Quoting: drivet
Oh, I would hope that Monahan would have zero value, but he definitely has negative value because he actively hurts the Flames on the ice and it's tough to believe his past two seasons have been flukes now. I don't think anyone would willingly give something to get him. I also just don't see Valimaki taking a step forward nor do I see Gaudreau or Tkachuk budging for anything under 10 because Gaudreau could test the market and Tkachuk could just take the 9m and go straight to UFA territory the next year. Again, I hope I'm wrong and this all happens but I do find myself trying to search for a needle in a haystack if I try to believe all you say will happen. Thanks for the reply!
Im fairly confident Monahan will return slightly positive value since it has already been reported there is a lot of interest in him. As for your opinion on him, he was a positive 5v5 corsi this year. And its actually quite easy to believe the past 2 season were flukes considering he played through 2 major injuries in each. Centers are always in high demand and it's an extremely low risk factor for a team to take a shot on Monahan.
I dont see why Valimaki can't take a step forward, Kylington literally passed through waivers last year because he simply was not good enough. Valimaki is younger than him and is capable of learning.
As for Tkachuk and Gaudreau, AAV is pretty irrelevant to them. Total pay, term, contract structure, signing bonuses, and clauses are what's important to players when forming a contract. I'll use Gaudreau to explain this because Tkachuk is simply not going to get a higher AAV than him. Calgary has the option of signing Johnny to an 8 year deal, no other team gets that option. An often compare player to Gaudreau is Panarin. He signed for a total of 81.5M on a 7 year deal. He also signed this deal before Covid and the flat cap. Similarly Tavares signed a 77M deal for 7 years also pre covid. Landeskog tested the market last summer asking for 9M (essentially 63M), he went back to Colorado and signed for 7M x 8yr (56M).
Players also often take discounts for their team to succeed; previously mentioned Landeskog, 2 time cup winner Point, Crosby, the entire Perfection Line, etc.
My point was you called this post "Ideal Flames Fan Offseason" but it really isn't at all ideal. More like a potential outcome