Is this a matter of you thinking the Jets can't afford to re-sign Copp? The rest of the team does look pretty set, TBH.

I'd do it, Copp lovers will probably lose their minds though.

I like Copp as a trade target but I dont think the Avs should be moving out 2 forwards and only getting 1 in return. This fixes the hole on LW but would make COLs bottom 6 kinda thin. Maybe take out Jost and add picks/prospects to make up the value?

If copp was willing to sign 4x3.75 then the Jets would sign him 4x4+ so…

Decline

Who said anything about 4x3.75 in this thread?

Yeah, this is based on the idea that Copp prices himself out of Winnipeg. They have roughly $4.1m to resign him so I think they probably get it done, but if that number gets Winnipeg less term than they're comfortable with, or if Copp wants more AAV than that, then a trade becomes inevitable.

Winnipeg are competitive right now so I don't think they'd want picks. Unless of course they prefer to give prospects like Vesalainen another shot instead of acquiring Jost.

Avs could do that trade though as there's enough capspace to cover Copp's contract if Compher is sent the other direction.

Colorado might be a bit thin in the middle 6 in the short-term, but this would allow Newhook to play C full time, and also give a shot to some prospects until the deadline.

Landeskog -- Mackinnon -- Rantanen
Copp ------------- Kadri -------- Burakovsky
Nichuskin ---- Newhook ---- Kaut/Ranta/deadline addition
Helm ----------- Maltsev ------ O'Connor

... Then long term Copp would ideally fill the 3C role given that most of the Avs prospects are forwards/wingers (eg. Olausson, Ranta, Kaut, Foudy, Bowers, Beaucage, Ambrosio, Weiss, etc):

Landeskog --- Mackinnon -- Rantanen
xxxxxxxx -------- Newhook -- xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxx ----------- Copp ------ xxxxxxx
Maltsev ------------ xxxxx ------ O'Connor

Further to my post above, it's also worth noting that if Colorado did this trade and resigned Copp at $4.25m AAV they'd still have ~$2.6m in capspace left to put towards the 3RW spot.

That $2.6m capspace could even be closer to ~$3.1m if they flip Beaulieu as well, which would probably happen given that Colorado already acquired MacDermid for the 7D spot.

$3.1m could go pretty far, either by swinging a trade for a 3rd line winger early in the season, or letting it accrue until the deadline while giving guys like Kaut/Ranta/Bowers/Foudy/etc real looks in the NHL.

I can't see Winnipeg wanting Compher, but maybe if a good pick or prospect was added to Jost the Jets may look at it.

Colorado currently has $2.3m in capspace, so theoretically it would be possible to swap Jost and Copp without Compher, and then resign Copp for up to $4.3m. I think that Sakic would prefer to roll with some cap flexibility though, instead of being right up against the cap ceiling again.

That's Winnipeg's problem a well. If they trade Copp it is for a slight downgrade in player and some cap space. They're not going to downgrade and waste that cap space on a player they have no use for.

I get your reasoning but at this stage of free agency I don't think that 2.6-3.1M in cap space would be as useful as it would have before. If we went back in time to the beginning of free agency then I agree we could find a forward like Ritchie, Janmark, Haula, Bonino, etc to fill the hole but there aren't many options right now

Maybe Donato or Anisimov? I think they are probably the best forwards left in that price range

The same could be said about WPG though. If Jost is removed from the deal and the Avs give picks/prospects instead then WPG could sign Donato/Anisimov with the money saved

Pretty sure it was there 🤷🏼‍♂️. He would need to have been signed to make this trade.

You don't need to sign players to trade them - he just traded the RFA rights

Yeah the timing of having capspace now isn't great, but players usually become available a few weeks into the season. Injuries or cap problems for teams can also make them more willing to deal, like when Cole became available due to Sakic needing capspace.

This team is 2022-23. Copp would have needed to sign or they wouldn’t own his rights.

No, this team is 21-22 it says right at the top