To me, this trade reads like Sakic feels good about Timmins and Byram (and, to a lesser extent, Gilbert) enough so that he wants them to get playing time. That put Cole in the position of being out of the lineup pretty frequently. They might have asked if he wanted to be traded so he could play more or he might have asked for the trade or it might have even just been a way to free up money to perhaps make further upgrades to the bottom 6.

It’s definitely a cap space move. What are the needs in bottom 6? Center I presume?

Idk, they have Compher, Jost and PEB as bottom 6 C’s. Personally I think Compher plays better on the wing so maybe.

3C is the biggest need. And a competent No.3 goalie.

This trade,to me wasn’t thaaat good.It just wasn’t.

It saves the Avs $1.2m in capspace with a marginal downgrade of their 8th Dman. That capspace will allow them to roll with a 22 or 23 man active roster at times when needed. $1.2m also accrues to around $6m in capspace at the deadline which is HUGE. Sakic is setting himself up to be a big shopper at the deadline.

Ya,I guess it does suit they're needs.Still,trading a regular NHL player for a Taxi Sqaud guy one for one still doesn't seem that good.

And they can bury another $1M of his contract in the AHL when they start playing which is where I expect him to be.

by the time the trade deadline rolls around that prorated $1.2m will allow the avs to add a decent player.

Werner is elite though

Yeah, the burying is a big deal as well. Burying Cole might have been a bit awkward as he's a respected veteran, but with Pateryn there'll be no problems with waiving him to taxi squad him.

It's not really one-for-one though. There's a $1.2m difference in caphits (including retention), which is a huge deal. That space will accrue to $6m at the deadline, meaning that Colorado can be big time players in the trade market.

Nah

*uno reverse*