OK looking at the next season the Avs have a lot of holes to fill and little cap room available nor assets at their disposal to acquire quality players. With Landeskog on LTIR we might as well spend up to the cap from the start of the year as we can't accrue any cap space for the trade deadline.
After re-upping the RFA's: Byram, Newhook, Malgin, Meyers, and Annunen at market rates; we also bring back UFA's Lars Eller (as 3C), and EJ (as 6/7 D). We just can't compete for Compher's career-year contract in a tight market.
Next priorities are:
1) Look for 1-year "bounceback" contract (<$2 mil AAV) on veteran snipers to fill some of Landeskog's absence without committing future cap space in case our captain returns next year.
Consideration given to : James van Riemdsyk, Max Pacioretty, Evgenii Dadonov, Nick Foligno, Jonathan Drouin. All things considered (health/durability, consistency, likelihood of a deal; I went with JVR here. JVR can still finish, is a big body, has good underlying possession numbers, and can handle 15 minutes a night of ice time if needed. He will bolster the PP2 as well and can either be our #3 LW or move up if Newhook doesn't work out.
2) Finding a #2 center. By putting Newhook on the top line LW (where I feel he would be a great fit) this puts Lehky and Rants on the 2nd line; meaning the need we have here is going to be a high-motor skater and we need a fairly good face-off pivot since we are losing JTC.
Considering we can't afford Ryan O’Reilly, Ivan Barbashev, Compher, or even Max Domi we have a small pool to consider here.
Consideration given: Erik Haula, Evan Rodriguez, Jordan Staal, Alex Kerfoot, and Nick Bjugstad
Haula would pair with fellow Finns Rantanen and Lehkonen and his speed would fit in really well for the Avalanche. I've lusted after him to be on our squad for 5 years now and maybe it will finally happen. 2C is probably a reach on most teams, but he has proven he can fill in there time and time again over his career; so he has the highest ceiling of the guys in our price range. His skill in the face-off dot as a lefty is much needed in the top 6 as well. He is another guy I would consider on PP2 but he has been primarily a PK guy over his career.
3) Flush out the bottom 6. As much as I would love to go after Pierre Engvall, Jesper Fast, David Kampf, Noel Acciari, Garnet Hathaway, Teddy Blueger, Nick Bonino, and/or Tyler Motte we can only offer minimum AAV deals for this year to our bottom 6 so those guys remain "wish list" only.
With the college free agent signings giving us some competition as AHL/NHL tweeners we can be less aggressive here but we need to replenish in Loveland as well.
Consideration: Joonas Donskoi, Joel Kiviranta, Matt Nieto,
Bringing back Joonas Donskoi as an affordable 3rd line RW option due to his defensive responsibility is where we end up here. With young guys still learning the NHL game having veteran knowledge of our system is important. Donskoi is only 2 years removed from being a solid middle 6 winger for the Avs. If he is fully healthy then this is not much of a risk.
If Tyson Jost doesn't get signed in Buffalo he might also be a consideration. At $900k he is a solid roster player (we just afford him in his role at $2 mil AAV).
LOC and Malgin have proven they are at their best when TOI is limited to <12 minutes. LOC could not make that jump to 3rd line contributor last year but excels when put into a "matchup", "energy", and "change of pace" type of player. If Meyers can seize the 4C role for us that would be best. If not, we'll need to address that spot in a very thin center market. But with Pavel and Foudy looking to crack the roster perhaps we figure it out in house.
4) Enforcer
Consideration: play Kurtis MacDermid at forward or sign Milan Lucic, Zach Kassian, or Ryan Carpenter. In this case we have Dermy signed for one more year but as a roster spot we need a true 7th defensemen and with Sam Malinksi signed I think we make room for him by moving MacDermid to forward but likely in the pressbox regularly. Lucic and Kassian are upgrades on the ice over him (it doesn't take much) but the locker room wins out here and we stay put.
5) 3rd pair RHD. With Sam Malinski and EJ I think we have this covered as long as Manson is healthy. EJ pairs well with either Byram or Girard and his veteran presence is great to have if he is willing to sign a vet minimum deal. Malinski is a highly skilled offensive defenseman coming out of college who made solid impact at the AHL level after signing. Nick Merkley is another potential here; but I think the Avs need more time to work with him to overcome his shortcomings.
The thought process behind 1 and 2 is fine in my opinion but 3 is highly flawed because Donskoi missed the entire season. There’s just too much risk for him to be 3RW on a team riddled with injuries last year. I hate the idea of Dermy being a 13th or 14th forward. He is absolutely terrible, even on the back end, and would only play 3 or 4 minutes a night, adding to the burden the top lines already have carrying us. Lucic, Kassian, and other enforcers are terrible too, we are way better off resigning Cogs.
Haula is actually my dark horse for 2C, so I like that one. He has indicated he'd like to stay where he is though but if there's a deal to be made maybe playing with Lehk and Mikko could sway him. The third line I plain dislike. The Avs could do better.
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