NASHVILLE — The Colorado Avalanche’s first move ahead of the NHL trade deadline was to subtract from the current roster, but the deal could lead to bigger additions in the near future.
Colorado traded tough guy Kurtis MacDermid on Friday to the New Jersey Devils. The initial return was a 2024 seventh-round pick and Zakhar Bardakov, who was a seventh-rounder for New Jersey in 2021.
The prized asset could be the extra financial flexibility. MacDermid is in the final season of a two-year contract that carries a cap hit of $987,500.
The Avs have been over the NHL salary cap limit all year, using long-term injury relief exemptions with Gabe Landeskog and Pavel Francouz unavailable to play during the regular season. By moving MacDermid, the Avalanche now has $2,229,257 in available space with 21 players on the roster.
Colorado can get creative and add a more expensive player or players than that, if the Avs are willing to hop on the hottest trend in NHL trading. They can add a player who makes double that if the other team retains half the cap hit, but the Avs can actually add players who make quadruple the figure if they find a third team to retain an additional 25% as well.
The Dallas Stars and Toronto Maple Leafs did this earlier this week. Dallas traded for defenseman Chris Tanev, whose cap hit is $4.5 million, from the Calgary Flames.
Calgary retained half ($2.25 million), but the Stars also got New Jersey to retain half of what was left ($1.125 million) as part of a three-way trade. The Devils received a fourth-round pick from Dallas for eating the cap space, and the Stars have Tanev on their cap ledger at $1.125 million. Toronto made a similar move to acquire Anaheim defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin.
If the Avalanche completed a double-retention trade, it could add a player or players in the deal that cost up to $8,917,028 in cap space between now and the March 8 deadline, although the pending arrival of prospect Nikolai Kovalenko when his KHL season is complete could cut into that figure.
MacDermid had two goals and one fight in 29 games this season for the Avs. He is averaging 5:05 of ice time per game, which is the lowest in the NHL this season among players with 20 or more games played.
Bardakov, 23, has six goals and 12 points in 51 games for SKA St. Petersburg in the KHL, which is the team that Kovalenko’s club is currently competing with in the first round of the league playoffs.
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