Colorado Avalanche Trade Analysis: More Moves Ahead?

Now that the organization has parted ways with defensemen Scott Hannan and Colby Cohen and welcomed in defenseman Matt Hunwick and forward Thomas Fleischmann, where do the Colorado Avalanche go from here?

The model the Avalanche are striving to achieve is obvious: a young and fast team.

The recent trades only cement that theory, as Scott Hannan (6'2", 220 pounds) and Colby Cohen (6'3", 215 pounds) are a significantly different breed of player than acquisitions Matt Hunwick (5'11", 190 pounds) and Thomas Fleischmann (6'1", 190 pounds).

The Hunwick and Fleischmann acquisitions help the Avalanche in the short term. Hunwick provides speed and puck management to a slow, turnover-prone Avalanche third pairing, while Fleischmann helps provide scoring support to a forward group dealing with a rash of injuries, most notably to Chris Stewart and Peter Mueller.

But for the long term, Avalanche general manager Greg Sherman has his work cut out for him.

When injured defensemen Adam Foote and Kyle Cumiskey return to action, the Avalanche will have a grand total of eight NHL defensemen with only the 21-year-old Kevin Shattenkirk—who's played phenomenally—not eligible for waivers.

Offensively, Colorado will have as many as 15 forwards when Chris Stewart, Peter Mueller and T.J. Galiardi are taken off injured reserve.

To top it all off, the Avalanche are barely scraping the salary cap floor, so any move that's made must include them receiving more salary than they're shipping out.

Fortunately, these aren't the worst problems to have. With so much salary cap space, it's ideal that the Avalanche can package lesser players—like Kyle Cumiskey, Brandon Yip and Ryan Wilson—and turn them into more productive players.

With a core group of players established—Stastny, Stewart, Duchene, Liles and Shattenkirk—and depth at every position, the time is now for the Avalanche to go out and acquire a star defenseman or star forward.

The Avalanche have developed their draft picks well, but need to surround them with veteran talent for a playoff run like Pittsburgh did when they acquired players like Sergei Gonchar and Chris Kunitz to support Crosby and Malkin—or Anaheim, who brought in veterans Chris Pronger and Teemu Selanne to support Getzlaf and Perry.

This is the next step for the Colorado Avalanche. Only when they take it can they go from playoff contender to Stanley Cup contender.