Elliot Friedman said that this afternoon, Colorado Avalanche General Manager Chris MacFarland sent Jack Drury to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Fyodor Svechkov and Zachary L’Heureux, along with a prospect and a third-round pick.
Drury played in every game for the Avalanche this year, scoring 27 points with a +15 rating on a $1.725 million cap hit.
He scored five points in 13 playoff games, including a short-handed goal. Usefully modest. The kind of striker that you retain since they never cost you anything.
But Colorado concluded that the cost-benefit analysis came out differently.
Svechkov is 23 years old, has a $925,000 cap figure, and recorded 17 points in 70 games for Nashville this season. He ended up with a minus-6 rating on a Predators team that gave up 269 goals and came in 24th overall.
L’Heureux is more captivating. Also 23, with an entry-level contract of $863,334. He had a +3 rating and scored 4 goals despite playing only 25 games.
His last 10 games, which included 3 goals, 4 points, and a plus-1 in limited opportunities, were especially impressive.
What Colorado is placing its wager on with this agreement
The Avalanche ended the regular season with 121 points and a 55-16-11 record, the highest in the league. With 302 goals scored and a +99 goal difference, they had a strong offensive season.
A team that is that dominating will not make a deal to resolve an issue. They create one to gamble on the upside.
MacFarland is essentially replacing a well-known quantity, a reliable bottom-six center who was a good match, with two 23-year-olds who have price-controlled contracts and more room to improve.
Picture it as exchanging your reliable used car for two check-engine light-equipped automobiles that may only require a tune-up rather than an engine replacement.
Nashville, however, receives a legitimate NHL center with playoff experience and a quantifiable record. Drury makes sense as a stabilizing factor for a Predators club that is 38-34-10 and attempting to rebuild under general manager Barry Trotz.
This season, the Predators played Colorado head-to-head twice, including a 7-3 thrashing victory in Denver in January. They’re okay. They’re simply inconsistent.
The question for Colorado is whether Svechkov and L’Heureux will actually grow into the top-nine forwards MacFarland is anticipating them to be.
because if they don’t, trading a player who was +15 in 82 games will seem like a swing-and-a-miss that matured quickly.
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