There are many teams that need Pesce... why would Colorado need him? Just re-sign Devon Toews?

Landeskog still hurt in 24-25

Caps easily accept and move Dowder for a second. They need to make room in the lineup for the young guys anyway

in the description it says toews asks for too much, so they move on for a bigger righty to pair with the puck mover girard

personally i'd like to see if done this season i think he'd be solid center depth for a playoff run

He'll be back for the playoffs, just like Stone/Kucherov. It's the new NHL.

i mean if he isn't i'd still sign pesce if he's available. Move manimal and not sign duchene. Run a 22 man roster so should leave around 2.5 mil to get a 3rw or you could ask for more retention on dowd as well to fit him into the mix.

I like this a lot.

How much more than this can Toews realistically ask for? They're not far off being comparables for each other...

If Toews leaves you'll badly need a lefty to replace him. That left side is really weak.

i don't think it would be crazy for him to ask for at least 8 mil on the open market which would price him out with byrams raise coming up. If they can get him under 7.5x8 they should keep him which i think is fair with the 8th year. But it all really depends on landy, when we have to add 7 mil back in from ltir

I have to disagree with you there. The biggest question mark is if byram can stay healthy. this year will be the determining factor for that. But when he's healthy he's shown he can play top2 minutes 5v5, he played the most 5v5 minutes when we won the cup. girard is a solid top 4 for us every year. I do assume they bring in a veteran depth for hunt but i think the left side is fine.

Pesce's asking price this second is supposedly around 8 years x 7, so they're not worlds apart in terms of contract demands, they're comparable in age, I'd rather just spend the extra money on Toews personally, but fair enough

I mean, I like Pesce a lot, but if you're talking a mil to a 1.5m difference in cap space between Toews and Pesce, I'm not sure why you don't do Toews and figure out that 1mil somewhere else. Toews is a known quantity to the team. Might be able to shave a bit of that AAV off with that 8th year - 7x8mil and 8x7mil the same cash in pocket for Toews.

Byram's health certainly is a question mark. But Girard isn't a top-4 defenseman, and it's too soon to say for Byram. Neither put up good underlying numbers v Elites last year and Girard in particular got slaughtered 6-21 goals by Elite opponents last year. I realize that "goals" is a flawed way to look at a defenseman's abilities, but it does tell you something. Then he was targeted in the playoffs too.

Hunt is similar to Girard, good offensively but needs to be sheltered to be effective.

Plus, look at the other definition of weak: size. Your left side is 6'0, 5'10 and 5'9. All undersized guys. If I'm an opposition coach I'm telling my forecheckers to dump the puck in on that side all night long.

The size one is a little much. McAvoy, Fox and Makar are all 6’0” and under. If the player is good enough it shouldn’t make a difference. Many smaller by your definition defenseman that have been very successful - Leetch, Orr, Rafalski (6’0” and under). Hell even Lidstrom was only 6’1”. I think you may be slightly overplaying the importance of size here.

We aren't talking about Makar / Fox / McAvoy / Lidstrom level players though, are we.

LIndstrom was only 6.1ft?! Man they seemed so much bigger as a wee one

i think what we have here is a classic case of not actually watching the games and just looking at analytics.
Girard had to play top 2 minutes a bunch last year. So stats probily won't be in his favour, but he was good enough to play top 2 and help us to win the div. Is he a top 2? no, but to say he isn't a top 4 i think shows you don't actually watch their games, when he averages over 21mins on a top team. I don't think he was targeted in the playoffs either, the defense was fine outside of manson being not game ready, they lost because offence dried up.
As for size, we bring in pesce who is 6'3 to counter the smaller giard and manson on line 3 who is also 6'3 to counter hunt till they pick up a depth d at deadline.
Also my point is pretty much the same for Byram, when he's healthy he logs 20mins a night on a top team, so i don't think it's too early to say what he is. It all depends on his health.

Girard played the 4th most v Elites of all Colorado defensemen last year (% of TOI), so it's not like he was overly exposed. He simply doesn't get good enough results IMO.

I'm not giving him a free pass. He was over his head even with a #4 workload.

Byram had worse underlying numbers v Elites than Girard did. He's young and battling injuries though, so I can't yet make a determination on him.

The results are what they are. Me watching Girard more isn't going to change his results.

Girard has always played top 4 minutes for the Avs; that isn't going to change. Yes, he did have a rough first half of the season but his second half was really good. He gets a lot less favorable zone starts than Makar and Toews and also has to play with the weakest partners in Manson and JJ. Stats are part of the equation, not all of it; you should watch him play before you declare him to have been "over his head" playing where he did. He isn't elite but he isn't a slouch, either.

Byram's sample size is too small to be able to say much but when you look at his minutes, you can tell the coach trusts him in big situations and when you watch him play, he's a very good young player. He still has some improvements to make but plenty of room to grow into a top pair guy; I expect him to make some positive strides this year and stay healthy.

How do you plan on re-signing all of Rantanen, Byram, Kovalenko and getting a 2C when so much money is tied up on D? Makar is up for a new deal the year after that and he's going to make serious bank. Manson needs to go, for sure. Also, Duchene is obviously going to try to parlay his one-year in Dallas into a longer-term deal at more than $3M/year with someone; he isn't going to sign another one-year deal at the same price with a different team.

i dont think you'll find many Avs that are super hyped when it comes to Girard. But either way, Girard showed improvement from january on last year, and the coaches/GM love him, so he isn't going anywhere. Some avs fans will be frustrated with it. I'd probably trade him but I'm just a guy on a message board.

I would be curious to see who his d partners were last year. Anecdotally, it felt like he was with AHL-level talent most of the year, which doesn't excuse his poor play, but it doesn't make him better.

Byram played some serious minutes in the cup run - most 5x5 minutes of any player for the Avs or Bolts in the finals. Avs outshot the Lightning nearly 2-1 during those minutes. That is honestly pretty nuts when you consider his age and games played to that point, so we know he can play the minutes if healthy.

I mean how do you think the defense goes forward? This is saving money over signing toews. You'd prefer to let toews go and not replace him with anyone or do you have a cheap target in mind? because just letting toews go and not replacing him with anyone makes us very thin on the back end and since that is where our offence starts i think thats the wrong choice.
I think center depends on landy. If he doesn't come back there will be a lot more options, as for kovalenko it really depends what his asking price to resign is. If he resigns for around 3/4 mil i think we can fit him 3rd line. Colton will be given a shot at 2C in two years im sure unless he doesn't look that good at 3C, and maybe ritchie depending on his progress, or else a depth center will be added like usual.

I can't predict the future but targeting mid-tier guys that come in around $3-4M to play with Makar, Girard and Bo is an option. My opinion is that if they don't find a way to build their depth up front, they won't be contenders so they have to be very careful about how they allot their dollars.