Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

A look back at the Washington-Colorado Varlamov trade

Semyon Varlamov

The Colorado Avalanche raised some eyebrows last summer when they acquired goaltender Semyon Varlamov from the Washington Capitals for their 2012 first round pick and a second round pick in 2012 or 2013. Colorado was taking a huge risk, not just because Varlamov was young and still largely unproven, but because the Avalanche were coming off a 68-point campaign and that first round pick could end up being very valuable.

It might be several years before we know who won this trade, but the Avalanche can at least breathe a sigh of relief: the nightmare scenario did not happen. While the Avalanche will participate in the draft lottery, they are currently projected to hand the Capitals the 11th overall pick. If they win the lottery, then Colorado can only move up to the seventh pick. Either way, Washington is getting a great pick and it’s a net gain when you consider that the Capitals grabbed Varlamov with the 23rd overall pick in 2006. Plus, there’s still the second rounder that Colorado owes Washington.

All the same, this isn’t shaping up to be a repeat of the Phil Kessel trade between Toronto-Boston which led to the Bruins getting, amongst other players, Tyler Seguin with the second overall pick in the 2010 NHL entry draft.

The other factor that makes this trade bearable for Colorado is that, so far, Varlamov has worked out. Varlamov certainly went through a rough patch and at one point it even looked like Jean-Sebastien Giguere might claim the starting job, but Varlamov worked through it and was dominant in the second half of the season. It looks like Varlamov could be the Avalanche’s top goaltender for years to come.

We’ll have to wait and see what the future holds for Varlamov and what becomes of the players the Capitals’ draft with Colorado’s picks, but for now, it looks like it might end up being a win-win trade for these two squads.