Richard88
John 3:16
- Jun 29, 2019
- 19,176
- 20,805
With the deadline just 10 days away I thought it would be worth having a more focussed discussion thread about our trade targets. This thread is dedicated to defensemen, and to start the discussion off below is my top 10 list of trade deadline defenseman targets.
To preface this list, we've been linked to some shutdown RHD's, most notably David Savard, so whilst this list doesn't exlusively feature RHD's or shutdown Dmen, it is nonetheless heavily weighed in favour of them. Pending UFA's are also preferrable for the Avs given expansion and cap structure considerations, so some weighting is given to rentals.
Top 10 Trade Deadline Targets: Defensemen
1. David Savard, RD, $4.25m x 1
3. Jamie Oleksiak, LD, $2,137,500 x 1
4. Justin Braun, RD, $1.8m x 2 
5. Josh Manson, RD, $4.1m x 2
6. Sami Vatanen, RD, $2m x 1
Goligoski is a guy who can play both sides and on the PK so may be a consideration as a cheap depth add. Some on this board have said that he has some serious character issues (or did something heinous in the past), so perhaps it would be best to steer clear.
9. Ryan Murray, LD, $4.6m x 1
10. Patrik Nemeth, LD, $3m x 1
To preface this list, we've been linked to some shutdown RHD's, most notably David Savard, so whilst this list doesn't exlusively feature RHD's or shutdown Dmen, it is nonetheless heavily weighed in favour of them. Pending UFA's are also preferrable for the Avs given expansion and cap structure considerations, so some weighting is given to rentals.
Top 10 Trade Deadline Targets: Defensemen
1. David Savard, RD, $4.25m x 1
The obvious top choice, but given that Tampa and Winnipeg are rumoured to be involved there may be a bidding war, and Sakic tends to shy away from that.
2. Niklas Hjalmarsson, LHD who plays LD/RD, $5m x 1
He rejected a trade in October when Avs were reportedly interested, as he didn't want to move away from his kids after recently getting divorced. That said, if he's amenable to moving for just a few months instead of a full season, and if Arizona fall away a bit in the playoff hunt and become sellers, he'd be a great pickup as someone who brings veteran leadership and can play both sides.
3. Jamie Oleksiak, LD, $2,137,500 x 1
A man-mountain at 6'7'' 255lbs who PK's and skates well for his size (as we saw first-hand last year against Dallas). The only thing counting against him as an option is his handedess; however, whilst Oleksiak ordinarily plays on the left, he's apparently played a bunch on the right side this year paired with Heiskanen (as per HockeyViz D pair charts), and it would thus probably be natural for him to play on the right if needed, paired with either Girard or Byram.
Braun is a prototypical shutdown Dman with size at 6'2'', 205lbs. He's played most of the season in the top 4 (sometimes on the 1st pair) and he's a big reason why Philadelphia stayed afloat in the playoff race as long as they did, given that he's posted a 52.0 CF% with 57% DZ starts and a +5 rating which leads all Flyers Dmen and is 2nd on the team only to Laughton's +8. He also brings a wealth of experience having played in 100 playoff games for San Jose and Philadelphia. His contract has an extra year of term, but at $1.8m it's hardly the sort of contract that would be a problem next year; in fact he might actually be a useful player to have on the roster next year as well, especially if Graves gets taken by Seattle. I could certainly see this being a solid fallback option for Sakic if he gets outbid for Savard.
5. Josh Manson, RD, $4.1m x 2
Manson fits what we need as a RHD shutdown Dman, but the downside is that he would likely be more expensive to acquire due to having an extra year of term - but that doesn't fit well with the Avs plan for the expansion draft, or for the cap structure. If the price to acquire him isn't too high though it might be worth exploring it purely as a rental option who we expose to Seattle. His recent injury issues and surgery before his comeback this month are also cause for concern, as the last thing the Avs need is another EJ contract.
6. Sami Vatanen, RD, $2m x 1
Not really a shutdown type, but he is a RHS and has been doing well for NJ on the PK this year. According to NJ fans he should also likely be available for a 4th or 5th round pick which would be an affordable price if all Sakic wants to do is add a responsible NHL calibre RHD for depth.
7. Brandon Montour, RD, $3.85m x 1
Montour isn't a defensive Dman at all - in fact his analytics show that he's pretty awful at stopping zone entries which may be enough on its own to stop this trade from happening. That said, he's nonetheless an intriguing option given that he is elite at transitioning the puck, hitting the 99th percentile in zone exits and zone entries a couple of years ago for instance. He's essentially a poor man's version of Tyson Barrie, who brings a similar level of transition game but doesn't have the creativity in the OZ to cash in on points or be an ideal option on the PP. Given how Avs completely overwhelmed Calgary and at times San Jose with the combination of Makar, Girard, and Barrie two years ago, perhaps Sakic could be tempted to go all-in on Dmen who are elite in transition. Bednar does afterall have a good track record of tailoring offense around guys like this, having got the best out of Barrie before he was traded.
8. Alex Goligoski, LD/RD, $5.475m x 1
Goligoski is a guy who can play both sides and on the PK so may be a consideration as a cheap depth add. Some on this board have said that he has some serious character issues (or did something heinous in the past), so perhaps it would be best to steer clear.
9. Ryan Murray, LD, $4.6m x 1
Murray is a smooth and mobile skater who plays a very solid defensive game, and doesn't look out of place as a No.3 or No.4 Dman. The knock on him is always how injury prone he is, which is a valid argument for sure. That said, he apparently saw a specialist last offseason and has changed his exercise routine to strengthen his core back muscles, which seems to have helped him judging by the fact that he's been healthy most of this season so far except for a stint out due to illness. Another argument against him is that his Corsi has decreased the last two seasons to 46.2% this year, though he also has a career high 57% DZ starts this year and plays on a bad team, so perhaps his possession metrics should be taken with a pinch of salt.
10. Patrik Nemeth, LD, $3m x 1
A 3rd pair Dman who can be relied on to be good on the PK as your 6/7 Dman. He's been very good for Detroit (relatively speaking), and he's also a known commodity for Colorado, so in a busy season with little practice time he could step into the organisation seamlessly.
Honourable mentions (ie. scraping the barrel): Dmitry Kulikov LD, Jani Hakanpää RD, Ben Hutton LD, Jason Demers RD, Jordie Benn LD/RD, Jon Merrill LD.
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