Peter Baugh: The Tampa Bay Lightning have traded forward Ross Colton to the Colorado Avalanche for a 2023 second-round pick (No. 37).
Ryan Boulding: Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland on Colton: “Ross is a hard-working, two-way center with a championship pedigree. He has physicality to his game, is ultra competitive and his versatility will make him a valuable addition to our lineup in a lot of ways.”
Chris Krenn: Tampa Bay Lightning GM Julien BriseBois on Colton: “Ross was a fabulous player for our organization. A very popular players, a very popular teammate.
He’s a another success story from our draft team and our development program. He put in the work. It took a lot of time before he even turned pro, then he spent some time in the minors, worked his way into being an NHL regular and a Stanley Cup winner, and scored a huge goal to help us clinch a Stanley Cup in 2021.
No one can ever erase that and we’re really appreciative of the way he went about his business. The way he conducted himself and worked his way into becoming an NHL player, that’s role model level stuff for our future prospects.”
Thoughts from the media
Eduardo A. Encina: “ Colton was due a significant raise as a restricted free agency. #TBLightning made him a qualifying offer and now his rights go to the Avs.”
CapFriendly: “Ross Colton is a pending arbitration-eligible RFA, who is 1 year away from UFA status His qualifying offer is $1.25M and he had 32 pts in 81 GP last season”
Marc Dupont: “That’s a great deal for Colorado.”
Aarif Deen: The Avalanche basically traded Alex Newhook for Ross Colton and the No. 31 pick.
- Max Bultman: “Great work by the Avs in this sequence”
Colorado uses part of the return for Newhook to bring in Ross Colton. Good middle-six addition for the Avalanche here. pic.twitter.com/9Ts0wNBuru
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) June 28, 2023