Multiple Avalanche management, including General Manager Chris MacFarland, were at the Flames-Ducks game. With General Manager Chris Conroy in the building, what kind of discussions could have been that night?
With the 2026 Trade Deadline just a week away, the rumour and insider reporting train has been full steam ahead with numerous teams linked to this year's big board of players who might be on the move, and the Colorado Avalanche are no different this year. A third-line center is all but the move at this point, but who are they eying, and most importantly, what is the package for these pieces going to look like?
Well reported by Eric Francis, senior columnist and analyst for Sportsnet, he reported that General Manager Chris MacFarland, Assistant General Manager Kevin McDonald, and assistant to the GM Andrew Cogliano were in attendance at last night's Calgary Flames game against the Anaheim Ducks, and Craig Conroy was in the building as well.
The clear connection is Nazem Kadri, whose name is among those of many centers linked to the Avalanche and other teams seeking depth at center. With other options like Mackenzie Weegar and Black Coleman, the main attraction is a reunion with Kadri, who helped with the 2022 Stanley Cup championship run.
Granted, the Avalanche do have a game tonight (March 3) against the Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday in a back-to-back, but with the destinations so close on the west coast, there is no surprise management took a slight detour to do some early talks before the 3 pm March 6th deadline.
Kadri still has three more seasons on his contract, worth $7 million per season with a 13-team no-trade list. Him hearing an Avalanche reunion being in the works isn’t something I can make an issue of; it's the cap hit and the three years that follow. They have the cap space right now, but at 35 years old and with his production down tremendously, it's going to be tough to swallow that high of a cap hit with Martin Necas' extension kicking in next season and the next Cale Makar contract to follow.
Which exactly brings up why, while it would be nice to have a reunion, the price to bring him in and talk to Calgary to hold at least 25-30% of the rest of his contract is going to be steep. Which is exactly why, if they are going to find a center, it needs to be within a range they will expect or come to terms with, and a team taking on some relief to sweeten the deal.
Elliotte Friedman reported on the TNT panel about a Kadri reunion and how, if it happens, everything they do this season onward will revolve around Makar’s upcoming contract.
“Everything that Colorado does is about that Makar number. Everything that they do is about that number. Whenever it comes to a player with term and whenever I’ve asked around about what they’re up to, it’s always about protecting themselves from Makar’s number.”
This is why names like the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Scott Laughton and the New York Rangers' Vincent Trocheck are also connected to the Avalanche, their lower AAVs, and, if willing, the Avalanche could sweeten the deal to lower that cap hit even further. Friedman adds on top of that.
“So, unless Colorado’s going to be able to find a way to make that work or have the number not be as high, I think it’s going to be really tough…One of the centers I heard that could end up in Colorado is Scott Laughton, and he would be more of a rental.”
The Avalanche does have the cap space to make a lot of trades work, with just over $8 million available after the Brett Kulak trade. I assume the Avalanche wants to use this cap space to its fullest, not just on one deal that fills it all up.
A lot of the roster has trade protection, but Ross Colton’s name pops up frequently when it comes to moving off a player for a pick and a player to help free up some cap space. With a cap hit of $4 million this season and next, it's not a lot of money, but given the needs the Avalanche want to address at center, it could be a move, given the amount of wing depth this team already has.
It's going to be a very interesting deadline with the number of players reportedly available this deadline, especially for the Avalanche, as both the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars are linked to multiple names the Avalanche are interested in, and how their potential trade packages could be more enticing than theirs.
