Going into this season one of the supposed strong suits of this Avalanche squad was their great defence. That backend took a beating this weal as a remodel of epic proportions took place.
In a shocking move the Colorado Avalanche dealt their tea captain Mattias Ohlund to LA in a blockbuster deal just hours after acquiring Rostislav Klesla form Carolina in yet another blockbuster trade.
Ohlund, who had to waive his NTC to accept the deal to Los Angeles said he was not surprised by the deal as the team had been talking with a few teams about him. He chose LA as his destination as he felt it would best suit his family at this time.
"I never wanted to leave Colorado. It is a magnificent city and the team treats everyone so well. This was simply a matter of them wanting a new direction and needing to cut salary. I totally understand their predicament and was glad to help, LA was a city that intruiged me very much"
The deal also means that a new captain must be appointed, many feel it will now fall to Brad Richards.
In Klesla the team acquires a very mobile dman who can play powerplay or penalty kill and ca be a great second paring compliment to any d man. It is obviously the team wants to get younger and stronger on the back end as these deals attest to.
"These deals were all very difficutl to make. Whenever you have to say goodbye to someone as great as Ohlund its tough, but this is a business and we made a deal that going forward we fell will help us imensely. We were sitting just too close to the cap for comfort and not only did we bring in two solid defencemen here we also alleviated some valuable salary cap, killed two birds with one stone" says GM Sentinel 20
When questioned on whether we can expect more big deals this was the response. "i think im done for now, i mean i never say never because i dont know whats around the corner, but i think that this team now is where id like it to be. We just need to put it all together.
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