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Colorado: Trade Deadline

colorado-avalanche

By Richard Gonzalez

The Colorado Avalanche are coming off a great 5-3 win against the Buffalo Sabres who haven’t won a game at Pepsi Center since December 4th, 2005. Unfortunately, the Avs still sit as the league’s worst team with only 37 points and 12 points behind the league’s second worst team the Arizona Coyotes. The only thing we can do is play with pride and get ready for next season. Safe to say we’re going to be sellers at the deadline and can try to get a max return for players as teams seem to sometimes overpay. 

The Core:

Joe Sakic made it clear everyone is available on the roster to expect for forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen. Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog and alternate captain Matt Duchene have been surrounded by trade speculation. Neither of them wants to leave the Avalanche but do understand the business part. I don’t think they should go and stated in my Landeskog vs Duchene article that it would be a mistake to trade either of them unless we get a team that will tremendously overpay. 

Changes:

I posted a question on twitter asking what do you think the Avs need to do to fix the team. Out of 38 votes, 39% voted full rebuild, 34% voted partial moves, 26% said a GM change and no one voted a coaching change. 

I’m going to agree with with the 34% and vote for a partial rebuild. We made a few moves and didn’t move our core after the disappointing 2012/2013 season where we only had 39 points a franchise worst. The following season we came out firing and had a great season. The way the team played against Buffalo proves we have the ability to bounce back next season. So what minor changes can we make come trade deadline day?

The Avalanche will have approximately 3.37 million dollars in cap space for the trade deadline so let’s explore some options we can do to better our team without moving Landeskog or Duchene.

Trades:

First and foremost as a professional courtesy and respect to a HOF, we should honor Jarome Iginla (39) trade requests and send him to a Cup contending team. He is in his final year of a 3-year contact he signed with Colorado and might be his final year playing in the NHL. The problem is his cap hit of 1.24 million. He isn’t the player he once was but he could provide that physical edge in a bottom 6 role that teams will need come playoffs. We will most likely have to retain some salary and at most would get a conditional 4th or 5th round pick. 

Dead Weight: 

I think we can start with trying to clear some of the dead weight from our roster to secure some lower picks. Don’t knock on lower picks because they can pay off. Blake Comeau (31) is in the second year of a 3-year contract with the Avalanche with a cap hit of about 2.40 million and will be a UFA in 2018/2019. Fedor Tyutin (33) has a cap hit of about 2 million and will be a UFA after this season. John Mitchell (32) has a cap hit of about 1.80 and is set to be a UFA after this season. Carl Soderberg (31) signed a 5-year contract with the Avalanche on June 26th, 2015, totaling about 23 million with a 4.75 million cap hit. He has an NTC for this season and a modified NTC for the remaining 3. 

We could fetch 5th or 6th round picks for Comeau and Tyutin as they could have some value to a Cup contending team. If we could add conditions to the trade we can maybe manage a 4th but not counting on that. A change in environment might spark a little better play from both of them. Comeau did play well on the Penguins before he hurt his wrist and Tyutin has that frame that can clear the front of the net and make some big hits. As far as Mitchell I don’t think a team will be interested in him at the deadlines as his play has drastically dropped. I can’t see the Avs resigning him so he’ll most likely be hitting the free agent market.

Staying:

Francois Beauchemin (36) is in his 2nd year of a 3-year contract he signed with the Avalanche and has a cap hit of about 4.5 million. He also has a no-movement clause and hasn’t made any indication of wanting to be traded. Terry Frie of the Denver Post wrote an article regarding Beauchemin being a contributor for next season. He quoted Beauchemin say, “I want to stay here,” he said. “I signed here for three years, I moved my family here and we love it here. Obviously, we’d like more wins, but I want to be here for another year, for sure.” 

Beauchemin has the ability to help develop the younger guys and is a proven leader. He also has the playoff experience and has won a Cup in 2007 with the Anaheim Ducks. I’m optimistic about next season and a potential Cup run so his experience would be great to have.

Soderberg has invisible this season for the Avs. Only has 11 points this season. He was supposed to replace Ryan O’Reilly when the Avs traded for him but that has yet to come close. He would have to agree on a trade and haven’t heard any indication that he would. We are most likely going to get the 1st round pick and the top prospect Center Patrick who could be NHL ready and make an impact down the center. We also have a few rookies that can crack the Avs lineup next season so Soderberg might get outplayed and see his minutes drop. Maybe a change would benefit the Avs and Soderberg. However, if Soderberg could step up his game and play to his full potential he could thrive as a two-way center.

I’ll be going more in depth with a future article regarding the top prospects and potential draft picks. We also have a few rookies who could make the jump to the NHL next season.

Making a splash:

I have thought about how could we fix our team as far as getting better without moving Duchene and Landeskog and narrowed it down to the following: Tyson Barrie (25), Mikhail Grigorenko (20), and Semyon Varlamov (28). 

Barrie has a cap hit of about 5.5 million and will be a UFA in 2020/2021. He’s a fast puck moving offensive defensemen who likes to join the rush but sometimes forgets his defensive responsibility. We could do a swap with another team for more of two way defensemen who plays a bigger game. He could attract some attention because some teams are lacking that offensive ability on the back end and he’s reasonably priced at 5.5 million a year. 

Grigorenko is set to become an RFA at the end of this season and won’t demand too high of a raise. He has been inconsistent but the former 1st round pick has a pretty good snipe and can be efficient with the right guys playing along side him. A packaged deal, maybe a 2nd or 3rd rounds picks, or a top 4 defensemen with a team that has a surplus of them. 

Lastly, I included Varlamov because the expansion draft coming up and the play of Calvin Pickard. Varlamov is signed until the 2019/2020 season with the cap hit of about 5.90. Varlamov has been dealing with groin injuries and has been outplayed at times by Pickard. We can only protect one goalie and feel the Las Vegas Golden Knights will snag either one of them. Varlamov is a great work horse and is plays comfortable seeing shots in abundance. He has stolen games on numerous occasions for the Avalanche and is a proven starter.  Although he is out for the season he can still fetch a decent return for us. It’s time to let Pickard take over the crease in Colorado.

Final Thought:

I think we are going to see some big changes come Thursday when the Avalanche take on the Ottawa Senators. I just hope to see Landeskog and Duchene still in a Colorado Avalanche jersey. We don’t need to hit the full panic button just yet. Let’s make a few changes and give our coach a chance at his system. I sure hope Sakic makes the right choices come Wednesday and does what’s best for our team. If not maybe it is it for him. He has made questionable choices before. Choices which lead Patrick Roy to step down as head coach. This team has the ability to be great again and to make a Cup run. All the Avs need is some fine tuning. All we can do is wait and see. Keep our fingers crossed and move forward come Wednesday.  

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February 28th, 2017


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