DENVER — It was business as usual at Wednesday’s morning skate. Fighting for positioning in the Central Division and prepping for a matchup against the Detroit Red Wings, the Avalanche suddenly saw two players sent out the door in a couple of massive trades to shake up the roster.
Colorado addressed its dire need for stability in the second-line center role in the latter deal — acquiring 25-year-old Casey Mittelstadt from the Buffalo Sabres for young budding blueliner Bowen Byram. The preceding deal made by general manager Chris MacFarland to clear space sent Ryan Johansen and a 2025 first-round pick to Philadelphia for pending unrestricted free-agent defenseman Sean Walker. There’s a lot to unravel from these trades and several reasons why MacFarland, Joe Sakic and the rest of the Avs front office hit these deals out of the park at first glance.
CHANGES ON THE BLUELINEOut: Bowen Byram
In: Sean Walker
starting with the big piece going out, Byram’s time in Denver will be fondly remembered for his play during the 2022 Stanley Cup championship run. The rising star ultimately fell into the Avs’ laps in 2019 with the Ottawa No. 4 overall draft pick they acquired in the Matt Duchene trade.
Byram isn’t an easy piece to offload. But it was necessary. After Devon Toews signed his extension, the clock started ticking on Byram’s future with the club. He’s signed through the end of the 2025 season and is still under team control that summer, but it was clear a move needed to be made sooner than that. And for multiple reasons. For starters, Byram was the big trade chip Colorado had in its arsenal to bring in a second-line center. In 2019 they used Tyson Barrie to bring in Nazem Kadri because of the emergence of Cale Makar. And this time around, they were able to use the stability in Toews and Samuel Girard’s deals to use Byram to bring in their new second-line center.
The reality is, Byram deserves a shot as a top-line defenseman. He needs to play a bigger role and was just never going to get that opportunity in Denver. I’ve said many times since Toews signed his deal that Byram and his camp should look to be dealt before the 2024-25 season begins. Even with another year remaining on his deal, it was always better for Byram to use the last year of his bridge deal on a team where he could play an expanded role. He’ll have that opportunity in Buffalo, likely on the top line alongside star defenseman Rasmus Dahlin.
He could earn his next contract based on his 2024-25 play rather than getting dealt that summer and signing a deal based on what his new team projects he could become.
Walker is sort of the lost piece in all of this. But he gives the Avs a lot of what they need. Not only does he slot in nicely on the right side — something Colorado was lacking on the third pair — but he’s also in the midst of a career year and was one of the more sought-after pieces heading into Friday’s trade deadline. Whether Colorado adds another defenseman before Friday is unclear, but Walker has a spot among the top-six defensemen. If the Avs add another blueliner, it’ll likely be a lefty that could play with Walker, which would make Jack Johnson the No. 7 defenseman — the same spot he held at the start of the 2022 postseason.
CHANGES AT FORWARDOut: Ryan Johansen
In: Casey Mittelstadt
This is where MacFarland wins. Big. Mittelstadt is only 25 years old and has already established himself as a player with 50-plus point potential. And possibly more. He’ll play with much stronger wingers in Colorado and he’ll give the team something they’ve lacked since Kadri signed in Calgary — a clear-cut second-line center. He’s a pending restricted free agent and will likely sign a long-term deal this summer to play behind Nathan MacKinnon and solidify Colorado’s center position for years to come.
The trade for Johansen over the summer was well worth the risk. But the fit just wasn’t there. Johansen struggled to fill a role on the roster even after it was clear he wasn’t going to center the second line. His ice time dwindled, his effectiveness took a hit, and it was easy to forget he was in the lineup on most nights. Aafter his two-goal performance against Vancouver two weeks ago, Johansen looked visibly uncomfortable in the dressing room. He struggled to speak with the media and felt out of place. It was time to move on.
MacFarland’s ability to offload Johansen — though attaching a first-round pick to him — was vital for the playoff run this year and for next year’s cap. And to also bring in Walker, who can fill in for Byram on the third pair, is a massive win.
Cap space
This is the most underrated aspect of these deals. After sending Kurtis MacDermid to New Jersey last week, Colorado had just over $2.2 million in cap space to work with ahead of the deadline. But after unloading Johansen’s $4 million with no retention, and swapping Byram ($3.85 million) for Walker ($2.65 million) and Mittelstadt ($2.5 million), the Avs suddenly have nearly $5 million in cap space. And they still have their 2024 first-round draft pick and all of their top prospects.
In other words: The Avalanche might not be done making trades this week. They still could bring in another center for added depth and a third-pair defenseman to play with Walker. But the cap space and the assets they hold also give them the ability to swing for another big-name forward to stack the top six.
MacFarland won big on Wednesday. But there’s room for more. We’ll see where this goes.