E.L. wrote:
The real wild card here is the futures COL got.
Kamenev has torn up the AHL for over two years and was just caught up in a logjam there. He'll go to Denver right away.
Girard is 19 and got off to a fast start. Easy to get excited about. Hope they don't give him too much pressure early on.
Bowers is basically like getting a lower first-round pick.
Hammond done. Just money moving hands.
3 picks should come in handy.
So no franchise altering player here, but Kamenev could become a no. 2 centre, Girard a top-4 and the 3 picks could turn into guys. So not bad.
I'm very interested to see what they do with Girard. Avs depth chart on D is surprisingly deep, though I'm reading now that rookie Anton Lindholm is hurt. That leaves them with 7th guys, and that 7th guy (Mironov) is probably KHL-bound here any day now. That leaves some really "meh" prospects and career AHLers on the farm, so I doubt Girard will have trouble cracking the top six.
Kamenev should be there though I'm guessing they're gonna wait at least until after the Sweden series trip. Avs have a surprising surplus of forwards as well, though they're banged up to hell. Bednar said right away that J.T. Compher is now the Avs' 2nd line center, which makes me wonder how close he is to returning. Apparently Tyson Jost is very close to returning as well.
Like what I'm reading about Bowers, sounds like a decent bottom six guy (looks like he's friggin' 12 though). For years, the Avs have seemingly been in DGAF mode when it comes to two-way and defensive forwards, something I've screamed about for a long time. They've made up for that in a big way the last year or so.