Well, another year, and another trade deadline has
come and gone. Some teams improved, some got worse, some stayed the same, but
we don’t care about those teams. We care about the Avalanche. How did they do?
The trade deadline outcome for the Avalanche can only
be summed up with one word: Mediocre. It was not widely successful, mildly successful,
or even terrible. And here’s why:
The Pending UFA’s: John Mitchell, Rene Bourque, Fedor
Tyutin, Jarome Iginla, Cody Golebeuf, Andreas Martinsen.
Here is the problem, and the whole reason, primarily,
that the trade deadline was not a complete failure for Joe Sakic. If a team is
in the playoff hunt, meaning they are a decent hockey team, or if they are
contenders, which means they are a great hockey team, why would they want any
of these players? Mitchell has had a terrible offensive year, and he has slowed
down speed wise. He can kill some penalties and gets into the dirty areas
decent enough, but these types of players are quite common these days, and
there are many with offensive upside. Mitchell also carries a $1.8M cap hit,
which is hard for a team to justify if they aren’t getting a whole package 3rd/4th
liner.
Bourque has been hurt, and before he got injured his
production and play slowed right down. Weird for a 35 year old to slow down in
this league right? Tyutin would be decent on the 3rd line, but once
again, contendin and decent teams already have a few Tyutins either on the 3rd
pair or in the pressbox.
Moving Martinsen was great, Andrighetto still has some
upside, and will at least be a good farm team addition. It would have been
shocking for a team give more players or draft picks for a 4th line
UFA player. Good job by Sakic on that one.
Here is where it gets iffy. The return for Iginla, who
could flourish in Sutter’s system/playing with Kopitar, is a 4th
round pick that could totally disappear if the Kings don’t make the playoffs
and other conditions are not met. This would be acceptable IF the Avs did not
retain half of his salary. If the Kings miss the playoffs, the Avs are paying
Iginla to play for another Western Conference team. But let’s remember the Avs
may not have had a lot of options. Iginla carries a $5.3M hit, a number that
playoff teams usually can’t afford, or they would have spent the money
elsewhere. Sure, Carolina could have easily afforded him, but why would they
want a rental player for their non-playoff team?
Landeskog and Duchene? Why rush to get a deal done and
maybe not get everything you could possibly get? It isn’t the worst thing in
the world if the Avs wait for the draft, OR, maybe not trade them at all, then
trade them for a poor return because there is a deadline. Think: they could
have traded other players and it could have been a lot worth. Beauchemin? Any team
who sent a scout to these games would not want to take a chance on him.
So try not to hate on Sakic too much for the lack of
interesting moves. His hands were pretty much tied for the most part. With the
options he had, it wasn’t the worst day. It wasn’t the best day, but not the
worst, and with the season we have all endured, how can we ask for anything
more? We aren’t going to talk about the other minor league deals but we will
leave you with this: Did the Avs acquire Cannata because they are thinking of
trading a goalie and they want a minor leaguer to fill the void left when Spencer
Martin is called up?
Maybe.