Avs Weekly Mailbag: Makar, Ryan Graves contract, which Avs player can play James Bond, and more

Welcome to the weekly Avs mailbag, where we answer whatever Avs questions you have on your mind. If you have any questions for the mailbag, leave them for Evan Rawal on twitter or respond in the comments.

I understand that Cale Makar is the darling of Avs Twitter this year. But. Objectively speaking, would the Avs be a better team RIGHT NOW if he had come out of college after his FR year? Would the extra year of pro experience have made him, and, in turn, this year's team, better?

— Dan Winkler (@Jhondeaux) January 13, 2020

This is obviously a completely hypothetical question, as there’s no real way of knowing, but my gut feeling on this one is…no. Makar had a decent Freshman year at UMass, but it wasn’t anything that set the world on fire. 21 points in 34 games isn’t bad at all. Going from the AJHL, to the NCAA, to the NHL all in a span of 18 months seems like a real stretch to me, so my assumption would have been he’d played a good portion of the year in the AHL. I really don’t think that would have accelerated his development all that much.

As we’ve seen even this year with guys like Timmins and Bowers, even if you are a top prospect, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to get thrown onto the top line, top power play, and top penalty killing unit immediately. By staying another year at UMass, Makar was able to basically be “the guy”, which I think helped tremendously with his development and confidence. He carried that over into the playoff run last season, and into this year.

If anything, my gut tells me that Makar coming out a year early may have made him a little bit better defensively, but not as dynamic offensively right away. I think the way everything turned out was for the best.

Think Avs try and extend graves?

— FocoDadof3 (@FocoDadof3) January 13, 2020

They definitely will in the summer. If you’re Ryan Graves’ agent, why would you sign any extension right now? I have no idea if the Avs have tried to talk to his agent, but if I was him, I’d sure wait. Graves is arbitration-eligible, so even if nothing gets done in the summer, he’s setting himself up for a nice payday because the numbers he’s putting up are going to look good in an arbitration battle.

I have seen some reference to the Nick Holden contract back in Roy’s days, which was a three-year deal at 1.65M per year in cap hit. Given how much the salary cap has changed since then, I don’t think that’s going to get it done at all. I look back to Patrik Nemeth’s last contract with the Avs. He didn’t produce offensively, but his big sticking point was his penalty killing ability and Altitude’s favorite stat: Plus/Minus. He was a +27 the year before and was ready to go to arbitration before the Avs settled on a one year deal at 2.5M. I think that might be the bare minimum starting point for Graves’ agent, given his production. Heck, his agent may even point out Zadorov making 3.2M this season coming off a 14-point season.

It’s hard to score goals as a defenseman. Graves already has eight this year, and he’s doing it with zero power playtime. If he comes anywhere close to 30 points, his agent is going to doing backflips this summer. The contract will obviously depend on term, but the Avs like Graves (Bednar is a big fan) and he will definitely be extended. The price will likely be a point of discussion all summer long.

https://twitter.com/hammer_db/status/1216514921355186176?s=20

Since these questions came through, I’ve thought about it far too much. Daniel Craig has changed everything, as no one thought you could have a “blonde Bond” before him, but he’s worked out just fine. The easy answer is to default to Gabriel Landeskog, as he’s got the looks, build, and charisma to pull it off…but I’m not going to do that.

After thinking about it, I have to go with the guy we were just talking about in Ryan Graves. He’s tall, he’s big, the ladies love him, and he’s got the dark hair that Bond fans seem to prefer. Beyond him, the two other guys on the team that came to mind for me were Mark Barberio and Tyson Jost.

As for the bad guy, Zadorov would not be my first choice. He strikes me more as Moonraker Jaws (goofy and not as scary) compared to Spy Who Loved Me Jaws (Horrifying). My initial reaction was Erik Johnson. He seems like he’s got some evil to him, and could definitely be the evil mastermind behind everything. His top henchmen? That’s easy. Valeri Nichushkin. He doesn’t talk, he’s massive, and he’s Russian. You’re not going to mess with him. Ian Cole would the evil mad scientist they enlist for help.

https://twitter.com/McNicholsports/status/1216515488781676544?s=20

I think it would be acceptable because all you have to do in the NHL is get into the playoffs and go from there. That being said, it would be a disappointment given how the year has started and the organization is aiming higher. The goal right now should be home-ice advantage in the first round, at the very least.

Top Bands besides Tool?

— Nathan Rudolph (@DNVR_Rudo) January 13, 2020

My number one has always been Pearl Jam. I own far too many of their bootlegs to count, and they’ve been my top band for almost 20 years now. The new album and tour announcement has got me hyped. After that, Tool, The Gaslight Anthem (and Brian Fallon), Rise Against, and Ben Harper are up there. I read an article a few years back that said the average person basically stops looking for new music around 30 years old, and that essentially describes me.

Looking to the years ahead – what year do you think Avs will be at their peak?

— Aaron Halvorsen (@aaronmhalvorsen) January 19, 2020

The way things are going at the moment, I think they’re in their window right now, and the next two seasons after this are likely to be their peak. Really, as long as they have MacKinnon on that sweetheart deal, they’ll be fine, but once we start getting into Makar’s massive extension, Kadri’s deal expiring, and guys like Landeskog and EJ start to get older, that’s when things will get tricky. They’ve had their ups and downs this year, but if you look at the Western Conference at the moment, I would have them right up there with St. Louis as the top team, so we’re at the beginning of the peak here.

Would you rather fight 1 Zadorov sized Calvert or 2 Calvert sized Zadorovs?

— Gary (@smooflay) January 19, 2020

First of all, what the heck? Second, give me one Zadorov sized Calvert any day of the week. Matt Calvert is a bull in a china shop, so to have to face two large versions of him would be the death of me.