Offer Sakic the World
General managers must be very stingy with who they put on an untouchable list. General wisdom is that almost any player is up for grabs — at the right price.
I’d say Sakic set the bar pretty high for himself. The “right price” is a Matt Duchene-level return:
- 3 prospects, at least 1 NHL-ready
- 1 borderline player
- 3 draft picks, 1 a first-rounder
The bare-minimum ask for the players on this list would be an NHL-caliber player, highly-touted prospect, first-rounder.
Gabriel Landeskog is on this list. Remember, before the Colorado Avalanche traded Matt Duchene, Landeskog was a name oft-mentioned. You offer Sakic the world, I think he’d cough up our 26-year-old captain.
I’d say Tyson Barrie is on this list, too. In fact, I’d say Joe Sakic is actively shopping Barrie for just such a return. Our turnover king has turned his own self into a semi-elite offensive defenseman. He’s got one year left after this season, and he may want a big payout.
Colorado has Sam Girard and the likes of Conor Timmins and Cale Makar coming up the system. They only need so many smallish, puck-moving defensemen.
Oh, yeah, add Girard to this list. Colorado wants to base their blueline at least partially on his style of play. But if a team really want him, Sakic would probably trade him for a king’s ransom.
By the way, since Timmins is injured, I’m not going to rank him.