I think Zadorov is dealt next summer. He’s going into restricted free agency for the third year in a row and has arbitration rights. His qualifying offer is $3.2M, and you have to imagine he’s looking for a longer term deal, coming off of two bridge deals in a row. The Avs look pretty set with Girard, Makar, and Timmins on the team plus Byram, Helleson, etc. on the way. Girard is the only one of those players on a long term deal, and the other three will eat up a good amount of cap space as they come off of their ELCs over the next two or three years. If Zadorov finally proves himself as a legit top-four defenseman this year, he’s going to want a longer term deal and the Avs could be hesitant to invest in another defenseman. He could become a good trade piece for forward help if Burakovsky or Jost struggle to break out. If Zadorov does not step up this year, the Avs could get comparable third-pairing play from Cole who only has one year left, or Rosen or Graves who would be far less expensive.

So, the problem with that is zadorov and Johnson are the only guys for sure on the PK.. they are going to try out graves/barbario/Rosen who ever is still in the lineup.. I think that zadorov is on a 1 year deal to kinda prove himself this year, byram could be another year removed after this season and zadorov is still suppose to be in the long term plans if he doesnt get stolen by Seattle... with that much salary left over I'd say keep calvert because the 4th line is going to be huge this year, bednar is going to play them so much more, it will be one of the top 4th lines in the league

Holtby deal will depend on grubauers play this year

I hope we never pay a goalie more than 6-7.

The expansion draft piece is an interesting wrinkle with respect to Zadorov. If you can get him on a mid-term deal at a reasonable AAV this summer, they could protect Girard, Makar, and Johnson (NMC), 7 forwards, and dangle Zadorov as the obvious choice for Seattle with an obvious replacement plan in Byram