Mittelstadt, Duclair, and Zadorov will get more. Drouin is likely in that range. What happens if/when Val is reinstated and his cap hit comes back, though?

I think you have to buy him out as much as that sucks, the first 2 years aren't terrible for a buyout it's years 3-6ish that are brutal.

I agree 100 percent that those guys will probably get more on the open market, Drouin was honestly the only one I felt really good about. I just don't see a lot of teams trading for wood or Ross so I went mostly the FA route with "hey come play for the Avs huh" as a big selling point.

They'll probably sell for picks. For this ACGM probably recoup some picks for Zadorov and Duclair. That would be enough for Val. From there I'm not sure. Maybe hope he terminates the contact to go to the KHL. Try and move him for a bag of pucks. Or just suck it up and keep him, and hope the team can forgive him for two years or abandoning them in the playoffs. Although, it sounds like this time around they are a little less forgiving.

From the presser, to me it sounds like they may have already approached the league about contract termination. And were turned down until his reinstatement. A buyout is definitely an option. But they'll be paying a lot of money until 2036. They don't have a ton of options though.

I'm starting to also wonder how attractive COL will be for FAs that aren't league minimum journeymen. If the selling point is "hey, come play for the Avs, at least until we have to dump you when Val or Landy comes back" then I don't know who would want to take that.

IMO the Avs will play it relatively safe other than bringing drouin back this free agency period and maybe signing a ~$2mil depth defenseman. Maybe one other signing like Trenin or something like that. Otherwise, they'll go for journeymen and their current rookies to fill out the bottom 3 & bottom pairing. By the TDL they'll know who is and is not returning and can make moves there if they need to.

I would happily take big Z back if the Avs could make it work, though.

I too would Also love Big Z back he's gonna command more than what I gave him on the market so it's a bit of wishful thinking on my part but hey let me dream

I'm ok bringking JJ back but ONLY as a 7th D option he has torpedoed every pairing he's been on, but I trust him if somebody goes down.

The 4th line I created has a rookie who I am wiling to give limited minutes to, and a steady center who can score a little bit and PK, Nosek is another PK/grinder guy, I know the numbers were good for the PK but The eye test told me they were pretty meh so I believe we need to change that up a bit without bringing back cogs or making top 6 guys play it.