Avalanche of Trades in Colorado

[Swayze11]

GM Pat Faith has been a very busy man this week.

The first deal was with GM Ravi and the Ducks

TO ANA:
Ethan Moreau
2.5 mill
TO COL:
Byron Bitz

"Byron is a guy who has potential to be a solid 3rd or 4th liner" said GM Faith. "We want to thank Moreau for all his help with mentoring our younger players and wish him the best."

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The 2nd deal saw the Avs newest addition in the rights to Jochen Hecht:

TO ATL:
2009 3rd(chi)
TO COL:
UFA Rights to Jochen Hecht

This deal made sense with the loss of Moreau, Hecht will bring solid 2-way play and will chip in with some solid point for the Avs.

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The next deal saw our nominee for underrated player of the year Fredrick Modin go to Florida.

TO FLA:
Fredrick Modin
1.5 mill
TO COL:
2010 3rd (fla)
2009 3rd (buf)

This was a cap saving move. Modin is a great sim player but we needed to move him because of the addition of Hecht.

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And the biggest deal of them all: Brad Stuart is now an Av.
TO NAS:
Radim Vrbata
Benoit Pouliot
2009 2nd (col)
TO COL:
Brad Stuart
2009 2nd (tor)

"We needed a #1 D-man" said GM Faith. "It was very obvious that was a position we were lacking, Stuart is still very young and I expect him to be great for us". There is no question about it that defence killed the Avs last year, Huet stood on his head. "Stuart is playing nearly 25 minutes a night for the Wings in the playoffs, we really like him"

So basically this is whats in and whats out:

IN:
UFA Rights to Brad Stuart
2009 2nd (tor)
2010 3rd (fla)
2009 3rd (buf)
UFA Rights to Jochen Hecht
Byron Bitz
OUT:
Ethan Moreau
2009 3rd(chi)
Fredrick Modin
Radim Vrbata
Benoit Pouliot
2009 2nd (col)
4.00 mill

These moves save us a total of 5.00 mill which will go towards our free agents.

[Sylvanfan]

The last couple moves are pretty solid for you for sure. Basically moving out grid players who's ratings were lower than their contract values to bring in a couple players who'll have ratings that match their contracts.

[simmer2]

Nice moves...the last two are solid for you. I was the biggest doubter of you moving Vrbata and Modin, every single trade we talked about you included those guys.

As for nashville, it is essentially Pouliot for Stuart which is OK. Vrbata will have an OK rating.

The florida trade I don't love for the Panthers; its okay but nothing spectacular. I suppose it won't kill you.

Either way, I think this is a great set of moves for the Avs. You'll have some work to do signing UFA's but you've cleared out a lot of your dead weight.

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by simmer2

The florida trade I don't love for the Panthers; its okay but nothing spectacular. I suppose it won't kill you.

The reason I did this trade was to get a guy who can play on both the 2nd and 3rd lines and really he only costs me 3.5 million instead of the 5.

I have a glut of picks anyway, so losing a couple didn't really hurt that much.

It was one of those trades that works out for both teams.

[Da_Chief]

Solid moves Patty Pat. Looks like the outlook helped ya

[I wanna be like Miikka]

I love the Stuart move, good job!

[Slava]

Brad Stuart just wasn't a good fit here with a re-newed contract. At $4 million per year he was a great guy to have around, but on the grid we simply couldn't afford him and still have Tallinder and Ohlund under contract here.
(Assuming that Stuart still has a rating after giving Max Talbot a couple of goals so far tonight!)

I know that Vrbata bolted for Europe, but he will still have a reasonable rating I think, and only has one more year at $3 million. Otherwise we get Pouliot and move up 14 spots in the second round.

[Goffie]

Good to see the Av's making some moves to get better, well done!