Despite being tied for the best points percentage in the Western Conference at the holiday break, the Colorado Avalanche haven’t had their ideal start to the 2021-22 season. The team was expected by many to be far and away the best team in the Central Division, but a gigantic rash of injuries to core players has limited them this year.
They’re definitely not alone in that fact, but a few long-term injuries on defense and some concerning numbers from their goaltenders leave the Avalanche with the sixth-most goals against in the conference (91). That’s why The Athletic’s Peter Baugh suggests in a mailbag piece that the team could look to add on defense if the injury situation there doesn’t improve.
Colorado expected both Bowen Byram and Ryan Murray to play some meaningful minutes this year supplementing one of the best 1-2-3 punches in the league on the back end with Cale Makar, Devon Toews, and Samuel Girard. They’re both out for indefinite periods of time.
A logical trade partner for them is the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have a logjam on defense and are looking to ship out a player to create some roster and salary cap flexibility. Both Justin Holl and Travis Dermott could be moved out, and there’s a decent chance Colorado looks at one of these players.
Holl’s really struggled on both sides of the puck this season (just one assist in 24 games) and was healthy scratched for a few games, but he is playing over 20 minutes a night on one of the better teams in the league. He’s also just one season removed from posting solid defensive results on a shutdown pair with Jake Muzzin. While he hasn’t been able to find that consistency this year, a change of scenery could benefit Holl, who’d also give Colorado some cost certainty as he’s signed through 2023.
There’s also the matter of Dermott, who’s likely a more attractive trade option for Colorado. He’s four years younger than Holl and while he too has struggled offensively (just two points in 19 games), he’s been much less mistake-prone than Holl this year and provides more upside. He’s also signed through 2023 for $500,000 less than Holl, an appealing prospect for a contending and spending team like Colorado.
Take them both.
Dermott doesn’t help the Avs. They’re better off trying to buy low on a guy like Petry. Habs are looking to rebuild. He’d be a good mentor for a guy like Byram.
A cap hit of 6.25m for 3 more years after this one might be tough to squeeze in for Colorado, but I’m not too familiar with their cap situation anyway.
I feel like Girard would be the guy going the other way which would offset some of the cost. From everything I’ve watched and read, a lot of people within the organization feel like Sam is a bit of a defensively liability. The Habs could use help on the PP and he’s still very young. His game could grow. It also doesn’t hurt that he’s from Quebec.
It’s as dreadful as most teams in the league right now are carrying. They’ve precisely $2 million in cap space, and that’s WITH carrying nearly $20 million in IR and LTIR, AND going with five slots short on the 23-man roster, which is nuts. The Avs could just BARELY fit either Holl or Dermott in under the cap — one, not both — and that blows up all over again the moment any one of their several big ticket IR/LTIR guys steps back onto the ice.
Longer term, well … $25 million comes off the books next year. But that includes all their goalies, Burakovsky, Kadri, and a lot of roleplayers.
According to capfriendly the Avs only have two players in LTIR. Neither of which have large salaries. Players on IR still have their cap hits count. Which means them coming off IR only matters for roster size because it doesn’t change the cap hit count.
Based on the Avs current numbers, the Leafs players suggested could be accommodated with ease.
I would pass on both, I live in the Toronto area and see a lot of Toronto games and giving up any assets to get any of Holl or Dermott would be foolish
Charot or Chychrun would be ideal
Chychrun would be ideal, but not getting him without giving up more than what they want.
Do Chariot + Lehkonen for Girard, problem solved. Could even shop for another D a bit later. Your welcome
They want to add a defender, yet in your proposal they have to give up the best player who is a defender.
They want a shut down defender and a scoring forward, this has been going on for a while. Girard is all offense and until Byram was injured they were gauging interest in Gerard as they wished to get a shut-down guy and rid themselves of his long contract for the future. Yes, they would need to get more depth, but a “depth defender” will be relatively much cheaper.
Dream on, Leafs fans. Neither one of those guys makes this roster. Solve your problems somewhere else.