For as much as we've ripped on him for being an accountant, we owe him some thanks for the great moves he has pulled.
Dating back to last season:
O'Bryne for a pick and prospect (bournival) who might never make it
Hunwick (who has played well this season) for Cohen who looks like he is struggling in the AHL
Flash for Hannan good trade for both teams
Johnson, McClement, Seimens for Stewart, Shattenkirk, Rattie, I'd call this one a wash Shattenkirk and Johnson are both playing well, McClement has been every bit as valuable to us and Stewart has been to them and each team got a solid prospect. Not a terrible deal just a balanced trade that helped both teams.
then this year:
Varly for 1st and 2nd if Varly can maintain how he has played since
Jan. I'm all for giving up a 1st because Varly can be a #1 and is 23. Not a bad trade like everyone was saying at the beginning of the season. Especially if the 1st doesn't do much which is possible as this is quickly becoming a rather weak draft and a mid first might not be as good as people thought, people put way too much stock in picks.
Dowine for Quincey total win for us, Quincey based off his comments didn't want to be here, Downie has been real solid.
McGinn and 2 interesting prospects for Gali, Winnik and a 7th, well considering McGinn has 9pts in 7games and Gali and Winnik have combined for 1 assist and a benching, I'd say we won this one. Plus we get a guy who is tearing up the OHL and a guy who has played well in his first AHL season.
You can even go further back and look at the Mueller and Porter for Wolski trade, everyone thought we got fleeced but now that Mueller is healthy that is looking better everyday.
Sherman deserves a bunch of credit for finding some great deals.
For as much as we've ripped on him for being an accountant, we owe him some thanks for the great moves he has pulled.
Dating back to last season:
O'Bryne for a pick and prospect (bournival) who might never make it
Hunwick (who has played well this season) for Cohen who looks like he is struggling in the AHL
Flash for Hannan good trade for both teams
Johnson, McClement, Seimens for Stewart, Shattenkirk, Rattie, I'd call this one a wash Shattenkirk and Johnson are both playing well, McClement has been every bit as valuable to us and Stewart has been to them and each team got a solid prospect. Not a terrible deal just a balanced trade that helped both teams.
then this year:
Varly for 1st and 2nd if Varly can maintain how he has played since
Jan. I'm all for giving up a 1st because Varly can be a #1 and is 23. Not a bad trade like everyone was saying at the beginning of the season. Especially if the 1st doesn't do much which is possible as this is quickly becoming a rather weak draft and a mid first might not be as good as people thought, people put way too much stock in picks.
Dowine for Quincey total win for us, Quincey based off his comments didn't want to be here, Downie has been real solid.
McGinn and 2 interesting prospects for Gali, Winnik and a 7th, well considering McGinn has 9pts in 7games and Gali and Winnik have combined for 1 assist and a benching, I'd say we won this one. Plus we get a guy who is tearing up the OHL and a guy who has played well in his first AHL season.
You can even go further back and look at the Mueller and Porter for Wolski trade, everyone thought we got fleeced but now that Mueller is healthy that is looking better everyday.
Sherman deserves a bunch of credit for finding some great deals.
This is pretty spot on and him and Pracey have had some stellar drafts
Gotta give credit when it's due. I was superpissed when we traded Stewart and Shattenkirk for Johnson and McClement. To be honest I didn't have much knowledge about Johnson or McClement before they came to Colorado, but it looks like we made pretty darn good deal here. McClement has really made our 3-4 line much better, his face-off skills and defensive play in shorthanded situations has been great for us. Johnson had #1 potential, I mean, basically he's our #1 defenseman already, so he's panning out also. Everything is going just like Sherman planned. Even Varlamov has turned on his beast-mode and soon this team will be unstoppable(jinx, knock on wood..).
Anyway, happy to see how Sherman re-build this team in couple years. Couple years ago we had terrible prospects, overall pretty old team and basically we had no chance to win Stanley Cup, If we are realists. Now Avalanche's future is looking VERY VERY bright. I'll be surprised If this team hasn't won anything in next 5 years. This team will be so awesome to watch next 5-10 years, that I am so excited.. Even though we might miss the playoffs this year, but I don't give a ****. It's not really our time yet, youngsters are getting better and older, by time we are going to have our window and most likely with this character on this team, skill and other stuff, we are going all the way at some point!!!
Bournival could become a capable 3rd liner. Not a heavy price to pay for O'Byrne.
The Flash trade would've looked even better had he not had his health problems for we probably would've re-signed him. Can't blame Sherman for that.
With regards to Varly, it's not that people put too much stock in picks but the question is if the Avs significantly overpaid to get an unproven goalie. Kipper was acquired for a 2nd rounder. Brzgalov was waived and claimed by the Coyotes, who then traded him to Philly for a depth forward and a 3rd rounder. Luongo was acquired via a broken Bertuzzi, backup goalie, and a bottom six d-man. Hasek was acquired by the Sabres for Stephane Beauregard and a 4th round draft pick that turned out to be Eric Daze. Tim Thomas signed with the Bruins. The point is that most teams haven't given that much for a legit starter during the off-season largely because of the risk involved. If Varly turns out to be a legit starting goalie over the next few seasons, then it's a pretty fair cost. Otherwise, if he is inconsistent and we're forced to constantly look for alternatives (like when we had Aebischer) then it looks very costly, because we could've drafted another solid mid-first rounder like Chris Stewart or Kevin Shattenkirk. While there is always a risk that the mid-first rounder might turn out to be nothing, I'd say that the Avs have actually done a decent job of drafting in the first few rounds. And if you don't have a first rounder, you can't roll the dice at all.
I watched Bournival play couple days ago and he looked like the second coming of ROR. Now I don't think Avs would trade another ROR, but Bournival is going to be a really good player. Not first line talent, but 2nd/3rd liner, better defensively (less offensive talent) version of Mike Fisher.
The test for Sherm this summer will be getting a #2 defenceman and how he handles our RFAs/UFAs.
I'm worried about this CBA nonsense now. Hopefully the avs work with an internal cap. Obviously spending more than this year, but maybe only to 60 million or something? Even if the cap goes to 70-72.
May not be a huge amount of room for a big FA with all of our re-signings and their pay raises. So I don't have high hopes of a Suter/Weber pickup
I watched Bournival play couple days ago and he looked like the second coming of ROR. Now I don't think Avs would trade another ROR, but Bournival is going to be a really good player. Not first line talent, but 2nd/3rd liner, better defensively (less offensive talent) version of Mike Fisher.
Good for him--the Avs did after all trade up in that round to get him as I recall, so the scouts must've seen something they really liked, and as we know our scouts are pretty good. I hope he pans out for Montreal, frankly I could see him fitting in well on that squad with guys like Plekanec and Desharnais.
On TSN's The Quiz they asked who was the best Trade Deadline pickup and the 4 options were Bishop, A.Kosititsyn, Downie and McGinn. Aaron Ward went with Bishop but Paul Maurice and Marc Crawford went with Downie. Also Craig Button talking about the Avs knowing what they were doing when they traded that 1st round pick for Sergei Varmalov.
Amazing job Mr.Sherman you are finally getting some love from the same station who seems to hate us for some reason.
Sherm's moves have definitely started to look better as time has gone on, and I think he had a steep learning curve to begin with, but it's started to come around.
The EJ deal is starting to look good for the Avs mostly because EJ is turning into what they thought he could be, and Stewart as been really inconsistent, while McLement is filling a much needed role.
No matter what people say, or how Varly turns out, he still overpaid by a lot for a goalie that was about 90% on his way to Russia and had injury and consistency problems. Varly is starting to play like hoped, and that first rounder is starting to look like good value for the Avs now, but that doesn't change what the value was at the time of the trade. Just that Sherm's gamble may be working out.
However, some of his other lesser deals that looked like poor value, I think are done because they put the emphasis on certain players and roles, instead of getting the best value. Even though Brian Elliott's value was lower than Anderson's at the time, they targeted a young promising goalie, and that's likely the best they could get with Anderson's value.
Same with Cohen. I think his value could have been better utilized in a package deal for something, but they targeted another offensive defenseman, likely because they planned on trading Liles either at the deadline or draft.
He does a lot of one for one deals like this, or basically one for one. Like Wolski for Mueller and Porter. Two struggling forwards for each other. Two struggling goalies for each other. An underachieving winger (Gali) and UFA pk specialist (Winnik) for an underachieving winger (McGinn) and a couple prospects.
My favorite under the radar moves though have been Bournival for O'Byrne, and a 4th for Winnik. Those two guys filled huge needs at the time, and he didn't lose big pieces that they needed. McGinn and Sgarbossa essentially for Gali and Winnik is starting to look like an absolute steal as well, and I think it will still look good if McGinn can keep up half the scoring pace he's at next year.
It's clear they have a definite plan in mind with their moves. They know they need to acquire certain types of players to build their team. A big physical defensive D in O'Byrne. A possible number one D like EJ. A young number one goalie that could be with the team a while in Varly. A feisty winger capable of playing on the top lines in Downie. A young physical offensive winger in McGinn.
The hockey group of Billington, Eric Lacroix and Sakic look to be evaluating players well, and Sherm has been making the right final decisions. Now they just need to continue their process and spend a little more money this summer, to fill the #2 D hole, and depending on if they lose Jones or not, they have to add another scoring winger.
It's unlikely but if Sherm can somehow get one or a miracle both Suter and Parise on fair contracts, he will be an outstanding GM in my book.
He's not one to sit on his hands when there's needs. I feel pretty confident we will get Suter or Parise.
"Pretty confident?" Really? I'm not even cautiously optimistic, nevermind pretty confident. I would love Suter, but will treat it as a shock if we get him since I don't expect it to happen whatsoever.
"Pretty confident?" Really? I'm not even cautiously optimistic, nevermind pretty confident. I would love Suter, but will treat it as a shock if we get him since I don't expect it to happen whatsoever.
Avalanche have a lot of spending room, Kroenke says he's committed to the Avalanche's cause, Sherman wouldn't trade away so many key assets if he wasn't committed to strengthening this team, this summer when he looks at our team he knows he has to go out and hit it big ... and I bet we get a blue chip wing/defender even if their name isn't Parise or Suter.
He does a lot of one for one deals like this, or basically one for one. Like Wolski for Mueller and Porter. Two struggling forwards for each other. Two struggling goalies for each other. An underachieving winger (Gali) and UFA pk specialist (Winnik) for an underachieving winger (McGinn) and a couple prospects.
I think McGinn was achieving this year, maybe even slightly overachieving. I am sure the Sharks had a hard time letting him go.
I think McGinn was achieving this year, maybe even slightly overachieving. I am sure the Sharks had a hard time letting him go.
I suppose thats somewhat true. He had been a bit frustrating consistency wise over his career for them though, and immediately prior to the trade he had one point, an assist, in the previous 7 games.
He's not one to sit on his hands when there's needs. I feel pretty confident we will get Suter or Parise.
I hope you're right.
Suter at 7 million would be steep but probably the best solution for our defense without having to give up loads of draft picks/roster players. With his IQ, shot, and positioning, our first pairing defense would be finally be solidified for the foreseeable future.
Suter at 7 million would be steep but probably the best solution for our defense without having to give up loads of draft picks/roster players. With his IQ, shot, and positioning, our first pairing defense would be finally be solidified for the foreseeable future.
Economics of Scarcity and Necessity.
We need a top line d-man. The market is almost non-existent for a top line d-man. Ryan Suter is the top guy therefore regardless of how good he is in relation to the rest of the NHL, in relation to the other free agents he's the top guy... Will more than likely get an 8 year deal worth close to $75 million from a team like the Islanders, Kings, or someone who is known to throw out massive contracts for free agents.
I hope Sherman can pull an Elway on this one and get our Manning.
Suter at 7 million would be steep but probably the best solution for our defense without having to give up loads of draft picks/roster players. With his IQ, shot, and positioning, our first pairing defense would be finally be solidified for the foreseeable future.
The affect he would have on the top pairing with EJ would be great, but it's also as significant that he would slot everybody else in their right spots.
You could keep Hejda and OB together as a great shutdown duo, and bring back Hunwick and O'Brien for the 3rd pairing, which they play great on.
O'Brien can simplify his game again instead of this one hand on the stick Bobby Orr routine, and Hunwick's aggressive play and holes in his game won't be exposed as they do when he plays with EJ.
The unit as a whole would become very, very strong.
Wilson could be the 6th/7th guy, and you would have Elliott, Barrie, and Gaunce as the first callups. That's how I would structure it at least.
