The Colorado Avalanche and the division-rival Nashville Predators have a long history of trading with each other. While some teams' front offices tend to avoid trading in-division, this has never been an issue for these two franchises. As far back as October 25, 1998 — just 15 days after Nashville played its inaugural NHL game — the Preds and the Avs had a number of trades. The first six, grouped between that 1998 trade and ending with a trio of deals between March 11 and June 30, 2003, were largely not needle-moving moves:
Date of Trade | Avalanche Receive | Predators Receive |
|---|---|---|
October 25, 1998 | Greg de Vries | 1999 third-round pick (Branko Radivojevic) |
June 27, 1999 | 1999 second-round pick (Martin Grenier) | 1999 second-ound pick (Andrew Hutchinson) and |
March 1, 2002 | Conditional 2002 ninth-round pick 264-Matt Davis) | |
March 11, 2003 | 2003 seventh-round pick (Linus Videll) | Alexander Riazantsev |
June 21, 2003 | Sergei Soin | Tomas Slovak |
June 30, 2003 | Future Considerations (which became a 2004 third-round pick [87-Peter Regin]) | Karlis Skrastins |
None of these trades wound up being franchise-altering for either side, but it did illustrate an early willingness for these two teams to broker deals: something that would remain dormant for almost 15 years until the trade that sent Avs' franchise-favorite forward Cody McLeod to Music City. This, infamously, led to one of the most bizarre, circumstantial fights in NHL history. Across the last nine years, especially so in the last handful, the transactions between the Avs and the Preds have increased exponentially:
Date of Trade | Avalanche Receive | Predators Receive |
|---|---|---|
January 13, 2017 | Felix Girard | Cody McLeod |
July 1, 2017 | Colin Wilson | 2019 fourth-round pick |
November 5, 2017* | Samuel Girard, Vladislav Kamenev, and a 2018 second-round pick (Filip Hallander) | Kyle Turris |
June 24, 2023 | Ryan Johansen | Alex Galchenyuk |
March 7, 2024 | Yakov Trenin, Graham Sward | Jeremy Hanzel, 2025 third-round pick (Tyler Hopkins) |
November 30, 2024 | Scott Wedgewood | Justus Annunen, 2025 sixth-round pick (Reko Alanko) |
December 28, 2024 | Juuso Parssinen, 2026 seventh-round pick | Ondrej Pavel, 2027 third-round pick |
March 4, 2026 | Nick Blankenburg | 2027 fifth-round pick |
*The Ottawa Senators were also involved in this trade. A full, in-depth analysis of this trade can be accessed here
Unlike the first half-dozen trades between the two clubs, these more recent ones have had big impacts for both sides. For starters, the Avs pulled off one of the most studied and modeled-after trade robberies in NHL history when they offloaded the unhappy Matt Duchene and snagged a king's ransom in return. The most notable component of the trade was Samuel Girard, who, until this past trade deadline, served as a franchise staple and as a stalwart rearguard who witnessed the Avs' rise from the NHL's basement to its pinnacle.
Additionally, the Avs snagged Scott Wedgewood from the Nashville Predators as the first part of their complete goaltending overhaul in the middle of the 2024-25 season, and Wedgewood went from serving as a projected backup netminder to, ultimately, claiming (alongside Mackenzie Blackwood) the 2026 William M. Jennings Trophy, which is awarded to the team that allows the fewest goals against in an NHL season. On top of that, "Wedgie" posted the league's best individual goals-against average and save percentage, which has established him as not just a reliable backup but a bona fide NHL starter, which gives the Avs a "1A, 1B" setup in net.
Chris MacFarland's Nashville Predators are preying on the Avalanche
When Chris MacFarland left his role as the general manager of the Colorado Avalanche in favor of taking that same position with the Nashville Predators, it was bittersweet. On one hand, he had been instrumental in the Avs' 2022 Stanley Cup Championship, and he had made a number of smart moves that made the Avs an annual threat for contention since taking over as GM heading into the following season. On the other hand, it was Joe Sakic who, ultimately, built the Avs team that did win the Cup in '22, and, alongside some decidedly smart trades from MacFarland, there were a few questionable ones, too — and this most recent playoff exit, a sweep by the much-loathed Vegas Golden Knights — illustrated and exposed some of the team's vulnerabilities; the Avs fully unraveled in this years' Western Conference Finals, and there was much discourse on the future of the staff in Denver.
While "Mac" has only officially been at the Smashville helm for less than a month, he has already traded for two players who played under him in Colorado:
Date of Trade | Avalanche Receive | Predators Receive |
|---|---|---|
June 16, 2026 | Magnus Chrona, 2026 third-round pick, and a 2027 third-round pick | Ross Colton, Isak Posch |
June 24, 2026 | Fyodor Svechkov, Zachary L'Heureux | Jack Drury, Chase Bradley, and a 2029 third-round pick |
It's a difficult pill to swallow — Ross Colton became an instant favorite in the Mile High City, and Jack Drury brought both a family legacy and some of the league's best penalty-killing and faceoff-winning metrics to a team that desperately needed both. While it's nice to gain some youth and some prospect capital, seeing two of the Avs' most beloved bottom-six players get dealt to a division rival is unfortunate, especially given what they both, respectively, brought to the Avalanche.
Ultimately, after the aforementioned sweep at the hands of the Vegas Golden Knights, the Avs needed to shake things up. Have they done so without disrupting the all-world talent that they possess? To an extent, yes. Time will tell how much of an impact these two most recent trades will have. Does it sting to see the Predators reap the benefits that Colton and Drury bring? Also yes.
Hopefully, "Trader Joe" hasn't lost his touch in his GM hiatus.
Statistics, data, and analytics provided by The Athletic, Bleacher Report, CBS, Colorado Hockey Now, Complete Hockey News, Daily Faceoff, The Denver Post, Dobber Prospects, The Hockey News, Hockey Reference, HockeyDB, JFresh Hockey, the KHL, Mile High Hockey, the NHL, the NHL Network, PuckPedia, Sportsnet, Spotrac, StatMuse, TSN, Yahoo Sports.
Add us as a preferred source on Google