Patience + Playoff Open Thread

I think the team’s moves at this last trade deadline bear this out. They seem to be taking the long view and aren’t going to mortgage the short-term or the long-term for a shot in the dark.

This is the exact reason I think a LW UFA and/or big bruising defenseman is what the Avs will look at in UFA/trade. The Avs have 0 top-2 line wingers in their system at all. Ryan Stoa might be able to fill that role eventually, but I don’t think that’s likely. And he’s really our only hope for that position right now. The Avs don’t have much in the way of big stay-at-home defenders either.

That would suggest the only way to improve that is to sign a FA or make a trade. The good news is that the Avs are overloaded with a number of prospects that teams tend to like. 2rd line wingers that can step into the 2nd line role and do good things for the team (Yip, Jones, Galiardi, Stoa, Porter all fit that mold), and young, cheap puck moving defenseman prospects (Cumiskey, Shattenkirk, Cohen, Barrie, Guance, Elliot, Holos). Chances are strong that 1-2 of those defensemen get traded at some point, and I’d bet one of those forwards gets traded as well.

So i don’t think it’s too far fetched to think the Avs might pursue some UFAs or trades in order to fill some gaping holes within the organization.

totally agree with you, Mike. worried that we may be in for a little let down next year, for all the points you mentioned

…but overall I agree. I’m also aligned with Jibbles that I expect to see more activity before the trade deadline this coming season. I’d like to see one strong UFA signing this summer, but I think we can live without it for another year. With better luck on the injury front, I see the Avs registering between 95 and 100 points and getting into the second round of the playoffs.

This sophomore slump thing could be helped with appropriate veteran leadership. Foote did well this season, but maybe the Avs should look for a veteran with a little more left in the tank to help keep the kids focused.

Thanks Mr. Killjoy. I just have to find some rounds for my .357 and end myself now.

I’m still technically in my first year here, so I thought maybe there was a moratorium on downer threads until the offseason, but I see it was just a short delay.

I think what worries me most about next year is the defensive corps rebuild. I know they might try to sign someone awesome this OS, but I don’t think its likely. I think its more likely that the organization will take next year to take a good, long, hard look at the defensive rookies and see how they fit together. Only after a full evaluation would they be willing to spend mucho dinero on a FA signing, or a trade with the prospects that they don’t feel are a good fit.

I actually think that its going to be a similar case with the top line winger. If you are working on a defensive rebuild, why waste money on a Kovy-type contract? Maybe, instead, the top brass is going to look at seeing if Jonesy can stay healthy for a season and fill that top line role with Stazzer and Stewie, and keep a Yip/Porter combo on the third line with Gally and ORLY. Take another year to really look at their players, see whos REALLY worth keeping, and then make trades next year at the TD or in the OS.

Thats how you build a new dynasty… either everything magically falls in place [Thanks Mario Tremblay!], or you methodically evaluate the pieces and lay your strongest foundation possible. And since I haven’t seen a lot of magic since the lockout, I’m fine with waiting a couple more years.

I’m proposing putting our burgundy-colored glassed down

hey hey hey! Those are prescription damnit!

but in all seriousness, nice post, and i’m certainly hoping for Sharp over anyone else, however i wouldn’t be upset if we didn’t make waves in the UFA market and continue to develop the kids for another year or two

I can see your points, but like others have said in the past, the one-two center punch to build around of Duchene and Stastny (just a matter of time before Duchene is number 1, imo) has me pretty optimistic anyway. Throw in Anderson, the other young forwards who I believe still have tremendous upside, continue the development of Wilson and Cumiskey, and add Kovie and one top notch D-man, I do still believe this team can be a cup contender as soon as next season. So there.

Isn’t a “Debbie Downer” thread like this more suited for a Monday than a Friday? Sheesh.

I remain highly skeptical that throwing a dumptruck of money at Kovi is going to bear the fruit that many believe it will.

Though Parise would look phenomenal on SoS’s wing, the probability of that coming about in an Avs sweater is roughly equal to me hitting Powerball on Saturday.

I do think Sharp is an excellent fit for the Avs, if he can be had at a reasonable price in trade, which given CHI’s looming salary cap disaster, should be workable.

I’m not convinced that the 27 games of 3rd & 4th line spot duty that Jones got in 07-08 or the 40 games of mostly 3rd & 4th line time that he got in 08-09 on the worst team in Colorado franchise history are at all indicative of his ability. I do think that his 36 goals/year pace in the 23 games that he got in 09-10 is much closer to being a reflection of what he can do – and I think that may be duty as a top line winger – left (especially given his right handed shot) or right. I’d like to see him get that shot on a Jones – Stastny – Stewart line.

The defense, well, we had better sign/trade for a legit top pairing defenseman or two. A nasty disposition, bomb of a shot and size sufficient to murderlize (it’s a word, just ask Bugs Bunny!) opposing forwards entering the zone are desired traits.

I don’t anticipate any let down myself.

The Avs finished 8th in the West and I think that’s a bare minimum for the talent level they have and the division they play in.

The team is ridiculously deep down the middle with what appears to be very solid goaltending. That can take you a long way while you figure out the other parts of your game.

This isn’t a defense that’s feature a Bob Boughner, Chris McAlester nor Pascal Trepanier. Despite past Avs teams having some real liabilities on D, they did OK. It would be nice to have that next big #1 d man, but as it is now they have passable defenders for a regular season run and they got a ton of potentials in the pipe.

They have a thin goaltending pipeline and wingers are pretty thin as well BUT prospects don’t really feed in to the NHL like that. There have been times when the Avs drafted huge wingers or lots of defense, yet despite those drafting attempts they didn’t have those assets at the NHL. What PL did was use those players (and draft picks) as assets for the NHL pieces he wanted. What I’m saying (from the drafting perspective) is that they should go after the best player available even if that means four centers in the first four rounds. Maybe the Avs trade Elliot, Liles and next years second round pick for “blah”. As Jori can attest, we’ve heard the cubbard’s bare whine many, many, many times in this organization. But there are times when things just explode and you get guys you never thought you would out of the draft like Stastny or when Hejduk and Drury came out so fast. You can’t predict how those 17 year olds pan out sometimes.

Anyway, keep your heads up. I think some fans kind of look at this last year like the Avs went on a huge tear and finished 3rd in the West. What they did do was had a solid year and barely slipped in. Do you guys think they will take a step back? Are we predicting sophmore slumps, Anderson falling off or something? Who’s the competition in the NW next year? I think there will be at least one surprise squad (*cough*edmonton*cough*) but Calgary and Minny will likely be up to the usual feats of trying to build teams around wingers and fading in to the home stretch.

I think you’re right Mike, that the Avs will be conservative. The Avs seem pretty conservative these days in general, and we really don’t know completely what we have yet, especially on D. That doesn’t mean we won’t see some more conservative UFA signings, imo. Maybe Whitney on a short deal, Willie Mitchell on a short deal, that kind of thing.

but there’s more options than a) trading away youth or b) signing Kovy/other UFAs to long term deals or c) standing pat. there’s a whole continuum of grey area between those as I said, not to mention raiding the Blackhawks as option d).

The Hawks are, by all speculation, planning on doing the following:

1) Bury Huet in AHL/Europe, which leaves them responsible for his salary, though not the cap hit.
2) Trade Sopel with a pick for essentially nothing.
3) Trade 2 of Versteeg, Byufiglien, and Sharp.
4) Fill in holes with cheap vets and youth.

The problem with this is that it eats into the Blackhawks bottom line in a tremendous way — 5.625m of dead money hurts a team’s bottom line a ton, not to mention packaging Sopel with a pick (or burying him for another 2m+ flushed), and losing 2 of Versteeg, Buf, and Sharp to boot.

An alternate solution the Avs might offer would be to take Huet, Sharp, Sopel and a 1st for Prospect X (say, Stoa).

Chicago essentially exchanges a 1st and Sharp for the Avs taking on Huet and Sopel for the next 2 years and 1 year respectively. Chatting with Hawks fans I know, they don’t like this per se, but acknowledge it could be best from a business perspective for the team, which we all know ultimately drives these things. It pretty much fixes their mess in one fell swoop without killing the business side (they’d probably have to trade Versteeg still, I think).

The Avs, on the flip side, basically trade the short term cap space they have for Sharp (a killer piece) and a good pick. Plus, Huet and Sopel actually could fill needs for Colorado, albeit at an overpriced rate. Sopel is a fine 6/7th guy, and Huet backs up Andy, a spot we may need to fill with Budaj probably looking for a chance to start. And they do this all giving up barely any youth.

Assuming Avs management is willing to spend the money for this or a Kovy signing, I like this better than just signing Kovy for one big reason — it doesn’t kill us long term. If you sign Kovy, he’s still here in 2 years when Duchene and O’Reilly are bucking for raises. There’s a ton of risk in signing him, especially if he’s not working out. This costs about the same in cap short term, but has FAR less risk long term. The only possible hitch I see is in re-signing Andy. Huet sets a nasty precedent salary-wise, it would take a candid conversation with Andy and his agent prior to the trade.

Or maybe I’m smoking crack. :) I doubt d) goes down either way, but the point is there there’s more options than we think. I don’t think it’s necessarily TRADE YOUTH or SIGN HUGE UFAS or STAND PAT.

It might be time to polish up that Sharks Eulogy huh?

that is all

Sharks seriously need some defensemen who can figure out which net they’re supposed to score on.

And it’s time for the Sharks Eulogy….they have now been officially eliminated.

Good on the Hawks. Their fans deserve at least one Cup before they’re forced to remember that invisible men Hossa, Campbell, and Huet are making more than $100,000,000 between them.