By looking at their roster, it’s no secret that the Colorado Avalanche would like to upgrade their defense going into next season.
Tyson Barrie, who is one of the better puck movers on the Avs blue line, is a restricted free agent and there are rumblings that Colorado might not be interested in bringing him back at the salary he’s looking for. The Avalanche also have an older Francois Beauchmin, and Erik Johnson, who had a down year in 2015-16. Nick Holden, Eric Gelinas, Nikita Zadorov and Chris Bigras are under contract next season.
It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that they’re looking to add pieces on defense.
According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, one of their potential targets is Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba.
“Tyson Barrie‘s future there is not that certain but I don’t think [the Avalanche] want to trade him until they can add some help,” said Friedman during his “Headlines” segment on Saturday. “I believe one of the targets is Winnipeg’s Jacob Trouba. I’m not saying Winnipeg’s going to do it, but I think that’s a player Colorado would like to get its hands on.”
Trouba’s points-per-game have decreased in each of his three seasons in the NHL, but it would still likely take a significant offer to get him out of Winnipeg.
The 22-year-old had six goals, 21 points and a plus-10 rating while averaging 22:03 of ice time per game. Like Barrie, Trouba will also become an RFA on July 1st.
With three defensemen scheduled to make over $5.5 million next season (Toby Enstrom, Dustin Byfuglien and Tyler Myers), the Jets might not want to pay Trouba big money so soon. Byfuglien’s new contract extension, which comes with a cap hit of $7.6 million, kicks in next year.
Related:
--Trouba to meet with agent to ‘strategize’ for contract talks with Jets