How do the Avs pay Bo $7.5M and ice even a 20 man squad?

Trade Girard without taking much salary back and fill out the bottom-6 with guys willing to take discounts to chase a Cup. Given his injuries, Byram should only get a bridge and Johnson would probably take a discount to stay.

Landeskog Mackinnon Nich
Lehkonen Horvat Rantanen
Maltsev* Eller (~2mil) Bjugstad (~1mil)
Ranta* Glendening (~min) O'Connor

Toews Makar
Byram (~2.5mil) Manson
MacDonald* Johnson (~1mil)

* denotes replaceable with league min. veteran

That 20-man roster would leave them with ~3mil in space to fill out the roster with extras or upgrade at 3LW or 3LD or something. Not optimal, but certainly possible. Probably better off trading for a lesser C this year and trusting in Newhook's development, though.

First of all if Horvat declined more from VAN what makes you think he takes less in Colorado? Secondly without ripping apart the Avs depth they still can't afford him and field a REALISTIC decent roster. We've already been through this a few times with VAN fans. It's a no.

MTL would be interested in Girard without sending any cap back if the price is reasonable.

We also have some useful cheap depth players like Evans, Pezzetta or Pitlick if needed.

That’s some wishful thinking w/Byram at $2.5M, not to mention Horvat reportedly already turned down $8M, or that nobody runs a 20 man roster it’s usually a 21 man roster with somebody for the Avs as the 21st guy, and what happens when somebody gets hurt, unless they go on LTIR they have to be replaced with a league minimum player.

You know that scene in Wayne's World where the guitar shop won't allow them to play "Stairway to Heaven?" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RD1KqbDdmuE
Can we please put a sign up like that for people pitching Horvat to the Avs here? Would every Avs fan want Horvat with no consequences? Of course! But there IS. NO. WAY. the Avs are giving up their 1st for a rental AND no way to sign him beyond a rental so, unless Vancouver is willing to take a lot less from Colorado, there is NO DEAL here.

The original post asked "How do the Avs pay Bo $7.5M and ice even a 20 man squad?" so I showed him how. Further, the listed 20-man roster quite clearly states that ~3mil in space remained for either upgrades or adding another 2 or 3 players to the roster which would mean they're no longer running a 20-man roster.

I don't know about you, but that bridge for Byram seems pretty reasonable for a 1yr or 2yr deal given his injury issues.

$2.5M is a pipe dream. Even with his injury history his bridge is $4M, a savvy GM could OS him (I think he is eligible) and make life very uncomfortable if COL tries to low ball him.

Mmm, I'm not so sure but I guess we'll wait and see. I don't think he's eligible for an OS coming off his ELC.

COL has a tendency as well to try and lock guys up early, see Girard, Compher, LOC I wouldn’t be shocked if they tried to get him on a 6x5, I don’t think he would ever sign it though.