Colorado Avalanche Roundtable: Dream Trade Deadline Move
The Colorado Avalanche have just under two weeks to decide what move, if any, they make at the Trade Deadline. Here are some dream moves.
The Colorado Avalanche have under two weeks to decide what their Trade Deadline move is — the deadline is February 26, probably 1:00 pm MT.
In a previous post, some Mile High Sticking contributors and I held a roundtable about what we thought the team should do at the deadline:
Related Story: What the Avs Should do at the Deadline
In that post, I think we were pretty conservative — we didn’t dream too big. Now, let’s look at some dream moves the Avalanche might make at the 2018 NHL Trade Deadline.
Anthony Noga wasn’t afraid to dream big:
“Of course Erik Karlsson or Oliver Ekman-Larson would be nice. John Tavares, too. But none of those are going to happen, and the prices would be astronomical. I mentioned [in the previous post] that the guys we’re likely to get are probably less impactful than some prospects or young guys we have in-house.
“If there is an ideal player to acquire, it would be a young forward maybe
stuck down the depth chart of another team. A tit-for-tat swap of someone like Bigras for a similar calibre young forward. Better still if Sakic could land such a player by giving up even less.
“Mostly, my ideal deadline would yield two things: futures and
roster-space. To that end, I’d love to see all the pending UFAs gone.
“Comeau and Bernier played their way into valuable trade pieces. Borque and Barberio are types that teams expecting a deep run like to add as depth.
“I’d be happy to wish all four of them the best with a new team come
February 26th. The return wouldn’t be staggering, but if Colorado could
grab 6 or more decent future pieces, and some playing time for the young
guns, I’d be smiling.
“And if Sakic can leverage some of his cap space to yoink a few more assets, then I’d be downright dancing.”
Anthony makes some good points all the way around.
Ross Kleppe also has some clear ideas:
“Depth on the wing has been a problem here for a while. I know I’ve harped on this issue for a while, but that doesn’t make it any less true.
“For a more low price option, I think the Avs should look to the Maple Leafs. They have an abundance of wingers who aren’t seeing NHL ice like Josh Leivo or Nikita Soshnikov. I especially like Soshnikov because he can score in a bottom six role who can kill penalties and plays with a nasty edge to his game. Think of a faster Blake Comeau with better offensive talent.
“Also (shameless plug coming) as I wrote in an earlier piece Colorado Avalanche: Who is Available to Buy at Deadline?, I REALLY REALLY want Mike Hoffman from the Ottawa Senators if Sakic chooses to go for a big splash. My gut however is telling me I’m being way too optimistic.”
Hoffman is a little long in the tooth for the Colorado Avalanche’s youth movement — 28 years old. However, he does appear to be in the trade market. He’s known for being a skilled, speedy sniper with a great release. He’s also a hard worker who doesn’t shy away from the dirty areas.
Colorado Avalanche
Hoffman has 15 goals and 22 assists for the Senators. That’s really not a bad acquisition, but what would the Avalanche have to part with to get him?
Thomas Janz has a trade after my own heart in mind:
“If I were the GM, and looking to make a dream move, I would look into trading Tyson Barrie. There are many teams that are looking for an offensive-minded, right-handed, puck moving defensemen. Among them seem to be the Maple Leafs and the Lightning. If either of them were willing to trade the Avs a young and talented forward, such as Mitch Marner, William Nylander, or Brayden Point, I would at least look into it thoroughly. I don’t know if any of them would work, but they should at least be fully researched.”
I say that Tom has a trade in mind after my own heart because I feel Tyson Barrie’s days are limited with Colorado. The team has a great puck-moving defenseman in Samuel Girard. They also have another puck-moving defenseman in Conor Timmins sure to be signed this off-season as well as offensive defenseman Cale Makar in the pipeline.
To my mind, what the Colorado Avalanche really need is a goalie. Semyon Varlamov’s groin can’t be trusted. And Jonathan Bernier is not the goalie of the future. If Colorado could find some way to transform Barrie into the goalie of the future — along with a prospect and a draft pick — that would be a super-successful trade.
Next: Sakic Improved Avs Trade Market
The Avalanche usually make some move at the NHL Trade Deadline. It’s highly unlikely they’ll make any of the above moves. But we can dream.