foote i think would be a good addition, mostly because if he show he can stay he makes manson easier to move next year to help with cap constraints.Do you think that you'd even start meyers or move boquist to 4c and gurianov to 3w to try it all out

This is the way. The roster is mostly set. Sign 1-2 forwards and a depth D. Work in some of the AHL guys from time to time to further develop them. The big question mark is Drouin. He either recreates magic by creating opportunities for Mikko and Nate on the top line or he drops to a 3rd/4th C where he'd be serviceable. Don't start Meyers, but get him in fairly often early in the season when the stakes aren't as high in matchups where he should be able to succeed. He either turns his underlying numbers into points or he doesn't.

I think Meyers would start in the AHL if they add all these guys. Meyers needs to play to continue his development. If they aren't committed to giving him 10-12 minutes a night, he needs to be in the AHL. But I don't see either as a huge improvement over Meyers, so I'd probably just get one of Boqvist and Gurianov.

I don't think they'll sign Gurianov. He's been trending in a poor direction, especially defensively, which makes him pretty questionable.

Meyers can win draws, which I think they'll value from a 4C. Boqvist is pretty awful and should probably be considered a winger who can move to C in a pinch (imho). I do like that he's seemingly worked on his defensive game. He's not in the same mold as Wood and Colton, but maybe it's good to have a little bit if something different on the third line. Idk. Worth a shot at 1x1 though imo.

Edit: agree on Foote. I know he hasn't been very good, but I have seen flashes and think he could fit well in Colorado's system. He'll never be a top pair guy like some thought, but a competent bottom pairing player is certainly within the realm of possibility.

Question for ya if your an Av's fan.

From an outsider's view looking at their team Girard looks like such an obvious player that should get traded to open up some more cap space. Likely won't happen anymore now that freagency is done. But $5 million for a third pairing guy that is an offensive defenseman and not on your first powerplay unit seems like an unecessary luxury?

Don't think he is a bad player but say you trade him to a team needing some help on the backend. Even if the return wasn't great you could've used that cap space to sign Bertuzzi for one year. Because Drouin ain't starting playoffs on that first line.

This is a pretty common question. I can certainly see why folks who don't follow the Avs as closely come to this conclusion, as it's completely logical from a surface view of the team.

First and foremost, Girard isn't a 3rd pairing player, regardless of how it may look on paper. Makar and Toews play a ton (24-25 min per game), and Byram and Girard get around 21. That's the team's top 4, regardless of how it's listed.

Really it's Manson, who plays roughly 17 min per night, is the luxury that the team may not be able to afford. His trade protection opens up after this year, and it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he was moved at that time.

The other thing I'll mention is that Girard is a pretty complete dman. He can hold his own in the dzone and plays the transition game the Avs are built for. He even plays pk pretty well. He'll obviously never be that big mean crease clearer, but he makes up for that with his other attributes.

Bottom line is that I think the team is higher on him than many believe. He's not untouchable, but I don't believe they have much interest in moving him for anything less than a really enticing offer that would provide both immediate and future help. Just my two cents

They should trade Girard. If you trade manson you lose your physicality on the backend

No way. Over 6 years older, more injury prone, and not as good. Physicality and 17 min toi is not too tough to replace.

For what they ask of Manson, he is much easier and cheaper to replace. If he didn't have trade protection this summer, they could have moved him and signed Soucy or Gudas. 3rd pairing physical defenseman are pretty easy to replace and don't cost nearly as much as it would to replace Girard's role.