The Colorado Avalanche have (finally?) made a trade to try and help improve their team. The team has announced it has acquired Denis Malgin from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Dryden Hunt.
Malgin entered the NHL as a fourth-round pick of the Florida Panthers in 2015. He recorded 60 total points 28 goals and 32 assists during his four years in Florida before heading to Toronto where he spent two seasons, recording two goals and two assists.
Malgin had spent two seasons in various leagues in Switzerland, where he played in 107 games and recorded 47 goals and 63 assists.
Unfortunately, Malgin hasn’t scored a goal since October 30th. His last point came as an assist on November 11th. One might think that he has been hurt because of that stat line but of 31 possible games, he had missed eight.
He has a cap hit of just $750k. Hunt’s cap hit is $775k, so not much of a difference in terms of money.
Hunt was claimed off waivers by the Avalanche on October 20th. He played in 25 games this season but scored just one goal on just 15 shots in that time.
It will be interesting to see if Malgin is able to accomplish anything on a lower line for the Avalanche as the team is desperate for more points. They currently have 31 points this year, good for fourth place in the Central division. That’s where they currently sit in the division too.
Denis Malgin (in return to Colorado) is a non-descript-er sort of bottom-six player, without Hunt's strengths and less of his weaknesses. pic.twitter.com/i1pux1Vue0
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) December 19, 2022
The Avalanche will hopefully continue to get their injured players back sooner rather than later. Nathan MacKinnon will still miss multiple weeks, as will Gabriel Landeskog.
Colorado Avalanche don’t act on rumours.
There had been speculation for the longest time that the Colorado Avalanche would trade someone of the likes of Sam Girard. Girard has looked good at times this season, putting one puck in the net and assisting on four other goals.
The fact of the matter here is that the Avalanche still appear to view Girard as an important piece to their defensive unit. It’s also possible that the Maple Leafs wanted Girard but opted for Dryden Hunt instead.