too much for Girard

Van would heavily consider if Col retained or took back a contract, we have the least cap in the league atm tho

Avs cant retain or take cap back. This is in 24-25 so shouldnt you have the cap space from Myers deal expiring?

I guess but we’ll also have to pay Pettersson and some young guys after their ELC, Hoglander Podkolzin etc. so as of right now yeah we will but that’s probably going to be adding anywhere from 5-10 mil on those 3 alone. Boeser and Demko are going to be close to needing an extension too so gotta keep that in mind

Canucks should be interested. Value is good but our cap space would be the problem.

If the avs are moving Manson they should be getting a proper return not dumping him for a pick.

If they can, sure, but if he keeps getting injured, they may not have much of a choice but to treat him as a cap dump

Some good ideas here but I hate seeing three big deals for core players coming up for three straight years: Mikko then Byram then Cale; the cap going up just means players are going to ask for more money. If Byram plays up to his potential and stays healthy, look for him to ask for something along the lines of 8x9; that's the danger in bridging him. Mikko will probably want 8x11-12; Cale probably goes 8x12-13. My question would be: considering all that, does it still work to re-sign Toews or would they be better off keeping Girard and trading Toews? Keep in mind they'll get a better return on Toews than they will on Girard. It's an intricate dance, for sure, but I worry if they overcommit on their "core" players, they'll end up like Toronto.

If we are as serious about winning now as we claim to be an OEL buyout is a must. As is a Myers trade. And even one of, Boeser, Garland, Beauv.

Per Friedman it sounds like the Avs have tried to sign Byram already but he wasnt having it. I suspect they wanted to sign him long term like they did with Girard but Byram wants a bridge deal so he can make more on his next contract. Id be happy with a long term Byram extension but it takes two to tango

I dont think a 2M difference between a Toews extension at 7M vs Girard's 5M is going to be the difference maker in losing a core piece like Rantanen/Makar to UFA. If it comes down to it they would move someone else to make room. Toews is a significantly better player than Girard and if they want to compete they shouldnt be moving a top 20D man in the league just to keep a 2nd pair guy

I dont think there is any risk of Colorado ending up like Toronto. Toronto built their core out of all forwards and dont have a single elite D man while Colorado arguably has 3 in this scenario with Makar, Toews, and Byram

I don't know that it makes sense to pay all of Toews, Byram and Makar - the danger isn't in losing a core piece, it's not having enough depth and $2M gets you a solid bottom-six player. Do the Avs really need to spend upwards of 25% of their roster on three guys that are capable of playing 1D? If you have Byram and Makar, it makes a lot of sense to keep Girard as an affordable second pair guy. I mean, in a perfect world, you keep everyone but the cap is a thing and depth is key to winning in the playoffs. I get why they'd want to keep Toews but I'm pretty solidly in the "trade him for some good pieces up front rather than see him walk in UFA" camp.