We’ve looked at the goalies, and here’s a peek at the defensemen.
Up until the Detroit series, this was a position of strength for the team, but there will likely be some personnel changes this offseason. Currently under contract (with cap hit in parentheses):
- Scott Hannan ($4,500,000)
- Brett Clark ($3,500,000)
- Ruslan Salei ($3,025,000)
- Jordan Leopold ($1,500,000)
- Kyle Cumiskey ($475,000)
All told, that’s $13 million committed with at least 2 more players to come. I’m not very versed on our minor league system, but it doesn’t seem like there’s anyone in the “cubbard” who’ll be ready to play soon. The top scoring defenseman for Lake Erie last year was former 7th round pick Michael Vernace, who notched 29 points.
The list of free agents is almost as long:
Obviously, we won’t be re-signing all of these guys. I’d be shocked if we signed more than two and wouldn’t be completely surprised if we didn’t see any of them wearing the unipron next year. I’d love to see both Foote and Liles return, but I’m guessing both guys will be pushing $4 million on their next contract. I absolutely do not want to see Liles move on, but, especially with Cumiskey on the roster, I think his time in Denver is about to come to an end. Too bad.
I’m a fan of both Finger and Sauer, even if their limitations were exposed a bit in the postseason. I doubt that both (either?) will be back next year. If I had to chose, I’d take Finger and then start a letter writing campaign to the team to find a coach who will encourage Finger to use that blistering shot of his on the powerplay.
As for other guys on the free agent market, there’s some good-if-not-great players out there. Wade Redden seems to be the big fish (I’d pass), but there’s other intriguing names on the list - Mattias Norstrom, Brad Stuart (again), Jason Smith (a guy I’ve always liked), Michal Rozsival, Brian Campbell, and Mark Streit to name a few (is there another big name I’m missing?). There’s some intriguing RFAs as well, like Joni Pitkanen and Jay Bouwmeester, but I have a tough time picturing Francois Giguere going the RFA route.
I have to be honest - I don’t have a clue what the Avs are going to do here. I suspect Foote is going to be the prime target, but beyond that I’m really curious to see what Giguere is going to do. With a good foundation already locked up, I don’t know that the Avs will make a Hannan-like splash here this year.
I know I’m in the minority in really not liking Clark, but can we all agree that $3.5M is waaaaaay too much for him. right now that is the one blemish on FG’s otherwise solid Avs resumé
I don’t agree that 3.5 is too much. Then again, I’m a Clark fan…
Really? Kronwall is going to make about the same, and so is Reghar next season. Zubov makes $4M and Phillipe Boucher makes $2.5M, Nick Schultz is set to make about $3.5M and Brett Burns about the same.
I think all those above are better than Clark. I see Clark in the $2-$2.5M/year range. I think $3.5M is well overpriced.
I’m not sure why everybody is so concerned about Finger and Sauer. They have limitations, obviously, but that’s because they’re not top pairing d-men. They’re both second or third pairing guys.
Their limitations became a burden to the team when Coach Q tried to play them against the top offensive lines of other teams. Finger and Sauer I would definitely keep, but only if the Avs can acquire (through trade, UFA signing or whatever) somebody who can reasonably be considered a top blueliner.
jibs, I’ve got an article on this somewhere (I think MHH) from back when he signed the deal. Basically, $3.5 is about the market rate for Clark. In 07 he was the 29th highest-scoring defenseman. This year, he was behind his pace, but still projected out to the 45th highest scorer.
as of right now, Clark will be the 45th highest paid D-man next year, and he’ll certainly drop into the 50s when free agency is over. I know that D-men are paid for more for their offense, but Clark is no slouch in his own end either.
To me, the issue is not that Clark makes $3.5 million, but that the market for, shall we say, slightly-above-average defensemen is as high as it is.
So We can get 2 Kyle Cumiskeys? do we really need 2? The one we have under contract should be enough right?
Another way to look at it… (hope this formatting looks right)
Leopold Salei
Clark Hannan
|
Cumiskey
I don’t think anyone believes that Cumiskey is ready to take a regular NHL shift quite yet, although the Detroit series points to a big need for more mobile, puck moving defensemen. If Foote is a forgone conclusion to come back then the right side is sealed up with Clark, Leopold and Foote. So that puts Finger and Liles as redundant resources on that side. Now, I understand that defensemen can and do adjust to playing on different sides of the ice. But it’s very, very tough to do unless you make that adjustment early in the year and even then it’s not a comfortable position for a lot of D.
Anyway, I think Sakic plays a big role in this. God forbid that the man retires. If he does, I think FG saves money by letting Liles go, and makes a run at Hossa and Rolston. Sauer is cheap and can fit right in to that left side defenseman without too much trouble. Finger on a dollar for dollar comparison is simply a better upside player than Sauer. He offers scoring and toughness. If Liles goes then does the backline need more scoring when they have Salei, Clark and Leopold? I want Finger back personally but I wouldn’t be too suprised to see him and Liles out the door.
My preference:
Foote Salei
Clark Hannan
Leopold Finger (or reverse them depending on who can better adapt to switching sides)
Use Cumiskey has your 7th.
Of course, the formatting didn’t work but I think you get the point.
Our D is really up in the air so I am not making guesses. I do know that the Avs really missed Clark and his skating/transition passes against Detroit.
Jibbles, all those names you through out don’t really drive home a point I can see. Kronwall and Burns are up and comers who signed a contract before breaking out. Reghar is making 4. These guys are going to get raises after their contracts are up and would be set for more sooner if their contracts weren’t so long. Clark is at his cash in his big contract phase already.
Zubov is a hell of a bargain as is at 4 and has an extension for 5.350 about to kick in.
Clark is right at fair market value, and if his is paired with the right guy his game is excellent, not just good.
When I mentioned Kronwall and Burns i took their extension into account. Kronwall is actually at 1.25M and about to go to between 3-3.5. Same with Burns.
I also said “about the same” as in ± 1/2 M
But i agree that the Avs did miss his skating ability in the Red Wings series. The defense looked incredibly statuesque.
“So We can get 2 Kyle Cumiskeys? do we really need 2? The one we have under contract should be enough right?”
I’ve been working on some new templates to put in those links automagically, and I missed one in the copy and pasting. fixed!
“Anyway, I think Sakic plays a big role in this. God forbid that the man retires. If he does, I think FG saves money by letting Liles go, and makes a run at Hossa and Rolston.”
preferably Rolston, but yeah I agree with this.
while I agree this team missed Clark and his puck-possession ability a lot against Detroit, I’m not sure that the personnel had as much effect on the losses as the shockingly poor matchup between our system and Detroit’s.
Obviously we have too many D for this to happen, but bringing back the same crew next year would not surprise or disappoint me. It’s the system (and coach[es])that need to change more than our D. I really think this could be a SC defense with a better system and the Theo from Minnesota. Especially if they can convince Liles to come back and then jettison both Finger and Sauer, as unlikely as that is.
In my opinion, the Avs should definitely re-sign Finger. I think Clark is underrated, but I do agree with Jibble, he is making a bit too much, but oh well, we can’t change that. We definitely have to get Foote back on board, Kizsla (or Frei, not sure) wrote that Foote will be back next season with a hometown discount, so that helps. I also think it’s time to let Cumiskey be a regular player. I think he’s old enough, let him play. That pretty much makes Liles expendable, but Liles played extremely well after the deadline, if he keeps that level of play up, then I definitely want him back. It’s a tough choice to make here.
Personally, I just don’t see us acquiring any new defensemen, except for maybe some back-up minor-leaguers, in case the plague hits again. We could certainly use a bomb from the point to help out the PP, but who would provide that out of the UFAs? Streit, Campbell and Redden are more puck-moving guys, and I don’t know much about Rozsival or Stuart. Jay Bouwmeester is a realy beast, but I think he’ll want a lot and we won’t be able to offer him too much. I think we have enough on defense, we just have to sort out who to keep and who to let go. While we could use some help, I just really don’t see us signing any of those UFAs. It’s going to be hard to decide that though.
Oh, I just noticed Paul Mara is a UFA, his slapper is very good, now there’s an option that would be a lot cheaper than those other guys, but it would provide us with what we need most–a bomb from the point. Wow, it’s gonna be a intriguing offseason lol.
I like Rozsival. He takes a bad penalty or two, and he can have give aways, but he seems to have a good shot from the point. His passing isn’t horrible but there’s definitely the occasional WTF was that moment
I think that if Sakic does not return we will NOT sign or even go after any big names for forwards. With all the young talent coming up in our forward postion I can easily see re-signing Foote and Liles and then taking up until the trade deadline to determine how the young guns with consistently play. And I vote for Thoe to be shipped out and maybe Budiaj as well, go after a for sure starter in goal and have Wieman as an occasional back up…no more goalie by commmitee!
I’m not a hockey x’s and o’s guy, but I believe the lack of a point shot really hurt the Avs this season. Their power play unit started to pick up a little bit in the second half, but from what I saw it was attributed mostly to Salei’s shots from the blue line. As much as I love the Salei acquisition, I don’t consider him the big gun out there and is maybe above-average at best with his shot. I certainly miss the days when the Avs would plant Blake in the center of the blue line and play a 1-3-1. It seemed like teams were packing it in against us while we unsuccessfully tried to make complicated passes between the forwards around the net. Smyth is one of the best in the biz in front of the goaltender, and I thought he was grossly underutilized in that role. As awful as his defense is, I was hoping they would have signed Souray to provide that but they went Hannan instead (I still think that’s a questionable move to this day).
I agree that Hannan hasn’t been worth his contract. I wonder if there would be any chance in hell of them moving Hannan in a trade and using the cabbage saved to land Campbell? Heck, move Hannan and Clark, if possible, then sign Footer, Liles, Finger and Campbell and add them to Salei, Leoprone and Cumiskey. And yes, I’m a Finger guy over Sauer. I soured on him during the RW series.
You soured on Sauer =) Classic!