So who needs D and has a young player to move move that picks in the top 10. Multiple teams with offers. Gotta be a team 6-10. Were one of them, My Money is on Colorado as the other.
Draft preview on Colorado from Today's Slapshot website
Organizational Strengths
Semyon Varlamov is a workhorse in goal and is signed at a reasonable $5.9 million per year through 2018-19. Having a stable situation between the pipes is crucial in today’s NHL, and this is not a concern for the Avs in the foreseeable future.
Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Matt Duchene are as good as it gets when finding three forwards to build an offense around. They are lightning fast, fun to watch, and extraordinarily talented young blue-chip players. Ryan O’Reilly is terrific as well, though he might be the trade chip the Avs use to fortify other areas of team need.
Tyson Barrie and Erik Johnson give Colorado a strong pair of defensemen to build their blue line around, though this is an area which needs some solidifying if the Avalanche can bounce back in 2015-16.
GM Joe Sakic enters the off-season with more than $10 million under the NHL salary cap with no high-priced UFAs or RFAs to worry about. This gives him apt wiggle-room to improve his team through trades or the free-agent market.
Organizational Weaknesses
The Avalanche desperately need more depth on their blue line. Outside of Barrie and Johnson, there are no names which strike fear into the heart of the opposition. When Johnson went down with an injury in 2014-15 the remainder of their defense was clearly overmatched by the talented forward corps of divisional rivals like Chicago, St. Louis and Minnesota. Is O’Reilly the chip which can attain them a much-needed talent infusion on the back end?