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Colorado: Post Trade Deadline

Photo: John Leyba/The Denver Post

Photo: John Leyba/The Denver Post

By Richard Gonzalez

The NHL trade deadline came and went. We saw plenty of action with LA trading for Ben Bishop, Martin Hanzal heading to Minnesota, and Washington winning the Kevin Shattenkirk sweepstakes. Seems like all eyes are on Joe Sakic and Colorado now to make a move. 

So let’s take a look at all the Avalanche’s translations.

Trades:

The first move made by Sakic was with the Arizona Coyotes. The Avalanche traded forward Joe Whitney to the Coyotes in exchange for forward Brendan Ranford. Ranford is the nephew of former NHL goaltender Bill Ranford who is currently working for the Los Angles Kings organization as a goalie coach.

Ranford was just acquired by the Coyotes from the Dallas Stars on February 1st ,2017. Exactly one month ago. Ranford didn’t record a single point with the Coyotes’ AHL team the Tucson Roadrunners. Ranford currently has 17 points in 46 games with the Stars’ AHL team the Texas Stars and the Roadrunners. Ranford will report to the Avalanche’s AHL team the San Antonio Rampage.

Sakic second trade of the day was another minor one with the Washington Capitals. The Avalanche traded AHL defenseman Cody Corbett to the Capitals in exchange for goaltender Joe Cannata. Cannata has played 22 games with the capital’s AHL team the Hershey Bears going 11(wins), 5(losses), and 1 (OT loss). He had a 3.22 GAA and a .876 save percentage. He was recently assigned to the ECHL team the South Carolina Sting Ray winning the first 3 games he played with a 2.33 GAA and a .916 save percentage. Cannata will be assigned to the Rampage. 

In Sakic’s third transaction of the day, he traded Jarome Iginla to the Kings for a conditional 4th round pick in the 2018 draft. The Avalanche retained 50 percent of Iginla’s salary which is approximately 570K left. If the Kings makes the playoffs or Iginla resigns then we keep the 2018 4th round pick but if they don’t make the playoffs and he doesn’t resign with the Kings, the Avalanche won’t get the 4th round pick.

Iginla was in the final year of his 3-year deal he signed with the Avalanche. Iginla had a NTC so he had to approve the trade to the Kings. Iginla played 225 games with the Avalanche scoring 124 points (59 goals and 65 assists). 

In Sakic’s 4th trade of the day, he sends winger Andreas Martinsen to the Montreal Canadians for Winger Sven Andrighetto.  Andrighetto was a former 3rd round pick (86th overall) in the 2013 NHL entry draft and has played in 27 games this season with the Canadians scoring 8 points (2 goals and 6 assists). Andrighetto will be a RFA after this season and carries a remaining cap hit of 141K, per CapFriendly. 

Recap and Opinion:

The first trade for the Avs was getting Ranford. Ranford dressed in one NHL game with the Dallas Stars. His best season was with the Texas Stars in 2015/2016, scoring 59 points (19 goals 40 assists). I don’t see how this trade does anything for us besides getting a slumping AHLer. 

The second trade for the Avs was getting Cannata from the Capitals. He was assigned to the ECHL on February 14, 2017. The 27-year-old goaltender was probably brought in the add a veteran presence and experience for the Rampage.

The third trade the Avalanche was probably their biggest. They traded veteran forward Iginla to the Kings. I feel this was out of respect and a favor to Iginla so could have the opportunity to play for a Cup. I normally wouldn’t root for LA but I hope that make the playoffs so we can keep that draft pick. I don’t think he will play another year and don’t want to just retain salary so he can play elsewhere. 

The last trade the Avalanche made was getting Andrighetto from the Canadians. Andrighetto has only played in 2 out of the last 7 with The Canadians.They wanted to shuffle their bottom six and add a bigger element. Martinsen is a big boy (6’3″ 220 pounds). Andrighetto will have the opportunity to play more games and minutes as a try out to see if he’s worth signing for the next seasons. He has semi-decent numbers for a bottom six and maybe he will benefit from a change in scenery. 

Final Thought:

The 2017 NHL trade deadline is officially over. It was kind of a slow day. I think the big winner is the NHL Network for having Ilya Bryzgalov as one of the analysts. Always interesting and funny when Bryzgalov is speaking.

I feel Sakic didn’t do enough to help out the Avalanche’s future. I’m definitely not talking about trading Landeskog or Duchene either. We have a few veteran players we could have got something for. Blake Comeau and Fedor Tyutin could have fetched a return for the Avalanche. Now we potentially loose Tyutin for nothing and have the under performer and overpaid Comeau for another year. Another year of turnovers and slow skating with at a 2.40 million cap hit. The best Avalanche trade was the one sending Iginla to the Kings. We kinda gambled on the trade since the Kings are currently out of a playoff spot but it’s all about giving a legend an opportunity which he deserves. 

Joe Sakic said, “We felt it was the right thing to do for him… It’s a respect thing, for him as a person and a player.” Per, the Colorado Avalanche twitter page.  

I completely agree with Sakic’s statement. I have nothing but respect for him. He is a true leader and class act on and off the ice. He gave us his all and didn’t jump ship last season. He was so great to all of us fans too. Sakic did a good job showing Iginla respect and honoring his trade wish. I’m just glad he has the opportunity to compete for a Cup. 

The Avalanche also announced they have recalled winger JT Compher. Compher was part of the package we got for the Ryan O’Reilly/Jamie McGinn trade. Compher has yet to see action in the NHL but is one of the Avalanche’s top prospects and has a chance to get some experience to help him develop for next season. Hopefully, he will get the experience needed to make that jump into the Avalanche lineup next season. 

All in all. We kept Landeskog and Duchene, did the right thing for a veteran player, have the opportunity to see Compher play, and we didn’t overpay or get taken advantage of. We weren’t necessarily winners but we weren’t losers at the deadline either.

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March 4th, 2017


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