It seems like the thought of the Colorado Avalanche trading away defenseman Samuel Girard comes up every year. The Avalanche, who have little salary cap room right now, are in a spot where these thoughts are coming up again.
On his podcast recently, NHL reporter Elliott Friedman said that he thinks the Avalanche are okay with their current roster the way it is. That would simply indicate that there wouldn’t be any or many trades by the team. The alternative is looking for inexpensive depth players who hit free agency. You can find his exact comments at the 49:00 mark of his podcast linked above.
Colorado has just $1.2 million in cap space right now and could free up a significant amount of money by sending Girard elsewhere. Of course, it would depend on the size of the contract of the player the Avs would be getting in return, and it’s truly ot a sure thing that the team is even looking at the possibility of trading him. It’s simply just an option.
Every single time that I see the idea of moving Girard floating around, it’s met with pushback by Avalanche fans. That makes sense. Fans sometimes get attached to players and don’t ever want to see them go to another team. I get it. The exact same thing happened when Mikko Rantanen went to the Stars after Colorado traded him to Carolina. Of course, Rantanen’s second move was out of the Avalanche’s control.
Here are just some of the instances there had been pushback about the possibility of trading Girard:
Sam Girard is highly underrated by Avalanche fans, many often calling for him to be traded and i don't understand why. Great player that has been with the franchise for almost a decade.pic.twitter.com/b0T8oQDuiR
— Avalanche Forever (@citchmook) June 13, 2025
When will you fans stop trying to trade Sam Girard? #GoAvsGo
— Adrian Hernandez (@AdoHernandez27) June 7, 2025
Why are Avs fans all wanting to trade Sam Girard? I will never understand it
— Luca Celebre (@LucaCelebre21) July 13, 2022
Girard had three goals and 21 assists in 73 regular season game this past year. He averaged the third-most minutes per game by a defenseman on the team with 20:51 (behind Cale Makar and Devon Toews), and averaged the second-most shifts per game with 26.8, behind just Devon Toews (27.6). His time on ice average is a pretty good indication of head coach Jared Bednar’s trust in him.
Another key statistic that Girard ranks highly on the team is blocked shots with 111. He ranks second, behind just the magnificent Cale Makar. It’s not an easy or fun part of the game to block shots. It would hurt. To be able to do that night in and night out can really make it tough to get out of bed. The fact is, however, it’s part of the job and a skill that Girard is simply awesome at.
In early-January, Mile High Sticking’s Aaron Poorman wrote an article on Girard, which you can check out here.
Ideally, the Avalanche don’t have to move on from Girard. They could find a couple of players to fit right into the lineup, starting with re-signing Sam Malinski (restricted free agent), Joel Kiviranta, and perhaps Jonathan Drouin. Those moves would solve so many holes for the team this year under horrible cap restrictions. Like I said recently, Kiviranta and Malinski won’t cost a lot right now. The questions is going to be about whether Drouin wants to re-sign on an inexpensive deal again or move on and try to secure more money.
However, if the Avalanche do actually trade Girard this year, it would make sense. They’d be trying to sign or trade for more depth. The business side of things is just the nature of pro sports. It sucks, but sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to.