What part of the Duchene trade will turn out better long-term?

[Islay1989]

If Byram ends up being better than Sammy we are golden.

 

[MarkT]

The more I think about it, the more happy I am that we can even have this discussion. I'm an Avalanche fan first, a Habs fan second, and a Leafs fan third, but as a huge hockey fan that makes me a big fan of all three teams in the grand scheme of things. Now think about what it's been like cheering for those teams for the past couple of decades. Montreal has been the most enjoyable, but it's also been endless frustration and let-downs. Toronto has been one of the worst-run teams in the league at times and even now I don't have any faith long-term. And we all know the disastrous management the Avs have had. Now, encapsulated in this thread is reason to again finally be happy with my team's long and short term future, and faith in the people running things.

To put it in perspective, when most teams make a big move, they're incredibly lucky to get a player of Girard's quality out of it. Here we're talking about there being a good chance he's not even the best player we get, and that's not even counting Annunen or Bowers (or Zhuravlyov or Steinberg) possibly ending up as stars. That's insane.

Basically, my brain is slowly coming to terms with what it's like to cheer for a well-run franchise. I like it.

 

[Balthazar]

I'm an Avalanche fan first, a Habs fan second, and a Leafs fan third.

That's quite a strange trio of favorite teams

 

[Cousin Eddie]

The more I think about it, the more happy I am that we can even have this discussion. I'm an Avalanche fan first, a Habs fan second, and a Leafs fan third, but as a huge hockey fan that makes me a big fan of all three teams in the grand scheme of things. Now think about what it's been like cheering for those teams for the past couple of decades. Montreal has been the most enjoyable, but it's also been endless frustration and let-downs. Toronto has been one of the worst-run teams in the league at times and even now I don't have any faith long-term. And we all know the disastrous management the Avs have had. Now, encapsulated in this thread is reason to again finally be happy with my team's long and short term future, and faith in the people running things.

To put it in perspective, when most teams make a big move, they're incredibly lucky to get a player of Girard's quality out of it. Here we're talking about there being a good chance he's not even the best player we get, and that's not even counting Annunen or Bowers (or Zhuravlyov or Steinberg) possibly ending up as stars. That's insane.

Basically, my brain is slowly coming to terms with what it's like to cheer for a well-run franchise. I like it.

 

[MarkT]

That's quite a strange trio of favorite teams

I started following hockey in early 1996, the Habs are my dad and grandpa's team, and the Leafs are my hometown team. But yeah, it's strange.

 

[Bonzai12]

Maybe I’m in the minority but the best part of the trade was getting Duchene outta here. It was a wake up call for all the other youngsters and his happy go lucky leadership wasn’t going to cut it.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Until the Avs can actually turn a 2nd round pick into an NHL player again... I wouldn't even begin to call this franchise well run.


They're making strides, but drafting is still so awful that everything else they've started doing better doesn't absolve them of that hideous drafting record they continue to maintain.


Our biggest "success" outside of the 1st round since 2010 is a pair of guys who never once actually represented the Avs organization for anything(Blandisi and Butcher) and then the one "success" that actually played for the Avs is Anton Lindholm with his career 66 games.


Until they start turning picks that aren't Top 10 into NHL players(Let along legit impact guys) this franchise has a long, long way to go.


It's a big part of the reason why our cup window isn't likely to extend beyond 2-3 years at this point really. Even the very best drafting teams dont see long windows without some sort of 1-2 year retool along the way. Just impossible to stay highly competitive for a long time in a cap environment.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

Until the Avs can actually turn a 2nd round pick into an NHL player again... I wouldn't even begin to call this franchise well run.


They're making strides, but drafting is still so awful that everything else they've started doing better doesn't absolve them of that hideous drafting record they continue to maintain.


Our biggest "success" outside of the 1st round since 2010 is a pair of guys who never once actually represented the Avs organization for anything(Blandisi and Butcher) and then the one "success" that actually played for the Avs is Anton Lindholm with his career 66 games.


Until they start turning picks that aren't Top 10 into NHL players(Let along legit impact guys) this franchise has a long, long way to go.


It's a big part of the reason why our cup window isn't likely to extend beyond 2-3 years at this point really. Even the very best drafting teams dont see long windows without some sort of 1-2 year retool along the way. Just impossible to stay highly competitive for a long time in a cap environment.

I think it’s reasonable to expect that the Avs will retool a couple times in this MacKinnon/Rantanen/Makar window, but there’s no reason they can’t remain competitive while doing it.

The Avs are likely to be successful for more than 1-2 years simply because of the age of the players within the organization.

MacKinnon: 24
Rantanen: 23
Makar: 21
Girard: 22
Kaut: 20
Byram: 18 (Just noticed he’s still 18. He must’ve been quite young for his draft year.)
Newhook: 19
Bowers: 20
Burakovsky: 25
Nichushkin: 25
Compher: 25
Graves: 25

That’s a lot of quality players and prospects under the age of 26. Even if some of them get priced out of Colorado eventually, there is still a core group you can build around.

It’s definitely important to start hitting on some picks outside of the first, but the Avs are stock piled pretty well at the moment.