Sunday All-Purpose Thread 6/25/17

Good morning all. In case you’ve been boozing it up out in the Hamptons all weekend, the Avs participated in the annual amateur draft and the early analysis is that they did sneaky good. We’ve got a big week still ahead so the news will keep rolling in.

• Qualifying offers for Restricted Free Agents are due today by 5pm ET. The Avs cadre contains: Andrighetto, Nieto, Grigorenko, Zadorov, Weircioch, Grimaldi, Siemens, Gabe Bourque, Henley, Girard, Bourke and Gelinas (lol). I’d put 4 as slam dunks, 3 as very likely, 4 as unclear and 1 big no.
• UFAs may begin negotiating (but not signing) with other teams beginning today. The Avs UFAs are Rennie, Malkin, Beef, Toots, Smitty and a bunch of AHL guys that won’t be back. Unqualified RFAs get this privilege tomorrow.
• Tomorrow the Avs will introduce some of their draft picks from the weekend. Not sure who all will be there, Makar, Timmins, Henry are a safe bet and hopefully some of the European folks are en route.
• Also tomorrow, the Avs Summer Development Camp begins with some of our new draft picks and the younger prospects already in the system. We know Mironov will be there of course and I saw Werner tweet he was on the way. There are a few players from the QMJHL we know to be attending, the full list will be released at some point today.
• If you want to catch up on who the Avs selected in the draft, head to BSN Avs where AJ and the gang have loads of articles and a couple of do-not-miss podcasts. They killed it for coverage, the only local news outlet that had someone on site and AJ’s work was invaluable. If you want some thumbnail info, here are our picks from the weekend via eliteprospects:

#4 - Cale Makar, D from Brooks (AJHL)
#32 - Conor Timmins, D from the Soo Greyhounds (OHL)
#94 - Nick Henry, RW from Regina (WHL)
#114 - Petr Kvaca, G from HC Ceske Budejovice (Czech2)
#125 - Igor Shvyryov, C from Metallurg Magnitogorsk (KHL)
#156 - Denis Smirnov, LW from Penn State (NCAA)
#187 - Nick Leivermann, D from (USHS)

• You might have noticed no banner announcing a Matt Duchene trade during the weekend and you’re not alone. Word is that Dutch’s agent Pat Brisson has indicated that Sakic might really need to get something done and perhaps he might be the one that facilitates a trade. Sakic seems to have no problem bringing Dutch back if his totally unrealistic expectations for a trade return aren’t met but I think his hand might be forced here sooner rather than later. Seems like the Preds might have a step on the field at this point for a new destination.
• LOTS of very different team-related events/situations ongoing this week, stay tuned.