Colorado Avalanche Might be Preparing for Summer

The Colorado Avalanche, despite fighting hard against the Washington Capitols, lost a game they needed to win to have even a small chance to make the playoffs.

The Colorado Avalanche fought in last night’s game, and they fought hard. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get the win, and still trail the Minnesota Wild by 5 points for a playoff spot.

The Colorado Avalanche — if they win out — can now only get to 90 points on the season with four games remaining. The Minnesota Wild are already at 87 points on the season, and they have three games remaining.

It would take an absolute collapse on the end of the Minnesota Wild for the Colorado Avalanche to make the playoffs. Even if that happens, the Colorado Avalanche would still have to win out in order to make the playoffs.

Summertime will come, and changes will be made.

Trades will be made. And the correct trades need to be made. Semyon Varlamov is the most likely candidate at this point because the Colorado Avalanche have Calvin Pickard in the wings.

The Colorado Avalanche need to re-sign some players this summer, and cap space will have to be made in order to get the salary cap under control.

Semyon Varlamov played well last night, real well. Check this out:

So.. put him on the trade block. Varly would be a great trade to the Calgary Flames, who have a lot of depth at the defensive position. Either that, or they trade Varly for a good prospect and some picks.

Top-tier defensemen are expensive, and part of the reason the Colorado Avalanche would deal Varly is because they need to create cap space.

Semyon Varlamov is getting paid 5.9 million a year, and if the Avs want to retain the services of Mikkel Boedker, Nathan MacKinnon, and Tyson Barrie, then they’ll need to create some space, and he might be their ticket to that space.

Here’s what I’m thinking: trade Varly to the Flames for either a prospect, this years first-round draft pick, or a future first round pick.

The Flames — at their current standing — would get the 6th pick in the draft, and the Avs could land a good player with that pick. Varly, when he was originally traded from Washington, was worth a first-round draft pick.

The question is whether or not he is still worth that value. Even if he is not, Varly can still garner a good return to the right team, and the Oilers or Calgary could certainly be that team.

More from Mile High Sticking

I didn’t mention the Oilers earlier just because they don’t have much in the way of defensive depth that are ready for the NHL besides Darnell Nurse, and the Oilers won’t let him go anywhere.

The summer may be on the fast approach for Colorado Avalanche players and fans, and the lull of playoffs along with it.

Then, there is the exciting time of the draft and free agency before the dog days of August set in like a plague wafting it’s heavy stench on those ready for their team’s next chance at the big bid.

In order for a team to get to that table, they need to weather the ups and downs of a regular season. Young players are coming up for the Colorado Avalanche next year, and hopefully they can make some moves to help this roster even out.

Next: Where is the Fight Avs?

The season is not over folks because the Colorado Avalanche have the pleasure of having a game in hand on the Minnesota Wild, and the Wild have lost two in a row.

Hopefully that trend continues, and the Colorado Avalanche are able to spin their trend in the correct way, and win the remainder of their games down the stretch because that is what it will take.

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