By the time this comment reaches CHN, there won’t be anything left in the cupboard to deal for. Unless CMac can swing a trade that makes sense – – I believe you are looking at the Avs roster for opening night – – replete with moving Eagles parts. Be still my pounding heart.

On a positive note and the basketball front, who woulda thunk that Josh Kroenke could have made such great deals (4) in such a short time to boost the Nuggets chances next season?

Sounds good to you. Sounds good to me. But does it sound good to CMac? Then the Capitals? Absent some trades, this looks like a real weak “D” core for Colorado. Maybe Middleton will play lights out and score 20 goals plus playing stout defense. Right.

I agree wholeheartedly. Either deals too late or not good enough offers to make anything happen. At this point, the lack of recognition about the need to prioritize the defense and get tougher is self evident. But I also remember Joe Sakic in the past downplaying the importance of toughness and physicality with the Avs team. Which is kind of weird as Joe had Simon and Footer (plus a lot of other stout players) watching his back when he played.

I think the boat has sailed on any quality free agents for the Avs. The best they can hope for is a trade now or at the deadline. I’d hate to see them sign a player for the sake of signing him. If it doesn’t help the roster then don’t do the deal. Keep your cap options open as teams that are out of the playoffs usually provide the best pickings as their depression sets in.

Dumoulin signed with LA hours ago.

Pius Suter is still out there. He would be a nice fit for Avs and much less $/term than Ehlers.

Mantha got signed by Calgary

I got you. I would assume they would have to do more surgery to get under the cap. If they sign Ehlers (big if & don’t want that). Then they flip Necas for say a top 4 D & a pick, etc. I would assume they would deal Manson or Girard.

This is all roster bating at the end of the day. For all we know they’re perfectly fine with the defense as is. And just want to add a #6/7th depth guy.

The Coyle trade though makes me think they were or are targeting someone specific. For all we know they really wanted Gavrikov? So I keep coming back to, & it’s why I was irritated last week when they traded Coyle. What was the hurry? It’s not like the return was anything that wouldn’t have been there on say July 3rd.