Quoting: drome23
how would you get blake off the roster?
Blake Comeau expires soon, and can hopefully be tolerable enough in a bottom line role until then.
Quoting: Peterman
Barrie is gonna have a bounce back season. He's still young enough to give another five year deal once the current one ends. I would prefer he stays, rather than sell low on the imaginary awesomeness of KK. I mean, he had 38 points, yet people seem to think he's terrible. He's still a dynamic player if given a little leeway to roam around. Bednar must adjust or die.
Soderberg: with three years left on his deal, teams are gonna be shy about that commitment, even with retained salary. I think the Avs are gonna have to hope he rebounds this season. Who knows?
Colborne: it would be wonderful if he turned it back on in a contract year. I'd have cut his ass in the middle of last season for that poor effort. We'll see what happens to him...
I am a big fan of Barrie, and do agree that he'll bounce back. I just think that his value to the team over the coming years may be better suited by turning him into forward help. It's honestly fine either way; keeping him produces more competition for defensive spots, and Kapanen is not close to a sure thing so there is no risk being taken if Barrie is kept. I think he could actually be very good with Zadorov across from him, so holding onto Barrie isn't even all that difficult to stomach.
That was the only thing with Soda, but I figured to just humour the possibility for the sake of humouring it. At that retained price, though, he's a lot easier to move again. Should it be necessary, Pittsburgh could probably easily move on from his contract if it came down to it.
Just based off of Colborne's previous success, I'd give him one more year to get it together. It would have been very difficult playing for the Avs this past year, so it's hard to judge anybody entirely on their performance. If Duchene shouldn't be judged for his bad year, it's hard to then go and penalize Joe for his. But if he sucks again, scratch him and give the spot to a kid like Greer and never look back.
Quoting: JFo
I agree that Barrie stays but pretty realistic. Only problem I see is that they are well below the cap floor. Need to take on bad contracts and get additional assets too (like the Boston deal keep your second rounder and take on Beleskey)
Which really opens up more opportunities for cap dumps. I had originally thought of putting some in but decided against it last minute. It's still very easy to approach a team's bad contract and pull a 1st, 2nd, or prospect away in the process. I'm sure Philly would love to be rid of Andy Mac, Detroit from any of their garbage (AA can be tossed in), or Washington for Orpik. Orpik + Grubauer for Bernier and some picks on either side wouldn't be entirely terrible for both teams, and helps alleviate some of the goaltending issues.