The Colorado Avalanche have announced that they have made two trades today with two big name players on the team. I will break it down since they were in two separate transactions by the team.
Trade One
The team traded Ryan Johansen to the Philadelphia Flyers along with a 2025 first-round pick for defenseman Sean Walker and a 2026 fifth round pick. The Avalanche will come out on top with the trade, saving money. In the end Colorado will save $1.35 million on the salary cap. At the beginning of the season, there were expectations that Johansen would fill the role of the second line center. He has done anything but that. In 63 games with the Avalanche, he has only accumulated 23 points. He has also played as low as the fourth line for Colorado. Walker is a mobile defenseman that will carry the puck into the zone. Even on a bad Flyers team he has 22 points in 63 games.
Provided by JFresh Hockey
Provided by JFresh Hockey
Trade Two
The Colorado Avalanche traded Bowen Byram to the Buffalo Sabres for forward Casey Mittelstadt. It was a one-for-one trade that once again had Colorado saving $1.35 million in the salary cap. Byram has had his fair share of injuries, including concussions. But his recent decline in play this season and the addition of Sam Malinski made him expendable. Mittelstadt was leading Buffalo in points and will be a restricted free agent this summer. He is often a standout with his playmaking ability at center on a bad Buffalo team.
Provided by JFresh Hockey
Provided by JFresh Hockey
Call Ups
To supreme the roster for the game tonight against the Detroit Red Wings, Colorado has made two call ups from the Colorado Eagles. Because of Logan O’Connor’s lower-body injury, they required someone to replace him. Jean-Luc Foudy will get his first chance of the season with the Avalanche after only 12 games with the Eagles. He has been struggling with multiple injuries, but he has six points and has been aggressive on both ends of the puck. Ondrej Pavel will also get his second call to Denver this year. The defensive forward has become a staple in the penalty kill for the Eagles and at the faceoff dot as well.
Conclusion
The Avalanche will save about $2.7 million in the two deals today. They are doing this for one of two things. First, they have to plan on making room for Gabriel Landeskog coming back. We all want to hope that he will, but only time will tell. Second, they are making room for another trade on Thursday or Friday before the deadline. The Avalanche improved with these two trades and are showing they want to go all in again.