The Daily Faceoff Show: Do the Avs need to do anything before the trade deadline?
The Colorado Avalanche haven’t lost a game in regulation since mid-December.
When you’re already that good, how do you get better?
Frank Seravalli and Mike McKenna talked on Friday’s edition of The Daily Faceoff Show about how Joe Sakic could approach the upcoming NHL trade deadline.
Seravalli: “The Colorado Avalanche just keep rolling. 16-0-2 in their last 18 games after edging out the two-time Stanley Cup defending champions the Tampa Bay Lightning last night. To put that in perspective for you, the Avalanche have picked up 34 of the last 36 points that were on the table for them. An incredible run, the seventh streak of this magnitude in the NHL’s salary cap era.
Joe Sakic held a rare media availability on Thursday and didn’t say a whole heck of a lot — because that isn’t the Joe Sakic way — but he did say that given the Avs’ salary cap constraints, it might need to be hockey trade if they want to improve their team before the March 21 deadline.
He wasn’t sure which direction to head necessarily, he wanted to give the team the most time possible before the deadline to present any needs potentially due to injury or whathaveyou. This is a team that doesn’t have its first-round pick this year, as they traded it for Darcy Kuemper.
My question is if you’re looking at the Avs and their roster, do they have any holes? How do they improve?”
McKenna: “This is a team that doesn’t really have holes, so you’re looking at how you can improve upon the roster that you currently have which is already a Stanley Cup contender. You don’t go on a run like this if you don’t have all of the parts.
When I look at the Avalanche, I see a team that has a great defensive core — I love the pieces they’ve brought in, Devon Toews has been phenomenal since coming over — but I think they could use a bit more grit. So I think we’re looking third, fourth line here.
I really like what Nicolas Aube-Kubel has done since he was claimed off of waivers from the Flyers. He’s added a bit of heaviness to the depth of the lineup for Colorado. But we always keep looking towards what Tampa Bay did, bringing in Barclay Goodrow, Blake Coleman at the trade deadline. They gave that team some heaviness, some grit.
Even a Pat Maroon-type player. Maroon isn’t on the block, but this is the type of player I think the Avalanche could target that would really help them. It would help them play against a team like the Vegas Golden Knights, who they’re likely facing in the playoffs, they’re going to need some heaviness there to compete with them.”