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Avs Monday Mailbag: Some guy named Landeskog, Newhook, EJ, and more

July 19, 2021

As a fan, what’s better- enticingly close to a championship multiple years in a row or a once in ten years Stanley cup, flanked by years of muddy mediocrity?

— Aaron Grady (@Gaspar5280) July 17, 2021

This one is pretty easy for me. The whole point of this league is to win a championship, right? Sure, you have to deal with some mediocrity for a little bit, but it’s very difficult to win in this league, and as a fan, to see a championship in your lifetime is something you never forget. Give me the dub rather than the tease.

Logan O’Connor – Thoughts on him for next season

— Chris (@Northpassage1) July 16, 2021

Barring an absolutely horrendous summer, training camp, and preseason, he’s a lock to be on the roster. The fourth line missed him down the stretch big time, and part of the reason they had to go and get a guy like Soderberg, who just didn’t fit, was because of LOC’s injury and unclear status in the playoffs.

Is Newhook going to be a mainstay in the line up this season? How well do you think his playoff audition went?

— Kevin (but, like, from Home Alone) (@PickleySpices) July 16, 2021

My understanding is that towards the end of the season, Newhook was told to “get comfortable” in Denver. I’d be surprised if he didn’t play the full year with the Avs next season, and considering the losses there may be to the forward core, they’re going to need a cheap, talented young forward like him to step in.

It’s tough to really say a lot about his playoff audition because he was put in a role that we know he won’t play in the future, but I thought he adapted well and played really smart, showing off his hockey IQ. It’s up to him to earn more ice time next season but sure looks like he’ll have that opportunity.

Say we loose Donsk in the Xdraft, and Saad in the UFAs, wich winger woul you love the avs to target via trade? via UFA? Or you push internal replacement with Newhook?

— Daniel (@PBurgundyNBlu) July 16, 2021

Tomas Tatar is an easy guy that I could see them targeting. There were rumblings the Avs were after him at the trade deadline just a year ago, and now they could potentially add him for free. Despite what happened in the playoffs with him being a healthy scratch, he still put up 30 points in 50 games for Montreal last year, and you could potentially target him on a short-term, cheaper deal.

Another guy the Avs were linked to last season was Mattias Janmark. It wouldn’t surprise me to see them circle back on him if he hits the market.

There will certainly have to be cheap, internal replacements due to the cap constraints, but the Avs will absolutely add at least one forward through UFA or trade before the season starts.

How likely it is to resign Landy, and if he doesn't resign how do we fill the hole he left

— Colors (@Colors_ful) July 16, 2021

Well, we might as well address the Landeskog situation here. As of right now, things don’t look great. The Avs have made offers to Landeskog, and have been told it’s not good enough at the moment. That doesn’t mean things can’t change, as it really just takes one phone call to get closer, but right now, things are iffy.

Every day we get closer to July 28, it gets less and less likely he is back. That’s just the reality of the situation. If you’re a pending unrestricted free agent, wouldn’t you be tempted to know what offers are out there? I know I would. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance. That’s why I would never bag on a player for taking the best offer they can get.

As fans, you think players should take a hometown discount, and I understand why, but the reality is that a guy like Landeskog is in the prime of his career, and has the chance to secure a massive contract that could set his family up forever. In the NHL, you’re lucky to get that opportunity, as you’re under team control for most of the prime of your career. If he takes the best offer out there and it’s not from the Avs, more power to him and he’s earned that right…but it would sting.

Replacing Landeskog? That’s not easy at all. We wouldn’t just be talking about replacing Landeskog on the ice, as you have to take into account the locker room as well. For years, players have raved to the media about the Avs having the best locker room they’ve ever been a part of. A big part of that is Landeskog. You don’t just replace that with a free agent or a trade acquisition.

My mentions have been littered with people talking about how anyone could play with MacKinnon and Rantanen and be successful. Certainly, anyone can put up points with those guys, but I think we would find out pretty quickly just how much heavy lifting Landy did on that line, and realize why it’s not *quite* as effective as it has been in prior years. I, for one, hope we don’t have to find out.

Say Grubauer falls through. Do you take Andersen on a 1 year prove it, Kuemper on a 1 year "rental", Vanecek on a 'hope he's legit'?

— pho goth (@ensign_ricky_) July 16, 2021

I’ll just be honest…none of these options sound at all appealing to me. Kuemper is a great goalie…but the guy cannot stay on the ice. A tandem of Kuemper/Francouz would scare the bejesus out of me, in the fact that either of them could snap in half at a moment’s notice and leave the Avs running with JoJo.

Andersen was a great goalie for years, but had a really bad year, and couldn’t have chosen a worse time to do it before hitting the market. Maybe he bounces back, maybe he doesn’t, but is that a risk a contender can really take?

I think there are always concerns committing to a goalie long-term at a big price, so if the Avs walk away from Grubauer, I can understand why…but the other options out there sure don’t give me a lot of hope. But I will say I just don’t trust a single goalie in the world, so maybe it’s a “me” problem.

Over/Under games EJ is healthy. Gonna throw the line at 40.5 games

— Fols 🇨🇦 (@Fols54) July 16, 2021

I’ll take the under on that one by a good bit, which is a shame because I’m one of the few who thinks EJ could really help this blue line now that he’s no longer needed to play 20+ minutes a night. There’s just a long track record of injuries and even at this point, no one really knows his health status going into next season.

https://twitter.com/KalebKurtz/status/1416152564836577283?s=20

My belief is the Avs have touched base with a lot of teams this offseason with a lot of big names. Not just Eichel, but Seth Jones, Dougie Hamilton, all of them. If there’s a way to get better, they’ve looked into it. It doesn’t mean it’s likely to happen, but they’ve touched base. Eichel would be a tough one to swing due to his contract and what it would take to acquire him, however.