What Needs to Happen This Offseason?

[agentblack]

Its too bad they couldnt add another stabilizing vet on D like Beauch in the offseason. If we cant spend the kind of money a guy like Yandle will command id love to get a similar D this year.
What are peoples thoughts on Goligoski or Russell? Or is there is another "Beauch" this FA? Campbell?

 

[S E P H]

the problem is that they didn't always get the best played in the draft and they've failed pathetically on most picks outside of their top picks.

That's true, but it happens to every team, even Chicago...

http://www.eliteprospects.com/draft_by_team.php?TeamID=56

Start at 2002, they got some homeruns, but you could say that majority of them were awful picks. Babchuk at 21st, Barker at 3rd, Skille at 7th, Beach at 11th, Olsen at 28th, and others. These are way worst than any of the Hishon, Siemens, or Bleackley. I mean getting a player like Barker at 3rd overall would be the most uproar on this board. They were VERY forunate that they got Leddy from that. My argument is that Avs can't replicate Hawks success and that building through drafts won't make a team good. Not only did Chicago build the core when the draft had 9 rounds, but no team will ever have 17 draft picks as hawks did in 2004, where the best player they got was Brouwer in the 7th round. Bickell as well if you want to add him. That is a 0.2% success rate from three players (including Bolland). Avs won't be a better team if they just accumulated draft picks. Smart trades for NHL proven players can make teams better, if Oilers wanted to make the trades Avs did, I don't think they would be better, but they would be there with the Avs IMO.

 

[Tweaky]

Siemens (11th O/A), Hishon (17th O/A), and Bleackley (23rd O/A)

Does any other team have that many first round failures in such a short period of time?

That's our missing top four defender, and almost an entire top nine forward line.

Since 2009, Dallas has drafted the superstar lineup of first rounders: Scott Glennie (2009.8), Jack Campbell (2010#11), Jamie Oleksiak (2011#14), Radek Faksa (2012#13), Valeri Nichushkin (2013#10), Julius Honka (2014#14), and Denis Gurianov (2015#12). Of those, Oleksiak is a frequent call up from the AHL, Nichuskin is legit, Faksa made his debut this year, and Honka (D) and Gurianov are too recent to judge. So Glennie and Campbell are straight fails ( NHL game each), and a few more might be.

That was the first team I tried.

Or Chicago: Kyle Beach(2008.11), Dylan Olsen (2009.28), Kevin Hayes (2010.24), Mark McNeill (2011.18), Phillip Danault (2011.26). Goes back a bit further, to adjust for the whole too young thing. Kevin Hayes is a fail for them because they never signed him. Later picks on average, but at least as bad for the system....5 1st rounders in 4 years with almost zero to show for it.

 

[AslanRH]

Coaching concerns aside, outside of a huge value return in a trade the Avs ought to try out the concept of consistency.

Unless their hand is forced due to contract demands being too high:
re-sign MacK either for 1-2years @$5m or 6-8 years @$7-7.5m
re-sign Barrie @ $6-6.5m
re-sign Boedker 4-5 years @ <$5m if possible or bring in Radulov.
re-sign Matthias 2years @$2-2.5m
re-sign Grigorenko short term @ $1.5m or long term @ $3m

Move one of Holden or Gelinas (two redundant pieces) at the draft and maybe Mitchell. Try and convince Iggy to move on, and hope LTIR is the future for Stuart since he likely can't be moved.

This team has had enough turnover in the top part of the lineup each year. Use this next season as the measuring stick for this core. Add in Zadorov, Bigras, and Rantanen to the mix and perhaps Compher and if the team sinks, then it will be clear the core needs to be reworked.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Stay the course. I sometimes wish that 13-14 miracle season never happened.

 

[agentblack]

Stay the course. I sometimes wish that 13-14 miracle season never happened.

or 09-10.
I mean yeah both years it was fun but it seemed to slow down the rebuild or steer it off course

 

[McMetal]

Anything but trading a core piece again. We need to stop bleeding top end talent year after year if we expect to be a championship team again. It's not a coincidence that we lost Stastny and ROR and subsequently had awful Octobers that doomed the season before it even began. Blaming the core for not being able to carry Tanguay and Iginla in the top six is simply ridiculous. Let's see what they can do with a real top 4 on defense and a real top six on offense to start the year before we talk about trading any of them.

Sign Barrie and MacKinnon, try for one of Boedker/Radulov to fill out the top six, trade Mitchell and Holden for picks or prospects, and mix up the defensive pairings to get some more mileage out of Bigras and Zadorov. Then we'll know what kind of team we have. If we miss next season, by all means blow up the core. But for once let's try not losing a core player in the offseason.

I'd also like to say Fire Roy, it's what I picked on the poll, but I know that won't happen. In that case, fire both of the assistant coaches and bring in some guys who can compensate for Roy's weaknesses as a bench coach and systems guru.

 

[Tweaky]

Blaming the core for not being able to carry Tanguay and Iginla in the top six is simply ridiculous

Somehow I don't think Tanguay was the issue...9 points in 11 games on his new team, which is 7-3-1 since the trade. Yeah, he did not look good here. And I am surprised as everyone that he is doing that well. But it serves as pretty strong evidence that he may not have been the whole problem.

 

[Foppa2118]

Firstly they need to be seeing if Iggy would be willing to go back to Calgary, and if they're interested, even if they have to withhold salary. Secondly, they need to add either Rads or Boedker, and re-sign Matthias.

They need to address the D also, it's not gonna get better quick enough just relying on Z and Bigras, I've been saying this for a while. They're good but they're too young to be go to guys.

I have a really hard time seeing how they get better trading Landy, Duchene, or EJ. Trusting that Picks is proven enough to take over for Varly would be monumentally stupid.

To me the move that shakes things up and possibly addresses an area of need is a Barrie for Hamonic or similar defenseman move. A mobile, solid defensively two way D man. I think they'll be fine replacing Barrie's puck rushing and offense with a combination of the new guy added to Zadorov and Bigras with bigger roles, and EJ. I don't think they need a river as much as people think, and Barrie doesn't seem to be able to play that way consistently anyway.

Getting a legit defender that can help keep the puck out of the net and cut down on the mistakes this team is prone to, will go a long long way.

If that kind of move isn't out there I'm not sure what they do, but I have no problem putting that mid round 1st in play to make a deal happen. They have to address this, not sit on the pot and worry about value.

 

[StayAtHomeAv]

If they do a blockbuster involving Duchene or Landeskog they need to move one of Barrie or EJ for an offensive player.

Or sign a FA.

 

[chet1926]

My vote was for Combo.

I think there are some issues at the coaching level, but I don't think it's all on Roy. The assistants need to go. Army and Farrish need to go. I'm not sure how Army has survived so long he brings nothing of value to the table, and Farrish is worthless. We need to bring in some new blood there that has some NHL experience. Maybe a guy like Yeo who might not get a head coaching job but will want to work at the NHL level. I'm fine with Allaire as the goalies have performed well for the past 3 years with a garbage team in front of them.

I also think it is time to evaluate the core of the team as well. Most of the core has been here for an extended period of time. Duchene 8 years, Landeskog 5 years, EJ 6 years, Varly 5 years. It's not like they've been here for just over a year and are expected to be Cup champions. For me it basically is how many times can you force a square peg into a round hole? We keep getting the basic same result every year, missing the playoffs barely, and the one constant is those core players. I'm not going to include players like MacKinnon or Barrie (even though I think there is a decent chance he might get traded) in this as they haven't been part of the core long enough.

I see a lot of comments in here about some the guys on the team needing to become stronger mentally. I hate to break it to you but you don't just get mentally stronger. At this point in their athletic careers you don't just all of a sudden develop a trait that you've never had. I hate to say it, but we have a lot of mentally weak players. Yesterday was a great example of this. EJ had 2 major gaffs that cost us, Landeskog didn't bother to show up, Barrie was invisible most of the game, Varly even though I thought he was good still gave up 3 goals. Plus the guys that were out of the lineup, Duchene is known to have huge ups and downs, MacK is tough to evaluate because he is 20, but honestly he looks to be the mentally strongest of all our core players. You don't just develop a killer instinct. You either have one or you don't. That's what made the old Avs so good. Was you had four guys that just couldn't accept losing in Sakic, Forsberg, Roy and Foote. Right now we don't have one guy that just hates losing. We don't have a Toews type player that just can't accept losing.

To me it feels like our core group of guys have been coddled way too much and are comfortable with losing and being mediocre because there are no consequences. We go out and trade 1-2 of the core guys it puts everyone on notice that if you aren't performing you can get moved. It might get some of the other core guys attention.

I'm not advocating just moving players to move players. It's obviously got to make sense. We can't just trade a Duchene or Landeskog for a futures type package like we did with ROR. We've got to get someone back that is on their level already. Something like getting Subban out of Montreal comes to mind of player that might be available that is on their level.

I think that if you move 1-2 "core" pieces for new "core" pieces, and you get real assistant coaches, plus add one solid piece in UFA and you still get the same results that is when you need to remove Roy from the equation.

 

[xbestboybandever]

A combination of things need to happen:

I think that Roy should get another year, he inherited a dumpster fire from the previous regime and I do think the team is moving in a positive direction. The additions that he and Sakic have made have been great and they have handled situations that they inherited well (ie. Ryan O'Reilly). I think giving them another offseason and draft will prove to be advantageous to the team going forward. That being said, the things that I would like to see change are:

1) Landeskog gives the "C" to Duchene. He was named captain by the previous head coach, and to be quite frank, has done little to nothing to warrant keeping it. He has made boneheaded plays, gotten himself suspended twice and seems to hurt the team at the worst times. The hit he laid on Parise in the first game will always stick out, he crushes Parise, doesn't get back in the play, takes himself out of position with the hit, the Wild score and the rest in painful. This is Duchene's team. They have a self imposed "Duchene Cap" and he is often the most vocal in the locker room. I think he deserves to lead this team going forward.

2) Re-sign Mack and Matthias. Mack is obvious, and Matthias has been fantastic on the third line with Soderberg and Landeskog.

3) Trade Tyson Barrie. He is an offensive dynamo and is one of the most dynamic D-men in the game; however, given our teams history with Newport, I think that negotiations are going to be difficult and I think that he is going to be seeking a $7M deal, which is not worth forking over to him. I have watched him all year and his offensive game is sensational and is defensive game can be cringe worthy. Bigras has all the tools to be an efficient puck mover while still playing a smart, responsible game. I see a lot of Duncan Keith in Chris Bigras, and I think that we can get a very healthy return for Barrie if we move on.

4) Find a competant winger for both Duchene and Mack. One of those will be Rantanen. Boedker can be the other if his contract demands are feasible (ie 4-5M for 4-5 Years).

5) Continue to utilize Grigorenko as a winger.

6) Fix our defense with the pieces we have and try to bring in a top pairing player via the draft or with the Tyson Barrie trade. Zadorov will be solid, and Bigras is going to be as well. Moving forward next season with a core of :

EJ-Zads
Beauch-Bigras


7) Give Picks one more year behind Varly, and then make the decision on which goalie to move forward with.

 

[Foppa2118]

The last thing Duchene needs is more pressure on himself wearing the C.

 

[UncleRisto]

How do you know if Duchene is the most vocal in the locker room?

He'd be in the psychiatric ward in a year if he was named captain.

 

[chet1926]

A combination of things need to happen:

I think that Roy should get another year, he inherited a dumpster fire from the previous regime and I do think the team is moving in a positive direction. The additions that he and Sakic have made have been great and they have handled situations that they inherited well (ie. Ryan O'Reilly). I think giving them another offseason and draft will prove to be advantageous to the team going forward. That being said, the things that I would like to see change are:

1) Landeskog gives the "C" to Duchene. He was named captain by the previous head coach, and to be quite frank, has done little to nothing to warrant keeping it. He has made boneheaded plays, gotten himself suspended twice and seems to hurt the team at the worst times. The hit he laid on Parise in the first game will always stick out, he crushes Parise, doesn't get back in the play, takes himself out of position with the hit, the Wild score and the rest in painful. This is Duchene's team. They have a self imposed "Duchene Cap" and he is often the most vocal in the locker room. I think he deserves to lead this team going forward.

2) Re-sign Mack and Matthias. Mack is obvious, and Matthias has been fantastic on the third line with Soderberg and Landeskog.

3) Trade Tyson Barrie. He is an offensive dynamo and is one of the most dynamic D-men in the game; however, given our teams history with Newport, I think that negotiations are going to be difficult and I think that he is going to be seeking a $7M deal, which is not worth forking over to him. I have watched him all year and his offensive game is sensational and is defensive game can be cringe worthy. Bigras has all the tools to be an efficient puck mover while still playing a smart, responsible game. I see a lot of Duncan Keith in Chris Bigras, and I think that we can get a very healthy return for Barrie if we move on.

4) Find a competant winger for both Duchene and Mack. One of those will be Rantanen. Boedker can be the other if his contract demands are feasible (ie 4-5M for 4-5 Years).

5) Continue to utilize Grigorenko as a winger.

6) Fix our defense with the pieces we have and try to bring in a top pairing player via the draft or with the Tyson Barrie trade. Zadorov will be solid, and Bigras is going to be as well. Moving forward next season with a core of :

EJ-Zads
Beauch-Bigras


7) Give Picks one more year behind Varly, and then make the decision on which goalie to move forward with.

Solid first post.

I agree with point #1 for sure. But it will never happen. This is Duchene's team and it has been for awhile. We go as he goes. Landeskog is a fine player, but he has been rather disappointing this season in my books. He only plays well when paired with MacKinnon, he can't create anything on his own. We could get into a huge does he deserve the C debate but that never ends well so I really won't push anyone's buttons.

 

[The Kingslayer]

I dont get this fascination with stripping Landeskog of the C lol. I wasnt in favor of him being the captain to begin with(I wanted ROR to be captain) but cmon guys Landeskog has been a good captain for us.

 

[CobraAcesS]

A combination of things need to happen:

I think that Roy should get another year, he inherited a dumpster fire from the previous regime and I do think the team is moving in a positive direction. The additions that he and Sakic have made have been great and they have handled situations that they inherited well (ie. Ryan O'Reilly). I think giving them another offseason and draft will prove to be advantageous to the team going forward. That being said, the things that I would like to see change are:

1) Landeskog gives the "C" to Duchene. He was named captain by the previous head coach, and to be quite frank, has done little to nothing to warrant keeping it. He has made boneheaded plays, gotten himself suspended twice and seems to hurt the team at the worst times. The hit he laid on Parise in the first game will always stick out, he crushes Parise, doesn't get back in the play, takes himself out of position with the hit, the Wild score and the rest in painful. This is Duchene's team. They have a self imposed "Duchene Cap" and he is often the most vocal in the locker room. I think he deserves to lead this team going forward.

2) Re-sign Mack and Matthias. Mack is obvious, and Matthias has been fantastic on the third line with Soderberg and Landeskog.

3) Trade Tyson Barrie. He is an offensive dynamo and is one of the most dynamic D-men in the game; however, given our teams history with Newport, I think that negotiations are going to be difficult and I think that he is going to be seeking a $7M deal, which is not worth forking over to him. I have watched him all year and his offensive game is sensational and is defensive game can be cringe worthy. Bigras has all the tools to be an efficient puck mover while still playing a smart, responsible game. I see a lot of Duncan Keith in Chris Bigras, and I think that we can get a very healthy return for Barrie if we move on.

4) Find a competant winger for both Duchene and Mack. One of those will be Rantanen. Boedker can be the other if his contract demands are feasible (ie 4-5M for 4-5 Years).

5) Continue to utilize Grigorenko as a winger.

6) Fix our defense with the pieces we have and try to bring in a top pairing player via the draft or with the Tyson Barrie trade. Zadorov will be solid, and Bigras is going to be as well. Moving forward next season with a core of :

EJ-Zads
Beauch-Bigras


7) Give Picks one more year behind Varly, and then make the decision on which goalie to move forward with.

One thing that's nice to see is Bigras is actually getting some shifts with EJ. That could be a glimpse into what Roy's plans are for the future.

Bigras - EJ
Zadorov - FB
Holden - Barrie

Hell I wish we would have ran that for half the season already once Bigras and Zadorov were called up and EJ got healthy.

 

[Foppa2118]

I've never had a problem with Landy as captain, I always thought he had the perfect makeup for it, but to be honest I've always been a tad disappointed in Hejduk for not being willing to shoulder that responsibility for one more year at least, so it didn't get thrust on him so early.

 

[Parks]

1) Landeskog gives the "C" to Duchene.

Mcleod give his "A" to Duchene

 

[the_fan]

Can we score goals though? We're in the bottom half of the league in terms of scoring. We have the same gf/g as the freaking coyotes. That's embarrassing considering we supposedly have "skill" players.

Goal scoring isn't an issue for this team, it's always keeping the puck out of their net what the problem is. I mean didn't Roy and even Sakic talked about how they're not worried about the stats when they were asked about getting out shot every game, Roy said something like, we're not worried about those shots as long as they are low percentage shots and as long as we have Varly in net.

The problem is, Roy and Sakic are living too much in nostalgia and thinking it's the 90's Avs where they can win with quick strike offense and talent alone. They fail to realize that when they get out shot every game, they spend more time in d zone than on offense, eventually all those low percentage shots they think they don't have to worry about become scoring chances and goals against.

Also Roy and Sakic don't realize that they don't have the same talent level today as they did in 90's, trying to build the 90's Avs isn't gonna happen, but that's what they talked about and that's what they want and they are too stubborn to change that, that's why a new management and a coach is needed to bring a new mentality into this organization.

Sakic wont fire Roy and something tells me after few more years of failure, they'll both step down.

 

[chet1926]

I've never had a problem with Landy as captain, I always thought he had the perfect makeup for it, but to be honest I've always been a tad disappointed in Hejduk for not being willing to shoulder that responsibility for one more year at least, so it didn't get thrust on him so early.

I was fine with Landy being named captain after his first season. The guy was full beast mode. But ever since that Stuart hit he took in his 2nd season he hasn't been the same player. The numbers might be there, but his edgy side of his game has been rather lack luster. When he get's angry with someone he shows what he is capable of, but he rarely gets angry so he kind tries to play a skill game instead of a power forward game. I can count on one hand how many times Landy has laid a big hit the past year, he used to drill someone once a game.

Despite what people want to say his game has changed and I'm not sure it's for the best.

 

[Foppa2118]

Mcleod give his "A" to Duchene

I think what should happen if they move Iggy is, Duchene gets the A permanently, and McLeod and EJ rotate. EJ at home as the more star player and McLeod on the road.

 

[xbestboybandever]

One thing that's nice to see is Bigras is actually getting some shifts with EJ. That could be a glimpse into what Roy's plans are for the future.

Bigras - EJ
Zadorov - FB
Holden - Barrie

Hell I wish we would have ran that for half the season already once Bigras and Zadorov were called up and EJ got healthy.

And this is where the Barrie argument comes in, do you want to pay $5.5-$7M for a defenseman that is on your third pair? Not only that, but neither Holden nor Barrie play a good enough defensive game to hold that pairing. It's way better than having Bonardchuk or Redmond, but I think that the writing is on the wall for Barrie. I'd be okay with moving him to Edmonton for Eberle or to move up in the draft to get a Laine or Tkachuk type player. Barrie won't return a top 2 d-man, but he will return a young, top-6 winger.

 

[IceRat]

sorry guys this team isn't going to play any better or any worse if you gave Holden the Captaincy

that is the least of the worries

 

[InjuredChoker]

I was fine with Landy being named captain after his first season. The guy was full beast mode. But ever since that Stuart hit he took in his 2nd season he hasn't been the same player. The numbers might be there, but his edgy side of his game has been rather lack luster. When he get's angry with someone he shows what he is capable of, but he rarely gets angry so he kind tries to play a skill game instead of a power forward game. I can count on one hand how many times Landy has laid a big hit the past year, he used to drill someone once a game.

Despite what people want to say his game has changed and I'm not sure it's for the best.

he'd be done as a hockey player by the time his current contract is over if he played like he did on his rookie year.

he's definitely changed. i think it's better that way.