Should the Colorado Avalanche have made a big trade?

This offseason, the Colorado Avalanche brought in a couple of lower-tier names to fill the roster spots of departures of Evan Rodrigues, Erik Johnson, and J.T. Compher. Guys like Ross Colton, Ryan Johansen, and Jonathan Drouin are some of the newcomers.

Should the team have done more to fill in the holes that were left by the departures? There certainly could have been bigger names acquired. One of those names is Alex DeBrincat, who went from the Ottawa Senators to the Detroit Red Wings. I’ll admit, it’s just a guess, but it’s possible that DeBrincat, who has had eyes on him as a second-round pick back in 2016 by the Blackhawks.

DeBrincat has played all 82 games in the regular season in four of his six NHL seasons. He has 187 goals and 186 assists in his career, including two 41-goal seasons. Now, getting his penalty minutes down would have been something the Avalanche would maybe have to worry about, but a lot of the time, that would be on him.

Pulling off a big trade would have also potentially cost the Colorado Avalanche a high-round draft pick. The team does have those draft picks to spare, but my feeling is that they want to hold onto those picks and fill out their prospect pool as best they can. They have had to call up several players last season due to injuries. Now hopefully that doesn’t have to happen again, but the fact that they didn’t make that huge trade and give up a first-round pick is good in this regard.

It might be a bit concerning, however, since the Avalanche are in win-now mode. They’re not rebuilding. They just won the Stanley Cup in 2021-22. I do feel like this past season was a fluke and the Colorado Avalanche do not suffer so many injuries in 2023-24.

The best-case scenario is that the additions of Colton, Johansen, and Drouin are enough to help the Colorado Avalanche back to the Stanley Cup Finals.

You don’t have to have a team full of superstars to be successful. Well, the Colorado Avalanche already have several key superstars, but some of their lines have a lesser-known player. It will all depend on how these players play alongside each other. Will they be successful? Only time will tell.