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Colorado Avalanche Shouldn’t Trade for Taylor Hall

By Nadia Archuleta

NEWARK, NJ - FEBRUARY 14: New Jersey Devils left wing Taylor Hall (9) during the second period of the National Hockey League game between the New Jersey Devils and the Colorado Avalanche on February 14, 2017 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
NEWARK, NJ - FEBRUARY 14: New Jersey Devils left wing Taylor Hall (9) during the second period of the National Hockey League game between the New Jersey Devils and the Colorado Avalanche on February 14, 2017 at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The Colorado Avalanche Already Have a Winning Combination

It took several years and a lot of pain to build up the depth the team has now. We suffered through the worst season in the cap era (the Detroit Red Wings are on pace to break that unenviable record) only to lose the draft lottery. (Yes, we ended up winning, but we didn’t know what a force Cale Makar would really be.)

The Avalanche have also made some painful trades to get other pieces that are contributing to their success. I know a lot of people are still mad at Matt Duchene, but he was a fan favorite and our top producer for a lot of years. GM Joe Sakic traded him away to get, essentially, Sam Girard and Bowen Byram.

Colorado then traded away another, even bigger fan favorite, Tyson Barrie, to get the second-line center they lost in Duchene — Nazem Kadri. Meanwhile, they did a lot of work in scouting to build up a prospect pool and a decent supporting act for their team core.

They’re showing success — like I said, second in the Central after making the playoffs twice in a row. As-is, they’re considered at least contenders for a deep playoff run, if not the actual Stanley Cup.

Why would the team sacrifice any of that hard-fought foundation for a rental player? Yes, Colorado has delicacies to spare — we earned them the hard way.

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