Colorado Avalanche Acquire Ross Colton
The Colorado Avalanche are making another significant addition to their forward group. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that Ross Colton will be moved from the Tampa Bay Lightning to the Avalanche. The Lightning will receive the 37th overall pick in the draft in return.
Colton, 26, is a pending RFA that will be eligible for arbitration and is just one year away from potential unrestricted free agency. The fourth-round pick from 2016 is another shining success story from the Tampa Bay development pipeline, arriving late but making an immediate impact at the NHL level.
In his rookie season, Colton scored nine goals in 30 regular season games before a playoff performance to remember. He was a downright nuisance in the 2021 postseason and eventually scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal. In 2021-22, his first full season in the NHL, Colton scored 22 goals and once again was a significant contributor in the playoffs, scoring five goals (including two game-winners) during the Lightning’s run to the Finals.
While his offensive performance took a slight step back this season, Colton still provided 16 goals and 32 points in 81 games, adding 188 hits and 50 penalty minutes. A versatile, in-your-face player that can fit on a powerplay or the fourth line, he’ll help replace some of the depth the Avalanche have lost over the last few season.
The fact that Colton has some experience at center (but is not always lined up in the middle) could suggest that J.T. Compher will be headed elsewhere in free agency. After the acquisition of Ryan Johansen, Colton fits the bottom six much better than Alex Newhook, which Colorado moved to the Montreal Canadiens recently.
For Tampa Bay, there is only so much money to go around, and Colton is the latest cap casualty. His arbitration number was likely going to be too high for them to accommodate, meaning general manager Julien BriseBois will have to find another way to replace his presence in the lineup. Tanner Jeannot, acquired from the Nashville Predators for a huge haul of assets this year, may be part of that solution, given he plays a similar mix of physical hockey with offensive upside.
Jeannot is also an arbitration-eligible RFA, but coming off a much worse offensive season that will keep his number lower.
Still, the depth that was so critical to Tampa Bay’s back-to-back Stanley Cup championships is starting to be chipped away, with key pieces moving out every year. Alex Killorn, who has spent his entire career with the Lightning, is set to be an unrestricted free agent this summer after an impressive 27-goal campaign.
With that in mind, getting a relatively high pick back is an interesting result. The Lightning could use the selection to add to their prospect pool or potentially turn it around and try to acquire another inexpensive player to help keep the window open. BriseBois and company have never been shy about trading draft selections.
Getting Colton without giving up one of their two first-round picks is an impressive play by Colorado and means they could still be involved in other trades ahead of tonight’s event.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Montreal Canadiens Acquire Alex Newhook
Rumors had been swirling the past few days regarding the Montreal Canadiens wanting to get their hands on a young forward. They’ve done just that, making a trade with the Colorado Avalanche to acquire the rights to promising young center Alex Newhook, parting ways with their 31st and 37th overall picks in the 2023 NHL Draft, along with defenseman Gianni Fairbrother.
Already a Stanley Cup champion, the St. John’s, Newfoundland-born Newhook recorded 14 goals and 16 assists in 82 regular-season games for the Avalanche in 2022-23. They’re nice totals, but Colorado was expecting (hoping?) for him to take over the second-line center spot – a job he lost weeks into the season to J.T. Compher. After recording just one assist in seven playoff games in a first-round loss against the Seattle Kraken, the Avalanche evidently felt it was time to cut ties and get two decent draft picks in a loaded 2023 class.
A first-round pick of the Avalanche in the 2019 NHL Draft (16th overall), the 5-foot-10, 190-pound center has accumulated 27 goals and 39 assists in 159 career games. He recorded four assists in 12 playoff games during Colorado’s run to the 2022 Stanley Cup.
For Montreal, this is awfully reminiscent of last year’s Kirby Dach trade with the Chicago Blackhawks. They’re hoping to strike gold twice after Dach emerged as a legit top-six threat for the Habs in 2022-23. In order to do that, though, they’ll need to get Newhook signed to a new contract – he’s a pending restricted free agent. It shouldn’t be much of an issue with Carey Price‘s $10.5MM cap hit destined for long-term injured reserve yet again in 2023-24. NorthStar Bets’ Chris Johnston says the two sides don’t have an extension in place yet.
It did take a little more value from Montreal’s end to acquire Newhook than it did Dach, though. The late first and early second-round picks in this draft are arguably equivalent to late first-round picks in last year’s, although the 22-year-old Fairbrother is a bit of a wild card after missing the entire 2022-23 season with a knee injury. Montreal had used the 77th overall pick on him in 2019.
Poll: What Has Been The Most Impactful Pre-Draft Trade?
The 2023 NHL Draft is now only three days away, and there has already been a flurry of activity in the NHL trade market. Yesterday, we saw the Colorado Avalanche acquire Ryan Johansen from the Nashville Predators, and the Arizona Coyotes acquire Sean Durzi from the Los Angeles Kings. Following up on those deals, there is heavy expectation that the St. Louis Blues will acquire Kevin Hayes from the Philadelphia Flyers, and the Carolina Hurricanes will add back Anthony DeAngelo to their lineup. If yesterday didn’t bring enough action, it’s also expected that the Kings are close to acquiring Pierre-Luc Dubois from the Winnipeg Jets.
After losing Nazem Kadri to the Calgary Flames last offseason, the Avalanche had a very difficult time replacing the void left by Kadri on the team’s second forward line. Throughout this past season, Colorado originally tried to patrol Alex Newhook in that role, but after failing to live up to expectations, J.T. Compher was thrust into that role. Compher did excel, scoring 17 goals and 35 assists this season, the best statistical performance of his career. Unfortunately for the Avalanche, Compher is set to enter unrestricted free agency, and Colorado may not have the cap space to retain him.
By acquiring Johansen from the Predators, the Avalanche clearly wanted to make an outside move to complete their second line. This past season, Johansen did not play particularly well, scoring 12 goals and 16 assists in 55 games, having his season ended by a foot injury in February. However, the year prior, Johansen was a proficient offensive player in Nashville, scoring 26 goals and 37 assists.
Sticking in the Central Division, the expected acquisition of Hayes for the Blues should fill the void left behind by Ryan O’Reilly last season. Hayes has very much had an up-and-down career, having much of his time spent in Philadelphia hampered by injuries. This past season, he did have the best offensive output so far with the Flyers, scoring 18 goals and 36 assists in 81 games. It was well known that Hayes and head coach John Tortorella sparred quite consistently, and it was becoming more and more clear that his time in Philadelphia would be coming to an end.
In Los Angeles, the Kings’ trade of Durzi largely indicated that the team was trying to move out money to acquire better talent. In Durzi, Los Angeles largely had a defenseman that was exceptional at moving the puck but was not as responsible on the defensive side of the game. He did score 38 points last year for the Kings, but the underlying defensive metrics were not positive. Opening up $1.7MM with that trade, it has now been reported that the Kings are expected to acquire Dubois, as well as sign him to an extension. Not only will this move allow the Kings to strengthen their second line, but by being able to move Phillip Danault to the third-line center position, Los Angeles may be one of the deepest teams in the Western Conference.
Lastly, the Hurricanes are bringing back a familiar face, as reports indicate that Carolina and Philadelphia are working on a trade. Last offseason, the Hurricanes felt that DeAngelo’s asking price on his next contract was too rich for their blood, and moved him to the Flyers for three draft picks. By acquiring DeAngelo, Carolina now has four defensemen set to hit unrestricted free agency next season, even though it does strengthen their blue line for next year.
After all the moves up to this point, which player do you think will have the biggest impact on their next team?
What Has Been The Most Impactful Pre-Draft Trade?
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Pierre-Luc Dubois (Los Angeles) 41% (476)
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Ryan Johansen (Colorado) 30% (349)
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Kevin Hayes (St. Louis) 16% (182)
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Sean Durzi (Arizona) 7% (79)
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Anthony DeAngelo (Carolina) 6% (71)
Total votes: 1,157
Avs Haven't Ruled Out Re-Signing Compher
- Even though the Avalanche picked up Ryan Johansen earlier today, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that they haven’t closed the door on re-signing J.T. Compher just yet. The 28-year-old had a career season, picking up 52 points while logging over 20 minutes a night which has him well-positioned to earn a nice raise on the $3.5MM he made on his set-to-expire contract. The Avs have some flexibility to try to bring him back but if he’s looking for top dollar, it might not make much sense for Colorado to re-sign Compher, especially knowing that Devon Toews is a year away from needing a significant raise of his own.
Predators Trade Ryan Johansen To Avalanche
The Avalanche have made a move to add to their forward group as they’ve acquired center Ryan Johansen from the Predators in exchange for the rights to pending free agent forward Alex Galchenyuk. As part of the deal, Nashville will be retaining 50% of Johansen’s contract, one that carries an $8MM cap charge through 2024-25, meaning Colorado will add Johansen on their books at a $4MM price tag. Incoming Predators GM Barry Trotz released the following statement about Johansen’s departure:
“On behalf of the Predators organization, we want to thank Ryan for his contributions to our team and community over the last seven-plus years. He played a large role in our franchise’s accomplishments since arriving in January 2016, helping lead us to the 2017 Stanley Cup Final, the 2018 Presidents’ Trophy, back-to-back Central Division titles in 2018 and 2019 and several postseason appearances. Ryan also dedicated a considerable amount of time to the Predators Foundation and helped us grow the game in Middle Tennessee, including his work with youth hockey in our community. We wish Ryan all the best in Colorado.”
Johansen has spent the last eight seasons with the Predators after they moved Seth Jones to acquire him back in 2016. The hope at the time was that they were moving a top young defenseman for a top young center, one that could emerge as their top option down the middle. Things got off to a reasonable start on that front as he had 95 points in his first 124 games with the Preds, helping him earn his eight-year, $64MM contract. However, after that, his output largely cooled off as he managed just 60 points once in the following four years, never surpassing the 15-goal mark in the process.
In 2021-22, it looked like Johansen had turned a corner as he notched a career-high 26 goals while recording 63 points. Those numbers weren’t exactly worth an $8MM price tag but for the time being, he and Matt Duchene were giving Nashville at least decent production up the middle. Unfortunately, that didn’t carry over to this past season as the 30-year-old managed just 28 points in 55 games before undergoing emergency leg surgery in February, ending his campaign prematurely.
For Colorado, this is a relatively low-risk gamble that Johansen can rediscover his offensive touch. They never truly replaced Nazem Kadri who left in free agency last summer, opting instead to largely go with internal options including J.T. Compher. Compher had a career year in 2022-23, picking up a career-high 52 points but he’s set to become an unrestricted free agent next month and will likely land a contract that’s worth more than what the Avs will be covering on Johansen’s deal. At $4MM, as long as Johansen can put up around 40 points while continuing to be above-average at the faceoff dot, he’ll provide ample value for Colorado and with the firepower they have, an uptick in production is certainly a possibility.
With this swap, the Avalanche have around $8.5MM in cap room, per CapFriendly with at least six players to sign with that money. However, that doesn’t account for Gabriel Landeskog‘s injury that will cause him to miss the entire 2023-24 campaign so GM Chris MacFarland has roughly $15.5MM still at his disposal over the coming weeks.
As for Nashville, this is an underwhelming return, to put it lightly, for someone that just a few years ago was one of the focal points of their attack. But the Predators are clearly embarking on at least a partial rebuild after jettisoning several veterans at the trade deadline and in a flat salary cap environment, getting full value for Johansen would have been next to impossible. The move now gives them a little over $19.5MM in cap room to work with, per CapFriendly, so if they want to be active in free agency to try to make it a quick retool, they’ll have the flexibility to do so. Alternatively, if they want to take on a bad contract or two to add more assets, that will also be a viable option for them.
Notably, this swap now encumbers two of Nashville’s three allowable retention slots through the 2024-25 campaign as one is also being used on Mattias Ekholm. These retentions plus the buyout to Kyle Turris give the Preds $6.25MM in dead cap for the upcoming season.
Galchenyuk’s inclusion in this trade is almost certainly just for contract-matching purposes. Even though he’s a pending free agent, he still counts as under contract until July 1st as do all pending free agents. For the time being, Nashville has 47 contracts on their books while Colorado sits at 45 so both franchises have some wiggle room in the coming weeks on that front.
Galchenyuk played in just 11 games with the Avs this past season, being held off the scoresheet in the process. The 2012 third-overall pick spend most of the year with AHL Colorado and was productive with them, picking up 42 points in as many games. He’ll almost certainly be heading for another two-way contract next season if he opts to stay in North America but after clearing waivers twice in the last two seasons, it’s possible that the 29-year-old looks to try his hand at playing overseas.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Colorado Avalanche Not Expected To Re-Sign Erik Johnson
The longest-tenured player on the Colorado Avalanche roster is expected to enter free agency next week. Defenseman Erik Johnson isn’t likely to re-sign with the team, per ESPN’s Emily Kaplan, ending a 13-season run in Denver.
Given his age and injury history, it wouldn’t surprise many if the 35-year-old Minnesotan has played his last NHL game. While he didn’t live up to his first-overall billing after the St. Louis Blues made him the first player selected in the 2006 NHL Draft, he was one of the more capable two-way defenders in the league during his minute-munching prime early during his time in Colorado. He’s been a member of the Avalanche for more than 12 years, coming over via trade from the Blues in February 2011.
Coming back from multiple significant injuries throughout his career, Johnson’s excellence in a shutdown role in his latter years made him an underrated crucial piece in Colorado’s 2022 Stanley Cup victory. Averaging just over 17 minutes per game, he recorded five points and a +10 rating in 20 games en route to the championship.
His effectiveness looked diminished this season, though. He struggled to keep up at times and managed just eight assists in 63 games on the year. With the emergence of Bowen Byram as being able to play both left and right defense this year, it muddied Johnson’s role for the future.
He just completed a seven-year, $42MM extension that kicked in for the 2016-17 campaign. If he does opt to extend his NHL career and finds a home with a contender on the open market, it’s hard to imagine a deal worth much more than the league minimum of $775K.
Ivan Zhigalov Signs In Belarus
- Avalanche prospect Ivan Zhigalov is heading home next season as Yunost Minsk in Belarus announced that they’ve signed the netminder to a one-year contract. The 20-year-old was the final pick in the draft last June with the 225th selection and spent this past season with OHL Kingston, posting a save percentage of .889 with a 3.59 GAA in 45 games. Since Zhigalov was selected out of major junior, Colorado only holds his NHL rights through next season.
Valeri Nichushkin Will Return To Avs Next Season
- Colorado winger Valeri Nichushkin will return to the team next season, a team spokesman confirmed to Kyle Frederickson of The Denver Gazette. The 28-year-old left the Avalanche during their first-round series against Colorado for what the team called personal reasons following an incident where a severely intoxicated woman was found in his hotel room. He did not return during the rest of the series. Nichushkin is not under police investigation for the incident. After the season, GM Chris MacFarland indicated that he hoped that Nichushkin would be “a very important part of our team in the future” and with seven years remaining on his contract, they’ll be expecting him to be a core piece moving forward after picking up 99 points in 115 games over the last two seasons.
Colorado Avalanche Acquire, Extend Fredrik Olofsson
The Dallas Stars have dealt the rights to pending unrestricted free agent forward Fredrik Olofsson to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for future considerations, the team announced today. The Avalanche then immediately announced a one-year extension for Olofsson, with CapFriendly reporting a two-way deal worth $775,000 in the NHL and $300,000 in the AHL with $350,000 guaranteed.
Olofsson’s 2022-23 campaign was his first in North America after he signed with Dallas as a free agent. He wasn’t undrafted, though – the Chicago Blackhawks selected him with the 98th overall pick in 2014 but never signed him to an entry-level contract.
He showed flashes of solid fundamentals at points with the Stars but never made much of an impact at the scoresheet, even at the AHL level, where he recorded 14 points in 37 games with the Texas Stars. That low production was likely influenced by an extreme lack of stability, however. Olofsson was one of Dallas’ top call-up options throughout the year and was sent up and down more than 20 times, given he didn’t need to clear waivers to head up and down between leagues. After one season under contract, though, he will now require waivers if Colorado wants to send him to the AHL Eagles.
Olofsson, 27, is a marginal but much-needed depth add for the Avalanche, whose bottom six looks absolutely barren right now with many veterans on expiring deals. Depth scoring was easily the team’s biggest weakness last season, and they’ll likely need a by-committee approach to fix it in 2023-24. Olofsson will likely come in as a cost-effective option with more NHL (and professional experience) than others looking for NHL time in the organization.
Offseason Checklist: Colorado Avalanche
The offseason has arrived for all but the two teams that still have a shot at winning the Stanley Cup. It’s time to examine what those eliminated squads will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Colorado.
After winning the Stanley Cup last year, expectations were high for the Avalanche heading into this season. However, lingering injury issues for Gabriel Landeskog left them without a top winger for the entire year and they ultimately came up short in the first round, falling to Seattle. Now, GM Chris MacFarland will be tasked with making some moves to try to get them heading toward what they hope will be a deep playoff run once again.
Add Second Center
With Nathan MacKinnon locked up for the long haul on his record-setting eight-year, $100.8MM contract, Colorado doesn’t have to worry about finding a top-line center anytime soon. However, they will need to address the vacancy at that position on the second line.
It’s a spot that the club largely tried to fill internally this season following the departure of Nazem Kadri to Calgary last summer. The results were mixed as both Alex Newhook and J.T. Compher getting chances with varying degrees of success with newcomer Evan Rodrigues briefly getting a look as well. Compher responded with a career year, notching 52 points. However, he’s set to hit unrestricted free agency this summer for the first time and coming off the year he had and a marketplace where he is one of the top middlemen out there, a return doesn’t seem likely. Newhook still likely isn’t ready for the role and Rodrigues will also hit the open market next month.
That means that MacFarland will need to look outside the organization to fill that spot. On the surface, this feels like a spot where Landeskog’s LTIR could be used; the captain has already been ruled out for the entire 2023-24 campaign, giving the Avs his full $7MM contract to use, boosting their cap space to a little over $20MM, per CapFriendly. (They do, however, have as many as eleven players to sign with that room.)
However, given the uncertainty surrounding Landeskog’s long-term availability, acquiring someone on a multi-year contract with that money would carry some risk, especially knowing that there’s another big-ticket contract coming down the pipeline soon with Mikko Rantanen two years away from unrestricted free agency. As a result, their preference might be to look at someone on an expiring contract (which could have them turning to a certain division rival), allowing them to fill that spot while maintaining some longer-term flexibility. Either way, it’s an area that will need to be addressed as they won’t have the luxury of filling it from within next season.
Re-Sign Key RFAs
Colorado has two prominent restricted free agents this summer and what they do with both of them will go a long way toward determining how aggressive they can be in trying to fill out the roster. Bridge deals for Newhook and defenseman Bowen Byram are certainly defensible with how things have gone so far although, in a salary cap environment that is expected to be higher in the next couple of years, they’d be setting themselves up for less flexibility down the road in exchange for more flexibility now.
Newhook wasn’t able to grab a full-time top-six spot but it wasn’t all bad as the 22-year-old reached the 30-point mark for the second straight year while setting a new benchmark in goals with 14. On top of that, he showed some improvement at the faceoff circle, beating his rookie season performance by nearly 7% although there is still a lot of work to do on that front. The development might be slower than they hoped for but he should still factor into their future plans. It would be a gamble to give him a pricier long-term agreement unless they were convinced that a big jump in production is on the horizon. The safer bet is a back-loaded two-year bridge contract around the $2.25MM to $2.5MM mark that buys both sides more time.
As for Byram, his case is a little less clear. When he has been healthy, he has been a key part of their top four and has shown considerable improvement. The soon-to-be 22-year-old logged nearly 22 minutes per game in both the regular season and the series against Seattle despite seeing limited time on special teams. It stands to reason there’s another jump or two coming in his development. However, he has a lengthy stretch of concussion concerns to the point where he briefly thought his career might have been over back in 2021.
If they lock him up on a long-term deal now, there’s a chance it become a very team-friendly one down the road but if he doesn’t stay healthy, it could be a problem for them fairly quickly. With just 91 career regular season games under his belt, a bridge contract shouldn’t break the bank too much and should fall somewhere within the $3MM range. Meanwhile, a long-term agreement that buys out multiple UFA years could double that bridge amount. With no arbitration eligibility, this could drag on but getting a contract done sooner than later would certainly help Colorado determine what else they can do in free agency this summer.
Toews Extension Talks
To say that Colorado has done quite well with the acquisition of Devon Toews would be an understatement. When then-GM Joe Sakic acquired him from the Islanders for two second-round picks, it seemed like a low price to pay. He then signed Toews to a four-year contract that carries a $4.1MM AAV. Suffice it to say, it was already a team-friendly agreement heading into this season where all the 29-year-old did was put up 50 points and log over 25 minutes per game for the second straight year. Now, it’s arguably one of the best-value contracts in the league. Toews has one year left on that contract which means that he’s eligible to sign an extension as of July 1st.
How much will that new contract cost? It seems fair to suggest that they won’t want to go past Cale Makar’s $9MM AAV but if Toews has a third year like this one, his price tag could come pretty close to that number.
Can they afford that price point? Potentially, especially depending on which route they go with Byram. If both get long-term contracts, the price of their back end (which also includes Josh Manson for three more years at a $4.5MM cap charge) is going to balloon in a hurry. That’s not ideal for a team that is already top-heavy up front.
To that end, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Avs try to work out something early with Toews. If they can get an extension in place in early July, it’s possible that they turn around and try to find a trade for Samuel Girard, who has four years left at $5MM. That’s not a bad contract by any stretch – it’s arguable that it’s a below-market one – but they can’t afford to see their back end cost approach the $30MM mark and with the injury trouble Manson had this season, it’s quite unlikely he moves which makes Girard the potential trade casualty. In a free agent market that isn’t the deepest, Colorado could net a strong return for Girard’s services. But they can’t really shop him too aggressively until they know that Toews is signed so in a perfect world, that domino falls rather quickly.
Upgrade Forward Depth
Colorado’s bottom-six group struggled as a unit this season. For a lot of the time, the Avs were rarely playing their fourth line and when they weren’t on the ice, they weren’t able to get much going. The end result was a frequent shuffling of low-cost personnel in the hopes that one or two of them would stick. Eventually, they had to turn to the trade market, picking up Denis Malgin and Matthew Nieto, both of which at least stabilized things a little bit.
The majority of that unit is poised to turn over. Veterans Darren Helm (who was injured most of the year), Andrew Cogliano, Nieto, and deadline acquisition Lars Eller are all unrestricted free agents. Malgin is currently an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent but is a non-tender candidate just to avoid the possibility of going to a hearing. Several of the recalls from the minors that got a chance during the season are also pending UFAs. There is going to be considerable turnover in this group.
This year, finding capable low-cost options wasn’t easy in-season. Now, there’s at least a chance to try to build a more complementary bottom six in the summer, albeit with similar financial restrictions as by the time they find a center and re-sign Newhook and Byram, a big chunk of their cap room will be gone. They will need to find the right mixture of veterans and under-the-radar depth pieces (with perhaps a waiver claim or two in training camp) to give head coach Jared Bednar a shot at running four lines with some regularity in 2023-24. The options will be plentiful but with so many teams needing players at or near the league minimum, demand for some of these players is going to be high as well.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.