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The Avalanche has acquired center Daniel Briere from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for right wing PA Parenteau and a fifth-round pick in the 2015 NHL draft.

So maybe the Avalanche believes Paul Stastny will sign elsewhere on Tuesday, the first day when teams can sign free agents.

“Daniel is a veteran who brings experience to our hockey club. We’re looking forward to him joining our team,” Avalanche executive vice president of hockey operations Joe Sakic said in a statement.

Parenteau, 31, was known to be on the trading block. He was limited to 55 games last year because of knee injuries. He had 14 goals and 19 assists in his second season with the Avalanche after signing a four-year, $16 million contract as a free agent. He had 18 goals and 25 assists in 48 games in the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season.

Parenteau had one goal and two assists in seven playoff games in April.

Briere, who waived his no-trade clause, has one year remaining on his contract with a $4 million salary cap hit.

Briere was the 24th pick in the 1996 draft by Phoenix (now Arizona) and has 299 goals and 385 assists in 916 regular-season games with the Coyotes, Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers and Canadiens.

He has 53 goals and 63 assists in 124 playoff games.

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