Confirmed with Link: Avs sign Miles Of Wood to 6-year deal × $2.5M AAV

[Muffin]

What exactly is the Tatar contract then?

Obviously we don't know who was willing to sign where, but plenty of players as good or even better than Wood signed much better contracts this past summer.


I understand the reasoning behind going 6 years and as I said before, it doesn't really bother me because I especially on this board probably think the window closes sooner than just about everyone else. So 6 years doesn't mean much to me.


I just think they could have easily spent that ~$2.5M on a better player. For example, I'd have rathered bring Rodrigues back at 4x$3M instead of signing Wood. I would have much preferred to sign Geekie for 2x$2M.

His playoff performance? If he was good in the playoffs I bet you anything he was a day 1 signing July 1st.

 

[NorthernAvsFan]

Is it regression from Wood? Or was it him falling down the deepest lineup in the NHL, in New Jersey? I think a little bit of both.

Bottom-6ers in general don’t have the same kind of consistency as guys like Makar and MacKinnon. They have good years and bad years.

Wood fits the system well. He adds size/physicality to the 3rd line, which is much needed. The Avs 3rd line was the softest in the league last season. It’s been the Avs greatest weakness for years. Even in the cup year, the Helm led 4th line was really the 3rd line.

Wood was clearly coveted in free agency, that’s why he got so much term. If he scores at a 17-22 goal pace while making the bottom-6 less easy to push around I’ll be happy and I think he can do that.

 

[henchman21]

Tatar probably could have made ~2-2.5m from a team like Arizona... but good teams were not lining up to spend any real money on him.

With Wood, if he does well as a 3rd liner, his 2.5m is perfectly fine. If he's a 4th liner he grossly overpaid for a long time. It is a pretty fine line sadly. The Avs took a risk with Wood considering his play of last year, injury histroy/style of play, and with a lot of term. With the 6 years, it is inevitable it is a bad contract down the line... but that doesn't really matter if it works for 2-3 seasons.

The Avs whole offseason was basically high risk/high reward. The moves on the trades were that way. The signings were that way. Hell, even the draft picks were that way.

 

[Balthazar]

The thing with Wood is there's basically no room to outplay that contract. It can be "OK", "bad" or "really bad".

That's true for 90% of UFA's though.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Tatar probably could have made ~2-2.5m from a team like Arizona... but good teams were not lining up to spend any real money on him.

With Wood, if he does well as a 3rd liner, his 2.5m is perfectly fine. If he's a 4th liner he grossly overpaid for a long time. It is a pretty fine line sadly. The Avs took a risk with Wood considering his play of last year, injury histroy/style of play, and with a lot of term. With the 6 years, it is inevitable it is a bad contract down the line... but that doesn't really matter if it works for 2-3 seasons.

The Avs whole offseason was basically high risk/high reward. The moves on the trades were that way. The signings were that way. Hell, even the draft picks were that way.

While that's definitely true... I just dont see the high reward with Wood.

His "do well" scenario is basically that he's paid fairly for what he brings to the table as a 3rd line winger that chips in ~30 points while playing a crash and bang style... Maybe ~$500k underpaid. Meanwhile the risk is quite substantial as if he continues like he did last year, we're paying a 4th liner $2.5M for 6 more years when you could find similar players for $1M.


With Johansen, there's a legitimate high reward. If things click and he bounces back you could be looking at a pretty high end 2C making probably half of what he's worth. With Drouin, if things click and he stays healthy you're getting a 50-60 point Top 6 winger for league minimum.



Basically to me, RyJo/Drouin certainly fall under the High Risk, but legitimate high reward upside. Wood is like High Risk, low reward.

 

[Foppa2118]

I'm optimistic Wood will fit in well on the Avs, but in a few years there's going to be a lot of contracts that go from bad to ok. I uderstand the concern over the term, but I don't think it's as bad as some think.

What would constitute a bad $2.5M contract anyway? Surely 20 goals 40 points would be great value at $2.5M, so what's bad? 20 points? 25 points? 15 goals and 30-35 points doesn't seem like it would be bad value at $2.5M. More just average or maybe slightly below average value at worst.

Last year was supposed to be a down year for Wood coming off surgery, and he had 13 goals 27 points in 76 games. And as the cap goes up, the production requirements to not be a bad contract go down.

Outside of the absolute worst case scenarios, the bad scenarios make him just like $500k-1M overpaid, which isn't the end of the world. Most teams have contracts like that on the books anyway, and there are many scenarios where he ends up worth his contract, or becomes good value.

 

[MarkT]

If I had to predict things, I'd say long-term Wood ends up helping us form a great 4th line that the fans love as long we don't look at his cap hit.

Who the hell is going to play on the 3rd line instead of Wood?

This is my concern as well. My hope is one of the NCAA/Dallas/AHL guys really steps up and impresses enough to be a 3rd liner.

In general I'm worried, because if injuries hit, or our new players underperform, there's no obvious players to move up in the lineup, so we'll end up in the same situation as last year.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

I'm optimistic Wood will fit in well on the Avs, but in a few years there's going to be a lot of contracts that go from bad to ok. I uderstand the concern over the term, but I don't think it's as bad as some think.

What would constitute a bad $2.5M contract anyway? Surely 20 goals 40 points would be great value at $2.5M, so what's bad? 20 points? 25 points? 15 goals and 30-35 points doesn't seem like it would be bad value at $2.5M. More just average or maybe slightly below average value at worst.

Last year was supposed to be a down year for Wood coming off surgery, and he had 13 goals 27 points in 76 games. And as the cap goes up, the production requirements to not be a bad contract go down.

Outside of the absolute worst case scenarios, the bad scenarios make him just like $500k-1M overpaid, which isn't the end of the world. Most teams have contracts like that on the books anyway, and there are many scenarios where he ends up worth his contract, or becomes good value.

I would argue that 500K-1M overpaid is not the end of the world when talking about a player making 10M, However, 500K-1M overpayment on a dude making 2.5M, I'd argue, is a rather much larger deal. It means the team completely overestimated a player's worth, or the team is being forced to completely overpay to land a player.

That being said, I actually think Wood is a 2.5M player and I don't feel he's either overpaid or underpaid. 2.5M will make him a rather expensive 4th liner if it comes to that at the end of the contract. However, with where the cap will be, I doubt he'll be the most expensive 4th liner in the league by a long shot.

 

[Foppa2118]

I would argue that 500K-1M overpaid is not the end of the world when talking about a player making 10M, However, 500K-1M overpayment on a dude making 2.5M, I'd argue, is a rather much larger deal. It means the team completely overestimated a player's worth, or the team is being forced to completely overpay to land a player.

That being said, I actually think Wood is a 2.5M player and I don't feel he's either overpaid or underpaid. 2.5M will make him a rather expensive 4th liner if it comes to that at the end of the contract. However, with where the cap will be, I doubt he'll be the most expensive 4th liner in the league by a long shot.

IMO it's mostly the same. What makes it a big deal vs not a big deal for me, is how big a need there is for that player's role, and whether they could fill it easily, and cheaper with someone else.

Some may think Wood is a 4th liner, but he was brought in for the 3rd line to replace Landy's physical net front presence on the wing. And there's not a lot of safe bets as proven good 3rd liners out there for less than $3M in UFA or could be traded for on the cheap with the Avs lack of assets.

Even if he doesn't improve on last season's production, he'd still be a higher end 4th liner, and more of a 3rd/4th line tweener. Not just a pure 4th liner. One that brings some goal scoring and also some size, physicality, and swagger the team needs.

So all of that combined is what makes me say him potentially being a little over paid isn't the end of the world, because he brings intangibles aside from production, and they really needed someone like him to fill that role.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Let's play a game! Wood you rather?

Miles at 2.5M or Alex at 2.9M?

Last season - Miles Wood 76 GP, 13G, 14A, 27PTS, 76PIMs and a 49.85 xGF% at 5v5.
Last season - Alex Newhook 82 GP, 14G, 16A, 30PTS, 22PIMs and a 49.88 xGF% at 5v5.

Statistically they are closer than I expected them to be. Newhook has potential and I really hope he achieves it. But last season was a bit of a disaster. Bednar had to juggle lines not only due to a lot of injuries, but he was also attempting like crazy to find a spot for Newhook to be successful in. Alex just couldn't find a role. Bringing in a guy who has similar numbers but also a defined role he knows, understands and can play will be big for us. I understand there are questions as to what level of play he'll bring this season, I think as long as his effort is there and he plays his role, just having that consistency over Newhook bouncing all over the place will be well worth it. Our third line last year really was the spare parts army. It was the three bodies currently on the roster that didn't really belong anywhere else.

God, I'm going to love bringing up Newhook for the first bit of this season. I really, really hope Drouin doesn't flame out because...

Player	2022/23 Stats	2023/24 Salary
Tatar	20G - 28A - 48 PTS	1,500,000
Drouin	2G - 27A - 29 PTS	875,000
Combined	22G - 55A - 77 PTS	2,325,000
Newhook	14G - 16A - 30 PTS	2,900,000

There was a lot of risk in what CMac has done this summer. But some of it is downright shrewd. I can't wait to see what the final product looks like on ice. There has been a lot of new ingredients thrown into this stew of ours. I'm optimistic it'll be edible.

 

[MarkT]

Let's play a game! Wood you rather?

Miles at 2.5M or Alex at 2.9M?

Last season - Miles Wood 76 GP, 13G, 14A, 27PTS, 76PIMs and a 49.85 xGF% at 5v5.
Last season - Alex Newhook 82 GP, 14G, 16A, 30PTS, 22PIMs and a 49.88 xGF% at 5v5.

Statistically they are closer than I expected them to be. Newhook has potential and I really hope he achieves it. But last season was a bit of a disaster. Bednar had to juggle lines not only due to a lot of injuries, but he was also attempting like crazy to find a spot for Newhook to be successful in. Alex just couldn't find a role. Bringing in a guy who has similar numbers but also a defined role he knows, understands and can play will be big for us. I understand there are questions as to what level of play he'll bring this season, I think as long as his effort is there and he plays his role, just having that consistency over Newhook bouncing all over the place will be well worth it. Our third line last year really was the spare parts army. It was the three bodies currently on the roster that didn't really belong anywhere else.

God, I'm going to love bringing up Newhook for the first bit of this season. I really, really hope Drouin doesn't flame out because...

Player	2022/23 Stats	2023/24 Salary
Tatar	20G - 28A - 48 PTS	1,500,000
Drouin	2G - 27A - 29 PTS	875,000
Combined	22G - 55A - 77 PTS	2,325,000
Newhook	14G - 16A - 30 PTS	2,900,000

There was a lot of risk in what CMac has done this summer. But some of it is downright shrewd. I can't wait to see what the final product looks like on ice. There has been a lot of new ingredients thrown into this stew of ours. I'm optimistic it'll be edible.

I like your analysis, but I think the most relevant numbers are these:
22
28
4
6

Newhook is 22 and signed for 4 years
Wood is 28 and signed for 6 years

Also, I really don't see this as Newhook vs Wood. With Newhook on the roster, we'd still need someone like Wood in the bottom 6, and without Wood, it would still have been a pretty good move to get two first rounders for Newhook based on his performance so far.

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

We didn't need Newhooks profile on this team. We got back awesome assets. Easy let go.

 

[Foppa2118]

After losing Kadri's swagger, the Avs needed someone with Wood's personality almost as much as the rest of his game.

Avs have a ton going for them, but they can be a bit moody, and hard on themselves at times.

Having a guy like Naz or Wood to pump them up when they're down goes a long way. Especially during the ups and downs of the playoffs.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Let's play a game! Wood you rather?

Miles at 2.5M or Alex at 2.9M?

Last season - Miles Wood 76 GP, 13G, 14A, 27PTS, 76PIMs and a 49.85 xGF% at 5v5.
Last season - Alex Newhook 82 GP, 14G, 16A, 30PTS, 22PIMs and a 49.88 xGF% at 5v5.

Statistically they are closer than I expected them to be. Newhook has potential and I really hope he achieves it. But last season was a bit of a disaster. Bednar had to juggle lines not only due to a lot of injuries, but he was also attempting like crazy to find a spot for Newhook to be successful in. Alex just couldn't find a role. Bringing in a guy who has similar numbers but also a defined role he knows, understands and can play will be big for us. I understand there are questions as to what level of play he'll bring this season, I think as long as his effort is there and he plays his role, just having that consistency over Newhook bouncing all over the place will be well worth it. Our third line last year really was the spare parts army. It was the three bodies currently on the roster that didn't really belong anywhere else.

God, I'm going to love bringing up Newhook for the first bit of this season. I really, really hope Drouin doesn't flame out because...

Player	2022/23 Stats	2023/24 Salary
Tatar	20G - 28A - 48 PTS	1,500,000
Drouin	2G - 27A - 29 PTS	875,000
Combined	22G - 55A - 77 PTS	2,325,000
Newhook	14G - 16A - 30 PTS	2,900,000

There was a lot of risk in what CMac has done this summer. But some of it is downright shrewd. I can't wait to see what the final product looks like on ice. There has been a lot of new ingredients thrown into this stew of ours. I'm optimistic it'll be edible.

To me the more interesting game(Or maybe not interesting cause its an easy choice to me) would be who would you rather between Wood and ERod.


I'd much prefer ERod at 4x$3M over Wood and his 6x$2.5M. ERod is the better player with less injury concerns and on the better contract. The only thing against ERod is he's a couple years old but given the injuries of Wood I think it mostly washes out. Both guys probably are way overpaid in ~2 years but at least ERod would only be signed for 2 more years compared to 4 years for Wood.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

To me the more interesting game(Or maybe not interesting cause its an easy choice to me) would be who would you rather between Wood and ERod.


I'd much prefer ERod at 4x$3M over Wood and his 6x$2.5M. ERod is the better player with less injury concerns and on the better contract. The only thing against ERod is he's a couple years old but given the injuries of Wood I think it mostly washes out. Both guys probably are way overpaid in ~2 years but at least ERod would only be signed for 2 more years compared to 4 years for Wood.

The thing to keep in mind is that Wood doesn't have any trade protection at all. If it becomes an issue down the road, 2.5M is something they can put in a trade package. They might have to use a better prospect or higher trade pick if it's that bad, but he'll still be moveable as long as he's not LTIR fodder, in which case he's not really a problem for us anyways.

As for ERod vs Wood, I'm torn. You are absolutely correct that ERod is the better player. But Wood also has a style that was missing from our bottom six. I think they effectively replaced ERod with the late signing of Tatar. At least, I hope so.

 

[NorthernAvsFan]

I don’t think the Avs liked their forward dynamic last season.

Sakic mentioned they wanted to get tougher upfront for the playoffs and now you have Bednar saying that his preference is to have players with size as role players.

I think Wood and Colton were players the Avs targeted at the beginning of the off-season. I don’t think they wanted Compher, Rodrigues, Malgin, and Newhook back unless it was for cheap. They wanted to change the way their forward group plays, particularly in the bottom-6.

Imo, the Avs approached the off-season with 3 objectives.

- Find a 2C to replace Compher. Since they were never going to pay him and he’s not a 2C.

- Get tougher to play against in the bottom-6.

- Improve the overall forward depth.

I think they’ve done a pretty good job on those fronts, but of course it’s open for debate until we see some legit games.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

I don’t think the Avs liked their forward dynamic last season.

Sakic mentioned they wanted to get tougher upfront for the playoffs and now you have Bednar saying that his preference is to have players with size as role players.

I think Wood and Colton were players the Avs targeted at the beginning of the off-season. I don’t think they wanted Compher, Rodrigues, Malgin, and Newhook back unless it was for cheap. They wanted to change the way their forward group plays, particularly in the bottom-6.

Imo, the Avs approached the off-season with 3 objectives.

- Find a 2C to replace Compher. Since they were never going to pay him and he’s not a 2C.

- Get tougher to play against in the bottom-6.

- Improve the overall forward depth.

I think they’ve done a pretty good job on those fronts, but of course it’s open for debate until we see some legit games.

Exactly this.

There was pretty significant roster turnover. Yes, there are some questions, but there are also reasons to believe these players can succeed here. That's why I've been jonesing so damn hard for the season to start. I haven't felt like this in years. It's different than the feeling I had at the beginning of 21-22. This is more like a kid waiting to open presents on Christmas day excitement. Even though we know what is in the boxes, we don't know how it's all going to work.

 

[Richard Doll]

2.5m for an agitating, bottom 6 player, that has the speed to fit our system, crashes to the net, with an increasing cap, I really don't see the problem.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

2.5m for an agitating, bottom 6 player, that has the speed to fit our system, crashes to the net, with an increasing cap, I really don't see the problem.

Well because the problem is if he isn't a "Bottom 6" guy but strictly a 4th line guy... Which is all he was capable of doing for New Jersey last year.


As a 3rd liner, $2.5M is perfectly fine even though the term still sucks. As a 4th liner, $2.5M is simply way, way too much especially for a team with as much elite talent as the Avs have. We have to spend over 50% of our cap on 5 players and its going to get even worse in years to come, we are not a team that can afford to be overpaying 4th line players by $1-1.5M.

 

[The Kingslayer]

I always thought this guy killed penalties. I was less excited when I found out he didnt do much of that. Still I been a fan for awhile. Just stay out the box and im good with it.

 

[Richard Doll]

Well because the problem is if he isn't a "Bottom 6" guy but strictly a 4th line guy... Which is all he was capable of doing for New Jersey last year.


As a 3rd liner, $2.5M is perfectly fine even though the term still sucks. As a 4th liner, $2.5M is simply way, way too much especially for a team with as much elite talent as the Avs have. We have to spend over 50% of our cap on 5 players and its going to get even worse in years to come, we are not a team that can afford to be overpaying 4th line players by $1-1.5M.

I actually like him as a third liner, I think he is going to fit in really well with this system.

I wouldn't want him playing a ton of minutes up the lineup, but where he is slated in the lineup, I think it's fair value and he fits what we do.

 

[Balthazar]

On pace for 8 pts in 82 games.

 

[Murzu]

On pace for 8 pts in 82 games.

You enjoy chaos, do you?

 

[Chiarelli]

On pace for 8 pts in 82 games.

works out to 48 over 492 games!

 

[Avs9296]

Ryan Johanson on pace for 41 goals!

Am I doing this right?