Wouldn't the Avs want a center?

Blues arent trading Buch to the Avs

Probably, depends on how they liked Rantanen at center. The center market is extremely depleted. Henrique is probably the only one on the market, and he hasn't really exclusively played center.

Alot of pros for them here.

Get Buch for 2 runs, get out of Johansons contract, only impact to their roster is their 3rd pair LD in which they get out of the risk of his concussions issues.

They could maybe chase Middlestadt, but not sure how available he is. This gives them two true high end lines and allows Colton and Wood to play the 3rd line role in which they're really good.

Blues bank on the potential of Byram and that injury concerns can be limited, and get a 1st out of it.

I'd imagine if the return is equally beneficial to them they would. They traded Stastny to Winnipeg while in a race with Winnipeg. This keeps the Blues somewhat competitive, although it locks up salary but I wouldn't bank on big UFA spending anytime soon. I don't love the youth in the top 6, but I think we need a direction.

I would agree that the team needs a little more direction. I know FO wants to stay competive, but if we trade Buch this years. Draft top 10 next year we should be set by the time Thomas and Kyrou are at their prime.

For the record, I don't think this makes the team more competitive than it is currently, and I don't think this team is very competitive. That 3rd line is a mess on the ACGM above. And it's alot of youth in Bolduc and Snuggerud in important scoring positions.

I constructed the lines as following:
Neighbors - Thomas - Snuggerud : This is a much worse top line than we currently have. But it's also alot more direct and will allow for Thomas to use his creativity more without having someone else on the line try and tic-tac-toe it every time. More direct.

Bolduc - Schenn - Kyrou: This is going to be extremely inconsistent. Scoring ability for sure, but inconsistent compete + production. Goal is to start to move Schenn down the line and see if bolduc is someone that can hold down a top 6 spot in the near future/gives scoring opportunities for a younger player to grow.

Saad-Hayes-Johansen: Very slow very boring line that you probably wont even notice is on the ice most nights. But it's 2 big bodied vets and a guy who can stretch the ice. Ideally I'd trade any of them, but it's not a necessity. Just place holders moreso, and vets so we aren't a complete young team.

Walker-Sunny-Toropchenko: I really like this line everytime I watch a game. They are always noticeable and active even if their scoring isn't fantastic. I personally like this line more than the 3rd line.

Byram obviously has the ability to become 1st pairing guy but with his concussion history there is real risk. Only reason I think the Avs would consider moving him. Parayko is Parayko.

Leddy- Faulk: Much less need for this pairing to be sheltered than Krug/Faulk. Could really help ease up the usage on Parayko, but i wouldn't consider them a matchup line by any means.

Krug-Kessel: Kessel was ok, and ok is completely fine. This line is going to need sheltered, any line with Krug will. If this is your 3rd pair you can live with it. Ideally of course you find a way to move Krug, but i'm not sure how that works.

For reference, if Buch were a year or two younger or we were a year or two further along in our development curve I wouldn't even consider this trade. And yes trading him to Colorado sucks. But given we aren't planning to be overly competitive for at least 2 years I don't see a real issue in doing it. Now I am aware that there's a good possibility that Colorado could extend Buch if Landeskog retires and he would be a real pain in the ass to watch win with Colorado, but i'm fine with that. I'd much rather take a gamble on Byram's health and get a late 1st than take a gamble on two late 1sts and a prospect panning out. This could potentially push the window into a more clear spot in 2 years than what it would be if we traded Buch for most strictly futures. If Byram doesn't pan out, or has another concussion it's a risk i'm willing to take given the potential reward.

I agree that the ACGM is a worse team than what we play now. The 5 on 5 is just to inconsistent to give much value to the current team. At one point in the season I thought that if the stars aligned we could steal maybe one round in the playoffs, but it isn't something that I would bank on.

I also don't necessairly need an impact roster player coming back for Buch. I just don't want us to draft 12th-15th overall for next 5 years and then Thomas be 29. I'm ok giving up some of our older players for reasonable prices.

Wait... did you just add a pick to Colorado after it was already posted? If so, I think that is not necessary. Not gonna lie, this one's a thinker. I do love Byram, but... those damn concussions, man, I dunno. I'd have to think on this a while. I'm not sure.

And I'm also not sure the Avs would be interested in it. We could watch Buch there for just a season, perhaps. They could end up watching Bo in STL for a long time.

It's a thinker.

Added the 3rd to Colorado as they didn’t have a pick in the first 3 rounds as sort of a balancer.

There’s a lot of risk involved for both teams on it, but it does make a lot of sense for both teams. Personally I’m willing to live with the risk even knowing Buch could be in Colorado for the long haul.

Yeah, I think that's a bit much. RyJo will still be around another year, too. Taking him is more cap burden than retaining half of Buch. And I'm not jazzed about the thought of them trying to shoehorn RyJo into 2C. Schenner is harrowing enough. What they were getting in the first place was plenty. And with Byram's risk, they might be lucky if I didn't ask for something else.

Can't see the Avs being interested in moving Byram for anything other than a genuine C. Or possibly in the off season for futures if they've solved that problem another way.

Is Rantanen a bad option at C? Only brainstormed because of where the center market is currently

Average at best imo. Can be, and has been at times in the past, a stop gap. Not to say he couldn't improve but then you lose him for two years (in reality while adjusting) of being a top wing. Better to look to a genuine C option if they can find one. This is in no way saying Buchnevich doesn't have value. Great player just not what the Avs need to be targeting.

Completely understand that. We tried a similar situation with Buchnevich last season. He was pretty decent at everything aside from faceoffs which he was terrible at. I don't disagree that a top 6 center would be a much better fit. Realistically who out there is available? Vancouver jumped the market with Lindholm. Monahan, while he's been great for Winnipeg thus far and Henrique seem more like 3rd line scoring options. I guess you could bump them up if you'd like to and hope the supporting cast elevates them.

Would it be better for you guys to make a 2 year heavy push like this, even if it means the positional fit isn't perfect? or stand pat and hope what you have is enough?

Another thing I thought about was doing it from the Colorado side and excluding Scandella back to Colorado with the retention and moving him elsewhere while adding a center somewhere else. Or excluding Johansen and Scandella from the trade and adding retention of 1.8m to get Buch down to a similar cap hit to Byram, I just figured it seemed like Johansen wasn't really a great fit there with Colton playing 2C currently.

I guess Colorado could try and offer something fairly similar to Calgary for Kadri, but with how treacherous it is for Western Canadian teams to lure UFAs Calgary may be reluctant to trade a guy like Kadri especially given it's a less than 0 chance they could ship out Huberdeau anytime soon.

Zegras may be a good place to explore, I just don't know what they'd want in return for him and he's a bit of a freelancer. Middlestadt maybe if you believe what he's doing now is sustainable, but that would probably be a bit difficult to extend him unless he'd take a shorter term prove that this was sustainable contract which is definitely likely

I think the Avs have to stand pat or take a gamble on a younger less proven guy, possibly even overpaying to acquire one. Other than that it's a blockbuster overpay trade for someone none of us think is available like JEE or Danault. Novak or Frost would be my choices for younger guys. Standing pat is risky as far as the Avs window goes but there's the hope Ritchie comes through faster than anyone really imagined, and maybe Colton can continue to grow as 2C in the meantime. Kovalenko is also playing C in the KHL atm and is proposed as a top 6 player by some but again, that would be a gamble - hoping he can come over later this season and jump straight in there. The internal guy if he wasn't in the PAP (though hopefully returning soon and will be a huge boost) who possibly could be a great conversion to 2C would be Nuke imo. No idea how he or the Avs would feel about that one though. Most of the guys you mentioned are either not ideal, unavailable or unaffordable for the Avs going forward.

It's hard to pinpoint a window. 5 years seems like an almost sure thing assuming they can supplement the core with sufficient depth. 10 years is possible but getting alot riskier. The core isn't old by any means, but they're all paid. Can definitely see a rationale for not wanting to move a first this year to try and supplement that core, but I also don't really see a fit for Byram there long term unless they become unhappy with Girard. Girard's contract is pretty good and i'd imagine Byram will want to get paid once this bridge is up. Makar and Rantanen are due another set of massive pay days in 4 years and 2 years respectively, but there are some contracts coming off before Makar is due his raise that should help and the cap increasing should help buffer any Rantanen extension.

Agreed on windows. The only thing we can be sure of there is that even if woefully mismanaged they'll be longer and better than any Microsoft iteration lol. Moving a first this year I'd have no issue with if it's for the right piece but imo it makes no sense throwing one at the likes of Laughton or Roslovic etc as so many suggest. Byram I think is eminently available (or Girard for that matter) IF the right piece(s) were coming back, i.e. a genuine young-ish 2C with term and/or team control (or if that is filled by another route then for futures and to remove cap in the off season).