Losing Saad was a mistake. That contract would have been pretty easy to swallow. Now they are scrambling, just as they were when Gru decided to leave.

This off season looks to me like a book report where the student read the book and wrote the report the night before. Maybe they can still come out the other side in decent shape, but it sure as hell could have been better.

Compher should have been gone by now. They paid a premium for Kuemper. They could have at least forced Arizona to take that contract too. Mainly Sakic needs to figure out he needs to give in and hand out a couple more years to guys that have earned it though (Saad being the prime example, but they damn near lost Landy too over reluctance to give term).

saad had to go. no way the avs should have matched a 5 year deal.

avs made a mistake not keep gru imo. kuemper is good but cost a lot of assets, is older with injury problems and needs a contract extension.

compher would be the obvious person to move if the avs need capspace.

I think everybody is panicked for nothing. The Avs had one of the best farm systems in the league and now they are trusting it and are allowing young players to step forward. Byram and Newhook are going to be studs, not a lot of hoping there. I do think Sakic does deserve some criticism in how he has handled the goalie position period, but he is staying disciplined with the cap and knows he can’t just be handing out contracts to every body when he is going to have to be giving the monster deal to MacK, and Byram and Newhook are going to need deals too. Plus he left enough cap space and assets to work the deadline and cover overages. The defense is very thin right now though and that is concerning.

I wouldn't call the defense "very thin"; the Jets D last season was "very thin" where the Avs have a question mark at 6D and will probably be holding their breath about EJ. Newhook and Byram aren't going to command a lot of money on their second deals unless they really break out over the next few years and Mac gets EJs money so I'm not sure that's what's keeping him from signing someone like Saad. I just think he doesn't want to commit that much term to non-core players, especially those who want trade protection.

My sense is that Joe is going to go into the season, see what the team looks like then find deals to improve as the season progresses. See what shakes loose from teams that aren't going to make the playoffs, see how the young guys do, see if any of the depth signings step up. It's also entirely possible that he just waits to see who is still unsigned in the upcoming days and weeks and he finds some bargains.

I fully expect Newhook and Byram to breakout in a big way. Byram already proved he is a top 4 dman at 19. I mean they were both rated as top 10 prospects in the entire NHL it isn’t a stretch. Hoping EJ stays healthy is a dicey prop, and can not overstate how awful MacDermaind is defensively. I do agree Sakic is going to see how things shake out.

Newhook replacing Donskoi and Byram in for Graves is great. Losing Saad because they weren't willing to do what it takes to dump Compher is bad. Trading a first and Timmins for a goalie because they are in panic mode is even worse. And signing Landy at the last minute after a ton of drama is lucky. He could have walked too.

Overall, this is a crappy off season for Sakic and the FO. Their unwillingness to cave a bit in order to maximize their chances this year could come back to haunt them. That's my opinion. I'm not panicked, but I see a clear path to a better team, and they didn't take it.

Newhook is going to be better than Donskoi, Byram significantly better than Graves. How were they going to meet Saad’s price? I swear I think this whole narrative Compher is bad is a redhead bias thing. He had a bad year yes, but still hit the 30pt mark for a pro-rated season. You just think a 25yr old guy is going to continue to have career worst year over career worst year? Landy, was signed before UFA opened, are we arguing beauty points now? The goalie situation 100% rail against him, they imo have mishandled the position since Varly left. But what exactly is so crappy about expecting internal growth particularly from players 22 yrs old and younger?

I think this has to do with how well Sakic did last offseason. We all built up an expectation that this offseason would be no different (and maybe the FO did too) so this feels really disappointing. I can't say the goalie situation was handled well at all but I do sort of get the Saad thing - he wanted 5 years and no-trade protection and that seemed like too much for the FO. It sucks to lose him, for sure, but I understand why it was done. There will be more opportunities down the line but hopefully the FO is now a little more clear-eyed going forward.

I don't care at all about beauty points, and that's not the argument. They kicked the can so long on all their internal free agents that they were left holding an empty bag and had to scramble to fill it. Like I said, Byram and Newhook are great. The team was sitting pretty after the expansion draft. Losing Saad, not so much, and paying a ton for Kuemper sucks too. I can't see this off season as anything but a disappointment. And like I said, we're lucky Landy didn't bolt.

As it stands, the team is worse. We'll see if they fix that, but that's how it looks at the moment. And we're down Timmins and a first.

I get what you are saying. But honestly do you think the defense with a healthy (ish) EJ, a year matured Byram and MacDonald improve the defense from last year? I would say yes. Did the goalie position get better? Forget the price for just the moment. Is Kuemper a better goalie than Grubauer. I would say yes. Top line is top line. 2nd line Newhook instead of Saad, push maybe. 3rd line Compher instead of Donskoi - that is a downgrade. 4th line - Bednar plays them so sporadic does it really make a difference?

Like I said agree wholeheartedly about the over pay on Kuemper, but are they really worse than last year?

Depends entirely on Newhook. Expecting him to be as good as Saad immediately is risky. I think he'll be great eventually but not sure that happens right away. He's a seamless Donskoi replacement (imo) but likely not Saad. Not yet.

If the team just moved Compher then they are good to give Saad that deal. They could have thrown him in the Kuemper trade, done it before, or even go over the cap and do it later. I'd still put Newhook on the second line and move Kadri down. That gives the team a great top 9. Now it's either Kaut or Compher, which sucks unless Kaut really steps up.

Why trade Graves though if they're gonna sit on the cap space? I just don't see the plan here. I hope it ends well but I'm totally confused.

Fair assessment on Newhook. I’ve said it a 100 times here, but JT Compher isn’t as bad as people make him out to be. I think he struggled through an injury through part of the season and give him a consistent role 3W I think he can produce. Graves was getting picked period, and they aren’t really sitting on cap. I get your frustration my friend, but stay positive I just saw where Jfresh WAR modeling has COL finishing with 119pts

I need a week or so to get it out of my system. I also hope they make a couple moves to quiet my ****ing. Until then though, I'm gonna let it rip a bit, lol.

To your points here, Byram and Newhook are certainly on the path to top-four and top-six roles respectively. But I think the opportunity to improve the team this season is by adding those two players in third-pair or third-line roles. They would give Colorado matchup advantages against most team, they can move up in the lineup when there are injuries, and it takes some pressure off of their development. I would be after a Tatar-type of replacement for Saad, and a decent 3rd pair defenseman who can kill penalties to round out the blue line.

There probably isn’t a player I dislike more for the Avs than Tatar. Tell me how a guy who’s career playoff scoring literally cuts in half of his regular season scoring, and has managed to be benched not once but twice by two different organizations in the Stanley cup playoffs is someone the Avs should waste a minute on? I can think of a lot of profiles of players that would be nice to add, but if you are talking about adding a guy that is going to be in a top 6 role playoff choke artist isn’t one that I want on a team who’s sole goal is to win the cup.