It\u2019s been a busy 10 days for Joe Sakic. It sounds like he\u2019ll be OK if the next 10 are a little quieter.<\/p>\n
Sakic spoke shortly before the 2026 NHL draft began Friday night. The Colorado Avalanche don\u2019t pick until Saturday, but Sakic and Co. have made three trades and signed two key defensemen since he returned to the general manager role after Chris MacFarland left for Nashville.<\/p>\n
The first two trades were with MacFarland and the Predators<\/a>, before he sent Valeri Nichushkin to Columbus<\/a> on Thursday. The Avs used some of the salary cap space created Friday to sign defensemen Brett Kulak and Brent Burns<\/a> to new contracts.<\/p>\n \u201cWe weren\u2019t friends,\u201d Sakic said of making deals with MacFarland. \u201cNo, I mean, it was good. He did what he thought was best for his group. I thought we did what was best for our group. Those decisions for us really were cap decisions.<\/p>\n \u201cWe couldn\u2019t have brought everybody back. You see where we are now after the two signings today with Kulak and Burns. Cap\u2019s not at ($110 million). It\u2019s ($101 million) for us, and so we had to do things to free up cap space while accumulating draft capital which hopefully tomorrow we can get some good prospects in our system. We\u2019ve got a lot more draft picks now next year that we can use during the year or trade deadline or whenever to try and help our team.\u201d<\/p>\n The cap ceiling for the 2026-27 is $104 million, but the Avs have nearly $2.3 million in dead money because Burns signed a one-year, bonus-laden contract last year. That allowed Colorado to exceed the ceiling last year, but also means the bill is due this season.<\/p>\n With the moves Sakic has made, the Avs currently have 11 forwards, six defensemen and two goaltenders on one-way contracts. They also have about $5.6 million in cap space to work with.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s things we\u2019re going to look to do, but it\u2019s going to be with players that we feel are a good fit for us for what we\u2019re trying to do,\u201d Sakic said. \u201cHopefully it works out. If it doesn\u2019t work out, we\u2019re going to have a good amount of cap space and draft capital for things to happen<\/a> during the year. So there\u2019s no panic on our end. We\u2019re not rushed. If we\u2019ve got to start out with some kids this year to see what they\u2019ve got, what they can do, we\u2019re perfectly happy with that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Sakic did say he\u2019d like to sign two more forwards and another defenseman. If the forwards don\u2019t materialize, the Avs do have some interesting young forwards in the organization. Two of the guys who are among the 11 now arrived Wednesday.<\/p>\n Fedor Svechkov and Zachary L\u2019Heureux were both first-round picks in the 2021 draft. They\u2019re both 23 years old. They\u2019ve both played mostly in fourth-line roles for Nashville.<\/p>\n \u201cWe liked getting the two younger players that can immediately go on your roster,\u201d Sakic said. \u201cSvechkov, he\u2019s like a (Jack) Drury. He\u2019s not quite at Drury\u2019s level yet, but we think he can get there. We do see a similar player that could play that role.<\/p>\n \u201cL\u2019Heureux, he\u2019s going to be exciting for us. He\u2019s type of player that we were looking for. \u2026 We probably wish we had that player in the (2026) playoffs. He\u2019s going to bring a lot of enthusiasm, excitement, physicality and he goes to the net. He\u2019s always around that net, so we\u2019re excited to have both of them.\u201d<\/p>\n