Johnson is more important to this team than you think. Other than Johnson and Cole, this blueline has very little playoff experience or even NHL experience as they are all very young.

Goodrow doesn’t get any raise at all and signs? Don’t think so

Yes I do agree, imo Cole is a little more important because he is better defensively

If Tampa dies than yes, and look at Saad, a while back he says he could raise a family in Colorado, I don’t doubt it

The Stanley cups definitely help too

Denver is beautiful but he’s getting in the 2 area

if johnsson waives Seattle still takes one of Toews or Graves.

Well yes, but no. If Johnson waives then Graves and Toews will be projected. (Imo)

Is makar exempt?

Unless he is extended during the season yes

Makar is not exempt no matter what his contract status is.

Johnson is waiving or getting bought out because Toews is getting protected along with Makar and Girard. No way COL does 4-4-1 because then they are losing Burakovsky. Seattle is picking from Graves, Donskoi, Compher or Francouz because Sakic is going to want to have a contract picked for cap space. Also the Avs are going to do whatever it takes to sign Makar to an 8yr deal because even if it is $10M he is 1 the 2nd most important player on the team and 2 $10M in 3 years while not a bargain is going to look a lot better than having to do another extension for him one year after giving MacKinnon his monster deal. Also Anderson isn’t the answer and he sure isn’t getting a $1m more AAV than Lehner.

Nah man you are ill-informed

Makar girard and toews will be protected no matter what, seattle will take graves, compher, donskoi, or someone less substantial

Makar will not have a contract so unless I miss understood the fact that if someone doesn’t have a contract through the 2021-22 season they are excempt.

No they will pick him and sign him

* All first- and second-year NHL players, and all unsigned draft choices, will be exempt from selection (and will not be counted toward protection limits.

My sense is that Bura could be the one to be left unprotected if they went 8 skaters (if EJ doesn't waive). If they had him in their long-term plan, they would have signed him to a longer deal; I bet Bura would have taken 4 years around same price or maybe even less.

A buyout of EJ, should he not waive (I believe he will), is a terrible idea in a flat cap situation, with big contracts to hand out and in a window of contention. They just cannot afford that much dead money while trying to win Cups.

Agree about Anderson - dude just can't seem to get it done in the playoffs. If Gru stays healthy and plays well in the playoffs (hopefully winning a Cup), he's the guy for the foreseeable future.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens with Makar (and Hughes and Heiskanen for that matter) this year given the flat cap and each team's financial situation (Avs are in the best shape so far as I can tell). Locking him in for 8 years would be ideal but Chabot set the market high and Makar (and Hughes and Heiskanen) are more valuable so they may want to sign bridge deals and hope the cap goes up in a few years so they can get more money.