Colorado Avalanche win trade with Chicago Blackhawks

It was rumoured that the Colorado Avalanche would not be too active ahead of the 2023 trade deadline, which is on March 3rd. While the team has not made blockbuster trades, such as bringing in Jonathan Toews, they have made several, including on Sunday.

Here are the details:

While scanning the Twitterverse, you would think that the world had come crashing down. Here’s why: Englund, while still having several years of solid potential, was in on several plays this season for the puck. No, he never had a goal in any of the years during his Avalanche tenure, but that wasn’t necessarily his objective on the team. He’s a big, physical player at 6-foot-3, 189 pounds.

To be honest, there had been several instances where I’m thinking, “there’s Englund in another scrum.”

Englund was a second-round pick of the Ottawa Senators back in the 2014 NHL Draft out of Sweden. The 2022-23 season was the first season of his career in which he played in more than 30 games. While some of that may have had to do with the team’s injuries, it was still great to get him some experience and help him improve his game.

Johnson is a 6-foot-1 defenceman who left the team this past offseason in free agency to Chicago after hoisting the Stanley Cup. He had four assists in 58 games with Chicago.

This move might be centred around getting some chemistry among a specific line on the ice. Remember, the Avalanche didn’t trade Johnson away. He chose to leave in free agency, so the there really should not be much of a problem connecting with the players on whichever line he’s placed on. He knows this team. He will be fine.

It is just disappointing that we won’t be able to see Englund continue his improvement in burgundy and blue. However, it is much more important to have a player return who has had good experience with the team in Johnson. That’s why this move was smart at this time.

The Colorado Avalanche dump England’s salary of $750k but take on Johnson’s $950k salary.