The Colorado Avalanche made a trade on Wednesday night, hoping to get something going in terms of their scoring as well as defense depth. The team traded defenseman Jacob MacDonald and forward Martin Kaut for forward Matt Nieto and defenseman Ryan Merkley.
Trade update. #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/LOOS51vU5j
— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) January 26, 2023
Nieto was previously on the Avalanche roster in 2017-18 (claimed off waivers) but left as a free agent to go back to the San Jose Sharks, who drafted him back in 2011. Nieto’ a best season came in 2017-18 with the Avalanche as he scored 15 goals and 11 assists in 74 games. I think a negative about Nieto appears to be his +/-. This season, he’s is at -22, already exceeding his previous worst season of -20 last year in 70 games played.
Maybe this time around, he will be able to sync with the line he is placed on and be able to excel.
It appears Nieto could be the team’s fourth-line right winger.
https://twitter.com/runwriteaarif/status/1618480697752309761?s=61&t=C25MRyrf7ih7VS12YfnDrA
Merkley is a 22-year old defenseman who was drafted 21st overall in the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft. Since getting drafted by the San Jose Sharks, he had spent time with the San Jose Barracuda of the AHL, and the London Knights of the OHL. He appeared in 39 games for the Sharks in 2021-22 and scored one goal with five assists. He has a career +/- of -10 with the Sharks.
As far as what the team’s cap situation looks like now, only one player in the trade made a difference. MacDonald had a cap hit of $762,500 and Nieto’s cap hit is $850,000. The other two players involved in the trade had no impact on the cap due to them being in the AHL at the time of the transaction.
The news of this trade could potentially mean that the Colorado Avalanche will be getting some players back from injury soon. The team is on a six-game win streak and any help they can get back from injury would be tremendous. The team has missed Cale Makar the past few games and seem to suffer some sort of injuries very often. The depth is important as they try and climb the standings.