Mile High Shocker: Avs Deal Captain Wheeler
2020-09-16When it comes to Kirklan Lycar and Martins Auzins, the two never stay too far out of touch. "He's basically on speed dial" Lycar jokes.
In what has been two of the larger trades of the EHE off season so far, the Avalanche and Rangers have now swapped names such as John Carlson and Blake Wheeler; Furthermore, a short half year ago they swapped John Tavares in a massive move, sending a slew of prospects back to Colorado.
"Moving out Blake was all about depth, adding depth to the organization. We are excited to have a pick in the first round, as well adding a decent prospect in Sean Durzi."
"It's Scheif's (Mark Scheifle) team now, we thought about a few different scenarios but ultimately felt now was the time to move Wheeler." The 34 year old has two years left on his contract and an 8 million dollar cap hit. Though he has remained quite productive, it has been rumoured that Wheeler was not in franchise tag plans for the Avalanche once his current contract expired.
For the Avalanche, it became a question of; Do we want to lose Blake for nothing in two years? Do we think his value will go down in the next 12 - 18 months? Is this the most value we can squeeze out of Blake in his current contract? These of course, all factors in which needed to be evaluated. In this situation, we obviously know the conclusion in which the Avs came to.
"At the end of the day, we weren't good enough this past season. Missing the playoffs is, has and always will be unacceptable for this organization. Changes needed to be made, and they have been."
Since the start of the EHE offseason the Avalanche have now acquired names such as:
John Carlson, Ryan Suter, Darnell Nurse, Alec Martinez, Mike Hoffman.
Time will tell if this pays off for the always aggressive Kirklan Lycar. If not, he very well could be on the hot seat in Denver.