If Helleson can’t make the Duck’s roster, why would he have an easier time in Colorado? Not sure I’m following the logic of that trade.

Also, not sure I agree with Colton as a cap dump.

He didn't call him a cap dump, he called him a cap casualty

Props for some creative thinking on some of the moves!

At this point it's so difficult to assign a trade value to Laine, but my instinct here is saying the Ducks are overpaying.

If the Avs do decide to trade Colton, it's likely to be for picks; a young D won't make it onto the Avs roster at this point.

I really like all of the moves but WHEW! -- I sure hope Pesce doesn't cost that much!

Overpaid to keep the term shorter, really don't want to give him a big 7 year deal.

Cap dump you would have to pay for, he's a cap casualty, you're getting paid, just not market rate.



Unless I'm missing something, you don't have a 3RD next season unless you are able to resign Walker, which is a stretch as well if Landeskog is back. Why would Helleson not be able to make the Avs as a 6-7 RHD on an ELC?

I think I protected the pick pretty well to account for his health issues, maybe the games played to get the first needs to be closer to 100, I just went for 1/2 and 1/3 of games played to set the tiers for what pick gets sent. If Laine returns to form, CBJ gets a first and Anaheim gets a 1RW. If Laine stays injured, CBJ gets a 3rd and a middle 6 winger and Anaheim gets to use it's cap flexibility to find another 1RW in UFA.

Easy pass for the Wild, need more quality pieces, not more mediocre depth pieces

I looked at 5 different UFA RHD last night to think who we could try and get to fill in that last spot remaining:

Brett Pesce
Matt Roy
Chris Tanev
Dylan DeMelo
Sean Walker

I feel like if we could get either one of Tanev or DeMelo off that list on like 2-3 years while overpaying a decent amount, that might be better than a 5 x $8,000,000 like you did here for Pesce

Thoughts? cc: @OldNYIfan @Jded

I'm not a Tanev fan, in fact, you could probably consider me an anti-Tanev fan, but I'd take any of those 4 guys for any sensible term.

Drafts not that deep this year bud, and that's an overpay on pick value charts. Guys going in the mid teens are middle 6 projected, we just happen to like MBD as a support piece flavor wise. It's not like your pick is top 10.

Jackets decline. Too many protections/conditions on that pick.

His health is too large of a concern not to have those protections in place for the weight of his contract. By the time this season is over he will have averaged in the low 40s each season for the last 4 seasons. You're going to have very little interest for teams.to acquire a nearly 9 million cap hit who misses half the season. The risk is you hang onto him and he continues to drop in value, at a certain point he's no longer a bounce back candidate, he's a sunk cost.

Call it a cap casualty, but the return is comparable to a cap dump. Semantics here, but my point is that I think Colton would probably get more value on market than Helleson if the Avs chose to trade him.

Nevertheless, I’d focus more on the Helleson fit. I don’t see it.

I mean you are protecting for his downsides so it’s basically a no risk trade for the ducks. If he meets the conditions for a first then he will be easily worth the first. You are also including the shortened Covid year, him missing time from the death of his father, and the player assistance program in your calculations. Not all the missed games are injury related (although he is injury prone). Jackets are better off hoping he bounces back and getting better value for him either next offseason or the deadline before he expires. He’s been almost a PPG when healthy with the jackets and is still young. Not worth giving him up for a player/cap hit the jackets don’t need and a mid-late first 2-3 years from now best case scenario. If he stays on the jackets and meets your conditions then he will be worth a lot more than that 1-1.5 years from now

Shouldn't be a problem for you that the Wild say no then

Replied to the first part above.

For Helleson, I don’t see the fit. Avs have preferred to put vets who are able to play special teams on their bottom pairing. If Helleson had already established himself in the NHL, fit would be closer. But in that case, you probably wouldn’t be trying to trade him.

If they wanted to go with unproven youth, I would think Malinski would be higher up on the depth chart and has been a good system fit for the Avs during his call ups (23 games this season).

More creative than most ACGMs here, but I don’t quite see him working. Helleson could probably be a good change of scenery candidate in a year (becomes waiver eligible in 25-26), but I’d imagine you’d have to add considerably in a Colton trade.

Avs have Malinski who has played very well for a 1st year pro and fits the Avs system perfectly. He is a lot like Walker without the experience and pk ability( with added weight he'll get there). I think Helleson would be ahead of Clurman on the rd depth charts but would still be behind Behrens, and who ever they bring in as a JJ replacement. I am not against bringing him back, but if he can't get games with the Ducks I stuggle to see him getting called up. It kind of goes back to why he wasn't going to sign with the Avs out of college, there was no route for him to the nhl.

Not sure if you've watched him with the Gulls, does he look a season or two away from being a Manson replacement? That will be a need if Clurman isnt up to it.

Unavailable is unavailable, not saying some of his absences weren't worthy of taking, but the overall amount of man games missed is staggering. Yeah, he could be worth more if he can manage to play a season with 75% + attendance AND perform up to his abilities. Or he could have another 50 game or less season, at which point you would potentially have to pay to unload his contract in order to move him, or buy him out. His overall value has been trending down for years, i don't think he's turning it around in Columbus with all the upheaval.

And that's not begging to discuss whether the new GM wants him there or not, and whether he wants to be there under the new coach/GM as they go through a regime change.

I think if you modified the conditions a little this could be an option.
i.e.
* Top 10 protected. If Laine plays less than 82 regular season games over the next two seasons, pick becomes ANAs highest 26 2nd and 27 2nd
If Laine plays less than 54 regular season games over the next two seasons, pick becomes ANAs highest 2nd in 2026 and a 3rd in 2027.

Mitigates the risk for Anaheim and provides a decent return for Columbus even if Laine misses time.

Jackets don’t need to pay to get rid of his contract. They could simply let him expire. Strome is at best neutral value to the jackets so at best they are getting a not top 10 pick 2 years from now. There’s not much upside there for the jackets. I will also note the time he missed this year was from a 4 game suspension worthy dirty elbow and a slew foot. Both injuries could’ve easily happened to anyone. I think the jackets could take a 2026 first top 10 protected without conditions or strome. Otherwise it’s not close to worth it for the jackets

Something along those lines could work with some more tweaking, maybe putting a higher tier in as well where there would be a greater return past the first of he plays 110+ games or something as well. But if he's playing 1/3 of the games through the rest of his contract he's pretty underwater as far as contract to team value goes.



There's a lot more reasons and potential benefit to moving on than just the return, and frankly, I was generous in the return by only requiring Laine to play half of the games left on his contract to get a first. Good, bad, or indifferent, his value has nose dives in CBJ, and either he or management may be looking to cut ties with the fact that he listed his Condo today.

Well I can tell you the jackets would not be interested in your proposal. He’s also moving in with his girlfriend so that’s nothing

I'm a little higher on these moves than most...I really don't think anything here is infeasible or even that far off. So props to you for that.

I do think you'd need to add more to the MIN trade to get them to move back what could be 13ish spots in a weaker draft. But if that's fine, I'm sure that's something that could be worked out. We wouldn't be talking, say, another first or top prospect...probably a mid-rounder.

As for Laine...I could see a trade if the new GM thinks the internal options are already better (Gaudreau, Johnson, Chinakhov, Marchenko, Nylander???). But:







The conditions need to work the other way, and I don't think Columbus would move him for less than a 2nd even at his depressed value. That should be the baseline, with upgrade potential; not the start, with downgrade potential. Strome isn't of much interest, he's an overpaid 3C and we have better options. He's not a cap dump, but Anaheim isn't a cap-strapped team where Columbus will be in a year or two. I think that's a nonstarter.

If I were to modify the trade:

ANA: Laine
CBJ: 2026 ANA 2nd*
*Conditions: If Laine plays 82+ games over the 2024-25 and 2025-26 regular season combined, the pick upgrades to a top-10 protected ANA 2026 1st (could slide to 2027). If he plays 130+ games, the top-10 protection drops.

And I think that's take-it or leave-it. If Anaheim accepts: great, I hope he plays 162 games, scores 162 goals, and the Ducks finish last in the league and win the lottery in 2026. If not...I hope he plays 162 games for Columbus, scores 162 goals, and wins the Conn Smythe.