The Colorado Avalanche are an obvious team that players would be able to make a run at a Stanley Cup championship. There are even reports that suggest teams in the Central Division, the division the Avs are in, would be open to making a change for the top team in the NHL.
On Thursday, Jeremy Rutherford of The Athletic put out an article regarding the St. Louis Blues and their trade deadline. In the piece, Rutherford suggested that Blues forward Brayden Schenn, who has a 15-team no-trade clause in his contract, would only be willing to move if it was to the Colorado Avalanche.
Schenn is currently in the sixth year of an eight-year contract worth $6.5 million AAV. He is listed as the Blues’ top-line left wing. He is listed as not only a left-wing, but on PuckPedia, it shows him as a center as well. He is also signed through 2027-28.
The Avalanche have $6.94 million in cap space right now, so adding Schenn, if it were just for draft capital, would leave the Avalanche with hardly any room. If they shipped someone off in the trade, that would give them a little bit more flexibility.
It doesn’t feel like the Avalanche are that interested in moving roster players right now. That’s just pure speculation, because who actually knows what the Avs will do? Ross Colton’s name has been brought up among media members as a potential trade piece. Colorado tried to get Nazem Kadri but reportedly did not cough up the right price that the Flames’ owner wanted.
As for Schenn, he might have been a decent depth option for Colorado. He has played in 61 games this season, putting up 12 goals and 16 assists. He also has 138 hits this season. His career-high in hits is 200, but that was way back in 2013-14.
Colorado has shipped off Sam Girard while acquiring Brett Kulak in that same trade, and in recent days, they have acquired forward Nic Roy and defenseman Nick Blankenburg. Both of those acquisitions were for draft picks, including the Avs’ 2027 first-round pick.
The question is, are the Avalanche at all interested in sending one of their depth pieces away for Schenn? If so, which one would go to St. Louis in the return? The Blues would obviously need to want the return to make the trade happen, and the Avs probably would want to shed some cap space if possible.
Whatever happens (or doesn’t), it’s awesome to see that players want to join the Avalanche. The logistics of trades always makes things tough, as we’ve seen from the Kadri-to-Colorado fiasco in recent days. There is still a little bit of time remaining before the trade deadline, so we’ll see if anythign transpires from now until then.