Hypothetical trade provides Colorado Avalanche instant offense

The NHL off-season is typically slow. A few signings here and there, maybe a trade or two, but for the most part, teams are beginning to get ready for training camp and aren’t as much in the limelight.

There are a lot of rumors and hypothetical trade proposals that make the news—team A trades this player to team B for this player. One such, as proposed by NHL Trade Rumors website would greatly benefit the Avalanche.

They believe, due to a cap crunch the Islanders have, that center Brock Nelson is available. The suggested cost for Nelson is Ross Colton, a younger second line center currently with the Avs. Although the loss of a player of Colton's caliber would certainly be felt by the Avalanche, adding a player like Brock Nelson would mitigate Colton's loss and then some.

By acquiring a steady center like Nelson with playoff experience and scoring touch, the Avalanche instantly bolster their second line. Nelson has not scored less than 34 goals over the past three seasons and has only missed ten games during those three seasons.

He’s as reliable as it gets for a second line center. He’s a bigger player (6’4”, 210 lbs.) and can be a net front presence for the Avalanche on the power play as well. Nelson also has 81 games of career playoff experience and understands the playoff style of hockey.

He’s coming up at 33 years of age, which doesn’t help the Avalanche much for the future, but the team is in win-now mode and isn’t overly concerned about that, especially with Nelson’s durability not in question. Nelson’s faceoff percentage has been below 50 percent almost his entire career, with only one season above 50 percent wins.

Acquiring a player of Brock Nelson’s caliber would be a huge coup for the Avalanche and if there’s any substantiation to these rumors, the Avalanche should make this deal happen.