According to a post by the New York Islanders organization, the team has acquired the Colorado Avalanche’s second round selections in the 2021 and 2022 NHL Drafts, in exchange for defenseman Devon Toews. The deal will see the Avs replace outgoing defenseman Nikita Zadorov and the Islanders will get a few more picks over the next couple of drafts.
There is also news that the Islanders could be close to making a follow-up move which would involve trading defenseman Johnny Boychuk.
Toews is an exceptional two-way defencemen who has put up absolutely elite results at both ends of the ice in top four minutes and he should fit in well the Avs’ system. According to Arthur Staple, “Lamoriello said he had a “difficult conversation” with Toews informing him of the trade. It was the filing for arbitration and the unknown of how high an award could go the spurred the move. “We did give up a good player,” one the Isles were not looking to move.
Avalanche Continue Good Free Agency Period
Will the deal, here is what the Avalanche had done to change up their Stanley Cup favorite roster. They’ve replaced Nikita Zadorov with Toews, added Brandon Saad and retained Andre Burakovsky, Ryan Graves and Valeri Nichushkin. The best part was, they didn’t use any top prospects or first-round picks to improve and they’ve left themselves a ton of cap flexibility to make even more additions.
The Avalanche continue to make smart moves and have added to their list of ridiculously entertaining skaters to watch with this deal. The Avalanche will need to get Toews signed now. We’ll see what kind of number he comes in at.
Next: Best of the Rest: Who Is Still Available In 2020 NHL Free Agency?
