Vegas Golden Knights Expansion Outlook: Colorado Avalanche
Colorado won’t lose much to the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft.
What a brutal year for the Colorado Avalanche. This team looks destined for a last place finish. Like the Arizona Coyotes, Colorado is another team that I see selling off assets at the NHL trade deadline. Rumors are out there that Avalanche General Manager Joe Sakic is dangling captain Gabriel Landeskog and assistant captain Matt Duchene. That would be pretty extreme if Sakic pulled off a trade for one of those players never mind both. As of now, they’re both still in Colorado and both are locks to get protected if they even make it that far. Sorry to get your hopes up Vegas Golden Knights fans!
The Avalanche are one of those teams that could use the 7-3-1 system or the 4-4-1. In my opinion I think Colorado will stick with the first option. Nathan MacKinnon would join Landeskog and Duchene for forwards on the protection list. From there it seems like anyone’s guess who could get protected.
It’s been a down season for Carl Soderberg but it’s likely he gets kept despite his hefty cap-hit. Mikhail Grigorenko should also be another keeper for Colorado. Joe Colborne is on the fringe of protection but the team has to keep him for his incredible size at the Center position. Colborne scored a hat trick game number 1 of the season but only scored one goal since then. The last forward that I would protect if I’m the team from Mile High is Rocco Grimaldi. The Anaheim California native has found tons of success for the San Antonio Rampage (AHL affiliate for the Avalanche). In 50 games played for the Rampage he’s totaled 20 Goals,17 Assists and 37 Points thus far. The 24-year-old will for sure be called up to the big club by seasons end.
In all likelihood, defenseman Francois Beauchemin will get dealt at the deadline even though he owns a no movement clause. The 36-year-old blue liner will move to another team to make room young prospect Nikita Zadorov. Tyson Barrie and Erik Johnson will round-out the defensemen on the teams protection list.
Even though both of Colorado’s goalies have been terrible, they must pick one to keep. My guess is they protect Calvin Pickard and expose Semyon Varlamov. Varlamov is very injury prone, holds a bad contract and he’s shown the Avalanche every reason why he shouldn’t be protected.
So where do the Vegas Golden Knights even go picking from this team? They could go after veteran defenseman Fedor Tyutin but he’s lost a ton of skating mobility and hasn’t reached 80 games played since 2010. They could go after another defenseman in Patrick Wiercioch but like the team as a whole Wiercioch’s stock has dropped a ton.
The player I think the Golden Knights go after is veteran forward Blake Comeau. Every team needs one of these types of forwards. Bottom six forward with penalty killing capabilities,versatile playing both wing positions and locker room leader. Comeau goes on stretches where he’s very tough to stop offensively and gets hot for good two weeks or so then fizzles out for a while.
Comeau’s streaky offensive play throughout his career shouldn’t scare you away though. Comeau has always been a third or fourth line grinder that isn’t afraid to block a slap shot or get in an occasional fight. The 31 year old’s cap-hit next year is at an affordable 2.4 million, a number that Vegas could certainly take a chance on.
Next: Who Could The Vegas Golden Knights Be Looking To Draft Off Of Chicago's Roster?
Golden Knights Prediction: Blake Comeau