Whenever hockey resumes, the Avs will still be sitting pretty – now, and for years

Just like the back-nine at Castle Pines, Joe Sakic is driving this club up the middle of the fairway. By this I mean, the direction is clear and he’s clear of any hazard. Again, what do I mean? The way Joe Sakic is building this team IS THE RIGHT WAY. The patience and control shown to not overspend in free agency and make unnecessary trades is setting the Avalanche for what will be a looooong cup window.

If you look back at the league for several seasons now, many teams have ‘gone for it all’ in free agency and at the deadline, with very little success. The cost, of both, can sink you.

Hitting All The Fairways

The Avs can count themselves somewhat lucky. Much like Boston, and to an extent, Pittsburgh. For several seasons now, they’ve had star players that have had very team-friendly deals penned over the longer term. I mean, MacK was still a kid when he signed his six-year deal at just 8.8 percent of the cap, that deal is now arguably the best bargain in league. Sure it was relevant to performance-based numbers then, but you can’t help but think, did team MacKinnon push for a bridge-deal?

He could have signed at say two-years at five million per and been due a new deal coming off a coooool 97-point season at just 22. That would have been bonkers money. But by giving him that six-year deal, it’s already paying off. With three more seasons locked-in at what is 40 to 45 percent less than market value, that leaves wiggle room to both re-sign players and add depth around its stars. That gives you three more seasons of prime Mackinnon, Rantanen, Girard and Makar, as well as the rest of the good years of Landeskog and Kadri. Then you get blessed with the ELC’s of Byram, Newhook and Timmins’ all within two or three more seasons giving you, again, more flexibility. It’s a myriad of smart managerial moves, with a dash of just good old-fashioned luck.

Buying The Right Equipment

Next, let’s look at what the draft means to the Avalanche. Obviously being a bad team for some substantial time, the Avs were able to collect a slew of good draft picks and build the future from the ground up. The Avs have not traded away one first-rounder since Burnaby Joe took the helm. It can be a slow and frustrating process waiting for guys to live up to the hype, but patience is key. If you draft smartly and keep the talent coming, it’s hard to go wrong.

Some other teams have been trending in that direction, but have all seemed to fall for the trap in going for it all, perhaps too soon.

Warning! Hazards Are Closer Than They Appear

The Jets have done a good job of drafting and building around existing stars that were in place. Anytime you can draft players such as Laine, Connor, Scheifele, Ehlers and Trouba, you certainly have foundations for what should be a dominant team for seasons to come. Add in Big Dusty, Wheeler and potential Vezina man Hellebuyuck, what could go wrong? Well, they’ve made some pretty bad moves in terms of personnel changes for several seasons and have found themselves somewhat hog-tied to the cap more than once. For two seasons straight, GM Kevin Cheveldayoff spent valuable first-round picks in 2017 and 2018 on rentals, a well-used Stastny and Kevin Hayes. This resulted in nothing.

Now, the Jets have a blue-line that maybe the Idaho Steelheads could deploy (jokes) and real depth issues in its bottom forward lines. Sure, those potential draft picks need time to grow and develop, but those holes that need fixing next season and beyond could be in the works. They Ain’t. They’ve gone backward. They’ve got some really nice pieces. They just have nothing around them

Arizona, who have $81 million locked up in just 16 players next season, went and dished out a first and two good prospects for Taylor Hall. Were they ever good enough to even warrant such a go-for-broke deal? Nope. They’ve also aged rather quickly by acquiring more vets. Decent moves, but again, I’m not sure why. I get Tocchet and Kessel are buds, but he isn’t the same Hot Dog eating machine that he was two seasons ago. Yes they need bums on seats, but wouldn’t having a perennial contender for seasons to come do the exact same?

Time To Hole Out

With the whole COVID-19 thing throwing spanners, having that cap flexibility will be beneficial for season 20-21. Even with a bunch of prospects in the 2020 class looking NHL ready and a swagger of prospects knocking on the door this season across the world, with a predicted off-season shortening, these guys won’t have the time needed to take jobs in the bigs. We’ll see more rosters with less turnover as there just isn’t going to be much time to turn things over and/or around.

This is where that cap flex comes in. When you can fill holes with plug and play guys, much like Burakovsky or a Donskoi. That’s two-middle six guys injected straight into the line-up for basically seven million. Teams up against the cap ceiling, don’t get this luxury. They won’t be able to get good looks at prospects nor sign or trade for significant help. Stuck in the mud, or in this case, lost ball.

The Avs can still add this season, without significant loss. Some teams, well: FORE!