A very active 2023 trade deadline has come and gone and one could say that the Colorado Avalanche were buyers on a budget. With little to no draft picks and a limited pool of prospects, GM Avs-Mat did what he could to make his club more competitive for the last stretch of the season by trading pending UFA Jordan Staal.

“Gronk has been a force for us this season with 30 points in 54 games but where his presence was felt was in the 135 hits he delivered.” said GM Avs-Mat “We put feelers out and got lots of bites. At one point we were working a 5 way deal that was close to closing but fell through at the last hour. We wanted to make sure we could improve our club and if we could get two players to come help us push to the playoffs then it made sense.” 

In the end, the Avs GM settled for defenseman Chris Tanev and prospect Ryan Tverberg from Calgary. Tanev, being a 6ft2 right shot, will complement nicely on the second pairing defense as a shutdown defenseman. But the condition to this deal was that the Avs could land a scoring winger. And this is where picking up pending UFA Viktor Arvidsson from the St. Louis Blues GM Graham became an important factor for the deal to close.

Prior to the deadline, Avs-GM Mat also brought in James Reimer from the Montreal Canadiens to play the legitimate backup to Ilya Sorokin.

A lot of talks and opinions around the league when it comes to affecting the team chemistry at the deadline. It’s obvious these additions don't make the Colorado Avalanche a cup contender. But does it give them a fighting chance to make the playoffs? You be the judge, with a 5W-1L record and doubling their power play percentage from league worst 10.1% to 20% while still battling injuries (like everyone else). It may still be too soon to tell, but its looking like a possible WIN.