What The Avs Should Do In The Offseason

To all the snarks out there that take our headlines to literally (See: various @ mentions after failed defensemen/Seth Jones article) these are just ideas. No, we do not mean the Avs should do everything we list below this offseason. We just figured “What the Avs Should Do This Offseason” sounded better than “A list of available players and unavailable players that the Avs should potentially go for, but don’t worry, we don’t want them to make all of these moves because, c’mon that would tear the team up and it would be unfeasible with cap restrictions, so these are just some fun ideas”. That didn’t fit in the title box. So here it is:

On Defense:

If the Avs draft Seth Jones, no, it will not magically solve their defensive woes. Jones has never played a pro game and just his mere presence next season won’t drastically improve the team on the back end. So the Avs still need help.

Trade/release/buy out Greg Zanon. Zanon makes 2.25 million against the cap and for his services, that is Ludacris. Wow. Autocorrect just auto-capitalized “ludacris” for some reason. I don’t even like rap. Anyways, even if the Avs D roster stays the same after Jones is drafted, he will be scratched often. So getting rid of him, preferably for a late draft pick, is a good idea. Buying him out is always an option.

Get rid of Shane O’Brien. Yes he is a heart and soul guy, but he barely played last year and again won’t get much ice time this year unless he really improves his game. With the emergence of Stefan Elliott, he is expendable.

Matt Hunwick: Sorry Hunwick, but you just aren’t very useful on a team like the Avs. Time to go.

So say the Avs draft Jones and let a few of the guys go above. They’ll still need to fill a roster spot or two. So who do they get?

Mark Streit: He is likely done in Long Island, and as a UFA the Avs could snag him up. He scored more point than any other Avs dman and had more goals (6) than all of the Avs blueline combined last year. He’s 35 so he can provide some veteran leadership to the young guys, and the Avs could probably get him at a reasonable price.

Ryan Whitney from Edmonton still has some value and it isn’t likely Scuderi will be resigned in LA. Joe Corvo and Ben Lovejoy would also shore up the back end a little tighter.

The Avs could pretty much gut their entire blueline with the exception of EJ, Barrie, and Elliott, and they would be better off than with what they dealt with this year. Now let’s look at some forwards. This will be fun.

Get rid of: Kobasew, Bordaleau, Vincour, Malone, and let Hejduk retire. If this all were to happen, they would still be left with 11 forwards on their roster with no big prospects vying for spots. So the Avs would need to get at least 3 guys. So let’s look at the free agent market shall we?

David Clarkson. Yes we hate him too but at 29, the Avs need a guy like him night in and night out. 3^rd line wing? Heck yes.

Matt Cooke: Cooke would add a dynamic no just kidding.

Brad Boyes: Hear us out. Boyes would add some sandpaper and some scoring touch to the third line, and Coach Roy would find ways for him to be effective.

Michael Ryder. Imagine Ryder flying down the wing with Duchene or Parenteau in his wake waiting for a pass. Yea, looks good doesn’t it?

So we’ve looked at who to let go and free agency pickups. And we aren’t going to talk trades because speculating those are just tired and pointless. See worst Twitter account ever @HockeyyInsiderr. No actually, you probably shouldn’t do that.