After being claimed on waivers from the Philadelphia Flyers, defenseman Mark Alt joined the Avalanche and even saw time in a handful of games down the stretch.

Overview

The Avalanche were on their way to the playoffs when they claimed Mark Alt from waivers on trade deadline day. The Avalanche were hurting on the back end at the time and needed another healthy body for practice purposes. Given their previous two waiver claims were Mark Barberio and Patrik Nemeth, it was fair to trust the pro scouting staff with what they were doing. It took Alt a while to actually break into the lineup but when he did he actually wasn’t so bad. That’s meant as a compliment because players claimed off the waiver wire are a total crapshoot and with Alt, there wasn’t anything that stood out positively or negatively. He came into the lineup and made some small positive contributions but made the occasional mistake to leave him breaking even as a whole.

Biggest Moment

There isn’t a lot to pick from here but I’ll go with Alt’s performance against the Chicago Blackhawks on March 30. He played 14:35, his highest TOI in an Avalanche sweater, and recorded two shots and four blocked shots. It was a solid all-around performance in a must-win game. The Avalanche went on to win fairly easily in a 5-0 beatdown that finished off Colorado’s mastery of Chicago this season. Alt was given a B+ for his performance against the Blackhawks.

What’s Next

Literally, as I was writing this, the Avalanche announced Alt has been re-signed for two years. So what does it mean? The Avalanche clearly saw something they liked from Alt both on and off the ice in order to give him a two-year extension despite not playing him at all in the postseason. The contract was constructed in such a way that it suggests the Avalanche are expecting him to be in the AHL but the Eagles already were slated to have David Warsofsky and a bunch of kids down there so Alt’s addition only serves to further muddy the waters. At the very least, he’ll be in competition with several other players for the seventh defenseman spot on Colorado’s opening night blue line.

Final Grade

C+ Alt wasn’t great and the sample size was small but he performed admirably in the small number of games he appeared. He is not a guy who should be given a larger role next season and might be in line for a leadership position in Loveland with the Eagles.