Why Alex Newhook to Canadiens made sense for Colorado Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche agreed to send center Alex Newhook to the Montreal Canadiens for a first-round pick and second-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft along with defenceman Gianni Fairbrother. This move had to be done sooner than later if it was going to be done since the 2023 NHL Draft is on Wednesday.

Now, the Avalanche have two first-round picks. Here are the trade details:

Unfortunately, Newhook did not quite live up to expectations of the Avalanche. He was inserted into the second-line center spot but there were reasons that that decision was not the best fit. Had the Avalanche not just acquired Ryan Johansen, the move would have made less sense for the team.

A first-round pick in 2019, Newhook has played in 159 games, scoring 27 goals and 39 assists.

So, what are the Avalanche getting in Gianni Fairbrother? They are getting a defenceman that has no NHL experience. Fairbrother will likely be added to the team’s prospect pool with the Colorado Eagles until he is ready to make it at the NHL level.

The big acquisition here is the addition of the first-round pick. The Avalanche have some moves to make in terms of their own in-house free agents, so eliminating the possibility of signing Alex Newhook to a big contract is a smart move. If Newhook wasn’t good enough to make it as the team’s second-line center, extending him to a pricey contract just wasn’t the way to go here.

Newhook was going to be a restricted free agent after the upcoming season anyway. If you ask me, this move just screams “great GM-ing.”

The Avalanche’s prospect pool is pretty thin despite the many call-ups they made from the Eagles last season due to injury. While the addition of Fairbrother is nothing spectacular, it adds another body into the pool for the potential of further use.

The Avalanche have more picks to experiment with in the 2023 NHL Draft. Their current selections are:

1st round picks 27 & 31
5th round: Pick 155
6th round: Pick 187
7th round: Pick 219.