The Most Important Trade-Deadline Deals in Avs History

A look back at the deadline deals that played major roles in shaping the franchise

Hello again. It’s been a while. Been dealing with some family stuff in addition to a lot of work at my full-time job, so I’ve been MIA for a bit. I’m sure you were all missing me sooooooooooo much.

I wanted to jump back into writing in a non-game-day capacity. I’ve been writing the postgames for a while and let AD do most of the gameday and news-breaking posts (it’s hard to break news from New Hampshire…).

So in the spirit of the upcoming trade deadline, I wanted to look back through the years and touch upon some of the most important (not best!) trades the team has made at the deadline since moving to Denver. Since I’m looking at the month before the deadline, that excludes the greatest trade in franchise history, which came in December, 1995: The Patrick Roy Trade. 

(I know many people might argue that the Duchene trade is climbing up to Roy-trade status, but it’s probably not going to reach that level given the legendary NHL player involved and it leading immediately to one Cup and directly to another five years later. The Lindros Trade doesn't count in this scenario because I’m not taking the Quebec years into account.)

5. The Erik Johnson Trade - 2011

Some people aren’t going to like this pick here. Some are going to argue that it was a bad trade at the time, giving up so early on Kevin Shattenkirk during a promising rookie season in which he had 26 points at the time of the move. But 12 years on… Colorado won this trade and got a player who helped them win a Cup (albeit more than a decade later). At the end of the day, Chris Stewart never became the dominating power forward that the Blues hoped for, Jay McClement’s time in Colorado was forgettable and the Avs wasted the first-round pick they got from St. Louis on Duncan Siemens. So the trade really comes down to Shattenkirk for Johnson. When Shattenkirk was playing for the Blues, they were the winners of the trade. But the former BU Terrier left the Gateway to the West at the 2017 deadline and has bounced around with Washington, the Rangers (contract bought out), Tampa (winning a Cup*) and now Anaheim. The last three seasons with the Ducks, he is a -32, while Johsnon is a +29 for the Avs in that same time, playing a mostly defensive role. Johnson will be a remembered as a Colorado Avalanche legend — not in the same caliber as those in the rafters or as some of his current teammates, but a legend nonetheless — while Shattenkirk probably will be remembered fondly by Blues fans and not so fondly by Blueshirt fans. Is he really even remembered by Avs fans after 46 games? Not as much as Johnson and his 705 games in the Burgundy and Blue.