Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche

Expect the Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild to be added at the deadline

The Fourth Period’s Dave Pagnotta joined Steve Kouleas and Anthony Stewart on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio on Wednesday and was asked about the arms race in the Central Division. What could teams like the Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche do at the trade deadline?

NHLRumors.com Transcripts

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Anthony Steward: “So now that it’s a bit of an arms race in that Central Division, for every action there’s a reaction. So what do you see the Minnesota Wild doing? And what are you hearing around them?”

Dave Pagnotta: “Well, they’re a different team, Stewie, they’re another team that keeps looking, it looks like the center position is a focal point. We knew this before Quinn Hughes was traded, they were looking at a top six guy. They move Marco Rossi. They are still looking for a top six guy, but they have a hole in the middle and I could definitely see them being part of the mix.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this is another team poking around (Nazem) Kadri as the talks heat up for the Flames. They’re looking to get to Minnesota at the point, and if they can improve there, I definitely think that’s something they’d like to do. They still have cap space. They have flexibility.

The New York Rangers also have Vinnie Trocheck on their radar. I can imagine them with guys like… Ryan O’Reilly And Brayden Schenn in the same division, but I think the writing is on the wall for where their seasons are going in St. Louis and Nashville. So I certainly saw them looking at other alternative options.

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But that race and Colorado too, guys, Colorado is exploring too. They have some wiggle room in the cap, some flexibility. This is another team where they may not be able to land a bigger fish with a bigger price tag, but they are going to look around to see what kind of fit they can add to their group. And if this is another complementary piece, like when they won the Stanley Cup. They brought in Artturi Lehkonen of the Canadiens, he was a big part of their run.

You could definitely see them bringing in that kind of elusive type of player before the deadline. They may wait until closer to the deadline to acquire more cap space, but I think all three of these teams in the Central will be active between now and March 6.

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