Nikita Zadorov era in Colorado ends in blockbuster trade

For the second consecutive season, the Colorado Avalanche used the opening of free agency to make a blockbuster trade. Once again tapping into their depth of defensemen, the Avs dealt Nikita Zadorov to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Brandon Saad.

The entire deal works out as:

Colorado receives: Brandon Saad, Dennis Gilbert
Chicago receives: Nikita Zadorov, Anton Lindholm, $1M retain on Saad’s contract

Saad, who turns 28 in two weeks, has spent the majority of his career in Chicago and is coming off a season in which he scored 33 points (21 G, 12 A) in 58 games played. Across an 82-game schedule, that’s a pace of 29 goals and 46 points, making him a clear-cut upgrade over the myriad of players the Avs used in the top six last year when injuries kicked in.

Saad is a strong two-way player who has a knack for scoring goals. In his eight years as an NHL regular, Saad has five seasons with more than 20 goals and two others with 18 and 19. He’s a very good complementary player who can round out Colorado’s top six with the perfect combination of two-way ability and offense.

While not an overly physical player, Saad has good size and he uses it very well. His defense has slipped a little bit in the last year or two but one can’t help but wonder how much of that is a result of the Blackhawks all but abandoning the concept of defense under Jeremy Colliton.

Saad will add an extra layer of versatility as well because he can play on both the right and left wing, though it should be noted he is another left-shot forward, which makes five of six in Colorado’s theoretical top six. He will be able to fit anywhere in the Avalanche lineup that head coach Jared Bednar chooses.

Saad is entering the final year of his contract in which he counts $6M against the salary cap. With Chicago retaining $1M of that, he will count just $5M against Colorado’s cap. He is set to be an unrestricted free agent next summer so this essentially becomes a one-year audition for him and the Avalanche.

Gilbert is the unknown in this deal for Avalanche fans. At 23, he was just breaking into the NHL with the Blackhawks after being a third-round pick back in 2015. He’s another Notre Dame alum, which has become a haven for Avalanche prospects and players over the last few years.

At 6’2″ and 216 pounds, Gilbert is entering the final year of his ELC and can either replace Anton Lindholm on the blueline in Loveland for the Colorado Eagles or compete for a job in training camp with Bowen Byram and Conor Timmins.

If he makes the Avs, Gilbert will essentially replace the physicality of Zadorov but certainly doesn’t have the intriguing all-around tools we saw from Zadorov. The key for Gilbert will be consistency. As we saw with Ryan Graves last year, if Gilbert can play a heavy game and be reliable on defense then he’ll find a home. If not, he won’t play much.

With Byram likely getting at least the nine-game trial, the competition in training camp and whatever preseason may exist will be tough. Given the general inexperience of Gilbert, Byram, and Timmins combined, I would look for the Avs to sift through the scrap heap of free agency and try to find a depth defenseman with experience that might be able to plug the gap if things don’t go well with the youngsters.

With Gilbert’s contract in the AHL and Saad’s $5M on the Avs, Colorado is still sitting with $9.96M in salary cap space, according to CapFriendly. The Avs still have to sign Ryan Graves, who filed for arbitration today, and Tyson Jost.

As always, I like to provide a look at the fancy stats of the guys being acquired. Here are Saad and his ridiculous ability to drive play:

And in an extremely small sample, here’s Dennis Gilbert’s: