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And just like that, the Avs have a new starting goaltender. Alexandar Georgiev heads to Denver for what few draft picks the Avs have remaining. Colorado will not pick in this draft until the 6th and 7th rounds. The draft presser will be a pretty funny affair to watch with only two kids up there...assuming they even USE those picks.

Strickland reporting the Avs are close to an extension with Valeri Nichushkin. We'll see if they also re-up Naz. The one I'm concerned about is RFA Lehkonen, who could be offer sheeted come July 15th.

Joe Sakic promoted to President of Hockey Ops and Chris MacFarland named General Manager. Keeps MacFarland from getting poached.

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We all knew that was coming. MacFarland has pretty much been the "1B" GM for a long while now. A LOT of players and personnel with Columbus ties have made their way to Colorado because of him, including Jared Bednar. He also played a huge part in restarting Matt Duchene trade talks after they briefly stalled.

Joe gets his name on the Cup as the GM of record and he also gets to add the Jim Gregory award to a shelf that already has a Conn Smythe, Hart Trophy, and most importantly, the Lady Byng. Now if they end up having Team President of The Year award given out, he's now eligible.

First order of business is rather daunting for GMCM: Sign Valeri Nichushkin (and...maybe Nazem Kadri and Josh Manson) before Wednesday.

Also looks like a guy who played a key role in this championship run is going to test the market: Andre Burakovsky is likely going to snag good money in free agency, best of luck to him. Could be insanely frustrating to watch in stretches, but he came through when it mattered the most.

Georgiev gets a three year deal, Nichushkin gets eight.

I’m guessing Kadri will hit the market, and I can’t blame him.

Burakovsky’s agent said his client will also test the market.

Not a bad bit of business but I hope they get Lehkonen taken care of soon.

Oh and Nicolas Aube-Kubel was told he would not be receiving a qualifying offer from the team. His time with the team was short but he went from a bottom feeder that waived him to the eventual Stanley Cup champs, and not long after they won he got engaged to his Tik Tok superstar girlfriend. Life is good for him.

Au revoir, Nic. You’ll always be the dude who dented the Cup faster than anyone in hockey history.

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/18 ... ley-alcool

Apparently Sam Girard had his day with the Cup in his hometown of Roberval and was so wasted he couldn't finish an autograph session.

MacFarland brings back Nichushkin, Manson and Helm. Tidy work on the eve of free agency.

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And then Lehkonen. Impressed with the Avs...they have kept the right people and let the non-essentials go. Keeping themselves right in line for a repeat!

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Nice but I hope they’re not moving out Sammy G.

They also for some weird reason brought back goalie Jonas Johansson. Better than Hunter Miska I suppose.

Now we get to see what the Avs do to fill that Kadri-size hole in the lineup.

Rumor has it the Avs are waiting to clear salary room to re-sign Nazem Kadri.

No idea if or when it's going to happen, but it just so happens that J.T. Compher (final year on a deal that pays him $3.5 million) just had his day with the Stanley Cup. Erik Johnson (final year on a deal that pays him $6 million) has not yet had his. Sam Girard (five more years at $5 million AAV) has already celebrated with it. I really hope they're not looking to get rid of one of their best value contracts on the books just to re-up Kadri, but that's the prevailing narrative.

Some good stories coming from the Cup's travels. Jack Johnson's kids wanted to eat ice cream out of it, so he took them to a local Columbus confectionery and filled it up. Alex Newhook was signing an autograph when he learned the guy was getting it for his son who was in the hospital, so Newhook got up and took the Cup to where he was. And today, Jared Bednar took the Cup to his old haunts at the South Carolina Stingrays practice facility where he won the Kelly Cup as a player and a coach.

In some not great news, the two sides of the Altitude/Comcast/Dish standoff bumped proceedings to the summer. Well, they met again and...NOTHING HAPPENED.

https://www.cpr.org/2022/07/13/altitude ... ion-fails/

Like, come the fuck on already...this is ridiculous. We have a championship-winning hockey team and a contending basketball team where a sizeable portion of the local population can't watch the goddamned games.

I bet MLS is absolutely THRILLED that broadcast rights to Rapids games now belong to Apple TV. They've extracted themselves from this mess at least.

Oh and don't know if this means anything but someone on HF who claims to be in the know says that Chris MacFarland has been honest and up-front with the players, and one of them reportedly expects not to be with the team by the end of the day tomorrow.

So I'll guess we'll see around, Thursday, I guess?...if Kadri re-signs with the Avalanche.

Gimme gimme gimme Sam Girard.

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Gimme gimme gimme Nick Suzuki.

Thought of this the other night after hockey. Bergeron to replace Kadri. Can/should the Avs move Erik Johnson and give Bergeron a massive one-year deal?

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Thanks Chuck, E.L. and Harmy!

Hey! Get out of here with that!

One team at a time!

You know all personal feelings aside....that deal might work for everyone all the way around. Well except for Boston that is.

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I’d be thrilled beyond belief if that happened.

It would be an extremely bold short-term move with Mack cheap for just this year to see if they can repeat. Is Byram ready to shoulder a heavy load if they move Johnson?

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Thanks Chuck, E.L. and Harmy!

He can handle the workload easily all things being equal. He is at least a very good 2 or 3-spot defender. The question is whether he can stay healthy for a full season, which he unfortunately hasn’t proven yet.

The 32 Thoughts podcast touched upon the Nazem Kadri situation, sounded like it was the Islanders in the lead, and now I'm reading that it's all but a done deal.

Avs don't currently have anyone slotted for that 2C role except for some interim guys. J.T. Compher did more than okay in that role once Naz went down with injury but long-term he's not really well-suited for that. The other options are Alex Newhook and Mikko Rantanen, and both those guys are much better-suited to the wing.

Probably the best available option at this point would be Paul Stastny, who's still waiting around for someone to sign him. I feel like there's some bad blood there though. He's had multiple chances to come back after leaving for St. Louis and it's never come together. Obviously he's 36 and wasn't very fast to begin with, and Winnipeg used him more on the wing than at center. Also, my unabashed fandom of him took a huge hit when I learned he donated to the goddamned Canadian trucker convoy, or the Flu Trux Klan as others put it. I get it, most people in professional sports circles are either right-wing nutjobs or indifferent to that sort of thing but it bothers me nonetheless when I actually learn that one of these guys really is a MAGA hat-wearing dingus.

Anyway, if he got signed, I wouldn't be opposed to it, but I wouldn't be crazy about it. From a purely hockey standpoint, it wouldn't be a terrible idea as an interim measure at least until the deadline when you can reassess and look for possible replacements if he ain't cuttin' it.

Now, if rumors are true and the Avs trade for Patrick Kane, then I'm out. THAT is a bridge too far.