Walker and Mittlestadt make more

Sadly with the possibility we have to move somebody Lehkonen makes more sense than moving another defenseman as walkers gonna be more expensive than 3 mil. Maybe they move Manson to keep Walker if he plays great for us

Walker reportedly was asking for 5 years at 5-5.5M AAV (from PHI before he was traded). Avs cant really afford that but if he comes down to 4-4.5M then maybe it could work. Apparently he really wants 5 year term

The Manson ship sailed out of Anaheim and we don't want him back. We certainly wouldn't pay a 2nd round pick for him if we did. Comparable talent level players will be available in free agency for nothing more than a contract and cap space (of which Anaheim has plenty).

Trading Lehkonen would be a big mistake considering what he brings and the cost of his contract; there would be no way to replace him

They may have to do what they did with Wood: go longer to get the AAV down. But if he's too expensive, you have to let him go.

Yeah, it's definitely going to be hard to get them to take cheaper deals. They may have to give them a lot more years than they want to keep them. I'm okay with Walker, uh, walking but I'm worried what Mitts is going to want and what they'll have to sacrifice to keep him around. If you have to move more key pieces out to keep a guy, have you really gained anything?

Like I said, could be anywhere; just picked a familiar team for him.

I think you could get Mitts in for that (don't know about the right term length). The most recent contracts to compare from a basic stats perspective would be Eriksson Ek and McCann. They're all around .5ppg players, with JEE and McCann being a bit more balanced between goals and assists and Mitts so far being higher on assists. They're all roughly same age when they got their current contracts and JEE and McCann are at $5.25M and $5M, respectively. So that's where it starts for Mitts.

Shorter term gives him the chance for another decent contract and I could see him in the $6M range. Plus, both McCann and JEE had a few more seasons of 50+ games played, perhaps showing slightly better durability.