The Colorado Avalanche made a four-player trade with Arizona to acquire forward Mikkel Boedker in a bid to solidify their late-season playoff push.
Boedker is an eight-year NHL veteran who adds scoring depth to an Avalanche team that entered Monday sitting the Western Conference’s eighth and final playoff spot. The move was made Monday afternoon, a few hours before the NHL trade deadline.
In exchange, the Avalanche traded veteran forward Alex Tanguay and two prospects, forward Connor Bleackley and defenseman Kyle Wood, who were both selected in the 2014 draft.
Boedker was expendable in Arizona because he is in the final year of his contract and eligible to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. He’s third on the team with 39 points (13 goals and 26 assists) in 62 games. Boedker, however, has been slumping having not scored in his past 11 games.
The Avalanche are 5-3 in their past eight games, while the Coyotes are slipping out of the playoff picture.
Arizona has lost five straight and is 3-10-1 in its past 14. The slump has dropped the Coyotes into 11th in the West, eight points behind Colorado.
It was the second move of the day by the Coyotes, who also acquired winger Sergei Plotnikov from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for prospect Matthias Plachta and a conditional seventh-round pick in 2017.
Signed out of the Kontinental Hockey League last offseason, the 25-year-old Plotnikov has just two assists in 32 games. He is set to be a restricted free agent this summer. Plotnikov carries a salary-cap hit of $743,000.
The Edmonton Oilers re-signed two rookies — defenseman Brandon Davidson and goalie Laurent Brossoit — to two-year contract extensions. They also added two players who were placed on waivers a day earlier: Vancouver forward Adam Cracknell and Winnipeg defenseman Adam Pardy.
Though a number of trades were expected before the deadline, numerous teams spent the previous week adding players and freeing up salaries of players who are in the final years of their contracts.
One of the biggest moves occurred on Sunday, when the New York Rangers acquired Hurricanes captain Eric Staal in exchange for Finnish prospect Aleksi Saarela and a pair of second-round draft picks.
Last week, the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks acquired Winnipeg forward Andrew Ladd in exchange for rookie forward Marko Dano and a first-round pick in this year’s draft. And the Atlantic Division-leading Florida Panthers made three trades in acquiring Oilers forward Teddy Purcell, Calgary Flames forward Jiri Hudler and Detroit defenseman Jakub Kindl.
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