The top team in the NHL added defensive forward depth for their bottom-six for the rest of the regular season and playoffs on Monday when the Colorado Avalanche acquired center Andrew Cogliano from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a fifth-round pick in 2024.
A veteran that is in his 15th season, the Avalanche will be his fifth team in his career and he also supplies Colorado with penalty-killing depth. Once
What the Avalanche Are Getting
Cogliano is a penalty-killing specialist that comes cheap with a $1 million cap hit and is an unrestricted free agent (UFA) following the season. In 1,122 career games over his career with the Edmonton Oilers, Anaheim Ducks, Dallas Stars, and the Sharks, he has 174 goals and 251 assists. This season he has struggled with San Jose scoring just four goals and 11 assists while compiling a plus/minus of minus-16 while averaging 13:12 of time-on-ice a game.
His career-high in goals was in 2013-14 with 21 for the Ducks and his career-high in assists was 23 with 12 goals in 2017-18 for Anaheim. Offensive production is not what the Avalanche are acquiring him for, but he will give them bottom-six depth and key penalty-killing minutes. Cogliano, who was selected 25th overall in the 2005 Entry Draft by the Oilers, is a left-shot at 5-foot-10 and 179 pounds.
Avalanche Continue to Add at the Deadline
Cogliano is not the first move that Colorado general manager (GM) Joe Sakic has made. He began adding on March 14 when he acquired defenseman Josh Manson from the Ducks in exchange for prospect Drew Helleson and the Avalanche’s second-round pick in the 2023 Draft. One day later, Sakic acquired forward Nico Sturm from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Tyson Jost. Before acquiring Cogliano Monday, the big move by Sakic was getting forward Arrturi Lehkonen from the Montreal Canadiens for Justin Barron and a second-round pick in 2024.
Related: 2022 NHL Trade Deadline: Deal Tracker
After struggling at the beginning of the season, Colorado is going all-in for the Stanley Cup in 2021-22. They lead the NL with 93 points and are currently on a three-game winning streak ahead of their game Monday night against the Edmonton Oilers.
San Jose Continues Making Moves
Monday was a busy day for the Sharks who also sent defenseman Jacob Middleton to the Minnesota Wild for Kaapo Kahkonen and a fifth-round draft pick in 2022. They also sent forward Nick Merkley to the New York Rangers for defenseman Anthony Bitetto. Prior to the trade deadline, center Tomas Hertl, who was on many teams’ trade list, signed an eight-year extension to stay in San Jose with an annual average value (AAV) of $8.137 million, which is a big win for the Sharks.
