Colorado Avalanche
Evan’s NHL Daily: Marner The Odd Man Out in Toronto? Avalanche Trade Bait

It’s only been a few days since the Toronto Maple Leafs were eliminated from the NHL playoffs, but the speculation has begun on who gets moved. A prominent insider hinted at who they think might be the one that gets shipped out.
It’s still quiet around the Colorado Avalanche, but we took a look at what assets they have to use in a trade this off-season, if they choose to do so.
All that and more in this edition of Evan’s Daily.
Colorado Hockey Now
With a very weak free agency class, the Avalanche may have to look to the trade market to improve this summer. But you have to give to get, and trades over the last few years have left them short on assets. So what do they have left to trade? We took a look at that yesterday.
Bowen Byram is only 21, extremely talented, and scored at a nearly 20 goal pace last year. But his underlying numbers aren’t that impressive, and he has yet to stay healthy over the course of a full season. We took a look back at his season yesterday.
NHL Trade Chatter
There will obviously be changes to the Toronto Maple Leafs. They’ve underperformed in the playoffs and even after making it past the first round this season, fell pretty easily to the Florida Panthers.
So who takes the fall? The head coach might. That remains to be seen. Earlier this week, some wondered if William Nylander was the odd-man out in the core group of players. Yesterday, reporter Chris Johnston hinted that it might be a much bigger name with a much bigger price tag.
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Mitch Marner’s cap hit is nearly $11 million for two more years, and not many teams in the NHL will be able to take that on. But if they move Marner, that’s a big change, and sends a message to the rest of that locker room.
And no, I don’t think the Avalanche should get involved. Marner is a fantastic player, but that cap hit would be a tough one to work around.
National Hockey Now
BNH: Hampus Lindholm had a tremendous year, but was a shell of himself in the postseason. There may be a reason why.
SJHN: Could the Coyotes be moving to Sacramento?
Philly: The Flyers have a new President in Keith Jones, but he’s finishing his gig at TNT first.
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What a huge top 6 and PP the Avs would have with Marner included. WIth a $10m cap hit and the loss of a large amount of assets to get him, the Avs would be left with a bottom 6 and half a defense of AHL’ers. We have seen how having one huge line and no support gets you.
Well stated. It is relatively easy to identify the teams that have been successful in the playoffs. They have a pretty solid roster of hustlers top to bottom and don’t have most of their salary cap invested in only 3 or 4 star players. I watched quite a few of Toronto’s playoff games this year and don’t remember Marner’s name coming up on a frequent basis. Obtaining one more “star” player for a large chunk of available cap funds is not a direction the Av’s should head.
Marner is not going anywhere. It’s the same for Girard. It is only to sell the copy.
Evan, is there any projection available about how the cap will grow after the 2023-2024 season ? And is 83,5M as cap space is something “sealed” heanding to next season ?
The early talk last year was about the cap going up $4M for 2024, but I wouldn’t count on that until something is confirmed.
Thank you ! Merci! Maybe with a cap at 87M, there will be less complication to renew Mikko’s contract.