Confirmed with Link: Nichushkin back in assistance program; suspended a minimum of six months

[Vaslof]

If the Avalanche terminate Nichushkin and incur a 2M cap charge, then re-sign Mittelstadt for 6M this is what the lineup looks like:

Lehkonen - MacKinnon - Rantanen
Landeskog - Mittelstadt - XXX
Wood - Colton - LOC
XXX - XXX - Kovalenko

Toews - Makar
Girard - Manson
Behrens - XXX

Georgiev
Annunen

Wagner
Jones

A 22 man roster has only 6.235M in cap space for 3 forwards and a defensemen. Even if the Avs went league minimum on the 4th liners and 3rd pair D, that leaves a hair under 4M in cap space for Drouin.

It is doable, but the Avs have to be willing to accept the 4th line will probably suck next season with all league min guys AND you are hoping Landeskog returns to form.

Landeskog is as much of a question mark as Nichushkin is imo. That's why I brought up Wood and LOC being on our 2nd line. That would be the worst case scenario though.

 

[dahrougem2]

Landeskog is as much of a question mark as Nichushkin is imo. That's why I brought up Wood and LOC being on our 2nd line. That would be the worst case scenario though.

Correct. Which is why so many want to trade Mikko. It allows us to keep Drouin and bring in 2 more players of top nine quality likely all for his salary.

 

[Vaslof]

Correct. Which is why so many want to trade Mikko. It allows us to keep Drouin and bring in 2 more players of top nine quality likely all for his salary.

For 24-25 or 25-26? He's only making 9M right now.

 

[dahrougem2]

For 24-25 or 25-26? He's only making 9M right now.

Next season. You can bring Drouin back for 4M, accept a player in return for Mikko at roughly 4M then a young ELC NHL ready player as well in return.

For example, if it was a Crouse + Guenther return (not saying likely but hypothetical) you can bring Drouin back and run

Drouin - MacKinnon - Crouse
Lehkonen - Mittelstadt - Guenther
Landeskog - Colton - LOC
Wood - XXX - Kovalenko

 

[Vaslof]

Next season. You can bring Drouin back for 4M, accept a player in return for Mikko at roughly 4M then a young ELC NHL ready player as well in return.

For example, if it was a Crouse + Guenther return (not saying likely but hypothetical) you can bring Drouin back and run

Drouin - MacKinnon - Crouse
Lehkonen - Mittelstadt - Guenther
Landeskog - Colton - LOC
Wood - XXX - Kovalenko

If they could pull this off I wouldn't complain. We would need to find that perfect trading partner.

 

[dahrougem2]

If they could pull this off I wouldn't complain. We would need to find that perfect trading partner.

No doubt. You just want to be able to find a middle six established NHLer and an ELC forward with high upside in return for Mikko. Plenty of teams have that combo, it's a matter of do the Avs even have a desire to move Mikko? The answer is probably not.

 

[Vaslof]

No doubt. You just want to be able to find a middle six established NHLer and an ELC forward with high upside in return for Mikko. Plenty of teams have that combo, it's a matter of do the Avs even have a desire to move Mikko? The answer is probably not.

Marner might be on the same market as well. Maybe we'll see through him what we could have gotten.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

Next season. You can bring Drouin back for 4M, accept a player in return for Mikko at roughly 4M then a young ELC NHL ready player as well in return.

For example, if it was a Crouse + Guenther return (not saying likely but hypothetical) you can bring Drouin back and run

Drouin - MacKinnon - Crouse
Lehkonen - Mittelstadt - Guenther
Landeskog - Colton - LOC
Wood - XXX - Kovalenko

Stop teasing me with this. I have saying Mikko for Guenther++ for a while now.

I doubt Utah would trade both Crouse and Guenther for Mikko unless he is extended and even then it would surprised me. Utah SHOULD want a star player right away and they SHOULD want to make the playoffs right away as well so a Mikko trade to them would make sense but it could be tough for them to make the playoffs if they trade both Crouse AND Guenther. I would do Mikko for Guenther + 6OV and use that 6OV to draft a RHD or get one in a trade.

 

[Murzu]

If the Avalanche terminate Nichushkin and incur a 2M cap charge, then re-sign Mittelstadt for 6M this is what the lineup looks like:

Lehkonen - MacKinnon - Rantanen
Landeskog - Mittelstadt - XXX
Wood - Colton - LOC
XXX - XXX - Kovalenko

Toews - Makar
Girard - Manson
Behrens - XXX

Georgiev
Annunen

Wagner
Jones

A 22 man roster has only 6.235M in cap space for 3 forwards and a defensemen. Even if the Avs went league minimum on the 4th liners and 3rd pair D, that leaves a hair under 4M in cap space for Drouin.

It is doable, but the Avs have to be willing to accept the 4th line will probably suck next season with all league min guys AND you are hoping Landeskog returns to form.

If Avs sign three guys for example 900k each, thats 2.7M off that 6.235M.

There would be 3.5M left for Drouin. You think he would do something like 3.5M x 7-8yrs? Or one year for that price and cash in after that? The first option seems more likely, if he truly loves it here. It would he an underpayment IMO though.

Correct. Which is why so many want to trade Mikko. It allows us to keep Drouin and bring in 2 more players of top nine quality likely all for his salary.

And maybe even extra futures on top of that.

 

[Balthazar]

There would be 3.5M left for Drouin. You think he would do something like 3.5M x 7-8yrs?

I doubt it.

On one hand that's more than what he'd expect out of his next contract...

On the other hand the cap is going up, he's a top 6 player and he'd be making 3rd line money right off the bat.

By year 4 he'll be making 4th liner money...

 

[Murzu]

I doubt it.

On one hand that's more than what he'd expect out of his next contract...

On the other hand the cap is going up, he's a top 6 player and he'd be making 3rd line money right off the bat.

By year 4 he'll be making 4th liner money...

Yeah maybe so. If it was 4-4.5M I'd say it'd be fair considering his history. But going that long for 3.5M would be takin a discount.

 

[Grackle Party]

The algorithm is brokenn

 

[the_fan]

I have a feeling Avs gonna give Val another chance

 

[wayninja]

I have a feeling Avs gonna give Val another chance

It sounds like some stupid shit they'd do.

 

[the_fan]

It sounds like some stupid shit they'd do.

It will be

 

[Balthazar]

I have a feeling Avs gonna give Val another chance

Agreed. Doing anything else will be cost prohibitive.

 

[wayninja]

Agreed. Doing anything else will be cost prohibitive.

I'm going to laugh my ass off when he gets boo'd his first time on the ice.

 

[Pacman33]

Yea i feel its dependent on if they can find a cheaper way out of the deal. If they had to do a full on buyout, i cant see them doing that nor would i want them to

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

Losing Val for nothing and trading Mikko for these packages I’m seeing sounds like the end of contending to me.

 

[Rosy Cheeks]

I think the right choice is to coordinate with the NHLPA and let the six months slide and not making any harsh decision that will cause a cap penalty before then.

The issue is possibly not clear cut. I remember Theoren Fleury who missed playoff games for us, he needed help. Girard had his issues too recently and played well these playoffs. I remember when Nate and other guys were trying to help Nichushkin get his hat trick against Winnipeg.

Maybe there is a future where Nichushkin gets a Masterton trophy and writes an article for theplayerstribune.

 

[dahrougem2]

I think the right choice is to coordinate with the NHLPA and let the six months slide and not making any harsh decision that will cause a cap penalty before then.

The issue is not clear cut. I remember Theoren Fleury who missed playoff games for us, he needed help. Girard had his issues too recently. I remember when Nate and other guys were trying to help Nichushkin get his hat trick against Winnipeg (passing him during empty net) and that was indicative of them liking him.

Maybe there is a future where the Avs got great locker room chemistry, Nichushkin gets a Masterton trophy and writes an article for theplayerstribune.

This is three times in 12 months that we know of publicly and lord only knows how many times we don't know of privately where Nichushkin's issues were a problem.

You can hear it in the tone's of voices of guys asked about him. This isn't some "we pray he gets the help he needs" situation. This feels like a "this f***ing idiot chose substances over the team AGAIN" situation and the players are fed up.

 

[Balthazar]

This is three times in 12 months that we know of publicly and lord only knows how many times we don't know of privately where Nichushkin's issues were a problem.

You can hear it in the tone's of voices of guys asked about him. This isn't some "we pray he gets the help he needs" situation. This feels like a "this f***ing idiot chose substances over the team AGAIN" situation and the players are fed up.

At the end of the day if the options are something like:

1- Give him another chance, if he f***s up again we enter phase 4 and we get rid of his contract for free.
or
2- No Nuke but 3M cap penalty for 6 years and ownership must pay him 75% of what's left on his contract.
or
3- Buyout
or
4- Pay a team premium assets to take him and likely get a bad contract in return

then I'm very confident that they'll pick the first option and Nuke will be back.

 

[the_fan]

At the end of the day if the options are something like:

1- Give him another chance, if he f***s up again we enter phase 4 and we get rid of his contract for free.
or
2- No Nuke but 3M cap penalty for 6 years and ownership must pay him 75% of what's left on his contract.
or
3- Buyout
or
4- Pay a team premium assets to take him and likely get a bad contract in return

then I'm very confident that they'll pick the first option and Nuke will be back.

Trading him is an option too. There might be a team out there who’s willing to take a chance because he’s such a good player

 

[EdAVSfan]

At the end of the day if the options are something like:

1- Give him another chance, if he f***s up again we enter phase 4 and we get rid of his contract for free.
or
2- No Nuke but 3M cap penalty for 6 years and ownership must pay him 75% of what's left on his contract.
or
3- Buyout
or
4- Pay a team premium assets to take him and likely get a bad contract in return

then I'm very confident that they'll pick the first option and Nuke will be back.

Isn’t option 1 just an extension of option 2?

Under option 1, he gets suspended for a year. The Avs still consistently run the risk that he can come back and they have to plan cap space for him. How does option 1 get us out of the contract for free? It would be the same termination rules.

Question for those who may know.
Could the Avs technically sabotage themselves? For example, could the Avs wait the 6 months, and test Nuke themselves and give it to the league? Or give the league a “heads up” to test Nuke when they know he’s stepped out the lines again?

 

[Balthazar]

Trading him is an option too. There might be a team out there that will be willing to take a chance because he’s such a good player

that's option 4...

With 6 years left it's a huge risk and it's going to cost a shitload to move him...and that's if you can find a GM that wants a guy like that in his locker room