Giving up assets for an ineffective player at the trade deadline stings, especially if you aren’t going to re-sign that guy. The bruises really double when you don’t even make the playoffs on top of that.
It appears that this will be the case for two big Colorado Avalanche acquisitions, as GM Joe Sakic told the Denver Post that both Mikkel Boedker and Shawn Matthias will hit unrestricted free agency.
“I did speak with both representatives. They’re going to test the open market and see what’s out there,” Sakic said. “I’d like to have one back for sure, or both, but we’ll see where that goes. They have the right to test it, so they’re going to do that. We’ll revisit that early July.”
Missing the playoffs heightens the cost of those acquisitions, although it must be said that both players were reasonably productive in Colorado.
The most noteworthy pieces the Avalanche gave up were Conner Bleackley (who the Coyotes won’t sign, so they’ll instead receive a second-rounder) along with a fourth-round pick and some other pieces. Alex Tanguay enjoyed some nice moments with Arizona, yet if the plan was never to bring the veteran back, that eases some of the discomfort.
It stinks to lose some picks and pieces when you’re not even making the playoffs, but right or wrong, the Avalanche seem to believe that they’re in the mix.
If Boedker and/or Matthias agree, perhaps they’ll indeed be back even after courting other suitors?
