Despite owning the best record in the league, the Colorado Avalanche have been putting themselves in a position to make a few moves to add to their roster as the Olympic break, and more importantly, trade deadline approach. General Manager Chris MacFarland has already made moves to make room on the blueline after trading Ilya Solovyov to the Pittsburgh Penguins in return for forward Valtteri Puustinen and a seventh round pick.
Puustinen, 26, has some NHL experience, but projects as more likely to play the remainder of this season in the AHL. The Avalanche have plenty of experienced forwards on their roster, and traded for Brock Nelson and Martin Necas last year to help fill out their top lines. THis year, the team could afford to get a little younger and faster in the bottom six, while still having some NHL experience. Now is the time to find some players they could put ahead of say, Taylor Makar, or Tyler Ahcan in the defense's case on the depth chart when it comes down to the playoffs.
Potential reunion?
The Avalanche have been loosely connected to names like Nazem Kadri and even Artemi Panarin, but it's hard to see how the Avalanche could justify taking on their contracts. In Panarin's case, more so due to the fact that they would likely have to find a way to re-sign him, but also because of the baggage attached to his name following his stint with the Rangers.
With Kadri, while the team has history with him as one of the players on their 2022 Stanley Cup Team, they already have a 2C, and would have to slot him in on the third line while paying him seven million dollars annually. Calgary, while seemingly in sell-off mode after the Rasmus Andersson trade, would certainly need a strong offer to take the centerman off their hands.
A not discussed need...
Quietly, and perhaps most importantly, the Avalanche could also use a more experienced third netminder as Mackenzie Blackwood has been in and out of the lineup and Scott Wedgewood, as great as he has been this regular season has a grand total of four games of playoff experience under his belt. Perhaps a veteran netminder like Cam Talbot, who has plenty of experience in the postseason, could be a valuable third goalie to keep in Jared Bednar's back pocket in case the Avalanche do need a third goaltender, or even a backup to Wedgewood if Blackwood continues to struggle to stay healthy. After all, Trent Miner only just ecured his first NGL win
While Talbot is struggling somewhat behind a mediocre Red Wings defense (outside of their top pairing), Talbot has shown that he's still got some good games left in the tank, and behind one of the best defenses in the league with 5 players on the blueline currently sporting +20 ratings or higher he could find himself reinvigorated. The move would also help the Red Wings as they look to start looking to the future in net. Especially as John Gibson has been playing so well for the team while Sebastian Cossa has been pushing for a roster spt with the main club