8M for Toews is absurd. He's roughly the same caliber player as Weegar who just signed for 6.25M

With the cap going up these guys are going to be getting more than what's being paid out now and also I went with a higher AAV just because

There is no scenario where COL keeps Toews over Rantanen (especially when you consider they already have an established top pairing (Byram-Makar) AND second pairing (Girard-Manson) in the books.

Also just to add:
- 8 mil for Toews is a bit rich
- based on what weve seen to date, can’t see Newhook earning 4mil
- keeping Toews means paying Manson 4.5mil to play 3rd pairing on a cap strapped team (which makes no sense)

At that money it's unlikely. Cap increases and so on are a part of the question marks. Now, making a theoretical projection that this is because Rants wants too much to re-sign in COL so the Avs trade him, I still don't see Toews getting that much, probably 7 mil is fair accounting for cap increases. Also going on the theoretical that the Avs trade Rants it's not a bad offer, though I think the Avs could do better. Thing is, if he thinks he's getting more than MacK he won't. I can't see any point they exceed MacK's money for some time. 5.5 in cap space plus the 4 for Sillinger plus a mil off Toews and you're already in the ballpark for an extension anyway. Also if Newhook is playing wing then he likely won't have signed for that money, it would be lower because he'll have basically been a failure (unless he becomes some kind of REALLY good wing). You can also bin Johanssen and use another youngster or veteran and have more money to pay Rants.

In essence there is no reason to do this UNLESS Rants wants close to or more than MacKinnon, and the Avs have buggered up with other signings.