Colorado Avalanche Acquire Nicolas Roy
The Colorado Avalanche have acquired forward Nicolas Roy from the Toronto Maple Leafs, in exchange for a conditional 2027 first-round pick and a conditional 2026 fifth-round pick. The conditions on both picks read as follows:
In the event Colorado’s 2027 first-round selection is in the top-10 of the 2027 NHL Draft, Colorado will send its unprotected 2028 first-round pick to Toronto. Colorado currently holds three fifth-round selections in the 2026 NHL Draft; the lowest of those three picks will be transferred to Toronto as part of the transaction.
Yesterday, Frank Seravalli reported that the Maple Leafs’ asking price of a first-round pick plus a prospect for Roy had “held steady,” and that Toronto was unwilling to retain salary at that price. The Maple Leafs ultimately got the first-rounder they sought, though the fifth-round pick will have to suffice in place of a prospect. 
The move ends what was a brief tenure in Toronto for Roy, who was acquired over the summer as part of the Vegas Golden Knights’ acquisition of star winger Mitch Marner. Roy had been a solid middle-six center in Vegas, scoring 15 goals and 31 points in 71 games in 2024-25 and 41 points in 70 games in 2023-24.
His numbers took a tumble in Toronto, where he has just five goals and 20 points in 59 games, but his resume remains strong nonetheless.
That’s especially true considering he’s under contract for an additional year at an entirely affordable $3MM cap hit. Roy was also regularly playing on the penalty kill in Toronto, ranking No. 3 among Maple Leafs forwards in short-handed time on ice per game.
Roy is likely to slot in as Colorado’s No. 3 center, lining up behind Nathan MacKinnon and Brock Nelson. As previously mentioned, he excelled in a similar role in Vegas, and given the team control afforded by his contract, it appears the Avalanche have their top three centers locked in for the next two playoff runs, at the minimum. His addition could also help the already-stellar Avalanche penalty kill.
While a first-round pick isn’t a cheap price to pay for any player, it looks to be a fair one for Roy. While his numbers are down, he should be able to capably occupy the No. 3 center role with some special teams value. That’s not an insignificant role whatsoever, and adding Roy now is more valuable to the Avalanche than selecting a player with that first-round pick likely would be. Colorado is looking to maximize its odds of winning another Stanley Cup with core players such as MacKinnon and Cale Makar in their prime, and adding Roy certainly helps in that pursuit.
From Toronto’s perspective, this trade begins what could be a larger effort to sell players and regroup with an eye to the future. The offseason loss of Mitch Marner, among other factors, helped destabilize what has been a consistent regular-season juggernaut over the last decade. Toronto looks more likely than not to miss the playoffs for just the second time since 2015-16, the year they earned the No. 1 pick and right to select franchise face Auston Matthews.
Landing a first-round pick for Roy will allow the team to bolster its prospect pool, which entered the season ranked No. 27 in the NHL by Elite Prospects. The team could also flip the pick for a younger player who is at or near NHL-readiness, in order to better support a competitive timeline centered around its existing stars.
In any case, this move is one that makes considerable sense for both involved teams, and it will be interesting to see what decisions Toronto makes moving forward as it navigates a wholly uncertain future.
Photos courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
Colorado Avalanche Acquire Nick Blankenburg
The Colorado Avalanche have acquired defenseman Nick Blankenburg from the Nashville Predators, according to an official team announcement. The Predators are receiving a 2027 fifth-round pick in exchange for the defenseman.
The move continues Nashville’s recent efforts to add future draft picks in exchange for roster players. Fourth-liners Michael McCarron and Cole Smith were dealt yesterday. In these three deals, the Predators have added a second-round pick, a third-round pick, and a fifth-rounder, albeit by bolstering the depth of Western Conference playoff contenders in the process.
In adding Blankenburg, the Avalanche have added a capable NHL defenseman who has enjoyed the best years of his professional career in Nashville.
While the 27-year-old is undersized, standing 5’9″ 177 pounds, he plays at the kind of pace that will allow him to fit in seamlessly in Colorado. He has 21 points in 49 games this season, playing 17:57 per night with the Predators.
He’s appeared on both sides of special teams, serving as the team’s second power play quarterback (behind star Roman Josi) and is averaging 1:36 per game on the penalty kill. When Josi missed significant time last season due to injury, it was Blankenburg who stepped up and spent time quarterbacking the team’s top power play unit.
The way Colorado’s defense is constructed, it is unlikely he plays as large a role. The right side of their defense is already well-stocked, with Cale Makar, Sam Malinski, and Brent Burns already in the fold. With Devon Toews, Josh Manson, and Brett Kulak on the other side, the Avalanche have an enviable collection of talent on their back end. Adding Blankenburg, presumably in the seventh-defenseman role, only adds to their stockpile at the position. If an injury hits, the team will have a quality player ready to step in and fill the role of the injured blueliner.
From the Predators’ perspective, the deal adds a draft pick for a pending UFA and concludes what has been a solid developmental success story for the Predators.
Blankenburg was a great find for the team’s hockey operations department in the summer of 2024. He had lost his NHL role with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2023-24, playing in the AHL for the first time in his career. He signed a two-year deal in Nashville that contained a two-way structure in its first year, something that ultimately didn’t factor in too much as Blankenburg only played 13 games for the Milwaukee Admirals.
The Predators were able to find an NHL role that was a fit for Blankenburg’s skill set, and allowed him to occupy that role and rediscover his place as a full-time NHL player. A fifth-round pick isn’t a massive return for Blankenburg, but it’s still an additional draft pick to add to their rapidly growing stockpile. And the value of rewarding Blankenburg by giving him a chance to join one of the NHL’s top teams cannot be discounted – if he plays well in Colorado, and gets into playoff games, he’ll enter the free agent market on very strong ground.
It might be curious to see Nashville trading away so many established players while they are in the midst of a playoff chase, but the reality is the Predators have one of the better track records across the league as developers of NHL talent.
While elite talent has sometimes eluded them, they have, more often than not, been able to rely on their pipeline of talent from AHL Milwaukee to provide them with players capable of taking on specific roles as bottom-six players or third-pairing defensemen. The trades of the bottom-six forwards from yesterday will allow for greater opportunity for developing players such as Ozzy Wiesblatt and Reid Schaefer at the NHL level. The deals should also allow for promising center Fedor Svechkov to re-join the NHL roster.
Today’s trade accomplishes a similar role on defense. The Admirals have been led in scoring this season by a defenseman, 22-year-old Ryan Ufko, and he could get a look in the NHL as a result of this trade. It could also mean greater opportunity for Justin Barron, who the Predators acquired last season from the Montreal Canadiens.
In any case, the Predators have not let this season’s solid short-term on-ice results deter them from building towards a clear long-term vision. Their moves in recent days have seemingly been concrete steps forward in service of that vision, even if they might somewhat hurt their odds of reaching the playoffs this season.
Photos courtesy of Mark Konezny-Imagn Images
Avalanche Reassign Jason Polin, Artturi Lehkonen Week-To-Week
March 4, 2:41 p.m.: Polin was returned to the AHL today, the team announced. He did not have a point or a shot in 8:09 of ice time last night.
March 3, 7:40 p.m.: Avalanche forward Artturi Lehkonen will be week-to-week with his injury, reported by Evan Rawal of The Denver Gazette. The 30-year-old had not yet missed a game this season, on a career high pace with 42 points in 59 games.
March 3, 1:00 p.m.: The Avalanche announced today that they’ve recalled forward Jason Polin from AHL Colorado. He fills one of two open spots on the Avs’ active roster after today’s news that Lehkonenwill miss at least a few games after taking a puck to the face last night.
Colorado also has Joel Kiviranta unavailable as he’s in concussion protocol, so the Avs needed to make a recall today in order to have 18 skaters on hand for tonight’s contest against the Ducks. Polin will draw into the lineup for the third time this season after appearing on back-to-back nights during his last call-up in November.
The 26-year-old winger isn’t much more than a fringe recall option to plug-and-play on the fourth line in case of injury, just like he’s doing now. Colorado signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Western Michigan a few years back. He’s been an AHL fixture since then, but has totaled 11 NHL appearances over the last three seasons, scoring once with a +2 rating while averaging just 6:45 of ice time per game.
In the minors, the 6’0″, 198-lb Polin is having his best-ever showing. He’s set a new career high with 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists) in 39 games. The former NCAA West Second Team All-American is now up to 24 goals and 50 points in 127 career minor-league outings.
Kings’ Quinton Byfield Sustains Upper-Body Injury
The Los Angeles Kings were without yet another top forward in Monday night’s game against the Colorado Avalanche. Quinton Byfield sat out of the match with an upper-body injury per a team release. It was Byfield’s second absence of the season. The Kings awarded rookies Jared Wright and Kenny Connors with their NHL debuts in relief of the injured Byfield and Andrei Kuzmenko.
It is not clear what the source of Byfield’s injury was. Either way, his absence left the Kings scrambling to fill yet another top-six role, after losing Kevin Fiala to a season-ending injury during the 2026 Winter Olympics. Byfield has made his presence felt in the return from break, with three points in three games since Los Angeles took back to the ice. He has averaged 20 minutes of ice time throughout the season and earned 13 goals, 33 points, and a minus-five in 58 games.
Byfield is scoring at a 47-point pace this season, a step below the pace that led him to 55 and 54 points over the last two seasons respectively. He has stayed a central piece of the Kings’ offense despite that, averaging more ice time than any Kings forward and taking the second-most faceoffs on the team. Byfield’s impact away from the scoresheet has helped the Kings make up for a down year from franchise legend Anze Kopitar, who has only 24 points in 45 games.
Should Byfield need to miss extended time with this absence, the Kings will need to heap even more responsibility onto recent, superstar addition Artemi Panarin. The former New York Rangers scoring leader has notched three assists in his first four games with the Kings. He looked like a dangerous addition to Byfield’s wing but will now serve next to Kopitar, while Alex Turcotte and Connors earn bumps into the middle-six. Neither Connors nor Wright earned a point in their first NHL game but both could have another crack at scoring with injuries piling up in Los Angeles.
Avalanche’s Artturi Lehkonen Leaves Game Injured, Will Miss Time
The Colorado Avalanche went down a winger early into Monday night’s game against the Los Angeles Kings. Winger Artturi Lehkonen left the game in the first period after a puck caught him up high. He had only played three shifts and just under four minutes of ice time. After the game, head coach Jared Bednar shared that Lehkonen will “miss some time” with an upper-body injury per Evan Rawal of The Denver Gazette.
Lehkonen has filled an important role in his fourth full season in Colorado. He has averaged just under 19 minutes of ice time each game, and reached a career-high scoring pace in the role. Lehkonen has 19 goals and 42 points in 59 games, putting him on pace for 26 goals and 58 points across a full 82-game season. Both of those marks would be new career-highs, surpassing the 21 goals and 51 points he scored in 64 games of the 2022-23 campaign.
Lehkonen has found that extra scoring gear while serving as the left-winger next to Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas on Colorado’s top, even-strength line. The trio have played nearly 475 minutes together this season, over 340 minutes more than any other Avalanche line. Together they have outscored opponents by a staggering 38-to-16.
With Lehkonen set for the shelf, Colorado will face the tough question of how to rework their most consistent line. Captain Gabriel Landeskog will likely move to a top-line role but which extra forward will step into the lineup isn’t clear. Colorado is not currently carrying a healthy, extra forward – so they’ll need to make a recall to find some added help. Left-winger Taylor Makar has received the most NHL action of any of Colorado’s minor-leaguers, with 12 NHL games and no scoring this season. He could be the favorite for a short-term, NHL role. Colorado could also look for a bit more scoring spark from a player like Alex Barre-Boulet, who leads the AHL’s Colorado Eagles with 54 points in 52 games and scored a point in his only NHL game this season.
Avalanche Interested In Nazem Kadri Reunion
The Avalanche have already been busy opening cap space ahead of the trade deadline, taking a slight hit to their blue line depth to swap out Samuel Girard for Brett Kulak in Tuesday’s deal with the Penguins. They’re now projected to have close to $11MM in cap space on deadline day. That leaves them wide-open to acquire a big-name target to bolster their chase for the Presidents’ Trophy and the Stanley Cup.
One of those targets is coming into view: Flames pivot Nazem Kadri, whose career year for the Avs in 2021-22 helped guide them to their only Cup win of the Nathan MacKinnon era, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports. That comes amid Kadri’s name rocketing up trade lists following reports that he’s had a change of heart on his willingness to stay in Calgary long-term, plus Pagnotta indicating today that the Flames are open to retaining a portion of Kadri’s $7MM cap hit.
With a 13-team no-trade list, Kadri can block a move to several contenders. The Hurricanes, who were purported to have interest in him earlier this season, were reportedly on that list. It’s a relative certainty, though, that Kadri wouldn’t welcome a return to the destination where he had his greatest offensive success, which he then parlayed into his seven-year, $49MM free agency cash-in with Calgary in 2022.
Now 35, Kadri’s deal still has another three seasons left on it. He’ll be 38 when it’s up. For a cap-strapped team like the Avs, that makes a deal a non-starter without retention because of its long-term impact, even if they have the space to pull it off this season. If Calgary is willing to make him closer to a $5MM or $4MM player through 2028-29, though, that suddenly makes it a workable addition for Colorado. They’re up to $13MM in flexibility for next season after the Girard-for-Kulak trade with seven roster spots to fill. Bringing that figure back under $10MM with a Kadri pickup, assuming they don’t send a significantly-paid roster player the other way, would preclude them from making any major additions this summer as things stand, but it would still allow them to fill out a full roster with depth signings.
The presumption that the Avs wouldn’t send a roster player back may be hasty, though. They’re one of the deepest clubs in the league at every position, their prospect pool notwithstanding, and could easily stand to leverage a third-line name like Jack Drury or an even pricier one like Ross Colton in talks if the Flames have an interest in either.
If there’s a relative weakness on Colorado’s roster, it’s having Drury in the third-line slot down the middle. His eight goals and 19 points in 56 games this season are somewhat underwhelming on a team that scores as much as the Avs for a player averaging nearly 15 minutes per night. He’s nonetheless been incredibly valuable in the faceoff dot, winning 58.6% of his draws.
What Kadri lacks in faceoff acumen, he more than makes up for in what would likely give the Avs one of the best one-two-three punches down the middle in the modern era with MacKinnon, Brock Nelson, and himself. Even in a relatively down year for the late bloomer (at least in terms of him being a true top-six piece), he’s put up 39 points in 56 games to lead Calgary in scoring. That’s a 57-point pace over 82 games, and his recent history remains exceptional, with 35 goals last year and 75 points the year before.
It’s fair to question if a Kadri acquisition would cause the Avs to invest too much into aging assets for too long, though. While Nelson has exploded for 30 goals and 50 points in 56 games, he’s 34 years old and signed for two more years at a $7.5MM cap charge. With Cale Makar‘s next big payday scheduled for 2027, loading up too much past next season could leave them with too little flexibility to get a deal done.
Among the other teams that have expressed some level of interest are the Canadiens, as previously reported, plus Colorado’s Central Division challengers, the Stars and Wild, Pagnotta reports. He also added the Panthers as a team that’s kicked the tires, but that likely hinges on their decision to enter the deadline as buyers at all – something that’s looking less and less likely with a playoff spot now eight points out of reach.
Image courtesy of Jeff Curry-Imagn Images.
MacKinnon Scratched For Maintenance
- After a busy Olympic tournament with Canada, the Avalanche decided to give Nathan MacKinnon the night off tonight against Utah. Corey Masisak of The Denver Post relays (Twitter link) that MacKinnon’s absence was merely termed as maintenance and not injury-related. It was suggested that MacKinnon was playing through something at the Olympics although he still managed seven points in six games while playing heavy minutes. He leads the NHL in goals this season with 40 through 55 appearances.
Penguins Acquire Samuel Girard From Avalanche
The Penguins acquired left-shot blue-liner Samuel Girard and a 2028 second-round pick from the Avalanche in exchange for defenseman Brett Kulak, both teams announced Tuesday.
Girard has been in the rumor mill for what seems like years. Colorado hoped to make him a future top-four anchor behind Cale Makar and Devon Toews – he actually predates both of them and was the Avs’ longest-tenured defenseman – when they acquired him from the Predators in 2017. After the puck-mover impressed and sniffed 20 minutes per game of ice time in his first full season in Colorado, the Avs inked him to a seven-year, $35MM extension.
Some warned the commitment was premature. Now, in the penultimate season of the contract, they’d be right, at least based on his recent play. Girard’s performance back in the pandemic-shortened 2021 campaign made it look like he’d be the final piece of a true three-headed monster behind Makar and Toews, rattling off 32 points and a +15 rating in 58 games. His trajectory has been largely downhill from there. His minutes were steadily reduced from the 23-plus minutes he logged that year, his playoff performances were negligible, and he never churned out the same level of two-way play. He’s topped 30 points just once since then and has had negative relative Corsi impacts three times in the last five seasons at 5-on-5.
Still, Girard remained Colorado’s clear-cut No. 2 left-shot option behind Toews, especially after the Avs jettisoned Bowen Byram at the 2024 trade deadline. Then came this season. Girard sustained an upper-body injury in Colorado’s second game of the season that left him on the shelf for a month. During that time, veteran righty Brent Burns got the bump up to second-pairing minutes with Josh Manson moving to his offside in lieu of Girard. That duo, with over 2,200 combined games of NHL experience, has put up fantastic results – even posting better possession numbers than Makar and Toews have with a 56.8 xGF%, per MoneyPuck.
That pushed Girard down to a third-pairing role along with Sam Malinski, averaging only 17:41 of ice time per game. Even there, Malinski’s 25-point, +30 breakout through 55 games had rendered Girard as something of an expensive depth redundancy, especially with Malinski now extended through 2029-30 and Girard costing $5MM against the cap.
That cap impact, in a season where the Avs are the top Cup favorites by a significant margin, is why general manager Chris McFarland was willing to offload a second-round pick to get out of the last year and a half of his deal – especially if they’re receiving a much cheaper third-pairing option in Kulak in return, who’s having a strong season. Swapping out Girard for the pending UFA Kulak, who costs only $2.75MM, now leaves the Avs with a projected $10.82MM in cap space on deadline day, per PuckPedia. They’ve also given themselves $13MM even in cap space for next season, up from just $8MM to fill seven spots before the deal.
Kulak’s time in Pittsburgh ends after 25 games. It’s his second time being traded this season, having been acquired from the Oilers in December as part of the Tristan Jarry/Stuart Skinner swap. During that time, he’d gotten a bump in minutes alongside Kris Letang in top-four deployment and showed he was up to the task. He’s having a tough season offensively, even by his limited standards as a shutdown bottom-four piece, but managed seven points with a +2 rating while playing almost exclusively with Letang. That duo controlled 52.2% of expected goals as well, per MoneyPuck.
Given how both players grade out this season, it’s likely a lateral move at worst for both clubs. It’s a bit more of a long-term focused move for the Pens, though. They have little to no long-term security in their top four. Parker Wotherspoon has impressed this season, elevated as a top-pairing shutdown partner for Erik Karlsson, although he’s been a career third-pairing option and, at age 28, the prospects for regression next season are bright. Ryan Shea is, like Kulak, a pending UFA. Their veteran depth options are uninspiring, and it’s questionable if 2022 first-rounder Owen Pickering will be ready to log NHL minutes next season.
They now have a year and change of a 27-year-old Girard, plus the ability to discuss an extension with him starting July 1. He immediately becomes their most offensively dynamic threat on the left side and becomes the youngest name in Pittsburgh’s aging top-four group. They’re banking on Girard, who has 12 points in 40 outings this season, to return to his 30-plus point form back in expanded minutes, but considering he’s averaged over 20 minutes per game for his career, it’ll be a familiar situation for him.
Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was first to report the trade.
Image courtesy of Steven Bisig-Imagn Images.
Avalanche Announced New ECHL Affiliate
- The Colorado Avalanche have announced a new ECHL expansion franchise for the 2026-27 season. The New Mexico Goatheads will replace the Utah Grizzlies as Colorado’s ECHL affiliate next season, and the latter team will be moving to Trenton, NJ. It’ll be the newest ECHL affiliation with the Avalanche since the Colorado Eagles moved to the AHL in 2018.
[SOURCE LINK]
Avalanche Place Jacob MacDonald On Waivers
The Avalanche placed defenseman Jacob MacDonald on waivers today, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. He has been sidelined for the entire season due to hip surgery. If he clears tomorrow, he’ll head to AHL Colorado to get his shortened campaign underway.
MacDonald, 33 later this month, played in the NHL each season from 2020-24 and totaled 133 NHL appearances in that time. Including a previous two-game stint with the Panthers in 2018-19, he’s put up 10 goals and 17 assists for 27 points in 135 career outings with Florida, Colorado, and San Jose. He’s largely had good possession numbers in sheltered minutes, averaging 12:38 of ice time per game while controlling 52.6% of shot attempts at even strength.
After the Avs traded him to the Sharks midway through the 2022-23 campaign, MacDonald returned for a second stint in Colorado in 2024 by signing a two-year, two-way deal in free agency. He’s yet to make an NHL appearance on that deal, spending all of last season in the minors. The Oregon native has spent some time up on the wing in his career, and that offensive ability was evidenced by a dominant campaign that saw him set the AHL single-season record for goals by a defenseman with 31. He added 24 assists for 55 points and a +24 rating in 63 games, making him a three-time AHL All-Star while also taking home the Eddie Shore Award for the league’s best defenseman for the first time.
The Avalanche already has strong minor-league defensive depth. Jack Ahcan has stepped in seamlessly for MacDonald as the Eagles’ top rearguard, posting 33 points and a +20 rating in 36 games. Three other defenders have a +10 rating or better on the year in what’s tracking to be the franchise’s best season since being promoted from the ECHL in 2018.
Given the strength of that group, it’s likely MacDonald won’t be relied upon as a recall option down the stretch. He’ll be able to focus on getting back into game shape and doing what he can to extend his career following a significant procedure.