So good locking up a good 4th liner at that AAV
Great signing by Sakic

I love the O'Connor deal. That could end up being a steal and there isnt much downside at that AAV either

I wonder if Barron gets 9 games in the NHL with Toews out. Assuming Girard, Byram, and Murray all stay on the left side theres room for Barron as the 3RD - Bednar had good things to say about him early on

Same with Bowers, I wouldnt mind seeing him get a few games in the NHL

Honestly at the start of the season I would love to see Kaut and Bowers get time. They know what they have in Helm and Compher so why not give them some run way and see if they run with it. Barron, idk I was thinking the same thing but MacDonald and Gilbert are around not to mention Jack Johnson, I would expect they want Barron playing 20 minutes and special teams none of which he would do in the NHL. The one thing I really hopes happens is Byram and Makar just kill it together and we see the top pairing for the next 5 years.

I definitely think Kaut and Bowers are the big question marks - can they break through and become regulars or will the brass just go back to the veteran AHL heroes who don't offer much? At least Dries is no longer an option...

Byram and Makar would be amazing. I'd like to see the Avs try PP1 with Makar, Byram, Mac, Mikko and Gabe on the ice at once and give Cale the green light to do pretty much whatever he wants. That's a ton of talent and firepower that would overwhelm most PK units.

Barron was apparently skating with MacDermid as per the lineups today. This was mostly conditioning work today though, but the fact that Barron was with MacDermid (who will likely be the 21st player on the roster) is probably indicative that they want Barron in the NHL at some point.

That said, Barron looked a bit iffy at the rookie camp games. Bednar said he liked what he saw, but there were several moments where you'd expect better positioning and D. Hopefully that was just rust and he'll elevate his play in preseason.

With Toews out I could see the coaching staff being tempted to play Barron in 2 games to start the regular season just to give him a taste of the quality of competition he will need to work towards being able to handle. They did that with Timmins at the start of the 2019/20 season, and then called him back up against Dallas in the playoffs.

Bednar said there are top 9 spots available, and our 3rd line to start camp is Jost-Newhook-Compher, so there's certainly spots up for grabs if Kaut and Bowers can impress. Maltsev and Anisimov apparently didn't do so well in the conditioning today either, as per Evan Rawal's tweet.

Thanks for the update - I stay away from most social media. I like that they have Newhook at C - if he's going to be the 2C of the future, he needs lots of time at C.

Good idea to stay away from social media, it's awful