Colorado Avalanche Missed out on Bargain Trades

Could the Colorado Avalanche have gotten elite players such as P.K. Subban or great players such as Taylor Hall for cheap?

The Colorado Avalanche have been busy-ish. They recently made a good contract proposal to defenseman Tyson Barrie to keep him with the team long-term. They’re also in negotiations with center Nathan MacKinnon. The team has made qualifying offers to Duncan Siemens, Mikhail Grigorenko and Calvin Pickard.

In other words, the Avs have been conducting some housekeeping.

However, apparently there were a couple big names available on the trade market, and Colorado didn’t cash in on either one.

P.K. Subban

Despite being an elite offensive defenseman, P.K. Subban has been the subject of major trade rumors recently. The rumors heated up around the draft. However, Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin addressed the media before the draft to quell the rumors.

So, Bergevin made it sound like he just answered his phone when other teams called. He was never shopping Subban and didn’t expect a trade to realistically happen. Bergevin also added the following:

“You never say never. If someone offers me half his team, then well, you make it work.”

Well, the news hit the fan today, and here’s how a P.K. Subban trade actually shook out:

While it’s true Shea Weber

is

was the captain for the Nashville Predators, I wouldn’t call him “half the team.” Throw in Mike Fisher and/or Roman Josi, maybe that’s half the team. However, the trade was a straight one-for-one.

How did the Colorado Avalanche not get in on this? Around the time of the draft, it was rumored that GM Joe Sakic was doing his due diligence in calling Bergevin. But then the Habs’ GM did want half the team — rumor was he was asking for both Matt Duchene and Tyson Barrie.

Realistically, while the Colorado Avalanche technically have room for P.K. Subban’s $9 million cap hit, it’s highly unlikely they wanted to take that on.

On the “bright” side, we get to see Subban in action against the Avalanche five times a year now. *Sarcasm font

Taylor Hall

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Truthfully, the Colorado Avalanche picked the Montreal Canadiens’ pocket in 1995 when the latter shipped us their Hall of Fame goalie (Patrick Roy) for what amounts to a bag of pucks in hockey history. In other words, I doubt they’re going to gift the same team twice in a single lifetime.

A more realistic trade would have brought left wing Taylor Hall to the Colorado Avalanche. However, thought the Edmonton Oilers have a plethora of first-overall draft picks, it was said that Hall was untradeable.

Yet here’s what went down today:

Now, defenseman Adam Larsson is a pretty good defenseman. He’s big, young and plays with poise. With other terms, I’d like to see him with the Colorado Avalanche.

He’s not the Taylor Hall of defense, though. Edmonton gave up way too much just to get a decent defenseman. We could have given them a couple – maybe Chris Bigras and Duncan Siemens. Hells, it might have been worth it to give up Bigras and Eric Gelinas for Taylor Hall.

At one point, it was thought we could give up Tyson Barrie for Hall.

There weren’t as many rumors surrounding Taylor Hall, so I don’t know if Sakic even gave Oilers GM Peter Chiarelli a call. Actually, I wonder if he inquired about Larsson — like I said, he’d have been pretty good for the Colorado Avalanche.

Next: Is it Time for a Tyson Barrie Freak Out?

Well, as much as I would have liked the Avalanche to be as savvy as the Predators and the Devils, I’m glad they at least weren’t spend thrifts like the Canadiens and the Oilers. For now, maintaining the status quo isn’t too bad.