Eurolanche

What Avalanche did on deadline

Well, the Colorado Avalanche were quiet but not silent yesterday [trade deadline]. I predicted and urged the Avs to do as team management had said and stay the course, don’t move key guys and only add if it helped in the long run as well as now. The Avalanche did just that in 3 ways and I’m really happy with what transpired yesterday.

The Avs signed undrafted defenseman Cody Corbett from the Edmonton Oil Kings who seems to have some offensive game to him and that will fit in quite nicely with our prospects coming up with Stefan Elliott, Chris Bigras, Duncan Siemens and Will Butcher all coming through the pipeline in the coming years. Corbett has some decent size to him being 6 foot 1 and just under 200 lbs and is a left handed shot. He has 16 goals and 40 assists in 58 games and is in a breakout season for his WHL club. The nice thing is that once his season is done in juniors it’s believed he is able to sign an Amatuer Try Out (ATO) contract with the Avalanche’s AHL minor league affilliate Lake Erie and play out the year there and gain some experience as they can use him since they are having depth issues. His 3 year, 600,000K contract does not kick in until next season start and I believe this was a good move by Roy and Sakic. Cody had some try out time with the Minnesota Wild, but was never offered a contract and the Wild’s loss is the Avs gain. Thumbs up from me!

Cody Corbett, Edmonton Oil Kings

The next thing the Avalanche did on deadline day was add some goal tending depth with the acquisition of Reto Berra from the Calgary Flames in exchange for a 2nd round pick in 2014. While I’m not a fan of the price tag as goalies were going for cheaper prices, I think it’s something we can live with it. This move shocked me, but after the details came in as to why , it made sence. J-S Giguere‘s back has been somewhat fragile this season and if something were to happen to Varlamov (knock on wood) then Berra can help ease that issue . Another thing I was made aware of was that when Berra was playing in Switzerland, Goaltending Coach Francois Allaire held a few training caps with his players and Berra attended 2 of these, so Allaire must have seen something in him that he liked. Berra is a UFA at the end of the year as is Giguere, so it’s a low risk move and doesn’t hurt to try out. Berra’s numbers in Calgary aren’t great but they are in the midst of a rebuild and are expected to be having some bumps along the road. He also played one game for the Swiss during the Olympics and played fairly well, so I like this move.

The final thing the Avs did right this deadline was not move out any core guys. With rumors surrounding Ryan O’Reilly, Paul Stastny, P-A Parenteau and Jamie McGinn I am glad all of them still find home playing in Denver for now. With 3 of those players going to be seeking new contracts at the end of the year, it would have been easy to say let’s just deal them and get what we can, but I think all the Avs fans are hoping that these guys stick around for the future. All in all I think it was a good first deadline for Sakic/Roy and they passed my test and I’m just excited to see if Colorado can do some damage in the playoffs. Until next time, Go Avs Go!

– by Daniel Jackson for The Hockey Report –

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