NHL Trade Rumors: 7 Teams That Should Pursue Colorado Avalanche's Paul Stastny

Paul Stastny of the Colorado Avalanche has found his name in trade rumors for the past couple of seasons, and this year is no different.

The Buffalo News has suggested that the Sabres should get on the phone with Colorado Avalanche GM, Greg Sherman, to try to acquire Stastny.

According to this article, "sources" (who were never referenced) claim that Paul Stastny is available.

Stastny's contract is one that can be difficult to trade, but we saw with Mike Richards and Jeff Carter that those big contracts can be traded with the right circumstances.

There are plenty of teams that could potentially be interested in Stastny's services.

Buffalo Sabres

Since the article that is referenced on the first page came from Buffalo, it's logical to assume the first team that could be interested in Stastny would be the Buffalo Sabres.

The Sabres are a talented team, but if there is one thing that they could improve, it's the center position.

It's good for them to have Derek Roy back this season, but the Sabres aren't very deep up the middle. They rely primarily on the likes of Jason Pominville and Tomas Vanek to get their scoring done.

Paul Stastny would provide a talented set-up man that would benefit from the high skill players that the Sabres have.

Salary would be the difficult thing for Buffalo, who has no space on their salary cap and would have to send some high salary players in order to make Stastny's $6.7 million cap hit fit on their books.

The article referenced suggested that Derek Roy or Drew Stafford with Andrej Sekera for Stastny, but that wouldn't fly in my book.

The Avalanche are deep on defensemen and don't need another one. It would have to be more like Roy and Stafford which wouldn't make too much sense for Buffalo.

The Sabres would have to get more creative if they were interested in Stastny.

Toronto Maples Leafs

The Avalanche have already dealt with Toronto in the past year when they sent John-Michael Liles to Toronto for a second-round draft pick on draft day.

During that time period there were several stories about how Paul Stastny would be the perfect addition to the Maple Leafs, who still need a number one center, but never really provided a realistic trade scenario.

The Leafs would have to get pretty creative with who they send back to the Avalanche as they are right up against the salary cap ceiling as well and would have to dump some salary in order to acquire Stastny.

Colorado could probably get some kind of a draft pick, hopefully a first-rounder for Colorado's sake, but that still wouldn't help the Leafs stay cap compliant.

Toronto would have to make a couple other moves or there would have to be a big package trade for this to work for Toronto.

Anaheim Ducks

The Ducks are in a bad position right now; they are next to last in the Western Conference.

Shaking the roster up might be something that could help the Ducks set things right, and adding Paul Stastny could help the team out a lot.

Satstny has been at his best when he is playing with a skilled power forward, which the Ducks have.

He likely wouldn't take Ryan Getzlaf off of the first line, but he would make a good second-line center for Anaheim.

This trade could especially work out of Bobby Ryan were to become available again, as the salaries would essentially balance each other out.

Montreal Canadiens

Montreal has already been active in the trade market this season when they acquired Tomas Kaberle from Carolina.

Acquiring Paul Stastny wouldn't be a bad idea for the Canadiens who have never gotten the kind of number one center that they thought they were getting when Montreal traded for Scott Gomez.

Montreal is right up against the salary cap as well, but does have some free space thanks to some long-term injuries.

I'm not certain what type of package would be able to make a trade between these two teams work, but if Mike Cammalleri were to become available, I somehow don't think Avalanche fans would be too sad about acquiring him.

Ottawa Senators

The Ottawa Senators are right in the thick of the playoff hunt, and Paul Stastny could add another high skill center to their roster.

The Avalanche and Senators dealt with each other a year ago when they swapped goalies, so they could be willing to chat with each other again.

Stastny could get the Avalanche back into the first round of the draft thanks to the Senators, but Colorado would also need to get some salary in return from Ottawa in order to stay about the salary cap floor.

It would be interesting to see what kind of a package would be thrown together between these two teams.

Winnipeg Jets

Winnipeg is in the playoff hunt as well and could use some more scoring from their centers.

The Jets are another team that could help get the Avalanche back into the first round of the NHL draft in exchange for Stastny, but would have to send some salary back to balance Colorado's books as well.

Stastny could find a home on either the first or second line in Winnipeg and would help the Jets make a strong push to the playoffs.

Winnipeg is a team that really likes to skate fast, and Stastny has the ability to keep up with their pace, and the conditioning due to playing in Denver for so long.

Winnipeg could be a perfect match for Stastny if they were able to work a trade out.

Nashille Predators

Nashville is another team that could use a top level center to give their team some more depth.

The Predators are going to be right in the hunt for the playoffs again this season and could use a center that is good both offensively and defensively, and Stastny is that.

Plus, Nashville just needs more scoring from forwards in general, as Shea Weber is once again leading the team in scoring.

Now that Weber is out with a concussion, the forwards are really going to need to step things up, and Stastny could be a guy to help them do it.

Nashville also has the lowest cap hit in the NHL right now, so that means they would have no trouble fitting in Stastny's big contract.

The big question would end up being what would they give up in return?

Kevin Goff is a Featured Columnist for the Colorado Avalanche and NHL on Bleacher Report. For more NHL news and discussion,