Guys like PEB and Calvert who are high motor do anything to make a play are great up until their health/speed drops off just a little and they seem to become useless overnight.
These are the kind of guys a good team with sustainable success can replace internally every few years. Or in Calverts case push him back down the lineup as he ages and starts to slightly regress.
To put it another way... If you can't even develop third and fourth liners within the system... Boy are you screwed.
The Avs seem to be doing better in that part of things. I'm not worried about the ability to develop those type of guys. But Calvert and PEBs next contracts could be ugly if they don't seem to have other options.
Yeah, I agree that they need to develop more talent going forward, especially since cap room will be at a premium from here on out. I think, though, that you can always get reasonably-priced depth players via free agency. Even the cap-strapped teams sign a player or two off the scrap heap now and again. And it's clear they take an analytical approach to these acquisitions, getting guys who have good underlying numbers and who also happen to have all the grit/intangibles the old-school crowd likes so much.
I imagine once their current deals are up the Avs may look to do what they did when they signed Calvert to replace Comeau--find a young player who fits their needs in that particular role and begin the cycle anew.
The Avs are also not averse to looking outside the NHL for organizational depth. Frankie, even though he's struggling at present, was a solid acquisition they brought up the right way. No reason you can't find a forward or even a defenseman to fill those depth roles if need be. Admittedly, it can either be a hit (Mikheyev) or a miss (Zaitsev), but it's an option.