Colorado Avalanche Likely to be Sellers at Deadline

The Colorado Avalanche are more likely to be sellers of unwanted contracts than buyers of desired players at the trade deadline March 1st.

Bold prediction for the Colorado Avalanche: The team is more likely to be sellers than buyers at the trade deadline.

It’s safe to say that veteran winger and future Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla will be traded to a contending team. Iginla has a 35+ No Move Clause to his contract, which he’d have to waive for a trade. However, Iginla has been clear that he’d welcome a trade to a playoff team:

“I would like to, at the deadline, go somewhere. I would like to be in the playoffs.”

You can’t fault the man for that. He’s very likely in his last NHL season. By his own admission he knows he’s not in the Colorado Avalanche’s future plans, even if he were to play next season.

Iginla is in the final year of a contract that has a $5.3 million cap hit, so it might be tricky finding a suitor for him. The team would have to be a shoe-in for the playoffs for him to waive his NMC, but those teams tend to be kissing the cap ceiling. As such, the Avs might have to retain some salary. That’s not a big deal since the money will be off the books come summertime when GM Joe Sakic is likely to be wheeling and dealing.

I could see Iginla going to an Eastern Conference team, perhaps the Ottawa Senators. They have a little veteran leadership, but not a future Hall of Famer. The Montreal Canadiens are pretty young, but somehow I don’t see them taking Iginla on.

A part of me would like to see Iginla go to the Washington Capitals. They’re my playoff team, and it would be fun to be able to still root for Iggy. However, they’re pretty stacked in the wing department.

The Columbus Blue are ever a favorite for making deals with the Avalanche. They’re a very young team, and they really could afford Iginla. My money is on Iginla getting shipped to Columbus.

There’s no real reason to write off Western Conference teams. I’d hate to see Iginla go to the Minnesota Wild, though they could use his veteran leadership in the bottom six. I think for western teams Iginla would be more likely to land with the Edmonton Oilers or, especially, the San Jose Sharks.

According to NHL.com, the LA Kings might have some interest in Iginla. They’re currently in the bottom wild card spot, though, so Jarome would probably wait to ensure the team was likely to make the playoffs before waiving his NMC for them.

As far as return for Iginla, I think the Colorado Avalanche would be lucky to get a late-round draft pick. And like I said, they may have to retain salary.

Concerning contracts and players the team needs to unload, the big one is Carl Soderberg. The 31-year-old forward has three years left on a contract with a $4.75 million cap hit. He seemed to have potential when Colorado signed him, but he’s got just 11 points in 53 games this year. Coupled with his contract, that makes his trade value very low.

At best, the Avs would have to pay a team to take Soderberg — like give up a draft pick or a prospect. I wouldn’t like to see them do that. Colorado is going to have a lot of money freed up this summer, so they need prospects more than cap relief moving forward.