No Girard Trade

Équipe: 2022-23 Avalanche du Colorado

Date de création initiale: 10 juill. 2022

Publié: 10 juill. 2022

Mode - plafond salarial: Basique

Because Chicago is a train-wreck, they won't be offering Strome a qualifying offer this week, making him a UFA. He signs with Colorado to take Kadri's spot, and gets the opportunity to play with a pair of strong wingers in front of an elite puck-moving defensive group. He gets significant PP minutes with the second group, and turns the 22/23 season into a 60-70 point year and a huge contract next summer.

If Colorado can't find a cost-controlled, similarly-aged top-6 forward for Girard in a trade this week, the team holds onto him for another year and spends most of the available cap space to strengthen the forward corps (Strome, re-signing Nichuskin and Lehkonen, bringing in Athanasiou).

Next year's cap will probably go up by 2M. Avs will have another 16.25M coming off the books with expiring contracts for Strome, Johnson, Compher, and Athanasiou. That should leave more than enough space for raises to MacKinnon, Byram, and Newhook, and to round out the rest of the roster.