Potential offseason replacements for Samuel Girard (Life After Girard, Part Four of Four)

Offseason Replacements

If the Avs elect to finish out this season by filling the Girard-sized hole in their lineup with an Eagles call-up but decide to test the free agency waters at season’s end, there are some viable options whom the Avs could snag at a reasonable price.

Note: Many of the trade options listed in the previous installment of this article series are ones who will be available once the free agency window opens on July 1, provided they aren’t signed elsewhere by that time. By that same token, many of the players listed below could sign contracts before the offseason starts, so both "outside hire" lists kind of blend together.

Note:

A breakdown of Wins Above Replacement (WAR) can be found here.
A breakdown of expected goals (xG) can be found here.

Jake Bean

Bean, a former 13th-overall draft selection of the Carolina Hurricanes, has never really lived up to the expectations of someone drafted so high. If, however, a team can overlook that and meet Bean where he is now, with reasonable expectations and realistic goals, there's plenty of value to be found. The Avs could serve as the launching pad for Bean to find his game again, but it would certainly be a gamble, as his stint with the Calgary Flames has been forgettable.

Ian Cole

A familiar name for Avs fans, Ian Cole could make his return to the Mile High City on a bargain, one-year deal, possibly serving as a seventh defenseman who rotates in and out to let one of the prospects get a crack at an NHL sheet of ice without being relied upon every night. He brings grit, experience, work ethic, and good locker room vibes, and he's someone the Avs' staff know how to utilize. It could be in both sides' best interest to reunite.

Matt Grzelcyk

"Griz" has been serviceable on a Chicago team set to miss the playoffs for the seventh-consecutive season. He was, seemingly, a much better fit in both Boston and Pittsburgh, and, at age 31, there's a belief that he can return to form, maybe never again hitting the 40-point plateau (like he did in 2024-25) but as a more cost-effective version of Samuel Girard. If the Avs are going to have an undersized, offensively-capable, sometimes-turnover-prone third-pair defenseman, it would make more sense, fiscally, to pay that person 1/5th of Girard's contract value.

John Klingberg

John Klingberg, the only pure righty listed amongst this particular crop of pending free agents, may garner a final "prove-it" deal, even if it's just because of how strong his heyday with the Dallas Stars was. He's been injured a lot in the last few seasons, and he plays on a still-struggling Sharks team, so there will definitely be interest — at a significantly cheaper price point than the $4mil he's making this year — amongst teams looking to bolster the bottom of its backend. His WAR percentage is pretty dismal, but some of his underlying metrics illustrate his value; his 7.5 on-ice xG Diff (7.5) is more than double the next-best Sharks' defenseman (Dmitry Orlov, 3), and those two are the only players without negative stats in that category (with the worst being the aforementioned Mario Ferraro who has a -30.5). Looking exclusively at Ferraro and Klingberg, one can see why so many different forms of analytic tracking are important when painting the full picture of a player's value.

Jeremy Lauzon

With the salary cap going up, and with no concerning, unusual career drop-offs so far, Lauzon is set to actually make more money on his next deal than he makes now. He's a remarkably versatile player, capable, in muted ways, of doing just about anything asked of him, whether that's laying a body check, killing penalties, or shutting down opposing teams' best players. He's not much of an offensive threat, but he does everything else with consistency, so he's a valuable player who would be a good fit in Denver.

Mike Reilly

Reilly, the third former Boston Bruin on this list, has certainly seen his stock fall since his time there, but he's played well despite restricted appearances on ice with the Carolina Hurricanes this season. Much like many of the names included so far in this article, Reilly is a prime candidate to have a bounce-back season because of A) the level at which they once played and B) their desire to stay in the league and prove that their doubters were wrong. Reilly would be a bargain version of Sam Girard (in terms of on-ice production and actual cost), and he might benefit from playing less-intense minutes as a member of the Avs.

Juuso Välimäki

Välimäki hasn't played in the NHL so far this season, and there's a good chance he might not play in the NHL again. With his contract coming to an end and potential suitors rather limited, he may elect to head overseas for the 2026-27 season. If, however, he stays in North America, he'd be a perfectly-serviceable, not-too-costly depth defenseman on a team like the Avs — one that has established players who can carry most of the responsibility, which would give a player like Välimäki a chance to gain their footing without needing to take too many risks; he could find his game gradually, which would be good for all parties involved.

Is the big brass in Denver under any pressure whatsoever to move Girard? No, certainly not. In fact, an argument could be made that as few disturbances as possible should be made to this current line-up, given that, despite a bit of a slump heading into the Olympic Break, this team is still on pace to break the single-season NHL points record set by the Boston Bruins in 2022-23 — the same season, interestingly enough, in which the aforementioned Grzelcyk, Lauko, and Reilly all donned the spoked B. After Mikko Rantanen was dealt to Carolina, however, two things should be understood by Avs fans: 1) No one, apart from Landeskog, MacKinnon, and Makar is safe, and 2) heartbreak is a part of the business of the NHL and of each team in the league. Regardless of any emotions or potentially-hurt-feelings, as the end of Girard's contract in Colorado comes closer to its completion, a decision will have to be made, and the best decision the Avs may make is to trade him while he still has term on said contract. Time will tell if Chris MacFarland and co. say au revoir to La Tornade, but it seems likely some closure is en route.

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