In each of the next two NHL Drafts, the Colorado Avalanche do not have a selection until the fourth round, due to trading them away for players in an effort to make a run at the Stanley Cup. So far, it has failed, as the Stars eliminated Colorado this year.
The reason for the lack of a first round pick this year feels like a dagger to the heart. The Avalanche traded Ryan Johansen and their 2025 first round pick to the Flyers for defenseman Sean Walker and a 2026 fifth-round pick. The reason they included the first rounder is because getting rid of Johansen was strictly a salary cap dump. He wasn’t going to be in the Flyers’ plans.
Their 2026 first round pick was traded alongside Calum Ritchie (a first round prospect), Oliver Kylington, and a 2028 third round pick for Brock Nelson and William Dufour. This one hurts more because they included a top-pick player and a future first round pick for a guy who is rumoured to leave this offseason as well as a guy who won’t even see the ice in the NHL.
While draft picks making a move to the NHL isn’t close to a guaranteed thing, the possibility of adding to a team’s AHL affiliate is much greater. Honestly, it’s as simple as this: You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take. Well, you can’t take shots if you don’t have the picks. Therefore, your development pool fails to get stronger. In just the last couple of years, there has been concern about the Eagles’ depth. Though it got better after those initial comments, it still has to improve.
Two solutions to the Colorado Avalanche’s draft pick deficit
The Avalanche can make a few moves to create a significant amount of cap space going forward.
The first idea is one that hurts more than the alternative. It’s to trade Ross Colton, a solid player who was part of the team’s Roaring 20s line, which also consisted of Logan O’Connor and Miles Wood.
An addition to the team in 2023, Colton has played in 141 of 164 games over the last two seasons, has scored 33 goals and has 36 assists in his time with the Avalanche. He’s only 28 years old, which is an added bonus the team can sell to buyers. He won 51.6 percent of faceoffs taken in 2023. Anything around 50 percent or higher with a decent sample size is acceptable.
Colton is on schedule to hit free agency in 2026-27, and carries a cap hit of $4 million this year. Any team who takes him would likely want to sign him to an extension, especially if they surrender something like a mid-round pick for him. A team might also be willing to include a prospect in their attempt to outbid other teams for Colton. This, obviously, is the ideal outcome in a trade of this particular player.
As for Manson, a team who trades for the 33 year old defenseman might only have to give up something like a fourth or fifth-round pick. Manson is a good second-pair defenseman which is quite valuable, but he’s well past the right side of 30, which lowers his value unfortunately. However, if the Avalanche are only really seeking draft picks to fill out their AHL squad, it makes some sense.