The Colorado Avalanche had an extremely productive trade deadline Monday, acquiring multiple assets. An elite team has only gotten better, despite already sitting 1st in the entire league with 97 points. The front office went out with a methodical approach to add depth to the team in order to be well prepared for the playoffs. Past playoff struggles is what is trying to be prevented this time around. To add to the defensive weapons, Sakic went out to get Josh Manson from the Anaheim Ducks to enhance the physicality on the blue line in exchange for a 2023 2nd round pick, Drew Helleson, and 50% salary retention. Unfortunately one of the fan favorites Tyson Jost was later traded to the Minnesota Wild for Nico Sturm. The day of the deadline, the Avs lost the bid for Andrew Copp, but ended up picking up forward Artturi Lehkonen from the Montreal Canadiens. The cost was a 2024 2nd round pick, a defensive prospect Justin Barron, and 50% retention of his salary. This was a fantastic trade for both sides, as Lehkonen is a proven depth player who is having a career year with 29 points in 53 games. The best year recorded for him was 31 points in 82 games in the 2018-2019 season. His real value is his defensive play and ability to drive plays. It’s also another great addition to the penalty kill. Smart piece to add to the team as he seems to be an underrated player. The last acquisition was forward Andrew Cogliano from the San Jose Sharks for a cheap bargain of a 2024 5 round pick. He has 16 points in 58 games this year, but he is a scrappy player who will also be a key part of the penalty kill moving forward. Cogliano has the ability to also take face-offs if needed. One massive weakness the Avs have is their percentages in the face-off circle. Their face-off win percentage is 46.8%, which is amongst the bottom of the league, so hopefully he can maybe contribute even though his percentages aren’t too good. Overall, the front office did a phenomenal job as they’ve made it known that they’re going for the cup this year.
Aside from all these transactions, the Avs had come home for a 3-game homestand at Ball Arena. The first game was against the Edmonton Oilers, where it was an exciting one. Andre Burakovsky celebrated his 500th NHL game. Physicality was present throughout the entire affair, as the Avs had 26 hits, while the Oilers had 25. Mikko Rantanen broke the ice on the power-play to take the early 1-0 lead. With Nazem Kadri’s assist on that tally, he achieved a milestone of 500 points total in his career. The Oilers wouldn’t respond until the 2nd period where Kailer Yamamoto scored on a delayed penalty to tie it. Again, Mikko Rantanen would reclaim the lead on the man advantage to make it a 2-1 game. This didn’t last long as Evander Kane scored the equalizer. An exciting game like this, was only fitting for it to go into overtime. The overtime period consisted of sloppy play, until Cale Makar forced a turnover to assist Nathan MacKinnon on the game winning goal. With this overtime goal, Nathan MacKinnon has tied Milan Hejduk for most overtime goals in franchise history with 9. An extremely exciting game, where the Avs prevailed.
In the 2nd game of the homestand, the Avs weren’t as lucky against the Vancouver Canucks. Andrew Cogliano would make his Avalanche debut. Once again the Avs were physical with 26 hits, but nothing too much to show on the offensive side. Scoring was a rarity until early in the 3rd period as Brock Boeser got the scoring started. J.T. Miller added to the advantage for a 2-0 lead. The Avs finally found a way to beat Jaroslav Halak on the power-play to cut it in half. However, the Avs comeback efforts came up short, once Bo Horvat buried the empty net opportunity. It wasn’t for a lack of effort but they needed to convert more than 1 for 5 on the power-play in order to be successful. A rare off night for Colorado.
In the finale of the stand, they would take on the Philadelphia Flyers. An exciting night was ahead for the Avalanche. Nothing too shocking as Nazem Kadri netted the first goal of the contest. Flyers answered quickly, thanks to James Van Riemsdyk. From there, an Avalanche of goals was put on. Cale Makar, J.T Compher, and Mikko Rantanen all scored in the 1st frame to take the 4-1 lead. Mikko Rantanen grabbed his 32nd goal of the year, which is career high in a season for him. Later in the 2nd period, the birthday boy Kurtis MacDermid potted one from the point for his 2nd of the year. The Flyers didn’t quit and were able to chip away at the deficit ahead of them. A 5-3 hockey game was presented in front of the Ball Arena crowd, where Cale Makar tacked on to take a 6-3 lead for the victory. Cale Makar’s goal would break the franchise record for most goals by a defenseman with 24. An incredible benchmark to beat as there are still 17 games remaining.
Colorado will leave shortly on a 2-game road-trip against their divisional rival the Minnesota Wild and the Pacific leader the Calgary Flames. Hopefully we will get our first look at Artturi Lehkonen sometime during this week. These 2 games will be a great way to see how this deadline went for the Avs, since it is possible these will be potential playoff opponents. Injuries are again a tough break for the club. Captain Gabriel Landeskog, Samuel Girard, Ryan Murray, and Bo Byram are all on the IR. Gabriel Landeskog is out with a knee issue and is expected to be out until at least April 21st. Samuel Girard is expected to come back sooner on April 9th. Ryan Murray will be back anytime around April 5th. There is no timable return for Bo Byram, as we don’t want him to be rushed back into playing too soon. A banged up Avalanche team is already scary, but a healthy one is even scarier. Playoffs are little over a month away, which is beyond thrilling. I look forward to seeing how the rest of the season progresses.
