Rangers will take that OTT deal

So you're for sure losing either Toews or Graves in Expansion right?

Not if they can get EJ to waive his NTC - then the Avs can pick Toews or Graves but not both.

I really want the Avs to have a strong 3C and this gets it done, for sure. I'd say maybe Newhook, a 1st and someone like Rampa or Helleson? It also leaves enough room to re-sign Landy and Makar as well as possibly re-signing Saad (though not at that $6M price tag he is currently at) once Graves or JT or Donny are off the books to Seattle although they may want to trade one of those as well to bolster the roster a bit up front. If I'm JBB, I'm not picking up the phone to talk to Joe Sakic because I know he's asking about Cirelli.

I have one teed up where Colorado moves Donskoi and Cole and the gets Cirelli via OS. They get to keep Newhook that way, which is certainly preferable.

They are trying to force seattle to take a forward in Donskoi or Compher instead. The plan is either EJ waives his NMC or they buy him out to protect Makar Girard Toews, and with Graves contract with higher salary in years 2 and 3 of it, deters them for that selection

Either way if its Graves Compher or Donskoi, avs dont care

Cause I think the Canucks would be interested in Graves next year if you would rather trade him than lose him for nothing.

Avs just wont get too cute with the expansion draft....they have cap flexibility to do some moves and protect their guys. If they move a Graves, they arent dumping him for a 3rd round pick type thing bc they are afraid they will lose him for nothing.

I doubt Seattle is going to care about the salary all that much since it's not massive, it's only two years and it's a new team that likely won't be near the cap.

The thing is, with an OS we'd likely have to pay more on Cirelli's contract than would be feasible and to get Tampa to not match (likely $6.5m+), and you'd have to walk him to UFA at the end of the contract to incentivise him to sign the OS. By trading for him we could bridge him at a lower caphit for the 3 years until Mackinnon's contract, so that makes more sense. I wouldn't be against OS'ing him at all though if we can make it work.

Would you give up an asset to get Cole? Or would you only consider it as a capdump?

I don't think he's a negative value player per se, but $4.25m is a large contract to move in this market.

they probably dont care but having higher salary isnt the worst idea if you are trying to deter someone from taking them.

Avs will protect 7+3+1:

- Mackinnon, Rantanen, Landeskog, Kadri, Burakovsky, Saad (if we want to resign him), Nichuskin (cheapest 3rd liner)
- Makar, Girard, Toews
- Grubauer

Exposed:

- Compher, Donskoi, O'Connor
- Graves, Johnson (asked to waive NMC, because Seattle won't take him over Graves anyways)
- Francouz

If Seattle follow Vegas' strategy from last Expansion draft they will pick as many Dmen as possible so I think they go with Graves.

As @coga16 said though, it doesn't really matter here who Seattle take, Avs are fine with it either way.

- If they take Graves, that removes a $3.16m caphit when Byram joins the team (with $7m of the $9.5m total of the deal still to be paid in the last 2 years of Graves contract).

- If they take Compher, that removes $3.5m and opens a spot for Newhook.

Avs will likely trade one of Compher/Donskoi/Graves regardless of who Seattle takes, because we'll need to make room for both Byram and Newhook, and create some capspace for Makar/Landeskog/Grubauer.

Couldn't be happier with the situation we're in going into the Expansion Draft.

I don't think I'd move Newhook for him. I'm a big Cirelli fan, but Newhook is a guy I keep. I would lose Donskoi or JTC and Cole and then pay Cirelli around $6m.

I really think TB is at a point where they may just have to let him go. If it was gonna be easy to move Killorn, TJ, Gourde, etc. then it would be done by now. If they match though, wait until negotiations with Danault go bad and go for him.

Keep Newhook though.

Canucks need to protect Myers, Hughes, and Schmidt on D, and likely more than 4 forwards (Petterson/Boeser/Horvat/Miller/Pearson+2) so I don't think it makes sense for Vancouver to acquire Graves prior to the Expansion Draft. Probably one to consider though if Seattle takes a forward and we want to move Graves to make room for Byram and Timmins next year though.

True enough but if they're scared off by that, they definitely won't take EJ at his rate. I will say that the Avs probably want Seattle to take Graves so that they can free up that left side spot for Byram. A left side of Girard, Toews and Byram would be amazing, only to be complimented by a right side of Makar, EJ and Timmins. That would be pretty much the best D corps in the league all around.

Hughes is ineligible and Myers doesn't require protection. Edler is also a UFA. Right now we would be protecting Schmidt, Juolevi and Rafferty in Expansion. We could definitely add another defensemen worth protecting,

I agree. I didn't think too hard about the return for Cirelli to be honest. The point was just that it would have to be futures to give Tampa some cap savings. Maybe we could send them Jost or Timmins and some picks instead of Newhook. Or yeah, just OS him and really squeeze Tampa. I don't think Sakic would actually OS him though, but he would probably use the threat of an OS to get the player... as I think he may have done in the Toews discussions with Lou.

This team would be an absolute monstrous juggernaut if we acquired Cirelli or Danault (extended). I hope it's something Sakic is considering right now.

Im taking it predominantly for the extra pick and Cole could be a decent stopgap. $4.25M kinda spoils the value he might have.

Why doesn't Myers require protection? Do you not think Seattle would take him?

Hughes being ineligible helps a lot. Maybe we can recoup one or both of the 2nd's we lost in the Toews trade by moving Graves

That's fine. If we could get Cirelli somehow I would gladly throw a 3rd away to make Cole's caphit disappear.

Assuming we believe in Gru and Frank (which I do), 3C is really the one "hole" left. If there are no moves, I'm hoping Jost grabs the role. I have long coveted a Jost, Cirelli/Danault, Nichushkin third line though, so that would be my preference.

For sure. COL would be unstoppable. What's losing a third at that point!

Well Seattle can take Myers if they want. That frees up a lot of cap space in the short and long term for us. He was a NTC so he does not require protection.

That's exactly the type of deal I was thinking.

Jost shouldn't be counted on to grab that role. And if we did add a Cirelli/Danault Jost would likely be our 13th forward.