Everything Avs...3 day break edition

[Balthazar]

I have total faith in Sakic making the right decision when it comes to Landeskog's next deal.

And even then it's going to be a bad contract.

Sakic is going to give more years for a bit lower AAV and then hope that Landy ends up on LTIR for the final 2-3 years.

 

[Grigowski]

Handshake deals are illegal in the NHL

Illegal, but nobody really cares.....

 

[Richard88]

Considering the avs immediately inserted Makar into the lineup in the midst of a playoff round when they deemed he was ready for the nhl, I’m not terribly concerned about Byram getting a chance to stay with the team. If he plays well enough he will get plenty of games this year.

I’m not concerned on Byram ability but Makar’s contract was already burned, Girard has just got hurt and Makar was at the apex of his hype at the time. There was a wee more urgency with that decision. Just depends if they want to make a commitment to Byram or not. So far seems they are but we’ll see.

Makar had played two full NCAA seasons so was a bit more mature than Byram is now. As tigervixxxen mentioned there was also an obvious opportunity to insert him in the lineup since Girard got injured. Once Girard returned Makar was taking Nemeth's roster spot which was acceptable due to it being a sizeable upgrade based on how Makar played.

Fast forward to now, and Byram is a little bit more inexperienced than Makar was, and the blueline is deeper than it was then. In a healthy lineup Byram would need to jump ahead of at least two Dmen in Cole and Timmins, rather than just Nemeth. Come to think of it though, Cole and Nemeth are pretty comparable based on how Cole is playing at the moment, so Byram taking his place would be somewhat comparable to Makar taking Nemeth's place.

Bumping Byram ahead of Cole would be completely acceptable, but I do wonder how Timmins would be managed in such a situation. Does he simply become the default RHD option if and when a RHD gets injured, with Cole being the default LHD option? It's a tricky one to manage to keep everyone happy. But first, we'll need to see Byram actually play at an NHL level when he gets his chance.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

You just don't sit Byram for long. If he doesn't play well and looks lost then he doesn't deserve it, but Bo needs to be given the opportunity.

 

[Richard88]

It won’t come down to that, and it shouldn’t. Handshake deals are illegal in the NHL and if Landy makes it to UFA there will be quite a few suitors.

How does the NHL enforce handshake deals being illegal, practically speaking?

Let's say that Sakic and Landeskog's camp make all the right noises throughout the season about wanting him to resign, but that they want to do it after the season so that there's no distractions. That's pretty common approach in the NHL, and one which Sakic and Landeskog have already been taking.

Fast forward to the end of the playoffs. There's talk about whether or not Landeskog will sign, and Sakic says that they will sit down once things have cooled down from the playoffs. No agreement is reached before the expansion draft, so Landeskog is left unprotected. Landeskog makes a mention about wanting to see what the market is like for him.

Seattle consider selecting Landeskog but get no sign of interest from Landeskog's agent, so they settle for the safe selection in Graves.

Fast forward another week or so and we have UFA day /July 1st, and Landeskog resigns with Colorado, saying that they both wanted to get it done, but with a flat cap they wanted to wait and see what the market was like before putting pen to paper. They get a solid long-term deal done without much fuss.

Now, after seeing how that narrative played out, does the NHL really have anything to point at to say that it was handled illegally? They can investigate all they like, but there's pretty much nothing to uncover, unless of course Sakic or Landeskog themselves say something incriminating (why would they?), so there's nothing the league could do.

 

[Islay1989]

Why even go there? There's absolutely no point in putting on these theatrics so that you would lose Graves instead of Burakovsky. It's nonsensical.

 

[McJedi]

And they'll have all the players looking for the fastest option out of the Avs organization if that happens.

I really doubt that. Players know it’s a business and the roster turns over. If Landy wants to chase dollars like Taylor hall or Petro, that is well within his rights. Every player is allowed to make his own decisions.

if Landy takes a discount, it would be foolish of the Avs to let him walk. If he wants a captain’s premium, he should follow Petro out the door of the organization that drafted him. Avs shouldn’t lose one second of sleep over it because they’ll find several UFAs ready to take his minutes on this incredible team.

 

[McJedi]

Why even go there? There's absolutely no point in putting on these theatrics so that you would lose Graves instead of Burakovsky. It's nonsensical.

Yes there is. Bura is a damn good hockey player. Graves has been as well. You don’t let guys like this walk out the door for nothing as if they don’t matter at all. Especially Bura for goodness sakes. That’s awful asset management and your team will suffer for it. I suppose you think we should protect UFAs like Grubs and Saad too? Maybe Calvert?

It makes zero sense. Zero sense for an expansion team to take a UFA. So Avs should use that to their advantage. Dont waste precious slots on UFAs. Don’t waste one on EJ either. If he won’t waive. You retain a million or two over the last two years of his deal and trade him.

it’s surprising to me that many of you don’t seem to haven’t thought this thru with our UFAs. As if the idea hadn’t occurred yet. Well let it wash over you. Think about it before irrationally lashing out.

 

[Grigowski]

It makes zero sense. Zero sense for an expansion team to take a UFA.

They can´t take an UFA, they only can sign one like every other team. UFAs are not part of an expansion draft.

 

[5280]

 

[Richard88]

They can´t take an UFA, they only can sign one like every other team. UFAs are not part of an expansion draft.

Seattle can select a pending UFA and would own that players rights until July 1st, and that player counts as their selection from that team.

 

[Richard88]

And they'll have all the players looking for the fastest option out of the Avs organization if that happens.

Kinda like how Mackinnon was going to want out if his best friend Tyson Barrie got traded?

 

[henchman21]

Seattle can select a pending UFA and would own that players rights until July 1st, and that player counts as their selection from that team.

This and Seattle gets an early negotiation period on top of it. They could easily pay Landy 10-11m per. This is not a game worth playing.

 

[Richard88]

This and Seattle gets an early negotiation period on top of it. They could easily pay Landy 10-11m per. This is not a game worth playing.

Landeskog at 10-11m long-term would become one of the worst contracts in the league soon enough.

 

[dmac7719]

Las Vegas drafted UFA's in the XD, why wouldn't Seattle draft UFA's as well, especially a top 6 forward that they could name captain right away?

 

[henchman21]

Landeskog at 10-11m long-term would become one of the worst contracts in the league soon enough.

Potentially, yeah... but Seattle could pay that with ease and get a very marketable young(ish) captain to set the culture on the very ground floor. That would be worth the weight in gold to them and they could far out bid anybody else in the league. If you let it become a bidding war with Seattle, the Avs simply can't match it... which is why this should be done way prior to the expansion draft.

 

[Richard88]

Potentially, yeah... but Seattle could pay that with ease and get a very marketable young(ish) captain to set the culture on the very ground floor. That would be worth the weight in gold to them and they could far out bid anybody else in the league. If you let it become a bidding war with Seattle, the Avs simply can't match it... which is why this should be done way prior to the expansion draft.

It might be worth the risk if there are other good options. Think about what Sakic could do with an extra ~$8m in capspace next offseason. Part of it could go to resigning Saad for starters. Or you target some of the UFA's on the market, like Hall or Hoffman, or both Hoffman and Saad. I'm not saying that we should necessarily do that, but it's always good to take a step back and assess what other options are out there before tying the teams success to how long Landeskog can be a useful top 6 forward.

 

[Islay1989]

Yes there is. Bura is a damn good hockey player. Graves has been as well. You don’t let guys like this walk out the door for nothing as if they don’t matter at all. Especially Bura for goodness sakes. That’s awful asset management and your team will suffer for it. I suppose you think we should protect UFAs like Grubs and Saad too? Maybe Calvert?

It makes zero sense. Zero sense for an expansion team to take a UFA. So Avs should use that to their advantage. Dont waste precious slots on UFAs. Don’t waste one on EJ either. If he won’t waive. You retain a million or two over the last two years of his deal and trade him.

it’s surprising to me that many of you don’t seem to haven’t thought this thru with our UFAs. As if the idea hadn’t occurred yet. Well let it wash over you. Think about it before irrationally lashing out.

What makes zero sense is your continuous regurgitation of outlandish parallels and the complete failure to understand even basic concepts of the FA and the expansion draft.

If Grubauer earns a new contract he will need to be protected as well, a SC contender who found a solution in the net won't risk losing him in a bidding war. IDGAF about losing Burakovsky or Graves in the expansion draft. Burakovsky will likely outprice himself out of Colorado either way and I'd be over the moon if they lose Graves. Saad and Calvert?

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

Love expansion draft talk dominating a thread about the current Avs week of games, when there's already an expansion draft thread. Maybe we can spice it up and add talk about resigning Tyson Barrie and what city has the best pizza too.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

Guys/Gals, we already have an Expansion Draft Thread here:

Speculation: - Early expansion draft discussion

Bump

 

[henchman21]

It might be worth the risk if there are other good options. Think about what Sakic could do with an extra ~$8m in capspace next offseason. Part of it could go to resigning Saad for starters. Or you target some of the UFA's on the market, like Hall or Hoffman, or both Hoffman and Saad. I'm not saying that we should necessarily do that, but it's always good to take a step back and assess what other options are out there before tying the teams success to how long Landeskog can be a useful top 6 forward.

We see a very clear difference consistently when Landy is not on the top line. Hoffman/Saad/Tata/Foligno etc are all a significant drop in quality compared to Landy. Just get Landy signed to a reasonable deal now and don't mess with a good thing.

 

[Islay1989]

People just severely underestimate or straight up downplay how much dirty work Gabe does for the other two guys on that line.

 

[Richard88]

We see a very clear difference consistently when Landy is not on the top line. Hoffman/Saad/Tata/Foligno etc are all a significant drop in quality compared to Landy. Just get Landy signed to a reasonable deal now and don't mess with a good thing.

Oh I'm not advocating for playing games with Landeskog's contract. I'm just saying that in general it's good to appreciate the bigger picture instead of having tunnel vision. It's the right decision to resign him, but that doesn't mean that you can't look at the alternatives to make sure you're making the right decision.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

Letting Landeskog leave tells your roster that you don’t really care about your players. That shit matters. It’s not like he’s some top-9 forward that’s played for the team a couple years. He’s been the captain of the Avalanche for 600+ games.

And when we talk about replacing his production in free agency. Yeah, you can make up for some of his point total, but his leadership and all around game are not that easy to replace. Landy has some self preservation in his game where he doesn’t go viking mode often during the regular season, but in the playoffs the physical play is on display more frequently.

Accept the fact that the contract will be good, then bad later on and sign the guy.

 

[Postanin CB Ting]

I think Bura will be 2nd in goals this year and somewhat close to Mack.

What are were rockin with out white jerseys? White lid, blue pants blue gloves?