Deadline Status<\/p>\n
Buyer<\/p>\n
Deadline Cap Space<\/p>\n
$6.48MM on deadline day, 0\/3 retention slots used, 46\/50 contracts used, per PuckPedia<\/a>.<\/p>\n Upcoming Draft Picks<\/p>\n 2026: CAR 4th, COL 4th, PHI 5th, BOS 5th, COL 5th, NYR 7th, OTT 7th, PIT 7th, COL 7th Trade Chips<\/p>\n Depending on how aggressive they want to be, the Avalanche could likely use their plethora of draft picks to acquire the depth they need. Obviously, it\u2019s more quantity over quality, but as the league\u2019s best team, they only need to add around the fringes.<\/p>\n Still, if they wanted to make a more notable addition, particularly to their defensive core, Colorado has a few prospects at their disposal. It wouldn\u2019t be the worst idea in the world for the Avalanche to push most of their chips in with only two more guaranteed years of consistent Norris threat, Cale Makar<\/a>.<\/p>\n Considering how he\u2019s played the last three years, Nabokov would have significant value if the Avalanche included him in trade conversations. Nabokov, 22, has managed a 67-34-9 record in 123 KHL games with a .920 SV% and 2.31 GAA. Although it\u2019s not a direct comparison, the Florida Panthers were able to acquire Sam Reinhart<\/a> with Devon Levi<\/a> and Seth Jones<\/a> with Spencer Knight<\/a> in recent years. Both played integral roles in the Panthers\u2019 back-to-back Stanley Cup titles.<\/p>\n Outside of those two, Colorado could include defenseman Sean Behrens<\/a> or forward Nikita Prishchepov<\/a>, both of whom are playing with AHL Colorado, for less significant additions. Unfortunately, according to Daily Faceoff\u2019s preseason rankings<\/a>, the Avalanche have the 29th-ranked farm system, meaning their cupboards are lacking in prospect capital. Regardless, it\u2019s unimaginable that Colorado would part with anyone on the active roster, considering how the team has played this year.<\/p>\n Team Needs<\/p>\n Defensive Depth:\u00a0At the time of writing, the Avalanche has only six defensemen on the active roster, without much depth. Yes, the likes of Keaton Middleton<\/a>, Jacob MacDonald<\/a>, Ronald Attard<\/a>, and Jack Ahcan<\/a> can and have all served when needed, though they wouldn\u2019t be the best options to have in case of injuries leading up to or in the postseason. In a perfect world, the Colorado would target a defenseman who can play on both sides of the blueline, though they\u2019ll want to seek out a left-handed shot at the very least. Fortunately, there should be a few options available to them with varying degrees of talent. Logan Stanley<\/a> of the Winnipeg Jets, Matt Grzelcyk<\/a> of the Chicago Blackhawks, Mario Ferraro<\/a> of the San Jose Sharks, and Brett Kulak<\/a> of the Pittsburgh Penguins all make sense as potential additions.<\/p>\n Bottom-Six Center:\u00a0Outside of most contending teams, the Avalanche don\u2019t have much to be concerned about regarding their center core. Nathan MacKinnon<\/a> (51.1%), Brock Nelson<\/a> (49.4%), and Jack Drury<\/a> (59.2%) are all having solid years in the faceoff dot, with the former two providing much of the team\u2019s offense. However, there is a steep drop-off in faceoff talent on the team\u2019s fourth line. The team has typically used Parker Kelly<\/a> or Zakhar Bardakov<\/a> in that role. However, they\u2019ve only managed a 32.1% and 43.4% in the faceoff circle, respectively. If he\u2019s willing to leave his native Winnipeg in pursuit of one last shot at the Stanley Cup, Jonathan Toews<\/a> would be a perfect addition, as he has a 61.0% faceoff rate this season. However, if Toews is unwilling to leave Manitoba, lower-cost additions such as Jason Dickinson<\/a> (49.7%) or Erik Haula<\/a> (50.3%) would also help round out the bottom-six.<\/p>\n Image courtesy of John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the Olympic break approaching, the trade deadline is about a month away. Where does each team stand,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5116],"tags":[193,192,144,5277,54005,5,4,697],"class_list":{"0":"post-445548","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-colorado-avalanche","8":"tag-avalanche","9":"tag-colorado","10":"tag-colorado-avalanche","11":"tag-coloradoavalanche","12":"tag-deadline-primer-2026","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-pro-hockey-rumors-originals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116013839191795930","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
2027: COL 1st, MIN 2nd, COL 2nd, COL 4th, SJ 5th, COL 5th, COL 6th, COL 7th<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/USATSI_28085699-200x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Two of Colorado\u2019s better prospects are playing in the KHL, so they wouldn\u2019t be negatively impacting the NHL squad or the AHL\u2019s Colorado Eagles. Defenseman Mikhail Gulyayev<\/a>, whom Colorado selected with the 31st overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft, is playing for the Avangard Omsk. Furthermore, Ilya Nabokov<\/a>, selected with the 38th overall pick of the 2024 NHL Draft, is having a solid year with the Metallurg Magnitogorsk.<\/p>\n