On the Colorado Avalanche …
- BSN Avalanche: Adrian Dater said that the Avalanche would be open to trading Alex Tanguay at the trade deadline if they are able to find a market for him.
- James O’Brien of Pro Hockey Talk: Joe Sakic said that they won’t be paying a big long-term price for a short-term boost as the team continues to fight for a playoff spot. Sakic has been trying to trade for a top-four defenseman, but there are not many of those available on the trade market.
- Rick Sadowski of Hockey Buzz: From Joe Sakic’s press conference on Thursday. Sakic said he’d like to add “a puck-management forward and a solid D-man.” Being able to bring in a top-four defenseman is probably unrealistic.
“We tried,” Sakic said. “I tried to get a No. 1. They don’t want to do it. I wouldn’t do it either. Teams aren’t giving those guys up. But just to add some more depth, we’ve been trying to do (that) and we’ll continue to try. We’d like to help out our back end a little bit and also depth up front.”
The Avs won’t be giving up high picks for rentals.
“Still a lot of need for organizational depth and we’re building towards that,” he said. “We’re not going to move first- and second-round picks for rental players.”
There are not a lot of players on the market right now as teams are still trying to figure out where they sit.
“We’ve been trying to add some pieces here to help the team, so we’ll see where that goes,” he said. “It just seems that right now with so many teams in it, there’s not a lot of teams out of it right now, so everybody’s just deciding where they’re going to go. I’m not trading high picks and some of our top prospects for rental players. If we’re going to move some of those guys, it’s going to have to be for a player or two that are going to help us down the line.”
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