I think the Sharks stick with Musty.

I'm almost higher on him than I am Smith.

Sharks decline. Girard is injury prone and there's not enough on the table for us to mess with anyone seen as a core of our rebuild.

It's fair to say you don't think he's a fit but he definitely does not fit in the category of "injury prone." Of all the games he could have played, he's missed a low percentage due to injury. Just because he got injured in the playoffs last year doesn't make him "injury prone."

Thanks for clarifying. I think I probably confused him with some of Byram's injuries when I typed this out.

So they trade an affordable D that plays a ton of minutes for them in order to keep Toews; this is a popular sentiment among some fans but I have questions:

1) Manson is injured a LOT; it's practically guaranteed he misses a good chunk of time each season. Why not trade him instead if all you're really trying to do is get cap space back?
2) You really believe both Behrens and Malinski will be regulars by next season? Behrens will be a first year pro and it's very unlike the Avs to give guys like that a roster spot.
3) You just handed a guy that will be 31 halfway through next season almost $8M. What do you do when Byram and Mikko need new deals? How about Cale a few years after that? Are you just assuming the cap goes up significantly by then?

I'm on the record as being against re-signing Toews because I don't think they can have both of him and Byram and still ice a good enough roster to win a Cup. I also do not believe, as some do, that Toews is so important that the Avs should be signing him into his declining years at the cost of depth over the rest of the roster. He is a very good player but it's deep teams that win Cups and Toews would cost them depth or Byram or both and that would be a disaster.

I'd also say that Byram's injuries are more of the "unfortunate" variety - he was never injured in junior and concussions are one of those things that can be tough to overcome but he hasn't had one in several years. The injury he had last season was something that could have happened to anyone. I think this is the year he plays 70+ games and shows why he is the guy to keep over Toews.

Musty is untouchable at the moment. He's a big winger with a crazy high ceiling, one of the things the sharks prospect pool needs the most

Byram, makar, and toews do what Girard can do but better.. Manson brings a different set of tools to the mix and is more affordable and probably less desirable by other teams.

Also they played the entire Tampa series without Sammy and still won, do you remember how good Manson was in those playoffs... because I don't

Manson was hurt sure, but so was mackinnon, makar, and everyone else last year