i guarantee you they wont sign pietrangelo

they wont have money to resign makar landeskog or even mackinnon by the time his contract expires

yeah I dont see Petro signing there unless its a really short term deal but even still, hes already won a cup. Avs have Makar/Johnson/Timmons on the right side next year. that should be more than sufficient. if Timmons ends up becoming the top 4 D they hope, they are set long term with a top 4 that looks like:

Byram-Makar
Girard-Timmons

Girard-Pietrangelo
Graves-Makar

Looks better and after Seattle takes Graves, Byram takes his spot

Not only that but they shouldn't sign Petro. UFA contracts, especially of the kind Petro wants just aren't worth it in terms of what you get compared to what you pay. You get less and less and less over the life of the contract. Add the tying up of so much money when you have your own guys to re-sign to big deals and it just isn't worth it.

that contract wont age great though, and like someone said, signing Petro makes it tougher to resign Makar/Landy/ even Mackinnon

COL is probably gonna try a short term high AAV deal similar to what they tried to do with Panarin last year. Makar, Landy coming up makes it difficult to sign a deal like that. Hall maybe more of the fit, due to his desire to win now/potential willingness to take less term.

The infamous traded anywhere scenario. Works every time...

Avs can fit Pietrangelo in easily and still resign Makar/Landeskog. It's only in 2023 when it becomes tricky.

Who is "Timmons"?

We can sign him but avoid a full NTC in 2023 onwards which would give us flexibility.

Girard ---------- Pietrangelo
Graves/Byram - Makar

That's a cup-winning top 4.

How do you know that it won't age well? Giordano just won a Norris at age 36. Rob Blake signed as an UFA with Colorado at age 30 in 2001 and was a good No.1 Dman for the duration of his time in Colorado.

We can easily afford to fit Pietrangelo in and still sign Makar and Landeskog. It's only in 2023 that it would get tricky, but by then we may have won a cup or two to make it worth the risk. At that stage we'd simply have to make some tough decisions, not indifferent to the decisions that Tampa need to make this offseason.


Panarin didn't only get offered a short-term deal. He got offered 4 x $12.5m, but also 7 x $11.7m which was a slightly better deal in terms of AAV that what Rangers offered. If Sakic felt that he could work around Panarin at $11.7m until 2026 I don't see why it wouldn't work with Pietrangelo at ~$3m less than that.

Panarin is considerably younger than Petro

That makes the assumption that someone would take that contract when Petro is 34-38 and no longer performing to the level of an $8.5 mil man (if he ever does, in fact, perform to that level).

Didn’t read that... not saying it isn’t true. But also flat cap makes everything difficult. Some of that may have been offered with the expectation that the eventual tv deal would raise cap. Now the opposite has happened. It could happen I just think it puts COL in a difficult situation due to Landy, Makar and Grubauer needing new deals.

Think of it like a 3-4 year contract in UFA and it's not too different from Pavelski getting $7m x 3 years as an UFA at age 35.

I still see that as different because Pavelski was still playing well when he signed that deal and it was a new deal, not an existing one. If Petro isn't playing well at 34-35, nobody is going to take that contract and the Avs are stuck with it. UFA deals almost never work out in favor of the club. You're paying for past performance on a guy well past his prime and into his big decline years. I get the temptation but I bet Petro is only "worth it" for two or three years then it becomes an overpay on an un-tradable contract.

The last time we signed the biggest free agent RHD on the market in UFA it worked out fine, as Rob Blake put up between 45-56 points every season and 24 points in 45 playoff games (not including the 2000/01 season before he signed in UFA).

I do agree with your general point that UFA's are risky as some of them do drop off hard, but that isn't always the case, especially with Dmen. I mean, look at Chara who is still a useful player at age 97.

I get what you're saying but Blake was a long, long time ago and Chara is an outlier plus he's not sucking up $8.5-9.5 mil. Seriously, the statistical analysis of UFA's show that they are super risky and that literally 80% of the time, you don't get what you pay for over the life of the contract. Some people will say it's worth it if you win a Cup but if you end up in cap hell for years followed by a rebuild because of it, that's a high price to pay.

Landy Makar and Grubauer are up for new contracts next year. It would be incredibly tough to make it work. I just don’t think it’s the right fit for Avs. Sakic is a long term thinking GM. If you sign Petro, you’d probably have to make a concession with Landy.