Colorado Avalanche Must Find Ways to Trim Salary
By Ryan Ritchie
Colorado Avalanche Must Find a Way to Trim Salary Following Tyson Barrie Re-Signing
Announced Sunday, Colorado Avalanche have re-signed restricted free agent defenseman Tyson Barrie to a four-year $22 million dollar deal ($5.5 million/year). That leaves the Avs with only $959,407 dollars towards the 2016-17 salary cap.
If anything, this should once again give fuel to trade rumors, particularly surrounding star forward Matt Duchene.
So what exactly makes Duchene a prime trade candidate? It’s a combination of value and depth. After all, why make Nathan MacKinnon the team’s highest paid player ($6.3 million/year) if the plan is to force him to continue playing wing/center? Now I realize Nathan saw more time up the middle in 2015-16, but instead of MacKinnon taking 1000 face-off’s and Duchene 700, why not add another top six winger so Nathan is taking closer to 1500 draws/year? The more face-offs he takes, the better that win percentage gets. Guys like Mitchell, Soderberg, Comeau, and Grigorenko are more than capable in the face-off circle.
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With both Duchene and MacKinnon capable of serving as a 1C (1st line center), the question should be, which player gives you a better chance to win?
Arguments might favor the former 1st overall selection Nathan MacKinnon. Just beginning to scratch the surface in terms of potential, imagine how much he can blossom with a little extra responsibility and space to work with?
It’s not a knock on Matt Duchene, who has proven a highly productive NHL center, but when is the last time you heard this career minus player (plus/minus) in Selke Trophy conversations? It didn’t seem to hurt Detroit when Pavel Datsyuk only posted around 60 points, or similarly with Jonathan Toews in Chicago. At some point, Colorado must recognize the need for a better overall two-way 1st line center.
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Colorado Avalanche could obviously look to free up cap space moving a less significant piece such as Carl Soderberg or Mikhail Grigorenko (examples only).
It wouldn’t make much sense though. The Avs have more than enough bottom six talent in the system, and unfortunately that’s the return value on many of Colorado’s other options (besides Duchene).
Their greatest need aside from defensive upgrades (which one could argue was addressed this offseason) is top-six forwards. Jarome Iginla is likely entering his final NHL season, while hope dwindles on prospects like Mikko Rantanen, J.T. Compher, and A.J. Greer to step up and fill voids.
We know in today’s NHL, you need three to four lines of scoring depth to compete for Lord Stanley, and given his trade value, Matt Duchene is the best option to address those holes.
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Teams That May Have Interest and Potential Targets
*These are not trade proposals. Targets are simply players of interest to kickstart conversations to a deal that may include other pieces on either side.
Arizona Coyotes – Martin Hanzal, Tobias Rieder
Carolina Hurricanes – Justin Faulk, Elias Lindholm, Brett Pesce
Columbus Blue Jackets – Jack Johnson, Cam Atkinson, Boone Jenner
Detroit Red Wings – Gustav Nyquist, Tomas Tatar
Minnesota Wild – Jonas Brodin, Marco Scandella
Ottawa Senators – Kyle Turris, Jean-Gabriel Pageau