Trade Target: Ross Colton

[Phil]

Quote

8. Ross Colton
Center, Colorado Avalanche
Age: 27
Stats: 80 GP, 17 G, 23 A, 40 Pts
Contract: 3 years remaining, $4 million AAV
Scoop: It was less than one calendar year ago, June 28, that the Avs acquired Colton as a cap casualty from the Tampa Bay Lightning. Now, one year later, Colton could be the same for the Avalanche. Colton is coming off a career-best 40-point season, too. It’s just that Colorado has so many hurdles to clear on the cap this summer that Colton may be the odd man out. They have to clear space for Gabriel Landeskog to be activated at some point next season. They aren’t sure about the status of Valeri Nichushkin, who is in Stage 3 of the Player Assistance program after a drug-related issue during the playoffs for the second year in a row. And they’ve also prioritized the re-signing of Jonathan Drouin. The arrival of Casey Mittelstadt at center, who also needs a new deal, makes it easier to move Colton, who should have plenty of trade equity – but the Avs will have to act fast because Colton’s full ‘no-trade’ clause kicks in on July 1. He has no trade protection until then.

 

https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/colorados-ross-colton-joins-trade-targets-as-nhl-trade-market-heats-up

 

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We were discussing this in the Kane thread, but I'm moving it out/starting a new one because it's the summer and it's fun to speculate.

 

My suggestion is Kakko for Colton, one-for-one, and here's why I think it makes sense for both teams:

 

COL:

1. Kakko would have two fellow countrymen in Rantanen and Lehkonen
2. COL gains cap space (approximately $1.5M) — something they need more of to re-sign Mittelstadt and others
3. COL gains a trustworthy winger to back fill the Nichushkin void while they figure out what the future is with him
4. COL is an analytics-heavy FO. Kakko's underlying numbers are all very positive. They might believe they can unleash more.
5. Colton has no trade protection before July 1. He has a full NMC kicking in then, which makes moving him after that point significantly more difficult.

 

NYR:

1. Colton is a prick who makes you slightly better on paper, but plays a hard game designed for the playoffs.
2. The org apparently has long-term reservations with Chytil (per Mercogliano) — rigthfully — and could be in the market for a center this summer. Whether they move Chytil to wing or deal him entirely, Colton makes basically the same money for the same position.
3. It would break up the monotony of the first three lines. Right now, with Zib/Tro/Chytil as their centers, you're stuck creating a third line that's always going to be a facsimile of the first two lines. Soft skill only takes you so far. Brooks has been pounding the drum for a classic checking line for years. I'm with him on that. Colton helps there at the position you want to start with — center.
4. 

 

Yay? Nay? STFU Phil? Whatever, let's chat.

[Flynn]

 

I’ll help Kappo pack 

[RichieNextel305]

I would like this. He’s a prick. Hated him when he was with Tampa. He’s a local kid. Grew up a Devils fan who despised the Rangers. Would be funny to see him end up here because of that. I would do Kakko for Colton. Would Colorado? I’m not so sure.

Edited June 21 by RichieNextel305

[BrooksBurner]

I’m undecided. I can’t make this decision in a vacuum. I think it depends on what other moves are made.

[Phil]

2 minutes ago, BrooksBurner said:

I’m undecided. I can’t make this decision in a vacuum. I think it depends on what other moves are made.

 

Come on. Of all people, I expected you to be on board. I'm disappointed in you, Brooksie, and I better not read a fuckin' article about this tomorrow.

[siddious]

I mean literally always “stfu Phil”

 

but I dunno 4mil and his best year was 40 pts… 

if you’re swapping him straight up for chytil than I guess so but I dunno why Colorado would do that. 

[RichieNextel305]

It’s why I’m not fully opposed to someone like Kane up top. If you can bulk up and get more physical elsewhere, you can afford it. Colton makes more than Kakko, so you’re adding salary there (roughly $1.6M). If we’re doing stuff like this, we’re not going to be able to afford a ton. Kane won’t be free. But I do think he would still come here cheaper than other places because I do think he would like to give us himself at full strength.

[BrooksBurner]

6 minutes ago, Phil said:

 

Come on. Of all people, I expected you to be on board. I'm disappointed in you, Brooksie, and I better not read a fuckin' article about this tomorrow.

 

 

I want to be. I'm just pretty dead set that one of the core forwards has got to go or it feels pointless.

 

If you saw my hypothetical top 6 earlier where we added Guentzel and Bertuzzi, I would cream my pants at the prospect of Colton instead of Kakko on the 3rd. But if all else remains the same, I kinda think I'd rather see what 24-25 year old Kakko looks like instead of slapping lipstick on the pig

[Pete]

22 minutes ago, BrooksBurner said:

I'm just pretty dead set that one of the core forwards has got to go or it feels pointless.

[BrooksBurner]

3 minutes ago, Pete said:

 

[RangersIn7]

11 hours ago, BrooksBurner said:

 

 

I want to be. I'm just pretty dead set that one of the core forwards has got to go or it feels pointless.

 

If you saw my hypothetical top 6 earlier where we added Guentzel and Bertuzzi, I would cream my pants at the prospect of Colton instead of Kakko on the 3rd. But if all else remains the same, I kinda think I'd rather see what 24-25 year old Kakko looks like instead of slapping lipstick on the pig

Does one of the core forwards need to go if they were to, hypothetically, add a true top-6 RW?

 

 

[Br4d]

2 minutes ago, RangersIn7 said:

Does one of the core forwards need to go if they were to, hypothetically, add a true top-6 RW?

 

 

 

The question is which of the top 6 forwards right now steps up in the post-season when the competition gets tougher and more physical?

 

Based on the evidence those are Trocheck, Kreider and Laf.

 

The guys who play the same game they do in the regular season are Panarin and Zibanejad and of course there is no acceptable #2RW at this so effectively half of the Ranger's top 6 goes missing when the play gets tight and physical.

 

The guy who really needs to go is Panarin but Zibanejad would also change the character of the top 6.

[Pete]

1 minute ago, Br4d said:

 

The question is which of the top 6 forwards right now steps up in the post-season when the competition gets tougher and more physical?

 

Based on the evidence those are Trocheck, Kreider and Laf.

 

The guys who play the same game they do in the regular season are Panarin and Zibanejad and of course there is no acceptable #2RW at this so effectively half of the Ranger's top 6 goes missing when the play gets tight and physical.

 

The guy who really needs to go is Panarin but Zibanejad would also change the character of the top 6.

Not only does Kreider belong in the same bucket with Zib and Panarin (most of Zibs issues start with Krieder being a passenger), But he is the easiest to trade and will get you the most back.

[siddious]

21 minutes ago, Pete said:

Not only does Kreider belong in the same bucket with Zib and Panarin (most of Zibs issues start with Krieder being a passenger), But he is the easiest to trade and will get you the most back.

Kreider has his faults no doubt but man from a fan perspective it would really suck to see him traded. 

[BrooksBurner]

45 minutes ago, RangersIn7 said:

Does one of the core forwards need to go if they were to, hypothetically, add a true top-6 RW?

 

 

Yes. You won’t win a Cup with your top two paid forwards shrinking.

[Pete]

2 minutes ago, siddious said:

Kreider has his faults no doubt but man from a fan perspective it would really suck to see him traded. 

Kreider and Igor...nobody wants to see them traded. But it just makes too much sense if you really want to see real change. 

 

Kreider is tremendous value for his contract. But he's also the face of a losing culture, would shake the locker room if moved, and you can probably get a haul and not even retain. 

 

Igor is a world class goalie, but nobody wants to pay your goalie 12 plus million. 

 

These ideas that you can remove players with NMCs by snapping your fingers and not take back money or retention are just pipe dreams. Those ideas can't be taken seriously. 

 

And at the point that you're retaining money on Mika or Panarin, there's no point. You'll have dead cap, and the player you're paying to replace them is unlikely to produce at the same clip. It's removing them for the sake of removing them and it doesn't actually make the team better. 

[Ozzy]

At the end of the day, I think we're running this back one more year with Kreider and the cast we have aboard right now.

 

I do however think this trade deadline coming up next March is going to be EXTREMELY active.  If we're not a serious contender, or show signs that we're not gonna make the playoffs, I can see a lot of heads rolling out the door, starting with Igor and most likely Kreider.

[BrooksBurner]

There’s two distinct routes here as it relates to trading one of the 3 top forwards.

 

Route 1) trade Panarin or Zib. You can build a better playoff roster using their cap space on others, with the possible expense of a few fancy wins between October and March.

 

Route 2) trade Kreider. You cannot build a better playoff roster by trading Kreider. His cap hit isn’t large enough, and he consistently outproduces and outscores his contract value. Trading him also doesn’t make the two highest paid forwards magically perform in the playoffs. This route is forward looking, and you can stick a fork in the team competing for now.

Drury needs to be flexible to take either route, because the two players with NMCs in route 1 may not give him a choice. Round 2 is also perfectly reasonable.

[Pete]

10 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

At the end of the day, I think we're running this back one more year with Kreider and the cast we have aboard right now.

 

I do however think this trade deadline coming up next March is going to be EXTREMELY active.  If we're not a serious contender, or show signs that we're not gonna make the playoffs, I can see a lot of heads rolling out the door, starting with Igor and most likely Kreider.

Oh wait, we have to watch the same team who was the best regular season team and made it to the Eastern conference final, with slight improvements through player progression and free agency?

 

[RangersIn7]

1 hour ago, Br4d said:

 

The question is which of the top 6 forwards right now steps up in the post-season when the competition gets tougher and more physical?

 

Based on the evidence those are Trocheck, Kreider and Laf.

 

The guys who play the same game they do in the regular season are Panarin and Zibanejad and of course there is no acceptable #2RW at this so effectively half of the Ranger's top 6 goes missing when the play gets tight and physical.

 

The guy who really needs to go is Panarin but Zibanejad would also change the character of the top 6.

Except it’s highly unlikely you could move either of them… and if you could, does the asset you could bring back actually improve the team?

[Ozzy]

1 hour ago, Pete said:

Oh wait, we have to watch the same team who was the best regular season team and made it to the Eastern conference final, with slight improvements through player progression and free agency?

 

 

I know....Travesty that it is!! 

 

I honestly really liked the chemistry this team had this season....even with Trouba.  He had a stretch where he was also playing good hockey.  This is a really solid team.  Does it have a few cracks in the armor?  maybe...but not many!

 

A couple of changes and maybe a little tweaking of the roster on that topic of Top 6 RW and we're right back!