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Colorado Avalanche: Pros and Cons of Berra-Grimaldi Trade

By Mark Kinz

Mar 25, 2015; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Edmonton Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) looks for a loose puck in front of Colorado Avalanche goaltender Reto Berra (20) during the third period at Rexall Place. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 25, 2015; Edmonton, Alberta, CAN; Edmonton Oilers forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) looks for a loose puck in front of Colorado Avalanche goaltender Reto Berra (20) during the third period at Rexall Place. Mandatory Credit: Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Colorado Avalanche can see both advantages and disadvantages to the trade that sent goalie Reto Berra to the Florida Panthers for forward Rocco Grimaldi.

With goalie Reto Berra departing the Colorado Avalanche organization in a trade for forward Rocco Grimaldi, the general consensus seems to be that this trade is a positive move for the Avs, and perhaps one of the few good trades Sakic has made since taking the helm as GM.  That said, let’s take a look at the pros and cons of this one-for-one deal.

Pros

The pros of this deal are pretty clean-cut:

  1. Cap Space: roughly half a million dollars in cap space was taken off the Avs’ books by this move.  That’s enough to pick up a depth player/prospect, or potentially sweeten the pot for the pending free agents on the team.  No matter how Joe Sakic decides to use this cap space, it’s definitely a positive to have a little more wiggle room.
  2. More depth at forward: Grimaldi has experience playing both center and wing.  While he hasn’t yet established himself as a bona fide NHLer, he’s only 23, and has put up decent numbers in the AHL. He will be a nice call-up to have when the Avs run into injury trouble up front.  Down the line, he may earn a permanent spot in the line-up as well.

Cons

Wait, there are cons to this deal?  There are, but they may be a bit more conditional  than the pros.

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  1. Goalie Depth Reduced: This may at first seem like an absurd notion to be concerned about, but the Avalanche have gone from having three NHL-capable goalies down to two.  In a normal season, this wouldn’t be an issue, especially with Calvin Pickard on his way to becoming an NHL starter, and Semyon Varlamov already well-established between the pipes.  But do you remember when the top three goalies on the team went down with injuries or illness this past season?  I remember, and I remember us very nearly starting Roman Will.  With Will’s departure and Berra’s trade, that role would fall to the extremely green shoulders of Spencer Martin, unless the Avs decide to suit up the Alumni team (Bill-er! Bill-er!).  Look for Sakic to nab a cheap AHL-level goalie on the market this summer.
  2. This will be the only goalie trade for the Avs: While it will be nice to have Varly and Picks as the Avs’ top two options between the pipes, Berra’s trade greatly reduces the probability that one of them is traded for additional defensive talent.  With Pickard’s stock higher than it’s ever been, and Varly still known as one of the league’s best (so long as the pressure’s down), trading one of them could have added a top-2 defender to our ranks. That sort of a deal seems very unlikely now.  That said, with all of the solid goalies hitting the market this year, Super Joe may be choosing to hang onto both of  them until the trade deadline, when things are less saturated.

Overall, I am in agreement that this trade is a win for the Avs, and perhaps for the Panthers as well. It was a solid one-to-one that gives our team more flexibility in the off season, and more depth up front.

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