Quoting: moli92
If Jones was a righty then I would make that Avs trade but we have no need for another LHD with Girard, Graves, Cole, Zadorov, and Byram
I actually think a LHD prospect could work better for Colorado if the idea is to acquire a Dman to join the team in 2021. If we're talking about 2023 being the timeline though I'd lean towards a RHD though given that we need to replace Johnson at that stage.
You're right that we're deep at LHD right now, but Zadorov will likely get traded this offseason, leaving our D group for 2020/21 as some iteration of these 7 Dmen:
Graves --- Makar
Girard ---- Johnson
Cole ------ Timmins
Byram
In 2021 Cole heads to UFA, and Byram will probably take on a bigger role, thereby pushing Graves down to the 3rd pairing...
Byram --- Makar
Girard --- Timmins
Graves -- Johnson
7D
In 2021 we're going to need to resign Makar, Landeskog, Grubauer, and Timmins, and having Graves on the 3rd pairing making around $3m would be the obvious place to shave some salary if we need to find capspace.... However, that would be difficult to do given that we don't really have a LHD prospect ready for that sort of bottom pairing role (on an ELC/cheap contract) should we need to move Graves.
Zhuravlyov is our only LHD prospect beyond Byram, but he's still over in Russia and has yet to play in NA so it seems like a long-shot that he would be available then. Having a LHD like Caleb Jones (or another 3rd pairing LHD who's good on the PK) would be pretty useful, and give us options with regards to Graves. Said player could also help give us depth as we're going to need to top up with depth Dmen after Barberio and Connauton head to UFA, and Byram and Timmins graduate to the NHL.
That all said, I think we can afford to wait to make a trade for a young 3rd pair LHD until 2021, unless there's an opportunity that is too good to pass up right now. And I'm not sure Benson + Jones is that opportunity.
Benson looked promising at one stage but seems to have tapered off a bit, and whilst Jones does look decent, I think we can do a bit better if we trade Jost. it's much harder to find young, cheap, and defensively reliable 3rd liners who also have offensive upside, than it is to find replacement level 3rd pairing Dmen after all. Admittedly I haven't been watching Jones and Benson closely though, so if
@Oilfan1717 wants to enlighten me about their progress I remain open minded and am ready to be convinced about their merits...