A Bit of Business

Forums/Armchair-GM

First2

Page 2 of 2

Created by: HockeyScotty

Team: 2023-24 Colorado Avalanche

Initial Creation Date: Jul. 19, 2023

Published: Jul. 19, 2023

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Description

With Josh Manson's injury history (and Cale Makar as well) we need to have a 3rd pair RD that is capable of playing up in the lineup for 30 games a season as well as complementing Bo Byram/Sam Girard in playing style in their regular pairings.

Looking around the league the only reasonably affordable options available in trade are: Andrew Peeke (Columbus), Jan Rutta (Pittsburgh), Dante Fabbro (Nashville).

The Free Agent market has dried up with Matt Dumba (too expensive), Tony DeAngelo (no defense), Ethan Bear (not healthy until December), and Cal Foote (needs work). I'm in favor of bringing in Foote but putting him in the AHL for a season or two to acclimate him to our style of play and bringing him up when Manson's contract is up as a physical presence (we have no other RHD of this type in our pipeline). While Sam Malinksi is an intriguing player we probably also need him to fill in due to injury as he brings a smooth offensive game; but I wouldn't want to bet the season on him as the 3rd pair; nor on Jack Johnson for the full seasons.

For the bottom 6, I'd like to target Zach Aston-Reese who would add to the grit and grind while actually bringing some "finish" (shooting percentage around 10%). Putting him on a line with Wood-Colton would definitely be a momentum changing line that would be fun to watch come playoffs.

Free Agent Signings

RFA		YEARS	CAP HIT
Meyers, Ben		2	$950,000

UFA		YEARS	CAP HIT
Aston-Reese, Zach		1	$925,000
Foote, Cal		2	$875,000

Trades

COL

Fabbro, Dante

NSH

MacDermid, Kurtis
2025 1st round pick (COL)

Draft	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4	Round 5	Round 6	Round 7
2024
2025
2026

ROSTER

LONG-TERM OUTLOOK

EMBED

TEXT-EMBED

ROSTER SIZE	SALARY CAP	CAP HIT	OVERAGES	BONUSES	CAP SPACE
21	$83,500,000	$83,312,500	$637,500	$0	$187,500

Left Wing	Centre	Right Wing
Nichushkin, Valeri $6,125,000$6,125,000 RW, LW NMC UFA - 7	MacKinnon, Nathan $12,600,000$12,600,000 C NMC UFA - 8	Drouin, Jonathan $825,000$825,000 LW, RW UFA - 1
Lehkonen, Artturi $4,500,000$4,500,000 LW, RW NTC UFA - 4	Johansen, Ryan $4,000,000$4,000,000 C, RW UFA - 2	Rantanen, Mikko $9,250,000$9,250,000 RW, C M-NTC UFA - 2
Wood, Miles $2,500,000$2,500,000 LW UFA - 6	Colton, Ross $4,000,000$4,000,000 C, LW UFA - 4	Aston-Reese, Zach $925,000$925,000 LW, RW UFA - 1
Cogliano, Andrew $825,000$825,000 LW UFA - 1	Meyers, Ben $950,000$950,000 LW, C UFA - 1	O'Connor, Logan $1,050,000$1,050,000 RW, LW UFA - 2

Left Defense	Right Defense	Goaltender
Toews, Devon $4,100,000$4,100,000 LD UFA - 1	Makar, Cale $9,000,000$9,000,000 RD UFA - 4	Georgiev, Alexandar $3,400,000$3,400,000 G UFA - 2
Girard, Samuel $5,000,000$5,000,000 LD/RD UFA - 4	Manson, Josh $4,500,000$4,500,000 RD NTC UFA - 3	Francouz, Pavel $2,000,000$2,000,000 G UFA - 1
Byram, Bowen $3,850,000$3,850,000 LD/RD RFA - 2	Fabbro, Dante $2,500,000$2,500,000 RD UFA - 1
Johnson, Jack $775,000$775,000 LD UFA - 1

Scratches	Injured Reserve (IR)	Long Term IR (LTIR)
		Landeskog, Gabriel $7,000,000$7,000,000 LW, C NMC UFA - 6

Jul. 20, 2023 at 10:10 a.m.

#26

HockeyScotty

Thread Starter

Joined: Jun. 2022

Posts: 1,398

Likes: 979

Quoting: McRanteskog

Provide me statistical evidence that demonstrates he’s noticeably better on his left than right

Dobbers also has pairings by minutes, but not L/R alignment but it is easier to read than moneypuck.

https://frozenpool.dobbersports.com/frozenpool_linecombo.php?select=TD&teamd=COL&games=2022-2023%3AR%3A99&period=ALL&situation=EV

McRanteskog liked this.

Jul. 20, 2023 at 10:23 a.m.

#27

McRanteskog

RETIRED

Joined: Apr. 2019

Posts: 4,846

Likes: 2,481

Quoting: HockeyScotty

If there were any publicly available TOI and defensive pairings that show L/R alignment I would gladly post it (right or wrong); but I can't find any.

Best I could find was moneypuck.com/lines which just shows pairings but not actual positions by D.

2022-23 Girard played 39% of his time on a L/R pairing and 61% L/L (majority with Toews and Byram as partners). These were pretty much the playoff pairings as well due to Manson being out.
2021-22 Girard played 46% of his time on a L/R pairing and 54% L/L (Jack Johnson, Toews and Byram). However, for the short duration of the playoffs before he broke his sternum it was 88% in a L/R pair (Manson).

Toews and Jack Johnson have also played a good amount of time at RD so we can't say that 100% of the L/L pairings involving Girard have him as the RD.

The numbers are higher than I expected but the Avs lack of quality (and healthy) top 4 RD certainly affects this as well. Based on the normal pairings when fully healthy during the past 2 years and the start of the playoffs during the cup run:
Toews-Makar
Girard-Manson
Byram-EJ

I would say that it proves he is "best" on his left side.

I wish the tracking data would show their LD/RD positions as it does LW/RW so we could see actual analytics for their performance but I can't find any yet.

You get my “like” for doing the homework and admitting that the numbers were higher than you expected. For whatever it’s worth, LeftWingLock notes that last season Girard played left 56% of the time and right 44% (while having his best point total fluidly playing both sides)

Seeing as there is no statistical evidence available to either of us (proving whether he is better on his left or right), I’m gunna dip on this discussion, as there’s no end point in sight.

HockeyScotty liked this.

Jul. 20, 2023 at 11:02 a.m.

#28

HockeyScotty

Thread Starter

Joined: Jun. 2022

Posts: 1,398

Likes: 979

Quoting: McRanteskog

Fair enough, appreciate the discussion. I hope the analytics develop quickly enough to publicly help these types of discussions.

McRanteskog liked this.

First2

Page 2 of 2

DISPLAY SETTING

BETTING ODDS

LOCALE

ARCHIVE

CBA

CALCULATORS

FANTASY HOCKEY TOOLS

TOOLS

PLAYERS

WESTERN CONFERENCE

EASTERN CONFERENCE

INTERACTIVE FEATURES

Forums/Armchair-GM

A Bit of Business

Description

Free Agent Signings

Trades

COL

NSH

Embed Code

Text-Embed

Question:

Options: