Avalanche trade deadline report card: Grading Chris MacFarland deals

The 2023 NHL trade deadline was one of the league’s most thrilling in years. The Avalanche made four trades in the last week before Friday’s cutoff, bringing their trade total this season to six.

Here’s how we graded every one of those trades, plus other notable trade characters in Colorado’s orbit.

Dec. 19 with Toronto: B+

Maple Leafs acquire: Dryden Hunt, LW

Avalanche acquire: Denis Malgin, RW

Malgin has given the Avalanche more minutes, more scoring chances and more scoring. The exchange of depth forwards added a right-handed shot on an imbalanced Avalanche roster of lefties. Plus, Hunt was a waiver claim earlier in the season, so Colorado effectively got Malgin at no cost.

Jan. 25 with San Jose: A

Sharks acquire: Jacob MacDonald, F/D; Martin Kaut, RW

Avalanche acquire: Matt Nieto, LW; Ryan Merkley, D

A low-level steal. Kaut and Merkley had both requested trades, so the teams did each other a favor. Nieto is a familiar face with connections throughout the Avalanche roster, and he brought more secondary scoring, which was diagnosed as Colorado’s biggest weakness. He and Malgin have been linemates in a retooled bottom six. Hunt and MacDonald combined for one goal in 58 games this season with Colorado. Nieto and Malgin have combined for six goals in 37 games.

Feb. 25 with Boston, and March 3 with New York: C+

Bruins acquire: Shane Bowers, F

Avalanche acquire: Keith Kinkaid, G

Rangers acquire: Anton Blidh, LW

Avalanche acquire: Gustav Rydahl, C

AHL trades shouldn’t be considered anything more or less than average. But the Avs did fill two needs. Even if backup goalie Pavel Francouz is healthy soon, contenders like to carry three netminders they can trust in the playoffs. Justus Annunen is a promising prospect, but he’s not quite there yet, as evidenced by a 7-5 loss during deadline week. Kinkaid has plenty of experience. Sturdier insurance. As for the last-second Blidh trade, Colorado got back a similar style of player (and another Swedish player, at that). Only difference is the organization needs centers more than wings.

Feb. 26 with Chicago: C

Blackhawks acquire: Andreas Englund, LD

Avalanche acquire: Jack Johnson, LD

Chicago won the trade from a numbers standpoint. The Avs won it from a vibes standpoint, and they seem OK with that. Everyone in the locker room likes Johnson. The organization felt nervous about the unknown of how Englund will handle playoff hockey for the first time, whereas Johnson was a Stanley Cup commodity months ago. Jared Bednar loved how Johnson played in his first game Monday vs. Vegas.

March 1 with Washington: B

Capitals acquire: 2025 second-round pick

Avalanche acquire: Lars Eller, C; 31% of salary retained

A second-rounder was debatably an overpay for Eller, a pending UFA bottom-six center. But that tends to be the cost of salary retention. The Avalanche needed more bodies in the middle of the ice, and they got one who wins the draw at a 6% better clip than previous team-best faceoff taker J.T. Compher.

Whether Eller was enough — translation: whether Compher suffices as a playoff 2C — is in the eye of the beholder.

Now, on to our league-wide grades.

Dallas Stars: B- — The division leaders bulked up with Max Domi on Deadline Eve, plus four-time 20-goal scorer Evgenii Dadonov.

Minnesota Wild: C — Confusing. So confusing. Minnesota spent weeks brokering other teams’ trades as the (legal) money launderer, then ascended to second place with an eight-game point streak, then aggressively bought. They end up with Gustav Nyquist, Oskar Sundqvist and John Klingberg.

Boston Bruins: A- — A historically good team added Tyler Bertuzzi, Garnet Hathaway and Dmitry Orlov, who showed up in Boston and has eight points in the last three games.

Kyle Dubas: A — Toronto’s general manager is trading to save his job. And the Leafs, with a top-three center lineup of Auston Matthews-John Tavares-Ryan O’Reilly, might still lose to Tampa in the first round. Truly captivating stuff.

The team surrounding Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl: B+ — Edmonton desperately needed defense and got a good one in Nashville’s Mattias Ekholm. The Oilers might still be the second-most talented team in the West behind Colorado. Nick Bjugstad was a good depth pickup too, for just a third-rounder.

Jonathan Quick: D+ — It’s always going to be below-average when you get shipped across the country by the team that you helped win two Stanley Cups in the last decade. But at least he got shipped back across the country to another playoff contender (Vegas) the next day.

A Georgiev v. Shesterkin Stanley Cup Final: B — Alive and well, now that the Rangers impressively found cap room for both Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane.

The East: A+ — Bloodbath.

The West: F — It’s Colorado’s to lose.

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