The Colorado Avalanche was another team that did well at the NHL Trade Deadline. Colorado traded for defenseman Sean Walker while removing Ryan Johansen from the roster.
In addition, the Avalanche acquired Casey Mittelstadt from Buffalo for Bo Byram and added Yakov Trenin and Brandon Duhaime to complement the Zach Parise signing.
NHL Rumors: Colorado Still Looking To Address Second Line Center
The Colorado Avalanche knew they needed to fill the position of a number two center. Johansen did not work out. The hope is Mittelstadt can fill that role as Nathan MacKinnon is on his Hart Trophy pace. The one area they did not fill was a backup goalie, but they hope Alexandar Georgiev does not get worn out.
TSN Director of Scouting Craig Button joined SportsCenter with Jay Onrait to discuss the Avalanche’s trade deadline moves, especially the one-for-one trade for Casey Mittelstadt for Bowan Byram, along with the other ads.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Jay Onrait: “Let’s move on to Colorado’s Chris McFarland so we can keep the GM talk going. So he swings big. Yeah, he adds Sean Walker, but the one that really, really intrigues me is that one-for-one deal. Mittelstat is a really good young player. They bring him in, but they ship out a really good young defenseman in Bo Byram. What do you think about the Avs approach to the deadline?”
NHL Rumors: New Jersey Devils and Colorado Avalanche
Craig Button: “Chris McFarland and the Colorado Avalanche are in exactly the same boat as Kelly McCrimmon and the Vegas Golden Knights for bold. They’re not sitting back on their heels circle. They did it when they won the cup; just go look at what they did. They traded for Lehkonen. They traded for Josh Manson. They added different pieces, and that’s what they do.
And so now they sit down, they took a chance on Ryan Johansen; they thought that he could come in a little bit of a change of scenery, come in play the second line. It just didn’t work out. It didn’t work out there. So now the Colorado Avalanche look and go, Okay, what can we do? And they sit down, and they go, we need a second line center. So they can win.
Hey, listen, you start to hear what would it take for Casey Mittelstadt. Are you ready to trade Bowen Byram, and that gets you a little bit uneasy, but then you start to look okay, what do we have? They have Toews and Makar. You know Josh Manson’s there. They have Sam Girard. They have a good group of blue liners.
NHL Trade Deadline Fallout: Brad Treliving Knew They Couldn’t Fill All Their Needs
Now you start to say, are we going to be better with Casey Mittelstadt up the middle, and then understanding that we’re giving up a good player. To get you got to give. Yeah, and I think for the Buffalo Sabres, they have a lot of really good young prospects in the forward group. They also have really good Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens up the middle of the ice.
So this is a move that really helps both teams, but I think it goes back to the Buffalo Sabres recognize and where they have a strength, and it’s reinforcing on the blue line, but the Colorado Avalanche, and do you hear them talk about how hard it is to make a deal? Do you?”
The Colorado Avalanche have positioned themselves as a true contender for the Stanley Cup this season.