Stanley Cup Champions
Jul 22, 2019 11:42:50 GMT -5
Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, and 3 more like this
Post by Colorado Avalanche on Jul 22, 2019 11:42:50 GMT -5
The Colorado Avalanche would like to thank everyone for the congratulations for winning the Cup.
We were certainly an underdog to say the least. We entered the playoffs through the last spot in the whole league with just 88 points. I started submitting lines towards the of the season, and my team took off from there. I also had to cross over to the stronger Pacific division. In the first round, the Avs uspet the division winning Sharks in 6 games. Then defeated the Flames in 6 to win the Pacific division. Finally, we went back to the Central and defeated the Central Division champion Wild in 7. Through it all, I always believed my team was the favourite heading into the series despite a disappointing regular season.
Until the finals. I was definitely the underdog against the Leafs, who happen to be my favourite team in real life. Somehow, the Avs pulled it off in 6 games, winning the Cup on home ice. John Tavares should probably be the first skater to win the Conn Smythe in a losing effort. Getting past Vasilevskiy was also a miracle. But despite a great effort from the Leafs, we got it done.
Because I was only here one year, obviously the previous GM should get a ton of credit. But the season wasn't without a lot of moves.
My first job was to trim salary. I released Mike Condon and Andrej Sustr before trading Milan Lucic and Kyle Okposo each for 3rd round picks. Then with cap space, I revamped the roster with two major trades in one day (**I am excluding minor assets or even swaps for simplicity):
OUT: Ryan O'Reilly, Jesper Bratt, Alex Steen
IN: Alex Ovechkin, Jeff Carter, Michael Frolik, Jake McCabe
The two moves basically swapped O'Reilly for Ovechkin, and added some veteran depth while remaining salary neutral. I continued to tinker through some small trades and the FA draft, resulting in further depth at a low cost:
OUT: COL 2nd
IN: Francois Beauchemin, Mark Letestu, Antti Niemi
I still needed one more to get under the cap:
OUT: Zach Parise
IN: Mathieu Perreault
Then came a seemingly odd move that allowed me to make more trades at the deadline:
OUT: SJ 1st
IN: TOR 2nd, ANA 2nd, PHI 3rd, BUF 3rd
Which of course brought on a slew of deadline moves to improve my roster without increasing my cap:
OUT: TOR 2nd, COL 2nd, Dominik Simon, Connor Brown
IN: Anton Stralman, Derick Brassard, Riley Sheahan
All in all, I moved out a ton of salary players that I felt had negative value (Okposo, Lucic, Steen, Parise, Brown) and some young players that weren't ready (Bratt, Simon) along with what nets to a 1st and 2nd round pick. Unfortunately, that hardest player to part with was Ryan O'Reilly, and losing him looks worse in hindsight. In exchange, I was able to bring in Ovechkin along with some key supporting and depth players. To be honest, it's probably all worth it just for Ovechkin, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat regardless of the results. The fact that I won a Cup just puts those moves over the top.
Moving on, I've already dealt a core piece in Jared Spurgeon who may come back to haunt me along with Ryan O'Reilly. After once again shipping out a 1st and 2nd, it's allowed me to add another elite player in Brent Burns who I can only hope has the same impact that Ovechkin had - as well as Marcus Johansson, who can become a key player just like Anton Stralman did for me.
We were certainly an underdog to say the least. We entered the playoffs through the last spot in the whole league with just 88 points. I started submitting lines towards the of the season, and my team took off from there. I also had to cross over to the stronger Pacific division. In the first round, the Avs uspet the division winning Sharks in 6 games. Then defeated the Flames in 6 to win the Pacific division. Finally, we went back to the Central and defeated the Central Division champion Wild in 7. Through it all, I always believed my team was the favourite heading into the series despite a disappointing regular season.
Until the finals. I was definitely the underdog against the Leafs, who happen to be my favourite team in real life. Somehow, the Avs pulled it off in 6 games, winning the Cup on home ice. John Tavares should probably be the first skater to win the Conn Smythe in a losing effort. Getting past Vasilevskiy was also a miracle. But despite a great effort from the Leafs, we got it done.
Because I was only here one year, obviously the previous GM should get a ton of credit. But the season wasn't without a lot of moves.
My first job was to trim salary. I released Mike Condon and Andrej Sustr before trading Milan Lucic and Kyle Okposo each for 3rd round picks. Then with cap space, I revamped the roster with two major trades in one day (**I am excluding minor assets or even swaps for simplicity):
OUT: Ryan O'Reilly, Jesper Bratt, Alex Steen
IN: Alex Ovechkin, Jeff Carter, Michael Frolik, Jake McCabe
The two moves basically swapped O'Reilly for Ovechkin, and added some veteran depth while remaining salary neutral. I continued to tinker through some small trades and the FA draft, resulting in further depth at a low cost:
OUT: COL 2nd
IN: Francois Beauchemin, Mark Letestu, Antti Niemi
I still needed one more to get under the cap:
OUT: Zach Parise
IN: Mathieu Perreault
Then came a seemingly odd move that allowed me to make more trades at the deadline:
OUT: SJ 1st
IN: TOR 2nd, ANA 2nd, PHI 3rd, BUF 3rd
Which of course brought on a slew of deadline moves to improve my roster without increasing my cap:
OUT: TOR 2nd, COL 2nd, Dominik Simon, Connor Brown
IN: Anton Stralman, Derick Brassard, Riley Sheahan
All in all, I moved out a ton of salary players that I felt had negative value (Okposo, Lucic, Steen, Parise, Brown) and some young players that weren't ready (Bratt, Simon) along with what nets to a 1st and 2nd round pick. Unfortunately, that hardest player to part with was Ryan O'Reilly, and losing him looks worse in hindsight. In exchange, I was able to bring in Ovechkin along with some key supporting and depth players. To be honest, it's probably all worth it just for Ovechkin, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat regardless of the results. The fact that I won a Cup just puts those moves over the top.
Moving on, I've already dealt a core piece in Jared Spurgeon who may come back to haunt me along with Ryan O'Reilly. After once again shipping out a 1st and 2nd, it's allowed me to add another elite player in Brent Burns who I can only hope has the same impact that Ovechkin had - as well as Marcus Johansson, who can become a key player just like Anton Stralman did for me.
