GDT: GAME VII - Aves @ Deves: Balls to the Hall

[Pokecheque]

I disagree about nemeth. He got hit in the face on the first goal by EJ’s stick, not his fault, he was in pain before he could cover his man. AAndrighetto needed to cover that guy.

On the 2nd goal, its the turn over that resulted in a mad disorganized scramble, thats on kerfoot for making an awful pass to bourque, and bourque for not even being able trip a guy properly.

Point taken, and I'm not thrilled with EJ's play of late either, but that's also on Nemeth for letting that Devils player scoot by him like that instead of just mashing him against the boards like he could've easily done. He also didn't need to follow the guy all the way around and behind the net and to the other side.

The turnover was bad, yes, but they happen, and, well, I'd like him to be the guy who covers for those mistakes. I'm not expecting Adam Foote-level play but if he's a defensive guy who's supposed to play relatively well away from the puck, then I'd like to see him be the guy who makes the stop, save, whatever, in the event of a boneheaded turnover or other mistake by one of his teammates.

 

[Chileiceman]

I'll take Calvert any day over Comeau and his selfish penalty per game and his blind passes to the non existing pointman. Sure he'd have spurts where he'd get his head out of his butt and play hard, but not since Arnason has a player made me yell at my TV so much.

 

[flyfysher]

Man, I took a beating in the Calvert thread when we signed him and I made it clear I preferred Comeau. Superior player at less cap hit, it’s not up for debate. Calvert is faster, but Comeau is still better defensively and is better offensively by a fair margin. Bigger, tougher guy too. Right handed.

I agree with henchman24 that Comeau worked well with Soderberg and Nieto. But let's not forget Comeau's propensity for taking unnecessary penalties.

 

[Pokecheque]

Comeau is not necessarily a superior player. Better scorer, yes, bigger, but not better in a lot of other areas. And again, much older.

 

[Foppberg]

 

[Vaslof]

Comeau had good synergy with his linemates, that elevated his play. Calvert hasn't found his place yet.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

Calvert looks like he’s accomplishing a lot more than he is because he’s balls to the wall all the time. I just don’t see what makes him better than Comeau.

 

[Pokecheque]

Comeau had good synergy with his linemates, that elevated his play. Calvert hasn't found his place yet.

Well, I thought he looked great on that 4th line with Dries and JTC to start the season but wildly out of place alongside Soderberg. I think when everything shakes out it should be Calvert on the 4th line and Wilson on the 3rd line RW spot with Soda and...hopefully a rejuvenated Nieto or Dano.

 

[Ivan13]

Calvert looks like he’s accomplishing a lot more than he is because he’s balls to the wall all the time. I just don’t see what makes him better than Comeau.

Some of that. He is on all the time, Blake is uneven in his effort. Blake is more talented for sure, but he has times when he just doesn't bring it or takes poor penalties.

 

[Piestany88]

You know a GDT has gone on too long when people are debating whether signing a depth winger was a better decision than resigning another depth winger. But I'll jump in:

Re-signing Comeau to anything more than a 1 year deal would have been pure idiocy. And given he got a 3 (!) year deal from Dallas, there was no way he was staying here for only 1 year. 3 years for Comeau is going to end up a really, really bad deal. I liked him, sure, but the alternative to Calvert was never Comeau - it was probably nobody. Remember this was an offseason in which Antione Roussel and Jay Beagle for 3M x 4 each. Reliable depth guys were expensive this offseason. So yeah in an ideal world you sign Calvert for less, but if we had offered him less he would have just signed somewhere else. There's no universe in which Calvert is both on this team and making what you think he should be making.

I do think Calvert is miscast as Soderberg's winger - he's a great 4th liner but that's all I see right now. Now that Sven's back and playing well, I hope he and Calvert get switched.

People here are forgetting how bad Comeau was 2 years ago at 2,7 mil per. I''ll take Calvert . Give him more than 7 games to judge

 

[Avs_19]

Some of y'all really miss Comeau, huh? I can't imagine what the conversation would be like if he was actually playing well for the Stars right now while Calvert struggled.

 

[Piestany88]

Some of y'all really miss Comeau, huh? I can't imagine what the conversation would be like if he was actually playing well for the Stars right now while Calvert struggled.

His dumb penalties are not missed by me lol.

 

[Freudian]

I thought Comeau was pretty good last year, but stunk the year before. Him on a three year deal that ends 2021 probably won't be pretty, even though he's not necessarily the type of player that completely dies at 34.

 

[Pokecheque]

Well, it appears I'm only half-right. The "Take Landy off the Top Line" crowd has only quieted somewhat, and some switched their mantra to "Take Rants off the Top Line." . I'm kinda glad the Comeau/Calvert debate is drowning that nonsense out for now.

I suppose it's a good sign when we're getting into a protracted discussion about which 4th liner the Avs should've signed.

 

[Foppa2118]

If I was choosing in a vacuum I'd rather have Comeau as I think his play is a full line level higher. I fully understand moving on from Comeau, but if you are going to spend that money elsewhere... get good value. I'd rather have spent $2m on Reider, $2.75m on Riley Nash, $1.9m on Schaller, etc. There were just better options out there for the price, or were cheaper and could add as much. People always speak of needing future cap space and how other players will need to be moved, the way to avoid moving those players is to avoid the $1m overpayments on Calvert and Cole... if they don't take less, don't sign them.

You can't claim the Avs won't have any cap problems moving forward, and then get upset at Calvert's contract.

Reider, Nash, and Schiller all signed before Cavlert did, and quite possibly preferred their teams over the Avs. The Avs overpaid for Calvert because they wanted to make sure they landed someone in that role.

Comeau is about to turn 33 and has 1 point this year. This is not something to get upset over. It'll be even less of a thing to get upset over when Comeau is 34 and 35.

 

[dahrougem2]

I'm one of the few that actually liked Blake Comeau in his time here. That said, he served his purpose for the duration of his contract. We got two pretty good seasons out of him. He's 33 years old, and it's not like he's some finesse player that can age gracefully. He's a dude that hits, blocks shots, goes hard to the corners and mucks it up in scrums/fights.

If Comeau was 28, I'd take him in a heartbeat over Calvert, no questions asked. However, the age really plays a factor to me. Do I wish we got someone other than Calvert? Probably, especially at his cap hit. But other players mentioned like Riley Nash or Tobias Reider seemed to have their hearts set on specific destinations, and that's something you can't compete with.

So far I have no real qualms about Calvert other than his lack of finish, which I'm sure will drive me insane moving forward.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

The Avs overpaying to sign a 4th liner to fill a hole is exactly what’s wrong with their development system.

I think Comeau is better than Calvert easily but my preference would have been neither. Good teams fill those roles from within.

 

[Foppa2118]

The Avs overpaying to sign a 4th liner to fill a hole is exactly what’s wrong with their development system.

I think Comeau is better than Calvert easily but my preference would have been neither. Good teams fill those roles from within.

This really is the root of the problem. Greer should have taken over Comeau's role if things were going according to plan. They can't seem to turn these kind of guys into useful bottom 6er's though.

 

[Foppberg]

It is a problem, but considering it's a common theme of conversation, I'd say we're in a pretty good spot.

 

[The Abusement Park]

You can't claim the Avs won't have any cap problems moving forward, and then get upset at Calvert's contract.

Reider, Nash, and Schiller all signed before Cavlert did, and quite possibly preferred their teams over the Avs. The Avs overpaid for Calvert because they wanted to make sure they landed someone in that role.

Comeau is about to turn 33 and has 1 point this year. This is not something to get upset over. It'll be even less of a thing to get upset over when Comeau is 34 and 35.

He’s getting at there’s no point in overpaying for 4th liners. I mean I’d rather get into a cap crunch because Jost, Rantanen, Z, and Makar are forcing us to pay up than sit here going, man I wish we didn’t sign Cole for 4.75 and Calvert for 2.85.

 

[Balthazar]

We still have 11M in cap space and people worry about overpayment on a 2.8M contract. Not like Calvert's contract will ever become an anchor or prevent us from being able to sign someone else. It's literally a non-issue.

 

[Foppa2118]

He’s getting at there’s no point in overpaying for 4th liners. I mean I’d rather get into a cap crunch because Jost, Rantanen, Z, and Makar are forcing us to pay up than sit here going, man I wish we didn’t sign Cole for 4.75 and Calvert for 2.85.

So who plays Calvert's role? Bourque? I'm sure the people complaining about Calvert would love that.

The Avs should be ok cap wise for the duration of Calvert and Cole's deal. After that they'll have given big raises to guys on the team, probably added another expensive 2nd liner or two, potentially paid for an expensive #1G, Landy will be due a small raise, and they'll need to start preparing for a massive raise to MacKinnon in two years. That's when they'll need cheap bottom 6er's.

 

[Foppberg]

We still have 11M in cap space and people worry about overpayment on a 2.8M contract. Not like Calvert's contract will ever become an anchor. It's literally a non-issue.

Yep. Our biggest "albatross" contracts are Cole and Calvert, and even then it's a minor overpayment due to free agency. Sakic has hopefully learned his lesson from throwing around money carelessly unlike the majority of his GM counterparts.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

This really is the root of the problem. Greer should have taken over Comeau's role if things were going according to plan. They can't seem to turn these kind of guys into useful bottom 6er's though.

Greer is still younger than compher before he became a NHLer, so i dont see how its not going according to plan.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

Yep. Our biggest "albatross" contracts are Cole and Calvert, and even then it's a minor overpayment due to free agency. Sakic has hopefully learned his lesson from throwing around money carelessly unlike the majority of his GM counterparts.

Their terms are short enough that they can easily be moved