Colorado Avalanche Trade Deadline Recap
The NHL Trade Deadline has passed and the Colorado Avalanche weren’t quiet. They weren’t loud either. They were basically that person in an office who is having a nice polite conversation with a family member or friend. They aren’t too loud to where they’re bugging everyone else in the office and they aren’t so quiet that the person on the other end has to ask them to repeat every sentence.
The Avs traded Karl Stollery (San Jose), Max Talbot (Boston), Paul Carey (Boston), and Michael Sgarbossa (Anaheim) for Freddie Hamilton, Jordan Caron, a sixth round pick, and Mat Clark in three separate deals with three different teams.
Of the six players moved in the various trades, Max Talbot is the most well-known, so we’ll start with him. The Avs brought him over early last season to provide a young team with some veteran leadership and Stanley Cup experience. It worked as the Avs made the playoffs and Talbot’s simple but effective game helped free up some of the more flashy and skilled Avalanche forward. This year Talbot’s game has dipped a bit, although I can’t fault him too much for that as he bounced around from line to line and often times found himself playing alongside Matt Duchene or Nathan MacKinnon even though he was better suited in a fourth line role. Talbot will be missed in Denver, but he’s in a much better situation now. The Boston Bruins are looking to make a playoff push and Talbot’s game is really valuable in playoff series when you just need a guy to calm things down and make the right play.
In return for Talbot, the Avs got Jordan Caron, a former first round pick who never fit with the Bruins organization. Caron projects as a bottom-six forward with good size and decent offensive skills. To me, this is the kind of player that the Avs need right now. They have skilled guys, but they need talented players who are going to do some dirty work and Caron sounds like the type of guy who will do just that. It’s something the Avs have missed all season with the injury to Jamie McGinn, and while it might be too little too late, Caron could definitely be a suitable replacement.
Karl Stollery, Paul Carey, and Michael Sgarbossa are all players who have had a cup of coffee with the big club. I always liked what I saw from Carey, but he could never consistently stay in the line-up. Sgarbossa was highly-touted when the Avs acquired him, but he was another guy who bounced in and out of the line-up and never really showed much. All three players were depth guys who weren’t likely to stick with the Avs beyond spot duty.
Freddie Hamilton could end up being a steal for the Avs. He’s the brother of Bruins defenseman Dougie Hamilton, so you know the bloodlines are good. Like Caron, he’s most likely going to be a bottom six forward, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. This year the Avs third line has been mixed and matched with no identity. Moving forward, the Avs could have a legitimate shutdown third line with Hamilton, Caron, and Conner Bleackley. Those are three guys that know their role and won’t play outside of their game.
What the Avs didn’t do seems to be a bigger story than what they did. With potential trade pieces in Ryan O’Reilly, Jan Hejda, and Daniel Briere; the Avs could’ve made a decent sized splash in the trade pool. Instead they held on to all three guys, likely for various reasons.
The market probably wasn’t good for Hejda and Briere. Even though both guys could be solid contributors on a playoff team, the Avs weren’t going to let them go for nothing seeing as they still have playoff hopes of their own. That said, they could both leave in the off-season for nothing so maybe the Avs would’ve been better off dealing them for draft picks. If some team is willing to trade a second round pick for Reto Berra then some other team has to be willing to make the same trade for Briere or Hejda. Right?
I’m sure there were plenty of suitors for O’Reilly, but the Avs were smart to keep him. If the Avs decide they want to part ways with the young forward, the market will be much better in the off-season.
And that’s why I like what the Avs did, or didn’t do, at the NHL trade deadline. They didn’t make a panic move to try and make one last, likely failed, run at the playoffs. They looked towards the future. They got three relatively young players, two of whom could be key contributors as early as next season, but they kept the core of the team together. Making moves at the deadline is always fun for the fans, but keeping team chemistry together is always important. While other teams brought in highly skilled players, that doesn’t mean that those players will work out. The Avs know what they have, and while they haven’t produced like we all had hoped this season, at least there is no mystery as to who they have in the locker room and what they can do.
Now we wait until the off-season. That’s when Patrick Roy and Joe Sakic will take a hard look at this team and decide who which moves to make. Sometimes, like today, making no move is the best move.
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