The Colorado Avalanche could have a window of opportunity thanks to a deal by Central Division rival, the Chicago Blackhawks.
On Saturday, the Blackhawks stunned the NHL world by sending veteran defenseman Seth Jones, and a hefty chunk of his $9.5 million cap hit to the Florida Panthers. The Panthers likely made the deal for the sake of making a deal as they look to compete with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Atlantic Division.
But for the Colorado Avalanche, the Seth Jones deal opens up a unique chance to solve a problem. The Blackhawks got goaltender Spencer Knight in the deal for Jones. That situation now means the Blackhawks have four NHL-capable netminders on their depth chart.
As I explored in an earlier piece, the Avalanche need a third-string goaltender to shore up positional depth heading into the postseason. As such, the Blackhawks and Avalanche are now suddenly looking like good trade partners.
With Knight’s addition, the Blackhawks now have Knight, Arvid Sobderblom, Petr Mrazek, and Laurent Brossoit on their depth chart. At the time of this article, Brossoit is out with an injury. As such, Knight, Soderblom, and Mrazek are the top three in Chicago at the moment.
So, what do the Blackhawks do?
According to PuckPedia, the Blackhawks are carrying three goaltenders at the moment. That will change. All three current goalies cannot be sent to the AHL without clearing waivers. So, a deal will have to be made unless the Blackhawks are willing to lose an NHL-caliber goalie for nothing.
Colorado Avalanche could target a Blackhawks goalie
It’s unlikely the Blackhawks are looking to flip Knight before the deadline. That means the likeliest candidates to go a Mrazek or Soderblom.
However, it wouldn’t make sense for the Blackhawks to part with Soderblom. He’s 25 years old, makes 963K, and will be an RFA at the end of the season. Laurent Brossoit is hurt so teams may pass on him now.
That means the target likely squares on Petr Mrazek. While Mrazek has struggled this season, the Avalanche could use him in their depth chart. Trading for Mrazek would make sense as he would not likely get into any game action unless one of Blackwood or Wedgewood got hurt.
But then again, the Avs would run into two specific issues: One, Mrazek comes with a $4.25 million cap hit. As such, the Avs would need to clear room to bring him aboard. According to PuckPedia, the Avs have $3.286 million in cap space. While it wouldn’t be tough to clear up about another million, some money would have to go out in order to make the deal work.
Then, there’s the issue of placing Mrazek on the roster. That situation means the Avs would either have to assign Mrazek to the AHL, and risk losing him to waivers, or wait for Mrazek to clear waivers, and then trade for him.
The latter would be a bold move, but one that could work out in the Avs’ favor. Personally, the likelihood of anyone claiming Mrazek on waivers is rather low. So, here lies the prediction: The Avs wait for the Mrazek to clear waivers, trade for him, and then assign him to the Colorado Eagles.
If that deal doesn’t work out, there are plenty of other third-string goalies the Avalanche could target ahead of the trade deadline. Be sure to keep an eye on the Avs and Hawks are there could be on more surprising move in the pipeline.