3 Center Trade Targets Revealed For Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche are a dominant force in the NHL this season with a record of 26-2-7. Regardless of how good they are, upgrades make sense as other teams in contention for the Stanley Cup are going to be bringing in players and getting better and this isn't a season that can go to waste.

The Avalanche have the strongest top of the division in the NHL with the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild also clear Stanley Cup contenders this season. So the spot in their lineup that looks like the most likely to be upgraded is center, particularly the second or third line, and there's three targets that have been linked to them recently.

The Athletic wrote," Ryan O'Reilly, Nazem Kadri, and Alex Wennberg could be options for the Avalanche." O'Reilly is on the Nashville Predators and is their top line center, Kadri is a former Avalanche second line center who had a career year and won the Cup with them, and Wennberg is a cheaper option, yet a solid center to easily slide into the 3C role.

O'Reilly is a former Selke Trophy winner and finished in the top-5 in voting four times in his career. He is one of the leaders on a bad Nashville team as the 34-year-old has 10 goals and 30 points in 35 games. He has one more year left on his deal after this season at $4.5 million AAV and could push Brock Nelson for the center role on the second line.

Kadri can do the same to Nelson as he's the number one on the Calgary Flames this season as has been since leaving the Avalanche to sign with them. The 35-year-old is in year four of seven of his contract at $7 million AAV, so this would require the Avalanche to move some money out to get a deal done. Kadri has eight goals and 31 points in 36 games, very similar to O'Reilly in this regard, except there's a familiarity with Kadri. Bringing him in will be tougher because the Flames continue to be resistant to rebuilding and his contract is large.

Wennberg may be the simplest to get done. The San Jose Sharks are a solid team this season, but might not be good enough just yet to be a playoff team. Their roster has been carried by some and overall, it isn't a playoff-caliber roster. That being said, the Sharks can still do what they can up to the trade deadline and base their decisions on where they sit at that time. If they decide to sell, Wennberg is in the final year of his deal at $5 million AAV and the team has one retention spot to use. They would want to use it on someone on an expiring contract.