oh my god i didn't know that georgiev still had another year on his contract. I'm actually gonna cry.

anyway, yeah we're definitely gonna have to trade someone. probably mansion or girard, likely manson

Let’s say u trade Manson, that gives another $4.5mil

Who are u replacing Manson with in your Top4 ?
And how much is that player’s Cap hit ?

Malinski.
problem is, they have very different playing styles. trading girard for malinski to fill his spot makes more sense, but I think the avs would trade mansion before considering girard.
it could be colton too.

Is Malinski really ready to jump right into a Top4 role right away ?
Seems risky to me


If u trade Colton, you’re back to having to fill a hole with minimum Cap Space to do so
Who would be your 3C ? And what’s his Cap hit ?

I wasn't wanting to trade colton, I just know that some other avs fans found it as a possibility
I dunno who'd fill his spot cause I've never thought about it that much

And is Malinski really ready to jump right into a Top4 role right away ?
Seems risky to me

Mittelstadt is probably gone next year for a cost controlled 2c tbh

I’ll believe it when i see it
I’m not gonna assume something like that happens

from what I saw, he was performing fine. has a few goals, good puck control. we can see how preseason goes.

Asking a kid to step into a Top4 role is risky
Be better off if he started on the 3rd pair & was moved up when he was really ready

Rushing youngsters can set them back, or even totally kill them
I’m a Sabres fan, i should know
We’ve made that mistake far too many times

you know, I actually forgot that Jack Johnson's contract expires this year, and there's a 99% chance that he retires.
that would leave two holes to fill if Manson got traded.
knowing this, I honestly don't know anymore lol

what I was going to say before I realized that JJ's contract runs out is that i'd be fine with Walker going to the 2nd pair with Girard, and JJ on 3rd pair with Malinski

The Avs GM is certainly gonna have his work cut out for himself this summer
But i suppose if u guys can win the Cup this year that no one will care much

i thought of a colton/laughton swap with the flyers eating half of laughton's contract

is a downgrade, but save 2.5 million in cap space while not having to concern with 3C

That could make sense. Certainly a downgrade though, and would the Flyers do that?
If not, maybe something similar w another team

i would love for the flyers to do it. from the sounds of it, briere was looking to trade laughton at the deadline but he had multiple guys in the room ask him to not trade laughton

He wears an “A” for them & plays hard,
but he’s had a down season & probably lost value bc of it
I’m a Sabres fan, so idc either way, but if Philly could get Colton by holding half of Laughton’s Cap in a swap, they should do that imo

It’s a good, creative idea by you
BUT
It’s also probably not enough
Would u be able to pull off another deal like it as well ?

Any injury next year will kill u guys if u can’t figure out some depth

I guess a Buffalo fan would struggle to understand this is what happens with successful teams......and that they aren't screwed. Avs fans KNOW their team and KNOW that someone is going to have to be sacrificed and that the bottom of the roster is going to be ELC/league minimum guys but very much NOT screwed. Thanks for illustrating that, saved me wasting my time.

i'm not an avs fan so i can't speak to their depth too much, but there is likely a cheap way around it

as for a potential deal, i thought of something like colton + 5th for laughton (50%) + 3rd

We’ll see
The bottom half of your roster is gonna be garbage & injuries are gonna kill you

Even if that deal goes through,
Avs still could use more Cap space, as it still leaves them pretty thin without depth

could still realistically have

landeskog-mackinnon-rantanen
lehkonen-mittelstadt-nichushkin
wood-laughton-kovalenko
duhaime-trenin-o'connor

toews-makar
girard-manson
jones-malinski

georgiev
annunen

wouldn't necessarily call this a 'thin' lineup, would leave ~1.5M in cap space

Avs have kovalenko that's gonna be full time. Malinski will be 3rd pair. Caleb jones will be cheap to resign. Mittlestadt will take a bridge deal. If they trade colton as you say, trenin would replace him.

The whole reason Sabres decided to trade Mitts is bc he refused to take a bridge deal- he wants 7x7
And maybe he signs for a little less with the Avs than he would’ve w Buffalo, but it’s not gonna be anything close to the $3.5mil per deals i keep seeing Avs fans post on here
He’s likely to cost (AT LEAST) $5.5mil per

First not convinced Landeskog is back yeah he’s slowly progressing but it’s been 2 years. Somebody might have to go but a lot is going to depend on performances in the playoffs.

I did a roster just for you but with a bridge deal.