Colorado Avalanche: Analysis of Mikkel Boedker, Eric Gelinas
By Will Radke
The Colorado Avalanche made two significant moves on Monday before the trade deadline. Let’s take a look at Mikkel Boedker and Eric Gelinas’ potential impact.
Going into the deadline, Joe Sakic had repeatedly made it sound like it would be a quiet day for the Avs. However at just past lunchtime the Avalanche had already made two significant additions to their NHL roster in separate trades.
The first trade with the Arizona Coyotes involved the Colorado Avalanche sending Alex Tanguay over with unsigned prospects Conner Bleackley and Kyle Wood for Mikkel Boedker. For those unfamiliar with the prospects, Conner Bleackley was the Colorado Avalanche’s first round pick in the 2014 draft. He has largely failed to develop much since draft day, leading to his lack of contract from the Avalanche at the age of 20. Kyle Wood was the Avs third round pick in the 2014 draft and is considered the more valuable prospect, however he is still years from making an NHL impact.
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Mikkel Boedker, on the other hand, is a well proven, solid top 9 (possibly 6) winger. This year he has already amassed 39 points in 62 games. Over his career he has missed a significant numbers of games in 3 seasons, but sits at a respectable .48 points per game. So on average he’s around a 40 point per year player.
In the Colorado Avalanche’s other significant trade they acquired Eric Gelinas from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for the Avs 2017 third round pick.
This is a move that I personally love. Gelinas has shown amazing potential in New Jersey but has struggled since his rookie year in which he had 29 points in 60 games, including 19 powerplay points! The idea is hopefully he just needs a change of scenery and a more offensively minded club where his style of play can shine. That being said he has been awful this year with 6 points in 34 games.
Where They’ll Slot In
Mikkel Boedker is supposed to skate on a line with Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog, though coach Roy could put him anywhere of course. He’d be an asset to Matt Duchene as well. Regardless, expect Boedker to get significant 5v5 time minutes and some power play time.
Here’s Boedker scoring a hat trick against the Ottawa Senators early in the season:
Who wouldn’t love to see some more of that with the Colorado Avalanche?
Speaking of power plays… Eric Gelinas is a little harder to pin down when it comes to his spot in the lineup, but he will most definitely get power play time on the inconsistent Avalanche power play. In addition to his general offensive reputation and skill set he has an absolute cannon of a slap shot.
Even strength wise I wouldn’t be surprised to see him paired with Chris Bigras on the third pair. He’s not solid enough defensively to pair with the roaming Tyson Barrie* on the second pair, and I don’t trust Bodnarchuk playing with Bobby Orr. (I’m sure glad we picked up Bodnarchuk now so he can be a healthy scratch or sent down!)
*(Not at all relevant, but Tyson Barrie managed to turn the puck over more in the Stadium Series game then a blind 4-year-old would.)
Conclusion
Joe Sakic was saying before the draft that he didn’t want to risk the clubs long term future to make moves at this deadline, and I believe he did a great job. There are already rumors Boedker intends to resign with the Colorado Avalanche at the end of the season as his current deal expires. Even if he won’t give the Avs a discount this gives the Avs half a season to vet him and avoid another Brad Stuart-esque signing. And Eric Gelinas is locked up through next season at a modest $1.6 million.
Here’s Eric Gelinas with a strong defensive play against his new Central Division rivals, the St. Louis Blues:
Despite that, the only downside to these moves is they are both players with defensive deficiencies. Gelinas has long been known for his poor defensive play, even during his stellar rookie year. And Mikkel Boedker was a team worst -28 this year on the ‘Yotes. All in all though I’m excited to see Sakic making some moves. I’ll greatly miss Tanguay, but I think the Avalanche just got a lot more competitive this year.
(All trade info from NHL.com)