convinced he won’t wait until summer if it means getting what he wants.

Actually Tierney has an extra year on his contract so Avs would have him for next season as well, making the travel restrictions a lesser concern.

Avs can't acquire him now unless they move a similar amount of money out (eg. Compher or Graves). It's much more likely to be a viable option at the deadline if the Avs manage to accrue some capspace by then.

I do think Ottawa will be looking to move him either at the deadline or in the offseason though. He'll likely be borderline to be protected the expansion draft so Ottawa may want to get value for him via trade since he's much better than who the next best player exposed will be. The way they've structured the contract - with $2.8m salary this year and $4.2m salary next year (with a $3.5m AAV) indicates that Melnyk will want to move that contract before next season.

Tierney would be a low-key good addition at 3C, as a resonsible and simple all-situations center who can nonetheless stabilise the 3rd line and also play up on the 2nd line in a pinch.

 

[Pokecheque]

If it’s a choice between Tierney and Stepan then get Stepan. However neither guy interests me much.

 

[John Mandalorian]

Actually Tierney has an extra year on his contract so Avs would have him for next season as well, making the travel restrictions a lesser concern.

Avs can't acquire him now unless they move a similar amount of money out (eg. Compher or Graves). It's much more likely to be a viable option at the deadline if the Avs manage to accrue some capspace by then.

I do think Ottawa will be looking to move him either at the deadline or in the offseason though. He'll likely be borderline to be protected the expansion draft so Ottawa may want to get value for him via trade since he's much better than who the next best player exposed will be. The way they've structured the contract - with $2.8m salary this year and $4.2m salary next year (with a $3.5m AAV) indicates that Melnyk will want to move that contract before next season.

Tierney would be a low-key good addition at 3C, as a resonsible and simple all-situations center who can nonetheless stabilise the 3rd line and also play up on the 2nd line in a pinch.

The trade deadline makes sense? Because the Avs can accrue cap space?

Doesn’t that undermine the urgency and the impetus to address this soon? Last night was a very loseable game. Same with these next two. Someone made the comment last night that 8-4-1 is a lot better than 7-5-1. This problem we’re discussing could easily become an 8-6-1 problem very soon.

Perhaps Joe is focused on not panicking and thinks once players come back, it will be ok even if we fall to 8-6-1 act one point?

Or maybe Joe hasn’t made a move yet for the same reason he won’t make one near the trade deadline?

 

[Richard88]

The trade deadline makes sense? Because the Avs can accrue cap space?

Doesn’t that undermine the urgency and the impetus to address this soon? Last night was a very loseable game. Same with these next two. So,done made the comment last night that 8-4-1 is a lot better than 7-5-1. This problem we’re discussing could easily become an 8-6-1 problem very soon.

Perhaps Joe is focused on not panicking and thinks once players come back, it will be ok even if we fall to 8-6-1 act one point?

Or maybe Joe hasn’t made a move yet for the same reason he won’t make one near the trade deadline?

After the next two games against Vegas Avs will play mostly bad teams for a month, taking them to within touching distance of the deadline. This team can probably get by without a 3C until then given that the schedule will be mostly against lesser teams in the division. A backup goalie is a lot more urgent though.

Worrying about going to 8-6-1 is a bit pointless. We could very well also we 10-4-1, who knows how the next two games will play out. Getting Makar, Landeskog, and Jost back for Saturday and Girard back next week will help a lot as well.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

I don't know what happened to his speed.. he looks so slow now a days.

 

[henchman21]

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.

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.

^Yup. Windows come and go quicker than people think. This is probably the deepest, most flexible cap wise team the Avs will have for the rest of this window.Next year the cap becomes a legit issue and some depth will be sacrificed to keep the core. Saad for sure... maybe 2 of Compher, Dong, EJ, or Graves. Makar and Landy will get new, big deals. If Grubs plays like he has this season, he's looking somewhere between 5-6. Then the following year, Burkie, Nuke, and Kadri are all UFAs. Newhook should be able to replace one, and you'd hope it to be Kadri... but transitions to center are often shaky for young players. An awful lot to risk on that transition. Whether you agree with their slottings or not... 4-5 top 9 players could be on the way out up front and 2 bottom 4 defensemen. Defense will likely be fine with the depth... but up front looks fairly shakey. I wouldn't say thing is set in stone post Kadri. If the Avs survive that, the depth crunch from the MacK raise hits the following year.

TLDR This is the deepest team the Avs will have in the window. The team is only likely to get weaker depth wise (may have improvements from the top players) going forward.

 

[Foppa2118]

I've been critical of Compher like others, but I thought he played a pretty good game against Vegas last night.

He was that hard working, second, third effort kind of guy that's a pain to play against. The kind of player we thought we were getting out of Michigan. Unfortunately, he seems to me like he's been trying to play like a more one dimensional top six scorer in his NHL career.

He needs to be that dogged, hard forechecking, hard back checking, pest to play against. If he can do that consistently, he can provide some good value to a team. And he'll always have that shot if he gets the opportunity, which gives him an edge over similar gritty 3rd liners.

 

[The Abusement Park]

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.

The season we lost to SJS was absolutely a wasted shot at a cup imo which sucks because this season will be by far our best shot at winning a cup.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

And acquiring Tierney would require a two week quarantine that eats up half of his time with the team.

The 2-week quarantine is only for players going to Canada from the US. He wouldn't have to quarantine very long if he came to the Avs.

 

[S E P H]

The season we lost to SJS was absolutely a wasted shot at a cup imo which sucks because this season will be by far our best shot at winning a cup.

I would say that any postseason year where MacKinnon gets injured is a write off. I highly doubt we would've won with him being out of the lineup that year and it showed as we lost to them in Game 7.

 

[The Abusement Park]

I would say that any postseason year where MacKinnon gets injured is a write off. I highly doubt we would've won with him being out of the lineup that year and it showed as we lost to them in Game 7.

Well yeah, but I mean the moves made prior to the playoffs. I think getting a legit 2C should've happened that year at some point.

 

[Richard88]

Well yeah, but I mean the moves made prior to the playoffs. I think getting a legit 2C should've happened that year at some point.

Had we known that Makar could step in and play as he did in the playoffs perhaps moving Barrie for a 2C at that years deadline would have made sense rather than waiting until the offseason to get Kadri.

 

[The Abusement Park]

Had we known that Makar could step in and play as he did in the playoffs perhaps moving Barrie for a 2C at that years deadline would have made sense rather than waiting until the offseason to get Kadri.

Well then we would’ve been down our best defenseman for the last month of the season, so I don’t think that would’ve been the ideal move personally.

 

[Richard88]

Well then we would’ve been down our best defenseman for the last month of the season, so I don’t think that would’ve been the ideal move personally.

Good point. Barrie played a big part in getting the team to the playoffs down the stretch. Wasn't he like near PPG in the last 16 games?

 

[The Abusement Park]

Good point. Barrie played a big part in getting the team to the playoffs down the stretch. Wasn't he like near PPG in the last 16 games?

Yup. Scored a lot of big goals for us and was probably the best player period the last 15-20 games.

 

[crue7]

Best way to picture Compher is to remember a dream where you tried punching someone but you were just powerless. That’s JT.

 

[nammerus]

Boggles the mind. Do Sakic and Bednar not see what we're seeing?

 

[Pokecheque]

Not terribly surprising that a “third” line consisting of a rusty Jost and Landeskog with Compher at center got completely run over in tonight’s game.

 

[Richard88]

Boggles the mind. Do Sakic and Bednar not see what we're seeing?

They know that the 3rd line is a problem, but are probably waiting until the deadline to fix things. On tonight's evidence I don't blame them for that either as this team should manage just fine until the deadline since they don't play a good team for more than a month after Monday's game. They started 3-3 but since then they're 6-1-1, with a schedule coming up that looks relatively easy on paper.

 

[John Mandalorian]

Hold for edit

 

[John Mandalorian]

I think some people have this hanging on a wall at home. Maybe on a dartboard. LOL

 

[Pokecheque]

Compher was still horrible last night. Had the 2nd-lowest shot share rating on the team (Jost was the lowest) and that was being fed 4th line minutes. Every time he was on the ice the Knights dominated and it wasn’t even close. And while Jost and Landeskog were understandably rusty, Compher has become a black hole where both offense AND defense dies. It’s just stunning to see a player implode this badly. He’s seriously not anywhere near NHL level right now.

One play in particular summed up his night and his season. Avs were in the attacking zone, someone (Jost?) fed a cross-ice feed to a wide open Compher who fumbled the puck and fell down all on his own. No Knights player was anywhere near him as far as I could see. It just defies explanation.

 

[Pokecheque]

They know that the 3rd line is a problem, but are probably waiting until the deadline to fix things. On tonight's evidence I don't blame them for that either as this team should manage just fine until the deadline since they don't play a good team for more than a month after Monday's game. They started 3-3 but since then they're 6-1-1, with a schedule coming up that looks relatively easy on paper.

They need to quit f***ing around and put the best team they possibly can on the ice. This fourth-line-as-third-line bullshit is 100% because Compher is far and away the worst player on the team right now and if they don’t watch it, it’s going to bite them in the ass. It’s the biggest concern at present and there’s simply no excuse to wait any longer. Either make a deal and throw someone a draft pick to take him or waive/demote him now. Put Bowers in and see what happens. It can’t continue like this.

 

[LostInMosEisley]

Compher was incrementally getting better until he signed his four year deal. If he'd continued just getting a little better incrementally his contract would have been fine. Instead he's regressed... and not necessarily incrementally either. He might be a buy out candidate after this season if he doesn't get it together.