Avalanche Loading Up on Depth with Acquisitions of Nemeth and Dubnyk

The cutoff to make trades this season is Monday at 1 p.m. MT, but the Colorado Avalanche appears to be getting a lot of its business done in the days prior to that deadline.
Colorado acquired Patrik Nemeth in a trade with the Detroit Red Wings hours before its game on Friday night at the Anaheim Ducks, bringing back a defenseman that is familiar with the team's system after previously suiting up in burgundy and blue for two seasons from 2017-2019. On Saturday, the Avs added to their goaltending depth by picking up Devan Dubnyk from the San Jose Sharks.
The Avalanche still has salary cap space to make more moves prior to the trade deadline as well, but the club has at least already filled a few areas of need to boost its roster for the final four weeks of the season and beyond.

"I think we'll explore all of the possibilities that are out there and make decisions based on individual scenarios," said head coach Jared Bednar on if the team could make more moves. "I'm sure [general manager Joe Sakic] is trying to make our team better any way he can if it makes sense for our club, both short term and long term."
Adding Dubnyk and Nemeth help solve two areas of concern that have arisen for the Avs this season due to injuries. Bednar said on Saturday that he isn't expecting veteran defenseman Erik Johnson (upper body) or goaltender Pavel Francouz (lower body)--who entered the campaign as the backup--to return to the lineup the during regular season, opening cap space but also holes in the roster.

Dubnyk, 34, will probably be the 2A goalie to starter Philipp Grubauer moving forward but will likely work in tandem with fellow netminder Jonas Johansson, who was picked up in a trade with the Buffalo Sabres on March 21. The 25-year-old Johansson has a 2-0-1 record through three starts with Colorado and earned his first career shutout on Friday against the Ducks.
"I think we're going to need both of those guys," Bednar said of Dubnyk and Johansson. "It's a busy schedule down the stretch. We know that we want to give Grubi some rest, he's getting some right now. I think this is a much needed break for him getting ready for the stretch run and heading into the playoffs. We want to make sure he's rested and healthy. He's obviously our No. 1 and the goalie depth is real important.
"Johansson played a great game last night, and we're contemplating going back to him tomorrow. We'll make a decision later today and announce it tomorrow. And we'll sort of take it one game at a time and week-to-week and lay out a plan for our goaltending."
While Johansson has 17 total NHL contests under his pads, Dubnyk is a veteran of 537 games in the league and owns a 250-204-54 record, 2.60 goals-against average, .914 save percentage and 33 shutouts in his career.

He had four straight seasons of 30 or more wins from 2015-16 to 2018-19 while a member of the Minnesota Wild and has 26 career outings in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He'll be called upon to be a stabilizing backup that the Avs can use during their push for the top seed in the West Division and a championship.
"We believe so and hopefully our fans will grow to like him in the near future," Bednar said of Dubnyk bringing a veteran presence between the pipes. "We saw last year how important goalie depth is in the playoffs, actually over the last few years. To be able to acquire the two guys that we acquired here recently, I think it just makes our team deeper and stronger and to add the veteran leadership and a guy that has been there before this time of the year is really important. We saw that even last year with [Michael Hutchinson] winning playoff games for us, so we like the addition. We got time to integrate him in our system."
Dubnyk obviously has a history with Colorado having played for rival Minnesota for six years.
As a member of the Wild, he went 11-10-0 and posted a 2.62 goals-against average, .914 save percentage and three shutouts in 22 games versus the Avalanche from 2014-2020.
Things have been testy in the past between him and Avs players, but that's all water under the bridge now. Bednar and captain Gabriel Landeskog both said that any heated exchanges were a testament to both sides' passion to win in the moment.
"I think it just shows his competitiveness," said Landeskog, who has had a few run-ins previously with Dubnyk. "As a goaltender, he's standing up for himself. And I don't remember exactly what happened in that scrum (several years ago in a game), but nonetheless it's one of those things that happens on the ice but you still respect the guy off the ice. I remember I met him at the all-star game a few years ago, and we were able to bury the hatchet a little bit and laugh about it. So just two competitors going at it and we're excited to have him."

Nemeth's return to Colorado makes sense for a lot of reasons. In addition to being a defensive-minded blueliner that can kill penalties, Nemeth is already familiar with the style that the team plays and with the players in the locker room, many of whom he skated with in his previous stint in Denver.
That should make his adjustment to the squad quicker than picking up a player that needs to learn a new system and build chemistry with teammates during some of the most crucial parts of the season.
"We've been banged up on the backend with the likes of E.J. and now Bo (Byram) out, and we've got a lot of guys coming up from the American League and playing real well for us, but to add a veteran guy like Nemo makes sense for us," Bednar said. "It's a guy that everyone in our locker room knows and likes, and he's a great team guy and he'll fill a real important spot for us."

Nemeth had been back and forth between the majors and minors while with the Dallas Stars organization, but he established himself as an everyday NHL player with the Avalanche after being picked up on waivers prior to 2017-18. The defenseman's best offensive campaigns came in a Colorado uniform as he produced 25 points (four goals, 21 assists) in 142 games and had a combined plus-32 rating.
He finished 2017-18 with a rating of plus-27, which was tied for the fifth-best mark by a D-man in a season on the team since the franchise moved to Denver in 1995. He also ranked first that year with 185 blocked shots and went on to play the second-most penalty kill time on the Avs during his two seasons.

"In Nemo's case, he's a guy that adds a specialty to and that's his penalty killings," Bednar said. "He's been an outstanding penalty killer for us before, he's had a good two-year run in Detroit where he's logged a lot of minutes and has been relied upon on the defensive side of things. That's what we see him bringing to us. Just another veteran guy that's hungry to try and win a cup."
Several more deals could be made before the trade deadline arrives, but the recent additions show the Avalanche has been keen on adding reinforcements to its roster to help sustain it for a long postseason run.
Injuries have hurt the team in the previous three playoffs, and Colorado wants to make sure it has depth and then some to sustain any ailments that might occur in the coming weeks and months.
For the players, these moves continue to signal a push for a title.
"We've said since the start of the year that our intention is to be a contender and make a deep playoff run and have a chance to win," said defenseman Ryan Graves. "Whatever the staff feels like gives us the best chance to win and whoever they think they can add. I think we've done a good job so far. We've had a couple injuries throughout the year and things like that, and guys have stepped in. But obviously we're excited to have the guys coming in, just anyone that can help. We're excited to welcome them into the group and I think it's been some good additions so far."