Jean Luc Foudy. AHL allstar with the majority of his time in Loveland spent at RW. Fast enough to skate with anyone on the roster, good forecheck, solid playmaker to balance out the line with Wood and Colton. And the added bonus that you can send him back to Loveland when Kovalenko shows up in March.

Hunt is nice to have, but he's easily behind Johnson on the depth chart. JJ averaged 17 min whereas Hunt only got around 11.

Ideally, the team gets someone who makes JJ 7D and pushes Hunt to 8D. They may be comfortable with each a rung higher though, at least for now. There is always the tdl to address that need if they feel it necessary.

I like the Heinen signing except for him being a pure winger. It would be great to get someone that can play C in the event of injury or whatever else. That's really my only reservation on that.

Anyone signing Phil would have to guarantee him playing all 82 games. Phil isn't a defense kind of guy, so I see that bothering Bednar

Avs have Foudy, Oloffson, Olausson and down the stretch will have Kovalenko so 4 players to cycle through 1 spot barring injuries.
Avs are 2 injuries on D away from having Hunt and Macdermid geared up logging heavy minutes.
I'm not sure how you came to your realization but you're wrong lol.

Avs should be looking to add a real 6-7 D to push JJ/Hunt/Macdermid down for 3 reasons; 1. D is supposed to be Avs strength but if all it takes is 1-2 injuries to deplete that strength is it really a strength?
2. We don't know the extent of Manson health and if anything will still be nagging him into this season, if he goes down again for a significant amount of time the Avs will be far better off having an extra body.
3. Even if everyone is healthy, Avs can't have Makar playing 25+ mins a game all season in all situations, They need a real solution to have him more rested and that equals adding another D that can PK.

I’ve been pumping Hunts tires all week. Give me my damn flowers

This is true, but I would like to note these are averages. This isn't necessarily how much they can play, but how much they usually did. And with time, averages can grow. I'd also point out again that Hunt scored more and was healthier then JJ.

I do agree with the idea of getting another D tho. Just thought I'd try this out and see how it flies.

The Avs tried that same merry-go-round technique last year with 2C and it didn't go well.

Totally agree with you on getting a new D, just thought I'd see how this idea flies. But I do have a question for you. Assuming that if we did float 3-4 guys in the 3RW spot, would u be OK if we floated Hunt/JJ/MacDermid/Malinski/and maybe Middleton thru 6D?

You're not wrong when you say they tried the same merry go round technique last year with 2C, the Avs had just shed all their cup winning depth and went into last season under-staffed though.
It is an entirely different situation with the depth pieces they've added for this season so I feel like that is not a direct comparable, even with injuries in the forward group for this upcoming season they'll have way better depth available to shuffle around as needed this year, especially when Kovalenko is available.

The main issue I have is that you need 6 quality D and still depth beyond that so while I am a fan of both Hunt and JJ, they aren't good enough at shut down D or fast enough to be able to skate corner to corner in their own end to compensate them being paired with Girard. If we still had EJ I wouldn't feel this way because EJ was smart enough to know when to truck someone into the boards and when he shouldn't so he could offer support to Girard. This brings up probably my biggest gripe with Girard himself is that he requires a partner who is fast enough to skate corner to corner throwing his body around. EJs foot speed has really taken a hit the past couple years and he still did wonderful last season but it was easy to tell the writing was on the wall for this season.

Trading Girard and using the 7+ mill available to sign someone like Statsny/Kessel while still being able to pursue a viable 5-6 D replacement in the 2-3 mill range is a path i'd be willing to take this summer. You don't need to replace G's offensive output directly but you need someone competent at shut down D that can PK to take minutes away from Makar, And that could be 2 D players replacing Girard and still adding 1 of Statnsy/other to the bottom 6 F group.

I don't think Middleton will see much NHL ice unless we *knock on wood* get riddled with injuries again this season, Malinski I have seen enough of to know he has a chance to turn some heads at the NHL level but he likely still needs another 1-2 years to fully develop and i'm not a fan of rushing prospects. Lyubushkin from Sabres is the type of player I have in mind to come in the 5-6 spot, he would pair a lot better with either Hunt or JJ and could still add a guy like caleb jones or ethan bear to have the appropriate depth so Makar can drop to 20-22 mins a game and not 25+ all season.