3 Hypothetical Deals to Help Fix the Colorado Avalanche
Below, I’ve put together three seperate hypothetical deals surrounding the Avs biggest names. Colorado shouldn’t have a problem finding clubs with interest for Matt Duchene or Semyon Varlamov. Making the dollars work could be another story all together, though.
Colorado trades F Matt Duchene and to Carolina in exchange for D Noah Hanifin (Canes may need to add prospect(s)/draft pick(s)
Some of the recent rumors tend to link Justin Faulk to Carolina. Unfortunately, it would make little sense for Colorado to add another quality RHD. At the same time, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for the Canes, either.
Instead, Carolina is rich in depth on the left side with the likes of Haydn Fleury and Jake Bean still on the way. At some point, Ron Francis may need to choose between Jaccob Slavin and Noah Hanifin. It’s not a knock on Hanifin, who is just starting to scratch the surface in terms of development, but Slavin is the complete package, solid in all three zones.
Colorado trades F Matt Duchene to Minnesota in exchange for D Jonas Brodin, F Mikael Granlund, and draft pick(s)/prospect(s)
Give the Minnesota Wild a lot of credit. Their deep defensive group is largely responsible for the team’s success in 2016-17 so far. That being said, this is not a recipe for winning a Stanley Cup Championship. At some point (probably closer to the deadline), this club will need to make an important decision.
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With an impending expansion draft on the way, it’ll be the last time for GMs to get top return value for their players.
For those GMs like Bob Murray in Anaheim who are expected to make moves after the playoffs, they might be surprised at what’s being offered as other teams smell the desperation to unload players before losing them for nothing.
At this point, it seems both Jonas Brodin and Marco Scandella stand to go unprotected. Minnesota needs to decide whether they’re okay losing Brodin, keeping Scandella. Or, they can trade the better defender (Brodin) and risk likely losing Scandella instead.
It’s a bit of a lose-lose situation, but Brodin at least carries more trade value and the Wild have a number of quality blueliners at the ready for more minutes. Guys like Mike Reilly, Gustav Olofsson, and Christian Folin are more than capable of filling the vacant holes.
Colorado trades G Semyon Varlamov ($900k retained for remainder of contract) to Philadelphia in exchange for G Michal Neuvirth, D Michael Del Zotto, and prospect(s)/draft pick(s)
Instead of choosing between Steve Mason and Michal Neuvirth, Philly can get a quality stop-gap option in Varlamov until one of the numerous goaltending prospects emerge.
At $900k retained, the Flyers get the Russian at a more affordable $5 million dollar cap hit.
The option would always remain to still re-sign Steve Mason and form a tandem similar to what many other teams have constructed in recent years.
For Colorado, Neuvirth comes in on an expiring deal and could always be re-signed to serve as backup to Calvin Pickard. 26-year-old Michael Del Zotto would also be coming in as an impending UFA. He fits a need on the left side and could be a decent no.4/5 on a winning team. If the chemistry is there with the Avs, they have plenty of time to re-sign Del Zotto.
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Fans in Colorado won’t love the return value here, but would you prefer this (getting something in return) or losing him for nothing to Vegas? This is more about clearing nearly $5 million dollars/year in cap space.