Buy now! Trade Deadline quietly approaches.

Dump Clark, Salei, Svatos, and Tucker for a bag of pucks (maybe 2 bags of pucks for Svatos), don’t be stupid with Budaj, if somebody offers a pretty sweet package for JML for for it, and leave everything else alone.

Pick up Shean Donovan (again) and put him on the third line with O’Reilly and McLeod, the guy has speed to burn and as long as you don’t count on him to score (because he won’t) he’ll make a great bottom 6 guy—and can you believe he only makes a 1/4 of what Sham Wow does? I think the avs are stuck with Svatos, unless he gets healthy and starts scoring, which I won’t hold my breath for and someone out east will take Clark. Some teams only read the stats on players—-like toronto when they paid Jeff Finger 3.5 million a year.

None of the UFA goaltenders seem like an upgrade over Budaj, especially if the goal is to sign one to backup type money.

The rest of the UFA’s don’t exactly interest me either. The only two players that jump out at me on the lists, assuming they could be signed for similar money to what they are making now, would be Paul Martin and Rene Bourque. If either of those guys make it to actual free agency I’d be surprised, and if they do I’d be really wary of the bidding wars for their services.

We need a defenseman with a huge shot from the point. This is the one thing we have been missing since Blake left. I like Quincey’s shot from the point but lets face it no one is afraid of it. Souray is on the blocks why not make a play for him. I think maybe we should make a three team trade where we send Liles, Clarke, Budaj, or Svatos or a combo of those and through in Tucker (although that would mean O’Reilly needs to find a new place to live) some where in a package deal and either through the deal get another top 6 forward or a defenseman with shot from thee point.

I wouldn’t want to screw around with team chemistry too much while we are winning. If I were Sherman I’d be actively trying to unload Svatos and Tucker for picks. They are not producing squat and are expendable based on prospects the Avs have in the system. Not sure there is a market for Tucker. Lot of injuries on defense so I’d keep the D-Corps intact. Unless like someone above said, a sweet offer for Liles rolls in. Souray is not the answer. Yeah big shot but nothing else. He is even suspect defensively. BU is probably not going to make the NCAA playoffs so what is the possibility that Shattenkirk will be added to the Avs’ playoff roster?

I don’t feel like getting into legistics but it’d be nice to add a 3rd/4th line forward. I’d rather let Budaj go and bring up someone and the same goes for our defense, JML can bounce back and he has the time to unless he’s traded but I’d rather go with our prospects.

I don’t think we need draft picks, our team seems young enough.

If we can trim the fat, that’d be sweet (Tucker, Svatos, Salei, Preissing).

that I DO NOT envy the position that Greg Sherman finds himself in right now. I mean think about, he was probably preparing himself for a somewhat uneventful season. 2 week vacation to Vancouver in February, come back refreshed and get ready for a top 5 draft pick in June. Right? Yeah, not so much anymore.

Now he has to determine whether or not he will be making a move (or 5) that could potentially affect the Avs for several years. To dump Tucker or not to? To unload on Clark on some poor sap in (my guess) the Northeast? These are all relatively easy questions…YES! After that, eh….not so much. My intitial guy tells me that you don’t wanna risk messing up a great thing. Add some prospects and draft picks. The lineup is already getting a little crowded. I’m still wondering how Jonsey and Duke are gonna fit back into the lineup? How goes down? Gets scratched? Durno? Hendricks? More than likely it’s Koci, but that only frees up one spot. The Avs are sitting a lot better than a lot of people think and if it was up to me, I don’t mess with a great thing.

I’m just happy I have that day off. I’ll be camped out in front of TSN all day. I hate trade deadline day…

Lose Tucker, Svatos, Preissing, Clark, Koci and possibly Salei. Salary saved – $14,850,000

Get Rene Bourque, Raffi Torres, Marek Zidlicky, – Salary spent – $7,650,000

Total savings – $7,200,000, or to put it another way – throw in $300,000 and get Kovulchuk as well!

If you want, get rid of Koci and take Boogaard – at least Boogeyman wins his fights!

Goalies: Budaj is one of the youngest (i forgot he was only 26) of the unrestricted free agents. I have a bet he’d be snatched up this summer. Andy does need a good backup like him but if we are going to lose him why not get something back, like Chris Higgins, from the Rangers.

Defensemen: Can we get Andy Sutton? I love how physical he plays. Aside from Souray I don’t see any big blast from the point.

Forwards: There are some people I would love to see. Rene Bourque is high up there. I would love to steal him from Calgary just as a spit in the face. He’d be another good LW. Raffi Torres would be my second choice.

To be fair, I would love to make a move, but once Davy comes back, we have 2 SOLID scoring lines. We’d be running speed after speed. If Radar keeps shutting down teams and we have a bruising 4th line we may not need a forward addition.

It’s got to be a sweet deal, and someone worth re-signing for next year and beyond. A marginal rental player with “playoff experience” doesn’t have value to a team building for the long term. If this season finishes well, all of the youngsters will have playoff experience for next year when the Avs make a run deep into the playoffs.

I agree with Avalanche318 about Borque in Free Agency. I’d grab him just to get him away from Calgary. In many ways he reminds me of Stewart (big, fast, good hands). He’ll be getting a raise over the $1.4M he’s getting this year. The Avs should also be looking for a solid stay-at-home defenseman under 28 years old.

I think that Budaj and Liles should stay. God forbid, but what if Andy got hurt long term. I honestly don’t know enough about Weiman to say he would be adequate.

By the way…someone paid $4,000,000 for Vesa Toskala? Holy Cow!

Tucker needs to go, he’s hardly worth a bag of pucks. In fact, a bag of pucks would probably fall down less than that guy does. O’Reilly can come live with me. I’ll promise not to smack him on the butt when he gets kicked out of a face off (did anyone else see Pappa Tucker do that?)

While I don’t hate Svatos I think he’d make good trade bait and we should utilize that opportunity. And I’ll trade the cave man Clark for anyone. I also wouldn’t mind keeping Boodj around as a backup, but I think he wants to be #1 again and if another team will give him that he should go for it.

And I might not make many friends by saying this, but my god I pray every day Foote will retire. If I watch one more puck bounce off him and into our net this season, I will die. He had a good year as captain and it’s time to go out on a high note. Hand the C over to the Stastinator and be on with it.

We need to go 16-16-1 to make the playoffs.

Because, according to Mirtle, this team CANNOT keep on winning.

Lots of discussion on this MHH about needing a big shot from the point. I think we have that coming from down on the farm. From what I can see, most of our up and coming D-men are considered puck movers and offensively minded. Seeing how Sacco likes to pair his D-men with one offensive and one defensive (although at times I would question who among Clark and Liles is more offensive – pun intended). I think we need a more stay-at-home guy to pair with Shattenkirk, Barrie, Gaunce, or whomever gets the call next year. Who of the UFAs would we consider a “young Footer”?

Is how well the Avs are doing considering how much they are overpaying for some guys. I think Hannan is finally earning his dough. But other guys, such as Liles, Clark, Priessing, Salei, and Tucker, certainly are not. It is going to be very important to get contracts like these off of the books and not create others. Problem is, as long as other teams have “scouts,” and “video tape,” and “accountants,” it’s going to be hard to unload bad contracts. The only thing that pisses me off now about the Smyth trade is that they had to take on another one in Priessing, with another year left after this one on it.

Things should be OK in the long run, as when some of our youngsters, and Andy, are due for raises a lot of our dead money should be off of the books. As long as Sherm plays it smart from here forward.

Is signed for next season now, isn’t he? Anyone remember for how much?

I like to compair this Young Avs team to Chicago of 3 years ago. We have a pile of youngers that are plying well, and love playing with the group they have. Some are character players and do not mind that designation. Most Importantly they are all having a lot of fun with each other.

Let them get a playoff run in this season, and maybe even next season with the same core of players. 2 years from now is the time to evaluate picking up some players for a serious run at the cup. Right now any changes they do to the team should be in minor trades – IE Tucker and Boods, or VIA Free Agency. Think of the cap space they are going to have this off season when they get ride of some of the worst contracts in the league!

1) attendance
2) Pierre Lacroix

IF Lacroix is more active now, as he said he was going to be, you have to keep in mind that he loves to make a big splash at the deadline. Add in the fact that the Avs are still struggling to sell tickets, I would not be surprised at all if the Avs make a big move at the deadline. Kovalchuk would not surprise me in the slightest.

Chicago! Look at that mess. After this year, they are screwed Salary wise. We don’t want the Avs to end up like that.

I say dump the bad salary we have when we can and save money. MAYBE pick up a D -man with a good point shot.

My point is, Wolski will be due a new contract soon—and at a comparable points per game level to the 6 million dollar man Stastny, he’s gonna want something in the ballpark. Stewart will need a new contract, and I don’t think he’ll play for 850k again. Ditto Quincey, Yip, and Galiardi. Anderson has one more year at his 1.8 million dollar salary, and if he keeps playing the way he has, that number will go up. Maybe not into the 6 million dollar range, but we could be looking at 3.5-4.5 mil.

All the bad salary that’s coming off the books is gonna go right back into the raises those players deserve.

Question- bq. If you were General Sherman, what would you do with your 2010 Avalanche roster come the March 3rd Trade Deadline?

Answer. Well, I’d make like the real General Sherman, and march to the sea, burning Atlanta and stealing Kovalchuk in the process!

For whatever my opinion is worth… I say get Kovalchuck! LW Motherf’ing Sniper. Who cares about his supposed lack of D if he is scoring a lot of goals.

Has everyone forgotten about Hensick? Is there any interest in trading him?

so long ago it seems…but why are the leafs still paying him?? never really understood that..

Needs – a good 2nd line LW (though Galiardi is filling the gap admirably in my mind), a solid defensive defenseman who hits (let’s just clone Ryan Wilson, kay?), a booming shot from the point (though this may be coming from Elliott or Shattenkirk), picks & prospects are always OK.

Available – Svatos, Hensick

Please, for the love of God, take them!: Clark, Tucker, Preissing, Koci

I’d like to see Rene Borque on Dutchy’s LW.

Kovi, would, of course, be phenomenal, but I worry about 1) our capacity to pay him while keeping the core of our young core intact 2) giving up too much of our young core to ATL for Kovy when we could probably get him over the summer if we want him anyway 3) his “sometimes” approach to backchecking.

In reality what teams want Clark, Svatos and Sham wow? I know we all want them to be moved, but who wants them? I think this will be a fairly quiet trade deadline for the avs, maybe they pick up a depth forward.

Do they not have TV’s and scouts there? I just don’t see much of a market for a #4 D-man, an often hurt former 30 goal scorer—who did that 5 years ago and an overaged pest who’s too slow to pester anyone. For me the glass is 1/2 empty for those three.

people have mentioned it earlier..they’ve got their heads hitting the cap ceiling, so they’ll be wanting to off load someone..

what do you think we would have to give to get someone like sharp?

The Canadiens are in the market for a big time D-man, and rumors are that they are in on Souray as well as Hannan out of Colorado.

We need a veteran winger in our line-up.

I say trade Svatos or nobody. Even if it’s just for draft picks. I really don’t want to mess with the chemistry. Svatos is really the only one who has no chemistry with anybody. You can make the same argument with Tucker on O’Reilly’s line but at his age nobody is going to send anything of value so why bother.

So if the Avs don’t do a damn thing, I think it may help the team. Unlike seasons past, even when the team was future hall of famer loaded, this team really seems to like one another. What are they going to think if you trade away one of their friends? Yeah it’s just business but these players are young and may not be able to just let it slide yet.

What about picking up Sykora? The Wild waived him. He’s done nothing this year, but he’s also gotten almost no ice time with them. A possibility instead of trading someone?

I have no clue how hockey works, but they seem like a great, young team to follow.

NHL Network just gave the Avs big props for how they are bringing along the youngsters as players and as men. They are pointing to Colorado as the model that teams like Edmonton need to follow.

I’m getting used to it. Hockey News, Buchigross, and others just aren’t ready to give up on their early season predictions. I think they’ll make the top 5 if they get to the finals.

If possible, trade any or all of Clark, Salei, and Svatos for picks in this year’s draft. If necessary, use these picks to trade up to get this guy. Dude would be incredible on Dutchy’s wing.

As much as I can’t wait to get rid of Tucker, I’m not sure it’s a good idea to do at this point. He and Radar are probably set into a routine by now; do we really want to force Radar to move right now? I think we should make things as comfortable as possible for him, and I suspect not upsetting his current living routine is part of that.

What do you think anaheim wants for neidermayer? JML and a pick or prospect?

when you’re in a rebuild, and you have early success, sometimes, you go out and sell the farm.

The good news is, the Avs have enough dead wood on this team, we might not have to worry about it…however, I wonder if these injuries will move us into a panic trade (and as we all know, they NEVER turn out well).

How about Tucker and a LE player for Yeller? Still a quality PK guy, who can win faceoffs. Solid 3rd liner.