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Gabriel Landeskog Ramping Up Participation In Avalanche Practice

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Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog continues to work toward a return from the lingering knee injuries that have kept him out of the lineup since the team’s 2022 Stanley Cup win. While the 2024-25 campaign has seen a lot of mixed messaging on his future, Landeskog skated with the team in practice today and was notably more active than he has been in previous attempts to return to the ice, Guerilla Sports’ Jesse Montano relays.

Landeskog has had multiple surgeries on his right knee, the most recent one being a last-resort cartilage transplant in the 2023 off-season. That procedure immediately ruled him out for the entire 2023-24 campaign with hopes he could return for 2024-25.

He began his on-ice rehab from that surgery over a year ago, returning to the ice for the first time in January 2024. Since then, he’s had multiple minor setbacks that have forced him to pause his recovery, including one early this season that nixed his optimism for a return.

Landeskog’s on-and-off participation this season has included a few practices and morning skates. Still, today’s session carried a noticeably higher level of engagement from the Swede than what he’s shown in recent months. The 32-year-old has said in the past his knee issues originated from a minor skate laceration from teammate Cale Makar in the 2020 bubble, which caused more damage to his interior cartilage and ligaments than initially diagnosed.

Of course, he’s still at least weeks away from returning – meaning his only option for a return this season will be in the playoffs. The Avalanche’s deadline activity made clear they’ve ruled out Landeskog for the remainder of the regular season, as his $7MM cap hit staying on long-term injured reserve is necessary for them to remain cap-compliant.

Mikko Rantanen Says He Didn’t Want To Leave Avalanche

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Although it’s almost unheard of for a 100-point scorer to be traded twice in the same season, that’s precisely the situation Dallas Stars winger Mikko Rantanen experienced this year. However, ahead of playing the Colorado Avalanche for the first time tomorrow, Rantanen is stating he never desired to leave the team, via Sportsnet.

In 10 seasons with the club, Rantanen registered 287 goals, 394 assists and 681 points. He added 101 points in 81 games in the playoffs and played a vital role in the club’s 2021-22 Stanley Cup championship.

However, the Avs shipped the star winger to the Hurricanes on January 24 in a three-team deal after contract negotiations stalled. It was a deal that sent shockwaves through the hockey world. In addition to Rantanen, Carolina received Taylor Hall, and Nils Juntorp, Colorado received Martin Necas, Jack Drury, a 2025 second-round pick, a 2026 fourth-round pick, and Chicago received a third-round pick (via Carolina) and retained half of Rantanen’s salary.

While the Avs and Rantanen tried to finalize an extension in the final year of his contract, terms were not reached and the ultimate decision to ship off the two-time 100-point scorer was made. Ironically, the Hurricanes ran into a similar scenario with the Finnish star, and eventually made the decision to deal him to the Stars on March 7. The third team proved to be the charm for Rantanen, who immediately agreed to an eight-year contract extension worth $96MM, worth a cap hit of $12MM.

Ahead of tomorrow’s big matchup between his current and former clubs, Rantanen looked to clear the air with reporters about the bizarre circumstances surrounding his season. Meeting with Denver reporters, Rantanen led off his comments by thanking the Avalanche franchise (and its fans) for their years of support and then backed it up by stating he never wanted to leave Colorado. He noted the trade to the Hurricanes as “weird,” and said he believed he and the team were still in the negotiation process with six weeks remaining before the trade deadline. Rantanen said that’s when he was informed of the trade.

Rantanen also discussed how hard the last few months have been being traded twice before finally finding his home with Dallas. And while tomorrow marks his return to Colorado and first game against the team that drafted him 10th overall in the 2015 draft, the chances these two teams meet in the playoffs are high. If the season ended now, the two teams would square off in the first round of the playoffs.

Latest On The Mikko Rantanen Trade Saga

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It is a very rare feat that a player is traded in the middle of a 100-point season. One has to look as far back as Joe Thornton’s blockbuster move from the Boston Bruins to the San Jose Sharks in 2005, or Teemu Selanne’s move from the Winnipeg Jets to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in 1995. It is near unprecedented that a 100-point scorer gets moved twice in the same year. But that’s exactly what transpired at the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline, after top winger Mikko Rantanen – pacing for 107 points before his first move – was dealt first to the Carolina Hurricanes and then to the Dallas Stars.

Both trades were groundbreaking. The first moved Rantanen away from the Colorado Avalanche after a decade with the organization; and the second marked the absolute peak of hurt feelings, poor fits, and extension negotiations. With the rare moves has come plenty of media attention, painstakingly scrutinizing the pair of deals from every angle. That has teased out plenty about the motivations and frustrations that drove Rantanen’s cross-country journeys.

The saga began when negotiations on a new contract extension between the Avalanche and Rantanen fell flat. The winger wanted a premium payment after posting career-years in each of the last two seasons – 105 points in 2022-23 and 104 points last year. But Colorado didn’t want to exceed their internal cap limit, and capped their offer to Rantanen at an eight-year, $93.2MM extension – or $11.65MM in per-season salary. But the Finnish wing wasn’t willing to dip that low. Rantanen conceded to take less than Edmonton Oilers star Leon Draisaitl, who earned $14MM on his own extension – but wouldn’t settle for too much lower than Avalanche co-star Nathan MacKinnon’s $12.6MM salary.

Ultimately, it seems the Avalanche and Rantanen were roughly $1MM apart on a new deal. Rather than trying to continue sparring – or risk bending their internal cap – Colorado opted to flip their superstar without much second thought. Rantanen shared he was shocked by the sudden move, which moved him to the Hurricanes alongside Taylor Hall in exchange for Martin Necas, Jack Drury, a second-round pick, and a fourth-round pick. At the time, Rantanen told Corey Masisak of The Denver Post, “I was ready to take a significant discount for my market value. We had some chats, like a couple days before. Then they traded me. That’s what happened. That’s why I didn’t expect what happened.”

Apparently, Rantanen’s frustrations over the trade boiled into his first days in Carolina. To make matters worse, he left for the 4-Nations Face-Off tournament just over a week after playing in his first Hurricanes game – uprooting him as he tried to adjust to the new setting. With so much swirling around the move, it seemed Rantanen wasn’t ever going to be comfortable in Carolina. Canes head coach Rod Brind’Amour told Sportsnet that Rantanen laid it out flat from day one, telling him “There’s four teams I’ll go play for, but [Carolina] is not one of them.” Those are harsh words for an incoming addition – and made it clear that Rantanen had no indication of re-signing in his new destination. That held true even as Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky began his own negotiations, reportedly offering Rantanen as much as $12.6MM and showing the flexibility to go up to Draisaitl’s $14MM mark if need be.

With that, it was back to the open market for Rantanen. He had four landing spots top of mind but the Hurricanes received rich interest from across the league. The New Jersey Devils were the first team attached to the second market, and were quickly joined by the Toronto Maple Leafs, Vegas Golden Knights, Los Angeles Kings, Florida Panthers, and Dallas Stars.

Negotiations stalled out at different points with each team, but were said to go well down towards completion with Toronto, Edmonton, and Dallas. The Leafs are said to have offered a compelling package of top prospects Fraser Minten, Easton Cowan, and draft capital for the 100-point scorer – but Carolina countered with a package involving Toronto’s own star winger Mitch Marner. Marner was unwilling to waive his full no-movement clause for the move – ultimately caving talks in.

With one Canadian club dissatisfied, Carolina moved on to talks with the Edmonton Oilers – who were able to better match Rantanen’s desires for an extension, but couldn’t put together a return strong enough to sway the Hurricanes brass. That’s certainly no surprise. Edmonton has just one pick in the top two rounds of the 2025 or 2026 drafts – a second in the latter year. Their prospect pool is also relatively scant, headlined by Matthew Savoie with little depth behind him.

Where one bed is too soft – banked on future assets and inter-conference matchups – and the other is too hard – stuffed with filler to make up for lacking future pieces – Carolina was able to finally land on a perfect middle-ground in Dallas. The Stars are quickly turning into a wagon, with star veterans Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn continuing to perform (when healthy) while youngsters like Wyatt Johnston and Thomas Harley plant their feet at the top of the lineup. With that momentum, and a clear path to the postseason, Dallas was able to shed some layers to land a big fish. They offered Carolina high-upside youngster Logan Stankoven, two first-round picks, and two third-round picks in exchange for Rantanen – an offer far more impactful in the short and long term than Toronto or Edmonton mustered up.

But the move to Dallas wasn’t immediately fruitful. The Stars formed the framework of the trade, but needed to land an extension with Rantanen before things could go through. Dallas wasn’t nearly as liberal with their wallets as some of Rantanen’s other options, and held firm to the $12MM-per-year mark on a new deal. That number came in $500K less than what Carolina had offered Rantanen, which initially put the winger off and seemed to push the deal towards falling flat. But diligent negotiating, and surely a desire to end this saga, ultimately forced Rantanen to cave. He signed an eight-year, $96MM extension with Dallas on the day of the Trade Deadline – finally (finally) landing him in a place where he could plant his feet.

On the organizational level, it seems everyone emerged from the jungle happy. Colorado landed a major contributor in Necas, who already has 17 points in 16 games as MacKinnon’s new right-winger. Carolina may have lost that point-per-game scoring, but they reeled back in one of the league’s top 23-year-olds, and the draft capital to be satisfied even if he doesn’t pan out. And Dallas added a 100-point scorer to an organization that’s only had one – 2022-23 Jason Robertson – since 1990.

But the deal gets murky as you dig deeper. After beginning the saga with a surprising move to Carolina, Rantanen now finds himself standing directly opposite of his old battery-mate MacKinnon. Colorado and Dallas have fought for majority control of the Central Division for years, intermittently upended by the Winnipeg Jets or Minnesota Wild. It’s not exactly a two-horse race, but Dallas’ success hinges on their ability to beat Colorado in the regular and post seasons – and vice versa. The two sides have already faced off twice this season, splitting the results. They have one more meeting – on Sunday, March 16th – which will give Rantanen a chance to test out facing his former club before they likely reconvene in the playoffs. While all of Rantanen’s matches with the Stars will be closely watched – it will be those meetings against Colorado that many find the most telling, after a trade saga that dragged through months of confusion and rumors.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Latest On Previous Mikko Rantanen Extension Talks

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The Avalanche’s final offer to winger Mikko Rantanen in extension negotiations earlier this season was an eight-year, $93.2MM deal worth $11.65MM per season, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic confirmed today. While that obviously wasn’t an offer Rantanen agreed to, it was close enough to encourage the winger’s camp to keep negotiating throughout the rest of the regular season – a plan foiled when Colorado instead opted to deal him to the Hurricanes. LeBrun reaffirms the notion at the time that Rantanen and his camp were blindsided by the deal, instead believing they were close enough in talks to continue ironing out a deal to keep him in Colorado. He also confirmed that the Canes’ offer to Rantanen was an eight-year, $100MM deal as previously reported, but that he ended up taking less in last week’s trade-and-sign with the Stars because he “just wasn’t feeling the fit in Carolina.”

Avalanche Sign Wyatt Aamodt To Two-Year Extension

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The Colorado Avalanche have followed their Trade Deadline festivities by signing depth defenseman Wyatt Aamodt to a two-year, two-way contract extension. The deal will carry a league-minimum $775K salary at the NHL level.

Colorado signed Aamodt as an undrafted free agent following the end of his 2021-22 season with Minnesota State University-Mankato, where he totaled 29 points in 123 career games. Aamodt played through his rookie AHL season in 2022-23 and recorded 18 points, 39 penalty minutes, and a plus-five in 52 games. He’s seen a slight dip in scoring in both seasons since then, netting 14 points in 60 games last year and 13 points in 51 games this year. But he’s noticeably improved his ability to defend away from the puck, ramping up to a plus-32 and top-four role on the Colorado Eagles this season.

Aamodt is now 27 years old and projects as a career minor league option with a physical boost, thanks to his six-foot, 200-pound frame. His new contract extension will see to that status for the next two years, while guaranteeing him $275K in salary over the first year of the deal. He’ll continue to serve as the fourth man on a blue-line headlined by Jacob MacDonald, Jack Ahcan, and Calle Rosen.

Avalanche Acquire Erik Johnson From Flyers

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The Avalanche are bringing 2022 Stanley Cup champion Erik Johnson back to Denver. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports they’re acquiring the veteran defenseman from the Flyers. Colorado sent depth winger Givani Smith to Philadelphia in return, per Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. The Flyers later made the move official, with general manager Daniel Brière saying they’ve recalled defenseman Emil Andrae from AHL Lehigh Valley in a corresponding move (via Jackie Spiegel of the Philadelphia Inquirer).

In a feel-good move by the Avalanche, Johnson returns to the organization he spent 13 years with. Since being acquired from the St. Louis Blues during the 2010-11 season, the former first overall pick of the 2006 NHL Draft scored 68 goals and 246 points in 717 games with the Avalanche, averaging 21:33 of ice time per night. His tenure in Colorado was defined by his willingness to sacrifice his body nearly every game and by his being an emotional leader for the club when they captured their third Stanley Cup ring in 2022.

Johnson is effectively the same version of the player he was when he last played for the Avalanche in 2022-23. The nearly 37-year-old was rarely deployed by the Flyers this year, scoring one goal and two assists in 22 games, averaging 13:18 of ice time per game. That’s effectively all Colorado will need out of him. Despite being a shell of the player he used to be, the Avalanche likely views Johnson as a solid leader to re-insert into the locker room and even an improvement upon Keaton Middleton in the team’s bottom-pair.

It didn’t take too much to acquire him, either. Smith has barely played in Colorado since the team acquired him in the trade that brought Mackenzie Blackwood to Denver. He’ll finish his tenure in Colorado with zero points in seven games and one assist in six AHL contests.

Meanwhile, Andrae has earned the right to play for the Flyers after a second promising season with AHL Lehigh Valley. Since transitioning to North American hockey in 2022-23, Andrae has scored 10 goals and 54 points in 96 games for the Phantoms.

He’s gotten an extended look with the Flyers, too. Due to multiple injuries on the team’s blue line, Andrae was allowed the opportunity to play in 24 games this year with Philadelphia, scoring one goal and six points, averaging 18:59 of ice time with a +2 rating. His possession and defensive metrics have been solid in limited action, giving the Flyers confidence to give him a full-time role in the NHL for the remainder of the season.

PHR’s Brennan McClain contributed to this article. 

Bruins, Avalanche Swap Charlie Coyle, Casey Mittelstadt

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The Avalanche are acquiring center Charlie Coyle from the Bruins, Fluto Shinzawa of The Athletic reports. Center Casey Mittelstadt is headed from Colorado to Boston in the deal, per Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. The Bruins are also receiving forward prospect Will Zellers and a second-round pick in the deal, according to Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff. LeBrun adds the Avs are receiving a 2026 fifth-rounder along with Coyle, while the second-round pick heading to Boston is in this year’s draft.

The deal swaps middle-six centers heading in completely opposite directions. Coyle, fresh off his 33rd birthday, posted a career-high 60 points in Boston last season but has scored just 15-7–22 in 64 games this year with a career-worst -14 rating. He’s signed through next season at a $5.25MM cap hit, a big risk for the Avs if there’s no salary retention and his play can’t rebound in what’s sure to be a reduced role behind Nathan MacKinnon and yesterday’s pickup Brock Nelson down the middle.

Coyle does bring an upgrade to Colorado’s third line in terms of overall experience and past performance, which is what the Avs are banking on despite his poor showing on a thin Bruins offense this year. He also brings some slight cap savings down the line – he costs $500K less against the cap than Mittelstadt and is signed for one less season. It’s worth noting he’s been quite the playoff performer in his career, posting 25-27–52 in 119 postseason games. He’s yet to miss the playoffs, going in six straight years with Minnesota and then another six with Boston. He’ll extend it to 13 years in a row in Denver.

Boston lands a much younger pivot in Mittelstadt, who hasn’t quite reached Coyle’s 60-point pinnacle but did reach 59 and 57 points the last two seasons. He hasn’t taken nearly as large a step back as Coyle this season, but it’s still been quite the difficult season. Mittelstadt has 11-23–34 through 63 games for the Avs, who acquired him at last year’s deadline in a major swap with the Sabres for Bowen Byram. Only 25 of those points have come at even strength, he’s won just 42.4% of his faceoffs, and his relative possession impacts are the worst they’ve been in five years. He wasn’t the reliable second-line center Colorado hoped they were getting last year, so they opted to acquire the veteran Nelson and Coyle while flipping Mittelstadt less than a year after signing him to a three-year, $17.25MM deal.

The mismatch in futures heading to the Bruins from the Avs is still surprising. Mittelstadt is seven years younger than Coyle and still has 60-point potential, and he’s a skilled sniper with a nearly 12% shooting rate. While a less reliable two-way presence than Coyle, who landed Selke Trophy votes for the first time last season, his age and contract align better with Boston’s now clear plan to retool their roster over the coming years. With Trent Frederic already out the door, Mittelstadt should easily fit into a top-six role for Boston down the stretch, although his poor faceoff showings may necessitate a shift to the wing to get him that ice time.

Boston picks up a fairly intriguing prospect in the 18-year-old Zellers. Selected in the third round of last year’s draft by the Avs out of prep school Shattuck St. Mary’s, the 5’11” center/winger jumped to the United States Hockey League for major junior play this year and hasn’t disappointed. In 40 games with the Green Bay Gamblers, the speedy forward leads the team in scoring with 37-21–58. He’s the high-energy, high-scoring type of prospect sorely missing from the Bruins’ system, even if he’ll be a long-term project developmentally.

Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Avalanche Acquire Brock Nelson From Islanders

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The Colorado Avalanche have acquired forward Brock Nelson and AHL winger William Dufour from the New York Islanders. In return, the Islanders have received top prospect Calum Ritchie, a conditional 2026 or 2027 first-round pick, a conditional 2028 third-round pick, and depth defenseman Oliver Kylington. New York has retained half of Nelson’s $6MM cap hit, per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. The deal was first reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.

In a corresponding move, the Islanders have sent Kylington to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for future considerations. Nelson’s retained $3MM cap hit will take Colorado up to the cap ceiling. Moving Kylington opens $1.05MM in cap space for the Avalanche. The Islanders opt to flip the defender rather than add to their heap of recent blue-line additions, including Scott Perunovich and Adam Boqvist.

The Avalanche have landed a big fish on the eve of the Trade Deadline. Nelson has been with the Islanders for all 12 years of his career and continues to stand as a pillar of the lineup through this season. He was tied for the Islanders scoring lead this season, with 20 goals and 43 points in 61 games. Nelson also made Team USA’s 4-Nations Face-Off roster, though he didn’t post any scoring in four games. The Islanders were said to be working on finding an extension for Nelson up until the final moments. Instead, they opt to send him across the league in a deal that will likely price Colorado out of any further deadline moves. The Avalanche will carry just $1.337MM in cap space after this move, per PuckPedia.

New York originally drafted Nelson 30th overall in the 2010 NHL Draft. He played through his first pro season two years later and instantly stood apart from the rest. Nelson led the Bridgeport Sound Tigers in scoring with 52 points in 66 games as an AHL rookie. He followed that standout performance by carving out an NHL role in the 2013-14 season, stamped by 14 goals and 26 points in 72 games. With his feet under him, Nelson broke out with 42 points in his sophomore year – and quickly became one of the league’s most consistent and reliable second-line forwards. He played in 81 or 82 games in all five season between 2014 and 2019 – rivaling 20 goals and 40 points in every season.

It was Nelson who succeeded star John Tavares’ role as the Islanders’ top-line center after the latter left ahead of the 2018-19 season. Nelson’s scoring has only grown since he took over the top-line role. He scored 53 and 54 points in 2018-19 and 2019-20. The shortened 2020-21 season slowed him down a bit – with 33 points in 56 games, or an 82-game pace of 48 points. But Nelson has made up for the slump by finding an extra gear over the last four seasons. He scored a career-high 37 goals and 59 points in 72 games of the 2021-22 season. That was followed with 36 goals and a career-high 75 points in 2022-23. And he stayed at his new standard with 34 goals and 69 points last year.

Nelson has hit his stride as he enters his mid-30s. He’s on pace for 26 goals and 58 points this season, and should only find a greater boost in what’s sure to be a top-six role with the Avalanche. Colorado ranks eighth in the league with a 3.24 goals-per-game average. Their second line is flanked by Valeri Nichushkin and Jonathan Drouin on the wings, who should support Nelson’s slowing style well. Nelson will likely step ahead of Casey Mittelstadt in the lineup, bumping Mittelstadt to the third-line after scoring 11 goals and 34 points in 62 games this season. That’s exactly the depth Colorado will need to push for another long run in what’s shaping up to be a tough postseason.

Joining Nelson in the move to Colorado is AHL winger William Dufour. Dufour has 18 points in 45 games with Bridgeport this season – continuing his gradual decline in scoring since his rookie AHL season. Dufour broke into the minors in the 2022-23 season and scored a hot 21 goals and 48 points in 69 games. That scoring earned him his NHL debut, though he didn’t manage any scoring. Dufour fell to 15 goals and 25 points last year, and is now on pace for just 22 points this year.

Meanwhile, the Islanders will land a heap in return. Calum Ritchie was confidently Colorado’s top prospect and made the NHL roster out of training camp at the start of this season. He scored one goal in seven games to start the season, but was returned to the OHL before Colorado burned a full year of his contract. He’s been fantastic ever since, with 14 goals and 67 points in 41 games as the Oshawa Generals captain. Colorado drafted Ritchie with the 27th-overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft, after he posted 59 points in 59 OHL games in his draft year. He followed it with a confident 80 points last year, and is on narrow pace to beat that total this year.

Ritchie could enter the Islanders system with a very clear path towards NHL minutes as soon as he’s ready. Nelson’s departure opens nearly 19 minutes of nightly ice time. The Islanders can distribute that between Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Casey Cizikas, and Kyle MacLean through the end of the regular season, but they’ll need a much hardier depth option to stay competitive next year. Ritchie could be exactly that, after getting a taste of the NHL next to stars like Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Cale Makar earlier this year. Ritchie has sturdy size at six-foot-three and 190-pounds – and he had a few flashes of upside in his brief NHL minutes. A clear opportunity could be exactly the set up he needs to work towards a strong pro breakout.

If not, the Islanders will be able to lean on a first-round selection in either the 2026 or 2027 drafts. Both classes are expected to be strong through the first round, headlined by seemingly generational talents Gavin McKenna and Landon DuPont respectively, each backed by their own string of other strong prospects. It could prove lucrative holding Colorado’s future draft capital, as they age up significantly with this Nelson deal. It’s clear the Avalanche are pushing for competition this year Nelson will fill the strong top-six role Colorado is looking for, while New York makes a clear and confident bet towards their future.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Avalanche, Adam Scheel Agree To Two-Way Deal

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The Avalanche are in agreement with goaltender Adam Scheel on a two-way deal for the remainder of the season, per PuckPedia. It carries the prorated league minimum of $775K as NHL salary and a $115K AHL salary. He’s waiver-exempt and was reassigned directly to AHL Colorado.

Scheel, 25, was on the Stars’ roster briefly in the 2021-22 campaign but hasn’t appeared in an NHL game. Dallas signed him as an undrafted free agent out of North Dakota in 2021, and he split time evenly between their AHL and ECHL affiliates before they non-tendered him in the 2023 offseason. Scheel has since played in the minors on AHL contracts since, spending last year as the starter for the then-independent Chicago Wolves. He recorded a promising .907 SV% in 42 games behind one of the league’s worst teams after spending nearly all of 2022-23 with the Stars’ ECHL affiliate in Idaho, but his performance didn’t yield any NHL interest.

He settled for an AHL contract again for 2024-25, this time with the Avalanche’s top minor-league affiliate. Much like his time in Dallas, he’s split time evenly between AHL Colorado and ECHL Utah this season. Unlike in past years, though, his AHL numbers are more impressive than his ECHL ones. Now part of a three-goalie rotation in the AHL for the Avs with Kevin Mandolese and Trent Miner, he has a 2.61 GAA, .911 SV%, and an 8-1-2 record in 11 outings with a pair of shutouts. He’s nothing more than another injury insurance/recall option for the Avs down the stretch, adding to the inexperienced aforementioned duo of Mandolese and Miner. He’s slated for Group VI unrestricted free agency this summer.

Trade Deadline Notes: Nelson, Boeser, Panthers

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The Trade Deadline has appeared over the horizon and teams like the Colorado Avalanche are already doing what they can to get out ahead of the pack. They acquired forward Jimmy Vesey and defenseman Ryan Lindgren from the New York Rangers this weekend, and could still be attached to some of the market’s top names. That includes New York Islanders forward Brock Nelson per The Fourth Period, who adds Nelson could be the cheap acquisition Colorado needs to bolster their top-six.

Nelson, 33, is in the sunset years of his career but he’s still managing to produce. He has 19 goals and 41 points in 60 games this season, just one point behind Anders Lee and Bo Horvat for the team-lead in scoring. Nelson also earned a nod from USA Hockey by making this year’s 4-Nations Face-Off roster, where he played in four games but didn’t manage any scoring.

Nelson scored 36 goals and a career-high 75 points in 2022-23, and followed it with 34 goals and 69 points last season. He may be beginning to slow down but his offense could be spurred once again with a move away from the Isalnders – the only NHL team Nelson has ever played for. Because of that exclusivity, New York will certainly need a convincing offer to part ways with one of their top scorers. Nelson also has a 16-team no-trade clause on his contract, which is set to expire this summer. That could help him dictate where he ends up – though the 2022 Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche would certainly be a fine landing spot as the vet chases his first Cup win.

Other notes swirling around the Trade Deadline:

  • Recent reports have pointed towards an impasse forming between the Vancouver Canucks and Brock Boeser after the winger declined a five-year, $40MM contract extension. Now it seems the wedge could be driven in further, with TSN’s Darren Dreger sharing that the extension offer has been rescinded and that the team is exploring all options. Boeser is struggling to follow-up after scoring a career-high 40 goals last season – but he’s still performing at a higher level than in his early career. He has 18 goals and 36 points in 53 games this season, putting him on pace for 28 goals and 56 points on the year. That’s helped along by Boeser’s 17.3 shoting percentage this season – a step down from his 19.6 percent last year but still far above his career average of 14 percent. A high shooting percentage could be inflating Boeser’s numbers, or he could have finally found the goal-scoring groove he was looking for. With offers no longer on the table, it seems that answer will be found by a deadline buyer in need of shooting talent. Boeser has a modified no-trade clause that allows him to exempt 10 teams. His deal expires this summer.
  • The Florida Panthers helped break the market open with their swap of top goalie prospect Spencer Knight for top defenseman Seth Jones. That move pushed Florida right up against the wall of the salary cap – but they’ve opened up more breathing room by placing star Matthew Tkachuk on long-term injured reserve. Florida is now projected to have $8.71MM in cap space on deadline day, per PuckPedia, and they’re expected to use it. Chris Johnston of The Athletic shared that Panthers general manager Bill Zito has proven ambitious in years past, and could see a chance to bolster his lineup a bit further. The Panthers have made the Stanley Cup Finals in each of the last two seasons, and took away hardware last year. They’ll have their sights fully trained on repeating the feat this year – and a boost to their depth offense or a new backup goaltender would go far towards solidifying their chances.

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