Mmm, I say Avs decline

1. They aren't dumping J.T. Compher just to take on Johansen's contract

2. While you can make an argument that both Ekholm : Girard and Granlund : Burakovsky are comparable in terms of value, it still doesn't make sense for Colorado to include the only first round pick in this proposal. If anything, to account for the fact that Girard has not entered his prime yet while Ekholm is entering the back end of his career, Nashville would have to be offering a first rounder more so than Colorado

Interesting idea, after this season i think Burky gone from the Avs. I really can't see Sakic resigning him. Sakic usually doesn't traded 1st round picks.

Not sure this makes the Avalanche better or worse on the ice this year and they give up the better draft picks so not sure it makes sense.

He traded one for Kuemper

A big part of why NSH wanted to keep Ekholm is that he brings size and physicality like no other current Preds defenseman, and to help mentor the young guys on the overhauled right side. Girard is a very good defenseman, who I wish NSH never traded, but he can't help with any of those things. Obviously Girard should have more value than Ekholm on paper, but he's not as good of a fit for NSH, given their current makeup.

Johansen isn't worth his contract, but he still does more on the ice than Compher, and it's not like Johansen hurts the Preds cap-wise right now. I don't know if Burakovsky helps the Preds any more than Granlund would this season, but he definitely doesn't when he's a UFA in the summer. So those moves make the Preds worse too. Not to mention the unliklihood of NSH trading two players months after re-signing them.

So essentially NSH downgrades their team, and all they're really getting for it is a presumably late 1st, two years from now. Retaining around $5M for 3-4 years isn't worth that return.

I don't think it's worth it for COL either, and they'd obviously value Girard more than Ekholm, unlike NSH. Both teams decline.