You talked a lot of crap about Benoit and how tree should be fired for that signing and now he’s one of best defensive dman on our roster and heart and soul guy.

Ok now let’s compare.

Which is more valuable, a 1st line centre or top pairing dman.

Answer a 1st line centre.

So why would I pay the same for a top pairing dman.

Even the highest paid players are all centres because it’s more valuable.

Oh wow, benoit turned out to be a bottom pairing defender! I mean, at least i wasnt like thos3 weirdos who thought he was a legit top 4 guy.
You also thought treliving was a genius for signing reaves, so maybe you should simmer your hindsight attempts.
Lol, peeke

not in the playoffs they're not more valuable

Man that is a dreadful take.

Any GM in the league would take a 1st line centre over a top pairing dman.

not a take its a fact lol

When did I say that.

He’s not a top pairing guy but he’s the kind of defender that’s needed in deep playoff runs.

Guys like Brodie get bullied in the playoffs. Benoit does the bullying.

Also if you think the leafs haven’t played with more physicality this season it because of guys like Reaves in the locker room.

His contract is dreadful but he does bring value to this team and his contract can be buried in the AHL next season

Why has there only been 6 dman drafted 1st overall?

Centre is the most prominent 1st overall selection due to its value.

When did i say treliving should be fired for signing benoit.
Hahaha oh my god you STILL are trying to pretend reaves is doing something. Lol, no they are not playing more physical because of that useless bag of cement, he is a detriment in every sense of the word.

ok so was Matthews, tavares and o Reilly not good centre depth

You’re missing the point…

Also O’Rielly and Horvat went for man than any other dman, that year.

so why didn't Toronto do good in the playoffs last year.....defense

I can understand why Flames won't be trading Andersson. But a bigger mystery is why the Leafs would want Peeke for 2.5 years.

No the highest paid players aren't all centers. Just in the top 10 salaries (which is 12 players) only 4 of them are, that's 1/3rd, the other 2/3rds are mostly wingers with 2 defensemen and 1 goalie.

1. Nathan MacKinnon C $12,600,000
2. Connor McDavid C $12,500,000
3. Artemi Panarin LW $11,642,857
4. Auston Matthews C $11,640,250
5. Erik Karlsson D $11,500,000
6. David Pastrnak RW $11,250,000
7. John Tavares C $11,000,000
Drew Doughty D $11,000,000
9. Mitchell Marner RW $10,903,000
10. Jonathan Huberdeau $10,500,000
Carey Price G $10,500,000

That small sample alone has 2 defensemen who get paid more than all but 4 centers in the entire league, including 28 1st line centers. In fact Karlsson gets paid more than all but 3 centers.

Mind you most of the players on that list are overpaid, many of them by several million/year.

Avs should accept.

2 of those players were the best dman of their generation.

Drew Doughty made a stacked Olympic team at 20 yrs old and Karlsson has multiple Norris in his name and carried Ottawa on one leg to ECF.

Context is extremely important and furthermore if you continue down again majority will be centres.

Irrelevant. You claimed and I quote "the highest paid players are all centers" and as my list proves that's simply not true only 1/3 of them are centers that's not even close to all of them.

Yes context is important and you're wrong once again. The majority are not centers. A majority is more than 50%, 1/3 is not 50% and if you continue down you'll find the ratios remain pretty close.

And BTW, 2 or 3 of those players are the best centers of their generation too. Why is it you believe that's an important distinction to make for defensemen but not for centers? Especially on a highest paid player list? How many stacked Olympic teams and individual trophies did Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews make or win and how many more will they get before they're as old as Doughty?

9/20 of the top 20 highest paid player next season are centres.

That’s almost 50 percent of a sports that has 6 positions…

Almost 50 percent is still not all of them and isn't even a majority. Interesting how you choose to cherry pick next year's list (which is almost certain to change after free agency) instead of using this year's list.

Avs probably decline, they'll look for better options.
Also if Kovalenko comes to the NHL, he'll probably fill that depth winger spot that we'll need after Cogliano and Parise inevitably retire. Can't imagine Kiviranta will return.