Waived: John Mitchell [cleared]

[tigervixxxen]

It would be hysterical to waive Gelinas before the draft we wasted a pick on him for passes.

 

[CB Joe]

What we paid for Gelinas doesn't matter anymore. It would be $1.5m off the books if he got claimed on waivers.

 

[StayAtHomeAv]

Gelinas was guilty of some egregious errors and poor overall play prior to being scratched the last couple of games. But I don't think the Avs are in a position to place him on waivers on the off chance that he would be claimed.

The Avs simply do not have enough NHL defenseman at the moment. As bad as Gelinas looked at times in the lineup, I would argue that Tyutin is actually worse. Tyutin is far from an NHL caliber defenseman at the moment. Against Chicago (on the Marian Hossa goal) and yesterday against Minnesota, he was an abject disaster.

On the Hossa goal, he had the angle and it should not have resulted in a partial breakaway. Yesterday, he took two very bad penalties in the first half of the game, had at least one unpressured, awful icing play, and he inexplicably stepped up in the neutral zone on a play that almost led to an odd man rush for the Wild.

At this point, Tyutin lacks NHL caliber skating, NHL caliber puck skills, and he is not compensating by making competent decisions on the ice. If he continues to be in the lineup for the Avs, he likely will make several plays every game (bad penalties, bad play with the puck, poor decision making and positional play) that could result in the Avs losing.

I can understand if the Avs have soured on Gelinas, but they also must realize that they can't have Tyutin in the lineup if he plays like he did the last couple of games. I wonder if they would consider bringing up someone like Siemens shortly as the sixth defenseman. I am not sure what the downside would be considering what we have seen from Gelinas and Tyutin.

We didn't have enough centers either, yet Mitchell was waived.

 

[AslanRH]

It would be hysterical to waive Gelinas before the draft we wasted a pick on him for passes.

I think it comes down to the oversimplified Sakic/McFarland - Roy question regarding whose guy Gelinas was.

Anyway, I just think Mitchell wont be their only attempt at "flexibility" as I think the Avs FO currently has something in the works. Quite a few Eastern conference teams I have my eye on as the partner.

 

[Foppa2118]

It would be hysterical to waive Gelinas before the draft we wasted a pick on him for passes.

What's done is done. We've already wasted a pick on him.

 

[tigervixxxen]

I'm not saying don't waive him because of it, I'm just saying it would be hilarious.

 

[Freudian]

I understand Mitchell not feeling good about it but it really just is business. It's not personal.

He's a fourth line center making $1.8M/year. He's already a winner. The team trying to lose the cap hit is one of the small downsides to that.

I understand him not commenting more on it because what is he supposed to say that we can't figure out for ourselves?

 

[Ivan13]

I'm not saying don't waive him because of it, I'm just saying it would be hilarious.

It was hilarious when that trade went down. He is terrible.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

I'm not saying don't waive him because of it, I'm just saying it would be hilarious.

The odds of that pick becoming anywhere near as good as Gelinas is right now is very low. And Gelinas isn't exactly old so who knows if he improves. I know you hate trading picks and prospects but it's not like this was for a rental. We pretty much traded a third round pick for a second round talent player who is still developing (though likely pretty close to what his ceiling will be)

I'm all for developing youth but trading 3rd round picks for young talent isn't a bad decision. Gelinas had a decent resume for a young D as well. Worth a shot. Taking on projects in the 3rd round is far more risky than taking what you have in Gelinas.

 

[tigervixxxen]

I'm not going through my what value is spiel but let's just say I strongly disagree. There's no salvaging the fact that people want him waived and gone. That's negative value.

 

[AslanRH]

I'm not going through my what value is spiel but let's just say I strongly disagree. There's no salvaging the fact that people want him waived and gone. That's negative value.

Not that the Avs have the cap space (or Sakic the seeming mentality) even without Gelinas, but that missing 3rd prevented the Avs from taking a legitimate swing at offersheeting either Lindholm or Trouba.

 

[Avs44]

Not that the Avs have the cap space (or Sakic the seeming mentality) even without Gelinas, but that missing 3rd prevented the Avs from taking a legitimate swing at offersheeting either Lindholm or Trouba.

What prevented that Avs from taking a legitimate shot at offer-sheeting somebody is that 1) GM's practically never do it (no other GM did...), and 2) the Avs had no cap space to pull it off. It certainly wasn't the third round pick. Re-acquiring the third round pick would have been the least of their worries.

 

[Foppa2118]

I'm not going through my what value is spiel but let's just say I strongly disagree. There's no salvaging the fact that people want him waived and gone. That's negative value.

Waiving him would likely signal Bigras could come up and then push someone like Wiercioch or Tyutin out of the lineup. That would probably make the lineup better so that's a plus, but the problem is they'd lose some depth.

They could send him down but they'd be on the hook for for $625k of his cap hit. I think the best approach would be to trade him for a decent depth D that's already in the minors, on a two way deal. Then call up Bigras.

Unfortunately they're not going to get back the value of the 3rd round pick they give up. They're likely to just walk away from his QO at the end of the year too, unless he somehow turns into a brand new defenseman by the end of the year.

 

[arun]

unless he somehow turns into a brand new defenseman by the end of the year.

Geli-nah he won't..

 

[AslanRH]

What prevented that Avs from taking a legitimate shot at offer-sheeting somebody is that 1) GM's practically never do it (no other GM did...), and 2) the Avs had no cap space to pull it off. It certainly wasn't the third round pick. Re-acquiring the third round pick would have been the least of their worries.

I'm pretty sure I covered 2) in my post as well as most of 1)

I think many more offers are made than are accepted (and therefore public). Was just pointing out where people underestimate the value of those midling picks.

 

[DenverBoone]

So by waiving him we clear his salary but he still can play since he cleared? Me confused.

 

[Gigantor The Goalie]

So by waiving him we clear his salary but he still can play since he cleared? Me confused.

We cleared 950K of his salary. We never assigned him to San Antonio so yes he can still play with the Avs.

 

[tigervixxxen]

We cleared 950K of his salary. We never assigned him to San Antonio so yes he can still play with the Avs.

That's only if he's assigned they get that savings.

 

[Foppa2118]

So by waiving him we clear his salary but he still can play since he cleared? Me confused.

They have 30 days to send him down the same way they snuck Gabriel Bourque through waivers at the end of pre-season, but didn't send him down until three weeks later. They should have done the same with Smith.

 

[DenverBoone]

In defense of Mitchell, his play is not the problem for the Avs. Barrie, MacKinnon and others are a complete ****show right now.

 

[The Kingslayer]

In defense of Mitchell, his play is not the problem for the Avs. Barrie, MacKinnon and others are a complete ****show right now.

Yup. I been fine with Mitchells game thus far as hes playing the exact role he should be playing.

 

[Foppa2118]

Mitchell completely floated through his first four games prior to being waived. He's had a long history of doing so, and his lack of a pre-season doesn't excuse this.

He's far from the biggest problem with the team because he's a 4th liner, but he is emblematic of the problem. This team has a problem maintaining focus, and keeping their intensity level high. These two things lead to all their issues. Lack of execution on their shots, passes off the mark, getting puck focused defensively, pinching at the wrong times, not keeping a tight gap, getting caught out of position in the D zone, poor board battles leading to pucks staying in the zone, poor efforts at their bluelines leading to turnovers.

The vets need to lead the way and set a good example of maintaining a high intensity every shift, staying focused on what's happening in the play around them, and battling hard. If they do all of that, the skill and the goals will take care of themselves.

Yet vets like Iggy, Comeau, and Mitchell, they're just going through the motions. There's no desperation. They may not like to lose, but they don't appear like it bothers them a whole lot either. There's a problem with the mentality of this team, and Mitchell's usual coasting around with his stick in the air, his slow as molasses coasting for every single line change, his sunday morning drives with the puck that always seem to lead to turnovers, are contributing to that attitude staying the same, when vets like him need to be contributing to that attitude changing.

 

[Avs_19]

If MacKinnon plays the exact same way as he has been but the crossbar he hit the other day goes in and he isn't robbed by Dubnyk/Allen, does he still get referred to as a "complete **** show"?

Close doesn't help us on the scoreboard but I really think his struggles are being exaggerated because he can't buy a goal right now.

 

[Foppa2118]

If MacKinnon plays the exact same way as he has been but the crossbar he hit the other day goes in and he isn't robbed by Dubnyk/Allen, does he still get referred to as a "complete **** show"?

Close doesn't help us on the scoreboard but I really think his struggles are being exaggerated because he can't buy a goal right now.

It's getting close to the same idea with Duchene though. If you keep going into multiple scoring slumps every year, at a certain point it's not just you getting unlucky, it's you allowing yourself to get into those slumps somehow.

Mack needs to fight his way through this. He can do it, but he needs to do it. It's that simple. He either becomes the player he can be or he doesn't. It's all up to him.

I didn't like the way he swatted at the loose puck sitting in the slot the last game either. A Nathan MacKinnon with confidence would have hammered that puck through the net. Instead he just swatted at it and toed it so it didn't even create a dangerous chance.

 

[a mangy Meowth]

If MacKinnon plays the exact same way as he has been but the crossbar he hit the other day goes in and he isn't robbed by Dubnyk/Allen, does he still get referred to as a "complete **** show"?

Close doesn't help us on the scoreboard but I really think his struggles are being exaggerated because he can't buy a goal right now.

Yeah yeah... We get it, he's THIS close. He's on the cusp! He's on the verge of a break out season!!