NHL Rumors Ignite: Shocking Moves Brewing Between Colorado Avalanche and Vancouver Canucks!

Here’s the skinny: Colorado’s been juggling some serious chess pieces this offseason, and Sam Girard keeps popping up in trade chatter — not exactly a shocker but worth delving into. Brock Nelson clearly steps into that No. 2 center role, and Landeskog is hitting the ice hard, not just easing back. But the third line? That’s still a bit murky, and the Avalanche brass are probably eyeballing some fresh options to beef up depth. Meanwhile, Girard’s minutes have dipped and with a $5 million price tag lingering, the Avs might be thinking about moving him to free up cap space — kinda like how they waved goodbye to Charlie Coyle, who just didn’t fit that wage-to-role mold. Flip the map to Vancouver and you see a different strategy — patience. The Canucks could just coast through the early season, sizing up their second-line center needs, holding off on urgency, and waiting for the market to spill what it will. A gamble? Sure, but maybe a smart one given the uncertainties out there. It’s like watching two different playbooks unfold, both with a keen eye on balance sheets and roster puzzles. Ready for all the twists?
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The Sam Girard trade speculation continues

Aarif Deen of Colorado Hockey Now: The Colorado Avalanche feel they have their No. 2 center in Brock Nelson. Gabriel Landeskog is training and not rehabbing this offseason. They do have some questions as to who will be their No. 3 center, and are there any depth options that they might be interested in adding?

The Avalanche will likely continue looking at trading defenseman Sam Girard. The Avs brought in Ryan Lindgren at the trade deadline, and he was used on the second pairing. They weren’t able to re-sign him, and countered with adding Brent Burns.

Girard’s role has reduced over the years, and they may not want to pay $5 million to someone who has seen their minutes decreasing. The Avs traded Charlie Coyle this offseason as they didn’t like the idea of paying that money to someone who is a third-line center.

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Could the Vancouver Canucks just wait and see what unfolds after the season starts to address their need at center?

Sekeres and Price: Jeff Marek on the Sekeres and Price show talking about the Vancouver Canucks second-line center vacancy and how they could take a wait-and-see approach.

“I know everybody wants everything done right away and wants everything settled before training camp, and we don’t want any competition for spots, and we know what the team is and, etc, etc, etc.

I don’t know about you guys, but I wouldn’t even be surprised if you know the Vancouver Canucks, and talks so much, and you guys have talked so much about the second line center position. I wouldn’t even be surprised if they just leave that cap space open and see how the chips fall after October and November. And see where the team is at, and see where the health is at, and see what emerges in the marketplace.

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Like, I don’t, I understand the anxiety if you’re a Vancouver Canucks fan, because you want to get back to the playoffs, you want to get back to having winning team. But I don’t know if I’m (Jim) Rutherford/(Patrik) Allvin here, maybe I’m saying, Listen, if I don’t have a deal that I like, what’s
the hurry here?

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