It's Homecoming Week for the Avalanche, starting with Wednesday's much-anticipated game with Ryan O'Reilly and Jamie McGinn making their first visit to the Pepsi Center as members of the Buffalo Sabres.
That will be followed by Friday's game with the St. Louis Blues, with Paul Stastny, Kevin Shattenkirk and Brian Elliott coming to Denver.
I imagine O'Reilly will get a rather chilly reception from the fans, taking into account he always seemed more interested in the kind of contract he might get from the Avalanche than he ever did in staying with Colorado, which selected him in the second round (No. 33) in the 2009 NHL draft.
Would the Avalanche be a better team today with O'Reilly and McGinn on the roster? Absolutely, even if Colorado has used a 14-7-2 run since Dec. 1 to move into the second wild card playoff position in the West (pending the outcomes of Nashville's and Vancouver's games on Tuesday).
O'Reilly was and remains a terrific two-way player, and he's enjoying an excellent season with 17 goals and 22 assists in 46 games with the Sabres. McGinn, who missed most of last season to recover from a back injury and eventual surgery, has 10 goals and 11 assists in 46 games.
But the Avalanche were never going to agree to O'Reilly's contract demands, and GM Joe Sakic wasn't interested in having his presence on the team continuing to be a distraction, as it was during previous contract squabbles, so he was traded to the Sabres on June 26.
O'Reilly, who reportedly was seeking an eight-year, $64 million contract extension with the Avalanche, signed a seven-year, $52.5 million deal with the Sabres.
The trade, which sent O'Reilly and McGinn to Buffalo, doesn't look so great right now for the Avalanche, who acquired defenseman Nikita Zadorov, center Mikhail Grigorenko, University of Michigan captain J.T. Compher and a second-round draft pick in return.
Zadorov began the season with the Avalanche, spent time in the minors and was recalled Jan. 13 along with another 20-year-old defenseman, Chris Bigras. The 6-5, 220-pound Zadorov has two assists in 14 games, and he's been inconsistent in three games since his return.
The 6-3 Grigorenko, 21, has been a healthy scratch the past three games. He has plenty of offensive talent but doesn't always give coach Patrick Roy the effort he needs in order to stay in the lineup. He has two goals and 10 assists in 40 games.
Compher, a junior at Michigan, has seven goals and 25 assists in 21 games.
Still, as well as O'Reilly's on-ice play is missed, the Avalanche wouldn't have sent a sixth-round pick to Boston on June 25 for the rights to center Carl Soderberg if they thought they could keep O'Reilly, who would have become an unrestricted free agent after this season.
Soderberg, 30, signed a five-year, $23.75 million contract and has been very effective after a slow start. Anchoring a line with Gabriel Landeskog and Blake Comeau, the 6-foot-3, 216-pound Soderberg is Colorado's fourth-leading scorer with nine goals and 23 assists in 47 games. He isn't flashy but plays a solid two-way game, plays on the power play and kills penalties.
It will take some time before anyone can really decide if the O'Reilly trade eventually works out for the Avalanche or backfires. Zadorov, Grigorenko and Compher, also 20, have time to mature.
The Avalanche dealt the second-round pick (No. 31) they acquired from Buffalo to San Jose for the 39th pick, a second-rounder in 2016 and a sixth-rounder in 2017 (the latter two selections, previously owned by Colorado, were originally used to acquire Brad Stuart from the Sharks in 2014).
The Avalanche used the 39th pick to take Boston University sophomore A.J. Greer, a 6-3 forward. He has since left school and has one goal and four assists in nine games for the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.