Colorado Avalanche Need to Find a Way to Draft Cal Foote

The Colorado Avalanche need to spend an early round pick on a defenseman this year, and Cal Foote should be their guy.

Winning the first overall pick is the best option for the Colorado Avalanche in this year’s draft. That way, they can pick Nolan Patrick and bolster their top six forward depth with a right-hand shot.

However, after they use that high pick, they should start exploring all options for trade, so that they can draft Cal Foote, and bring a legendary name home, where he belongs.

The draft order for the first 14 teams will be known soon enough. Once known, the Avalanche can start exploring trades with non-playoff teams (off the record of course).

Foote is ranked anywhere from No. 9 overall on ISS hockey, to No. 26 overall on Future Considerations. He’s likely to fall in between those two rankings, near the mid-teens.

However, hopefully he falls way down the draft boards because it would make it easier for the Avs to trade up to get him. Nonetheless, if they start hearing rumblings of a team about to draft him, they need to start talking trade with that team, regardless of where he is going to fall.

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This isn’t just about drafting a player connected to the team. It’s not just about drafting a player who grew up in Colorado (i.e. Troy Terry or Jaccob Slavin). It isn’t even about the fact that Adam Foote is a defensive development consultant with the Avalanche.

Honestly, it’s about the fact that Cal Foote can help the Avs’ defensive woes better than any other defenseman in the draft.

Cal Foote is the Mold of Defenseman the Avs Need Right Now

If you look at the Defenseman ranked above Cal Foote (Cale Makar, Juuso Valimaki, Miro Heiskanen, and Timothy Liljegren) they are all under 200 pounds and are either 6 feet tall or shorter — aside from Valimaki. Furthermore, Valimaki is more of an offensive defenseman than Foote.

Cal Foote, on the other hand, is 6 foot 4 and 212 pounds. And, he’s the prototypical two-way defenseman, whereas the others are more praised for their offensive abilities, while sporting defensive deficiencies.

Here’s what Future Considerations has to say about Foote:

"Plays a rough-and-tumble, minute-munching game with a bit of offensive upside…he is huge and incredibly mobile for his size…he has an incredibly long stick that he uses to consistently disrupt plays in every defensive scenario…an incredibly tough defenseman to beat in the defensive zone who is only going to get better…has poise with the puck, not making bad decisions when pressured…big, elegant skater who distributes the puck at a high level and can play in all situations…impressive NHL upside."

That’s precisely the type of defenseman the Colorado Avalanche are looking for. Now, it’s time they found a way to get him on the team, whatever it takes.

Conclusion

Luckily, the Avs have some trade assets going into this year’s entry draft. So, they should be able to find a way to make the trade they need to make two very strong picks in this year’s first round of the draft.

Hopefully they start with an elite pick in Nolan Patrick, and then are able to draft Cal Foote later in the first round. In order to pull that off, it’s probably going to take Matt Duchene’s name.

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However, the Carolina Hurricanes are going to have a pick near where Foote may be available. And, I’ve been analyzing the ‘Canes as trade partners all season. Maybe that trade will happen on the draft floor, and the Avs can bring two Denver born natives to the team in Slavin and Foote.

That’s obviously wishful thinking, but the Hurricanes need a No. 1 center, and the Avs can also entice them with Chris Bigras to tip the needle in the right direction. They could even throw in their second round pick for good measure, which is essentially just as good as a late first round pick.

Whatever it takes, the Colorado Avalanche need to figure out a way to get a deal done so that Cal Foote can play in burgundy and blue in the near future.