Colorado Avalanche Rumors: Analyzing the Ottawa Senators as Trade Partners

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The Colorado Avalanche and Ottawa Senators seem to be viable trade partners — below, some potential targets for the Avs are hashed out.

Being a Colorado Avalanche fan is tough these days, the only thing to “look forward to” is trade speculation.

Trade rumors aren’t really anything to look forward to because it means the departure of a favorite Avs player; however, departure of said player could help the Avs acquire the type of game changing roster player that they need to become great again.

Recently, I’ve been analyzing a lot of rumors surrounding the Avs, and there are a few viable options:

Today, the Ottawa Senators are on the docket, and they have some enticing options available for the Avs. Let’s start with the prospects.

Colin White

Mr. White is a good player, and he possesses the ability to play right wing, which has been a black hole on the Avs roster for a long time.

Colin White just helped lead USA to a championship at the World Juniors in December as well. He scored seven goals in seven games and had eight points. Basically, he was dominant.

Here’s a recap of the gold medal game between Canada and USA, in which Colin White scored the game-tying goal which allowed the USA to win in the shootout:

What I like about that play is that Colin White drives the net extremely hard, and then is able to hold onto the puck behind the net, and essentially develop the entire play that he scores on.

Colin White is a possession beast, and he can score goals in many different ways, but is not afraid to use his body around the net. He would be an invaluable addition to the Avs, and one of the prospects they should demand in any trade that involves Matt Duchene.

The other prospect they should look at from the Senators is Thomas Chabot. Chabot is also featured in the video above as the first goal scorer for Canada.

Thomas Chabot

Chabot led all defensemen in points during the World Junior Championship with ten, and he was only outscored by three other players in the tournament — all forwards.

He would be another great prospect from the Senators for the Avs to consider. He has an extremely high offensive ceiling, but is also defensively responsible and could develop into a really good all around player.

That was showcased during the World Junior Championships by his dominance on many plays. Here are some highlights of Chabot during the tournament:

He would obviously be an invaluable asset on the power play, but that goal at the 1:40 mark shows his true ability. He can pivot and outmaneuver anybody it seems like, and he definitely can shoot. The same can be said for his movement on the goal at the 2:00 minute mark.

Both White and Chabot are great prospects who are only 19 years old, and one of them would be a necessary addition in any trade involving Matt Duchene. However, the most important piece of that deal needs to be a defenseman the Senators may be unwilling to give up.

Cody Ceci

Acquiring Ceci from the Senators would be a difficult thing for the Avs to do because he is so young, and has such high potential.

He is also a right-shooting defenseman, and right-shooting defensemen are extremely rare in the league. Right shooting defensemen of his skill are even more rare.

Furthermore, he is only 23 years old, so he’s not the type of player teams trade that often.

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Generally these kinds of trades are of the one-for-one nature, like the Seth Jones and Ryan Johansen trade. And, those kinds of trades involve players of the same age usually.

However, Johansen is nearly 3 years older than Jones, so it’s not inconceivable that a trade involving Duchene — who is 26 — and Ceci, could happen.

Unfortunately, it might mean the Avs would have to settle for a one-for-one trade because both of the prospects above are too valuable.

Conclusion

In this kind of a deal, the Avs would most likely have to decide between a straight up trade for Cody Ceci involving Matt Duchene, or a trade for one of the prospects above and some draft picks.

Cody Ceci is a good defenseman who is only going to get better. However, some of his underlying numbers are troubling. For example, he has a Corsi-for percentage of 45.3, and he has 48 giveaways and only 13 takeaways.

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So, it’d be difficult for the Avs to be convinced that he is the type of defenseman they need right now. However, Colin White and Thomas Chabot are some really good prospects, who could eventually fill the two most glaring holes on the Avs roster — defense and right wing.

Nonetheless, the Avs would only be able to pry one of those prospects away from the Senators.

So, if they are going to trade Matt Duchene, then they obviously need to go after Thomas Chabot. They would also need to ask for at least one draft pick, and a couple B-listed prospects as well.

I suppose it’s not entirely impossible for the Avs to get Cody Ceci and Colin White out of this deal. The Avs did a pretty good job of getting a real nice return for Ryan O’Reilly, after all.

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That trade is by no means a slam dunk at this point. However, with J.T. Compher, A.J. Greer, Nikita Zadorov, Cameron Morrison, and Mikhail Grigorenko all possessing tons of potential, the Avs look to be headed in the right direction with that deal.

To get a good return for Matt Duchene, the Avs need to go after a similar deal with whatever team they end up making the deal with. The Senators definitely have the prospects, as well as a young defenseman, and so a deal is conceivable, it just depends on how much they value Duchene.

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