Colorado Avalanche: Reaction to Minor Morning Trades 2020

The Colorado Avalanche have made two minor trades so far ahead of the 1:00 pm MT trade deadline.

So far this morning, the Colorado Avalanche have made two minor trades.

The first trade this morning occurred with the Ottawa Senators.

So, the Colorado Avalanche are sending over a late-round 2021 draft pick for winger Vladislav Namestnikov.

Namestnikov is the very definition of a rental player. The 27-year-old is on the final year of his contract with a cap hit of $3.25 million.

He can provide some scoring depth. He has 25 points (13 goals, 12 assists) in 54 games with the Senators. He spent the first four years of his career with the Tampa Bay Lightning. His career high there was his total career high — 44 points (20 goals, 24 assists) in 62 games in 2017-18. He spent two years with the New York Rangers before two games into this season they traded him to Ottawa for Nick Ebert and a 2021 4th round pick. (Which Ottawa now has back, I guess.)

Here’s what I believe to be the last goal Namestnikov scored for Ottawa:

That’s some pretty good hustle on the penalty kill. I’m definitely interested to see what he does for the Avs’ PK, which needs some revitalization.

Here’s another shortie from Namestnikov:

I don’t mind seeing that kind of scoring at all.  For some reason, I’m vibing with the idea of seeing him play on the PK with

J.T. Compher

. (Provided he doesn’t get traded today — I’m not going to make any line predictions until after the trade deadline.)

Meanwhile, the one thing GM Joe Sakic did say the Avs were hunting for was a depth goalie. The team got that with their other trade so far this morning.

My first reaction was, “Didn’t the Leafs trade defenseman Calle Rosen to the Avs?” The answer is yes, yes they did as part of the Nazem Kadri trade that sent Tyson Barrie and Alexander Kerfoot to Toronto.

I guess they wanted him back. The 26-year-old defenseman spent most of his Toronto time with their AHL affiliate. He did the same here. He played eight games with the Avalanche and 35 with the Eagles.

Meanwhile, Michael Hutchinson is a 29-year-old goalie at the end of a contract with a $700,000 cap hit. He’ll be a UFA this summer. Another rental, in other words. He was also on waivers last week, so why the Avs didn’t just pick him up for free, I don’t know…

Anyway, has played 126 NHL games, started in 106. His record is 50-52-14. His save percentage is .905 and goals against average 2.81.

That’s a pretty meh pickup for Colorado. So, what does it mean? Hopefully it means goalie Philipp Grubauer is close to returning or that the Avs have full confidence in Pavel Francouz. Francouz certainly had done a lot to earn such confidence.

Meanwhile, either Hutchinson or Hunter Miska will have to report to the Colorado Eagles. My guess is Miska because Hutchinson is an NHL player — one who can warm the bench just fine while Francouz works his magic.

Side note. The Avalanche are now the only team with two Vladislavs (the other being Kamenev). They also have two right-hand catching goalies — most catch left.

Is GM Joe Sakic done? I doubt it. But that’s what we have for now.

Meanwhile, a  fun trade rumor — Zach Parise to the New York Islanders. I don’t hate it. Of all the Minnesota Wild players, Parise is the most likable. I wouldn’t mind seeing him go to a decent team. (In the time it took me to put all the links in this article, it looks like the trade got done.)