Miles Wood is injured and was struggling before that. Ross Colton is scoring at a career-best pace, but he’s doing it on the wing as a top-six forward. Logan O’Connor is on pace for his worst production since becoming a full-time NHLer. Jonathan Drouin has only played five games. Nikolai Kovalenko showed flashes of his talent but was shipped off to San Jose. Ivan Ivan hasn’t recorded a point in 11 games.
Basically, the Avalanche’s bottom six needs help.
Help from within
Getting Drouin back will help — and that’s about the most obvious thing I’ve written in a while.
Whether he plays in the bottom six or allows Colton to shift back to third-line center, just having him available will elevate the Avs’ depth scoring and options. I personally would keep Colton in the top six and let Drouin gain chemistry with O’Connor on the third line centered by Ivan.
Parker Kelly and Joel Kiviranta have started to build chemistry so I’d like them to remain together. They can play with whoever the latest call-up is, whether it’s Chris Wagner, Ivan Prishchepov, Givani Smith, or Tye Felhaber.
This is probably the best the Avs could do with what they have.
But one problem remains: Drouin isn’t available, and there are no signs yet that he’s close to returning.
Help from elsewhere
The NHL holiday freeze begins Thursday until Dec. 27. So even if the Avalanche were to look for help from the outside, they don’t really have much time to do it before the 27th. Colorado will have played two road games in San Jose and Anaheim by then before hosting Seattle on the 22nd. The Avs are on the road in Utah on the 27th, too.
But if they looked for outside help, what kind of move would make sense? I wrote in my weekly notebook about the need for a new third-line center to play with Drouin. This is a scenario where Colton keeps his spot as a winger in the top six. I referenced Morgan Frost as a good option while the comments section mentioned one that might fit better as a rental in Yanni Gourde. The Kraken forward makes $5.166 million and would ultimately require Seattle or a third-party broker to retain half of that cap hit to make it work.
But before diving into a bigger fish acquisition, what if the Avs went out and looked for cheaper options first? Maybe a fourth-line center who could play the third line for now. Someone like Juuso Parssinen out of Nashville.
Or a depth forward in general who could push the AHL callup out of the lineup while Wood recovers from a long-term injury.
Would Nick Robertson in Toronto or Jonatan Berggren in Detroit fit the bill? Both are struggling but have higher offensive upside. Or perhaps an entirely different type of player like Mathieu Olivier in Columbus?
Guys like this might be easier to acquire before trade talks ramp up closer to the trade deadline.
