Jack Drury was traded to the Nashville Predators in exchange for Fyodor Svechkov, Zachary L’Heureux, a prospect, and a third-round pick by Colorado Avalanche General Manager Chris MacFarland this afternoon, according to Elliot Friedman.
This year, Drury scored 27 points and had a +15 rating while playing in every game for the Avalanche at a cap charge of $1.725 million.
He scored five points in 13 playoff games, including a short-handed goal. Modest and helpful. The kind of striker you keep because they never cause you trouble.
Colorado, on the other hand, found that the cost-benefit analysis produced a different result.
Svechkov, who is 23 years old and has a cap figure of $925,000, tallied 17 points in 70 games for Nashville this season. He finished with a minus-6 rating for a Predators club that placed 24th overall and gave up 269 goals.
More engaging is L’Heureux. Also 23, with an entry-level contract of $863,334. Even though he played just 25 games, he scored 4 goals and received a +3 rating.
His last ten games were particularly noteworthy, with three goals, four points, and a plus-1 in limited opportunities.
The wager Colorado is making with this deal
With 121 points and a 55-16-11 record, the Avalanche concluded the regular season with the league’s highest point total. They had a fantastic offensive season, scoring 302 goals and finishing with a +99 goal differential.
A deal to fix a problem will not be made by a team that is so controlling. In order to wager on the upside, they build one.
MacFarland is, in essence, replacing a reliable bottom-six center who was a good fit and a well-known quantity with two 23-year-olds who have price-controlled contracts and more opportunity to advance.
Consider it as trading in your reliable secondhand automobile for two automobiles with check-engine lights that might only need a tune-up rather than an engine replacement.
Nashville, on the other hand, receives a genuine NHL center with playoff experience and a quantifiable record. Drury is a sensible choice to bring stability to the Predators, a team that went 38-34-10 last season and is trying to rebuild under general manager Barry Trotz.
In January, the Predators played Colorado head-to-head twice this season, including a 7-3 thrashing victory in Denver. They are alright. They are simply inconsistent.
The issue for Colorado is whether MacFarland’s expectation that Svechkov and L’Heureux will develop into the top-nine forwards that MacFarland expects them to be will actually come true.
Because if they do, moving a player who was +15 over 82 games will seem like a quick swing and miss.
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