Girard is not a pickup the Ducks need, he would not be a good partner for Drysdale, and wouldn't supplant Fowler, and he deserves better than third pairing.

Given Klingberg’s value right now with his play and as an expiring UFA, I don’t believe the return is bad.

Anaheim gets a competent top-4 defenseman on a good contract with some experience and term (something they don’t have besides Fowler at the moment) as well as a pick (argue for a 2nd if you really think the retention and Grant are worth that)

Colorado gets an offensive defenceman rental to run PP2 if needed while freeing up space in the offseason for deals like MacKinnon’s and a 2C.

IMO Colorado loses this one but in terms of cap room, I don’t believe it’s bad

Disagree, it’s pretty damn bad for Colorado. Klingberg also wouldn’t get PP2 time in Colorado. He would be behind Makar, Byram, and Toews on the depth chart.

We would retain the full $3.5 million on Klingberg just to get positive assets for him, but I don't think that Colorado does this.


Why wouldn't we use him on the second pairing? We'd play Drysdale with Fowler.

I don't believe Fowler-Drysdale work as a pairing because they suffer from the same issue of being able to be bumped off the puck.

Drysdale spent most of the year with Lindholm, spent a few games with Fowler before being paired with Vaakainen for the rest of the year.

Avs aren't trading Newhook - they need his cost-controlled years moving forward. And the Girard trade is awful for the Avs; trading 4 more years of Girard for a Klingberg rental and Derek Grant? No thanks.

Agreed. If some semblance of this were to happen, I think the Avs keep Newhook, trade Girard for Bennett 1 for 1 and use the extra $500k space from that trade to go toward another D. Klingberg has no place on the Avs. They have 3 better offensive D in Makar, Byram and Toews. And even Klingberg's biggest fan will note that he's a defensive liability.

FLA would need to add to make up for the fact that Girard has two more years on his deal than does Bennett; straight-across is not a deal I would make.