Every owner should block Sakic's number from their GM's phone

Do you think Sakic moves out some more cap? With Makars performance bonuses they are almost guaranteed to have overages with this roster. What do you think about moving out Cole or Donskoi?

Toews was a great pick-up. Didn't think NYI was going to move him.

He's an RFA. They can do a 1YR, Show-Me deal for less than $4M. They can then extend him at any point during the season.

Wouldn't a 1 year deal make him expire as a UFA? He will be 27 next offseason. Even on a 1 year term I dont think he would get that much less than 4M tbh

Yep. My guess is a $5 x 5, but hopefully it's less with the flat cap. Feel like they have to move out some money now. Likely Cole, Compher, or Donskoi in my mind

I am super curious to what Jost QO is because there isn’t a lot of incentive for the Avs to NOT kick that can down the road a yr.

If I had to move someone it would be Donskoi. He's solid depth but 3.9 is a bit steep for him imo. I just don't know how many teams would be interested in him. Maybe wait until Hoffman and Dadonov sign then try to trade him to a team who missed out on a UFA winger?

I think Sakic said Jost will either sign his 874k QO or they will work on a 2 year deal. Either way it'll probably be a pretty cheap deal

Agreed for the DToews deal naturally (wow!) but I wasn't a fan of the Saad deal as he's a UFA-1 and Zadorov is going to be heavily valued (wrongly) by the league as a big mobile D-first guy in a few years, and with all the good cheap W depth still on the market...

Yep. Senators still need to get to the cap floor, so could be an option. Maybe the devils as well? Still a lot of action left here. I'd say we're about three-fourths of the way done, especially since Tampa still has to figure out everything on their end

I'm gonna just leave this here for those of you who haven't read it. Can't even express how stoked I am about the Toews deal now after reading this. #InSakicWeTrust
https://hbanalytics.substack.com/p/devon-toews-the-most-underrated-player


I would love for them to move Cole, but only if they could find an experienced RD to take his roster slot. Those aren't exactly growing on trees. If you could find a dependable stay-at-home RH defender you could pair him with Girard and slide Johnson down. Or if you find someone with some offense you could pair them with Graves on the 3rd pairing to give us 3 versatile lines. Moving Cole has been on my wishlist for every team I've created and in my eyes he's by far the worst contract on the team, even at only $4M. But with such a young defensive corps I can't see them jettisoning him without having another vet to bring in. My pipedream would be adding Cernak to the second line with Sam, but pretty doubtful we have any other moves that big left to pull off at this point.


I could see them moving Donskoi as well, but I do think he had a bit of an up and down year with the injuries. He started off great, but when he came back he got shuffled around a lot as injuries kept piling up and never really found his groove again. With our current lines, he'd slot in on the 3rd line where he's probably best situated, and could actually thrive there against the guys he'd be facing night in and out. $3.9M AAV is probably a bit steep for a 3rd line wing, but he may very well give us an advantage on that line most nights. In an ideal world, we'd swap him for a gritty two-way 3C and push Compher to the wing, but I guess we'll see what else Joe has in mind to finish things off.

Posted this elsewhere (might have even been your thread), but I think they'll be ok. If you get close to the trade deadline with no "help" from LTIR, the maybe you move Cole. They don't need to do anything rash though. Also, depending on the bonus breakdown, it may not be as big of a concern (if part of it is only earned if he wins the Conn Smythe, I think you just take your chances)

Yeah there are some schedule B bonuses that are unlikely, but getting 850k of schedule A bonuses is very easily doable for Makar. You're right about LTIR, that will likely save some cap. Depending on Toews contract they could be cutting it close, but they will probably be fine. Trading Cole at the deadline is a good option to have in your back pocket - that's a good point

Was his QO 874?

$874,125 yeah

I think that's about the best they could have expected for Zadorov

Saad was a better fit for their roster needs than Hoffman/Dadonov/etc.

Having the Eagles close by could help too, as they can roll with 20 or 21 man rosters on home stands. Chip away day by day.

you nailed it on this one.
this is how I see it playing out.

only question mark for this team is the placement of Graves/Toews. If it aint broke, dont fix it a.k.a the Graves/Makar pairing

I think this is the most realistic outlook as well, but in yesterday's presser Sakic was asked about the defence and did talk about the importance of having good depth, so I think he'll bring in another 7D type. Last year we had tonnes of guys there (Barberio/Graves/Rosen/Connauton/Byram/Timmins/MacDonald), so I could see him going with an extra 7D again, especially if they're very cheap to sign.

I'd also like to add another 13th F at a bargain contract (eg. Nieto signed today in SJ at $700k x 1 year).

In terms of question marks, neither Graves or Toews are known for being good PKers, and we lack a 2nd RHS option on the PK behind Johnson (it would be Cole playing his off-side). That's feels like nitpicking though.

We don't really need $2.5m in capspace to cover Makar's bonus. Due to cap accrual even like $500k in empty space averaged out over the length of the season should be enough to cover that. Guys with big contracts being on IR for portions of the season should also give us some cap savings that accrue by the end of the season to cover his bonus.

At this point it's probably going to cost a decent asset to move Donskoi or Cole, so I'd only move them out if it's to open up capspace for someone like Cirelli if we can somehow steal him from Tampa.