By Jordan Long
The NHL trade deadline is today at 1 PM Mountain Time. There are teams who are not in a playoff race trying to shred salary for the offseason while franchises who are in the thick of the playoff race add players who they think will help them make a deep run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Colorado Avalanche may not do much today, but they made a deal with the San Jose Sharks over the weekend and acquired goaltender Devan Dubnyk.
The Colorado Avalanche have one of the best goaltenders in the NHL in Philipp Grubauer. He is an impressive 24-8-1 with a goals against average of 2.00 and a save percentage of .919. The Avalanche have relied heavily on him because the backup goaltender position has been weak.
Colorado anticipated the backup would be Pavel Francouz. Unfortunately, he has not been healthy and is now shut down for the year. Colorado tried Hunter Miska, but he couldn’t stop the puck. He appeared in 5 games this season with a 1-1-2 record. His goals against average was 4.16 with a save percentage of .838. The Avalanche couldn’t trust him to be the backup for Grubauer.
The Avalanche tried to improve the position on March 21st. They swapped a 6th round draft pick to the Buffalo Sabers for Jonas Johansson. Johansson has played well for the Avalanche. In 4 starts with the Avalanche, Johansson is 3-0-1 with a goals against average of 1.87 and a save percentage of .929. Colorado looked set at the goaltender position. The only problem with Johansson is he has never played in an NHL postseason game. The Avalanche wanted a goaltender with playoff experience in case Grubauer has an off-night in net during the playoffs.
Colorado decided to trade for Dubnyk. All it took was defenseman Greg Pateryn and a 5th round selection in this years’ NHL Draft for Dubnyk. Dubnyk will be the backup to Grubauer.
According to NHL.com, Colorado Avalanche Head Coach Jared Bednar said, “We saw last year how important goalie depth is in the playoffs, actually over the last few years. And to be able to acquire the two guys we’ve acquired here recently, I think it just makes our team deeper and stronger, and to add the veteran leadership and guys who have sort of been there before going into this time of the year is real important.”
Dubnyk brings in plenty of NHL postseason experience to Colorado. He has played in 26 playoff games when he was with the Minnesota wild from 2014 to 2020. However, his record is an unimpressive 8-18 with a goals against average of 2.72 and a save percentage of .904.
The Avalanche have a backup goaltender who can help this team make a deeper run in the playoffs than last season when they advanced to the 2nd round. They know if anything should happen to Grubauer, at least Dubnyk can fill in for him. The Avalanche can now focus on winning the West Division and the President’s Trophy for the leagues’ best record to have home ice throughout the NHL postseason.
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