Colorado Avalanche Trade Rumor: Cooking Up a Deal with the Devil?

For the past few weeks, there have been rumors of a potential trade between the Colorado Avalanche and New Jersey Devils.

It makes sense. The Avalanche roster has a lot of holes in it and have the cap space to take on a big salary player; meanwhile, the Devils roster is so log-jammed that one must wonder if GM Lou Lamoriello forgot the salary cap existed.

It's so bad that the 1-2-1 Devils have twice failed to ice the NHL regulation sized 18-player roster, including a 3-1 loss to Pittsburgh, in which they only went with 15 skaters.

The Devils were allowed to only dress 15 because apparently gross mismanagement is covered as an "emergency" in the NHL rule books.

If a trade does go down between the Avalanche and Devils, it's unlikely it'll happen soon. As morbid as it may sound, hernia surgery for Brian Rolston and a concussion to Bryce Salvador have been godsends, as both were players the Devils were unable to move in the offseason, but their placement on the injured reserve will give them long-term cap relief.

However, "long-term" is relative here. Both players will come back eventually, as will their combined $8 million dollar cap hit. Sweating it out until summer won't work either, as both players have at least one year left on their contract, and the Devils will be handing out a long term deal to impending RFA star forward Zach Parise.

One of the two players has to go, and logic says it'll be Salvador. He makes significantly less of the two ($2.9 million to Rolston's $5.06 million) and is mostly a victim of circumstances, whereas Rolston hasn't come close to living up to his bloated contract.

In a potential trade with the Avalanche, Salvador would be the side dish. The main course would be Devils captain Jaime Langenbrunner, who's seen his ice time shrink since the Devils' acquisition of Kovalchuk. In Colorado, he would very much help out a fairly average group of Avalanche wingers, as well as have a hand in improving the Avalanche's useless power play, which has only capitalized once in three games.

Being sent to the Devils would likely be either a draft pick or a low salary player. Defenseman Ryan Wilson could be a potential option, as could forwards Mark Olver or Kevin Porter. It doesn't sound too appetizing to give up young players for a salary dump and an impending UFA forward, but the Avalanche would be making their roster better in the short term.

As long as Colorado isn't giving up anyone too promising, they won't hesitate to make a deal, especially if the injury bug strikes and the power play woes continue.