The 2026 NHL Offseason has been one for the books, with the cap ceiling rising and many teams and players taking advantage. With ever-increasing cap hits, trades, offer sheets, and more, the Colorado Avalanche are among the few teams that did their work before free agency opened and right as it began. A report has revealed that the Avalanche had bigger plans for their team.

Despite just re-signing Brett Kulak and signing Jordan Schwartz, along with some depth players to fill out their lineup, the Avalanche were suspected of being in on a major player. One that would have shaken up their roster and, potentially, the prospects they selected at the 2026 NHL Entry Draft.

Elliotte Friedman, on the latest and last episode of the season of “32 Thoughts: The Podcast”, talked about every team and some notes and rumors he heard about them. For the Colorado Avalanche, it was about their goaltending situation and their attempt to make a major swing for Winnipeg Jets goaltender and Hart Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck.

“I had a couple of teams say to me they wondered if Colorado took a shot at Connor Hellebuyck…. I don’t know how that could work. I don’t know what they could offer… There were a couple of teams that suspected the Avalanche kind of considered it.” 

Hellebuyck was a name leading up to the NHL Draft who was often talked about being moved, and if he was, it had to be for the right price. One team that came close was the Buffalo Sabres. Initially, reports indicated that the Sabers offered the fourth overall pick, starting goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, a player believed to be Jack Quinn, and at least one additional asset.  

The major issue for the Avalanche is that they could not offer a package close to what the Sabers did, especially when the Sabers dangled the fourth overall pick in front of them. One of Scott Wedgewood or Mackenzie Blackwood goes, along with multiple draft picks and prospects, but would that have been enough to entice a divisional rival to send them their best player?

The biggest issue for the Avalanche is whether they really want another chance at a top goaltender like Hellebuyck, and whether they have the cap space. An $8.5 million cap hit for a top goaltender isn't too crazy given the rising salary cap, but it's how the Avalanche would make room to fit him.

If the package revolves around picks and prospects, along with Blackwood's $5.25 cap hit, another player or two needs to either be sent beforehand or included in the same package. Likely one of Artturi Lehkonen, Nicolas Roy, or a defenseman like Kulak, Josh Manson, or Sam Malinski.

The other issue is that all of those players mentioned have some form of trade protection, and there's a good chance they don’t want to leave a Stanley Cup contender like the Avalanche or move to Winnipeg, Canada, a completely different country.

The only players the Avalanche can move without protection are Roy, Parker Kelly, Fyodor Svechkov, Zachary L’Heureux, Cale Makar, and Noah Juulsen, either with low cap hits or someone like Makar, which they would never even think of.

So either you get a player who can make the difference on the cap and is willing to move to Winnipeg, or you trade away your entire depth for a goaltender and are back to where you were a couple of seasons ago. A really impressive top six with no forward and defensive depth, but now you have an elite starting goaltender, would you make that trade?

As much as having Hellebuyck would have been a fantastic addition, the Avalanche are in a weird transition phase and need to look inward at who they have on their roster now and going forward, as the main core is starting to get older.

That's why the additions of Svechkov, L’Heureux and all the draft picks they made instead of trading make sense; they need to test the waters on these younger players while maintaining a competitive high-end roster, which, if the trade with the Jets were to happen, was going to force the Avalanche into an all-in-now mode, with no bright side into the future.