Looking ahead towards the trade deadline for the Colorado Avalanche

With most of Elitch Gardens shut down for the winter, the Colorado Avalanche might be the wildest roller coaster in town.

One week they're up, the next week they're down, and a lot of times they're all over the place in the span of a 60-minute game. While the Avalanche currently sit two points out of a playoff spot, it's hard to imagine a team with this much talent missing the postseason.

Hard to imagine, but not impossible.

Still, Chris MacFarland and company are not going to fold up shop and sell unless things really get bad. Not with Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar in the primes of their careers. They'll look to add at or before the trade deadline if they can, and these are the three positions they'll prioritize.

Goaltender

What else did you expect to see at the top of the list?

The changes have already begun with Scott Wedgewood replacing Justus Annunen. Wedgewood played well early in his Avalanche career, but he's never been a starter in his career and banking on him leading the team to glory seems unwise. A change at the starter position would be the real shake-up MacFarland could make.

Alexandar Georgiev has won a lot of hockey games over the last two seasons, but it's not like he's been the main reason for those wins. Of the 21 goalies that have won 30 or more games since the start of last season, he's the only one with a sub-.900 save percentage. In fact, his .892 save percentage is 10 points lower than the next closest goalie in that group. That's a sign that the team in front of him is probably more responsible for those wins than him.

The goalies potentially available on the market all come with different risks. Whether it's John Gibson, Mackenzie Blackwood, Elvis Merzlikins, or anyone else, there will probably still be question marks. It might get to the point where MacFarland has no choice but to take that chance just for the sake of change. Heck, we might already be there.

Third-line center

Colorado started the season with Ross Colton as the third line center and seemed pretty happy with their setup, but Colton looked so good on the wing that we might never see him return to center full-time. If the team chooses to keep Colton at wing, which it sounds like they probably will, third-line center becomes a big need.

Nothing against Ivan Ivan, who has been a revelation this season, but it seems unlikely they'd want to head into the playoffs with him as the third-line center. A trusted, gritty veteran would really compliment Nathan MacKinnon and Casey Mittelstadt.

Just spit-balling here, but Colton's old teammate Yanni Gourde would look pretty nice in that spot. He's in the final year of his contract with Seattle and could be on the move before the deadline. Wouldn't come cheap, though.

Depth defenseman

Every single playoff team wants to add another body for their blueline heading into the postseason. You never really know how many you're going to need. Colorado has rotated three different defensemen (when healthy) in that sixth spot but hasn't really committed to one of them. Could definitely see them adding another defenseman who plays with an edge.

Or Jack Johnson again.

What I'm hearing

-- Colton may play on this current road trip, and when he does, he'll likely start on the wing.