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1.) Shawn Matthias for a 2016 4th Round Pick
Earl06
StephHouse
Murf
2.) Alex Tanguay, Conner Bleackley, and Kyle Wood for Mikkel Boedker
Earl06
StephHouse
Hoo, Boedker is the best player in the deal so the Avs Won The Trade. I'm pretty sure is how that works. There's a lot to unpack here. Boedker himself is fine and the value isn't bad from Colorado's perspective. He helps the middle of the forward corps no matter where he goes by pushing guys up or down, same as Matthias. It's the idea of the deal I'm not happy about.
Murf
This is a tougher one to swallow because of the sentimental connection to Alex Tanguay, but his game has been in a freefall all season, and the fact the Avs could get anything for him at the deadline is notable. To get a player back as intriguing as Boedker for the stretch run is, perhaps, even more impressive still. Yeah, he's failed to live up to his 8th overall draft position, but he's an all-world skater that put the puck in the net 19 times just two years ago and a consistent force on the power play. More importantly, he's about to go from a line of Shane Doan and Antoine Vermette to one with Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon. If there's scoring potential to be unlocked, that's how it happens. Most troubling about this trade is the white flag Joe Sakic is waving on the 2014 draft class. Ok, maybe you weren't going to sign Bleackley and Wood to contracts for next year, but that's a big problem. One perhaps best discussed in a different article.
3.) Eric Gelinas for a 2017 3rd Round Pick
Earl06
StephHouse
At first I groaned at this deal since they've already given up their 4th, but then it came out that the 3rd is next summer. This deal is fine. Gelinas will help push guys out of the NHL roster that don't belong there. A 3rd is a fair price for an OK young RFA defender with a year left on his very reasonable deal. Like the Matthias deal, it's not going to have a serious impact, but its okay.
Murf
Again, you're getting NHL value out of a 3rd Round pick, which all you could hope to get from whomever you select there two years from now. Gelinas isn't a rental in that he has another year remaining before become a restricted free agent, so the team will be able to take a long look at him before committing any significant amount of money. I've heard the "Nick Holden with a slapshot" criticisms, and all I have to say is that this defense would be a lot better off if they had another Nick Holden on the 3rd pairing. Despite being a left-handed defenseman, I think he plays the right side so Chris Bigras can set up his slapshot. May also get a look on the second unit power play to give Francois Beauchemin a breather. This is a nice pickup for the return value, but it still leaves a lot of questions about their future plans on defense.
4.) Marc-Andre Cliché for Taylor Beck
Earl06
StephHouse
Difficult to care any less about a minor league swap like this than I do. Cliche is out of the system? Traded him for who? K sweet whatever.
Murf
Having never seen Beck play, I defer to Earl on this one. Statistically, Beck looks like a good AHL wing with size and a bit of NHL experience. These types of players are necessary to have. Trading Cliché away leads to some interesting questions about when the team plans to do at center in its system. Right now, Sam Henley and Troy Bourque are the only AHL centers signed next season -- and that doesn't work. Julien Nantel of the QMJHL would qualify next year, but otherwise, the Avs are likely going digging in Europe again over the summer. They've got some work to do.
5.) Do these trades help the team make a playoff push this season?
Earl06
I think so, very much. Standing pat arrogantly wasn't going to get this done, it's given the Avs upgrades in several key areas -- depth defense, depth scoring, power play scoring -- that have been major concerns since the start of the season. Have they gotten better defensively like everyone thinks they need to? Nope. Let's hope everyone was wrong and adding more scoring does the trick.
I think making the playoffs is very important in the Avs management's minds, both for long and short-term goals. I'm sure they'd love to win a round or two of course, but getting in is the important part this year and these moves kind of reflect that. This is maybe 2/3rds of a cup team right now, but that last third isn't going to come if they keep hitting the links in mid-April.
StephHouse
Without question the team is better right now than it was a week ago. Replace Martinsen and Tanguay with Boedker and Matthias? Yes please. Add Gelinas on the back end? Sure, why not. Is it SIGNIFICANTLY better? I guess that depends on what significantly means to you. I would say not really, but it's somewhat better. Which is cool because the team had some needs that they upgraded on. I'm on board.
Murf
They have gotten better, if only temporarily and incrementally so. The good news is they did quite a bit more than their Wild Card competition; and while these three depth pieces aren't great on their own, I think they can allow the big names on the roster be better down the stretch. MacKinnon and Boedker on the same line are going to be breakaway threats every time they're on the ice, and Matthias is going to help get tough goals that weren't previously possible on the 3rd line. Color me skeptical about Gelinas being a defensive upgrade this season; but if this team is going to succeed, it's going to be despite that unit anyway.
6.) How do they affect the team long-term?
Earl06
Avs weren't going to re-sign Tanguay or Cliche or sign Bleackley so nothing there. I doubt they can create the cap space to sign Boedker long-term, so that's nothing too. I like draft picks and watching players develop so losing the 4th this year, the 3rd next year and Kyle Wood sucks but you'll have that. Matthias has a chance to be a role player for a spell and you need dependable guys like that for your foundation, but there's little chance he'll be the difference in a Cup final. Gelinas is the same. I'll wait until Taylor Beck plays a game for the Avs to make a decision on him.
Big picture: These are a bunch of complementary moves that are made to get Colorado into this year's playoffs while not sacrificing anything in the core assets. I like that they seem to have been more aggressive at this year's deadline and hope whatever comes out of this makes that core better and more prepared to win consistently and move towards the goal of challenging for a Stanley Cup. I also hope that making moves like this gives management more experience in evaluating talent for a situation where the team has specific needs to be filled for a playoff run. Maybe they already did, but as a fan it's nice to know that they can if they have to.
StephHouse
These moves in particular mostly don't affect the long term fate of the club, but I hope they don't make a habit of doing things like this until they're in a perennial contention kind of area, like LA or Chicago are. The Blackhawks can get away with loading up because they have a legit chance at a Cup. The Avs kind of maybe shouldn't be tossing away lots of picks and prospects to do that. (Although making it a prospect you weren't interested in re-signing helps.) Do this a lot and you end up with no farm system to back up a rapidly aging team.
Murf
I want to see this team making small risks to make the playoffs and I'm pretty sure that's not different for anyone else who follows the team. Losing two mid-round picks over the next two drafts isn't going to affect your farm system nearly as much as missing on a player like Bleackley. As long as the team drafts well with the picks they have and keep finding useful European free agents, this trade deadline will not have any discernible effect on their future outlook.
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