Avalanche acquires Mikkel Boedker from Arizona

The Colorado Avalanche acquired forward Mikkel Boedker from the Arizona Coyotes in the first big trade before the NHL trade deadline. The Avalanche gave up Alex Tanguay, former first round pick Conner Bleackley, and prospect Kyle Wood in order to secure Boedker’s services for the remainder of this season.

Boedker, 26, scored 13 goals, 26 assists for 39 points in 62 games played and was minus 28 for the Coyotes this season. In total, Boedker has accumulated 80 goals and 133 assists for  213 points in 445 games played. Boedker is an unrestricted free agent after this season and joins Shawn Matthias as “rental” forwards the Avalanche acquired in order to further the team’s playoff push.

Style wise, the 6’0″, 211 pound Boedker is known for his extremely fast skating and he will slot in next to the speedy Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon to help make up one of the league’s fastest forward corps. Possession numbers are a concern because the Avalanche are the worst Corsi team in the NHL and Boedker certainly won’t enhance that on his own.

Boedker’s career-high came in 2013-14 when he scored 19 goals, 32 assists for a total of 51 points.

In exchange, the Avalanche gave up their 2014 first round pick in Bleackley. The team never signed Bleackley and was set to lose his rights on June 1 if they did not offer him an entry-level contract. Given his poor age-20 season and subsequent injury (he is currently out with a broken knee cap), it’s not surprising the team chose to move on from him.

Defenseman Kyle Wood, on the other hand, was thought to be a darkhorse prospect for the Avalanche. Despite being ranked very low in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, the Avalanche thought enough of him to select him in the third round. This season he put up 8 goals, 27 assists for 35 points in 40 games played for the North Bay Battalion of the OHL. A big, right-handed defenseman with those kind of offensive numbers will certainly be missed in the system but given Colorado’s relative strength at defense in the pipeline, it’s a loss they can afford to take.

For comparison, here is the WARRIOR charts for Alex Tanguay versus Mikkel Boedker. Keep in mind this chart shows the last three seasons worth of production so Tangay’s precipitous decline will not be as heavily reflected:

For some Boedker highlights to get you going, here’s his recent hat trick: