Avalanche NHL Trade Deadline Live Blog: *Carl Soderberg reacquired

UPDATE: Carl Soderberg is back with the Avalanche.

The Avs just announced they have reacquired the veteran center from Chicago for prospects Ryder Rolston and Josh Dickinson.

Soderberg, 35, has appeared in 34 games for the Blackhawks this season, tallying 15 points (7g/8a). He’s tied for sixth on the team in points and his 1:30 of average shorthanded ice time per game ranks fourth among Blackhawks forwards. Soderberg ranks third on the team in faceoffs won (194) and faceoff win percentage (51.5%).

My take: I guess the Avs maybe don’t have quite enough confidence in Tyson Jost as a 3C for the playoffs. I’m a little puzzled by the move, quite honestly, because it feels like Jost was starting to finally carve out a good role with the team, a 3C on a team with the most points in the league. Now, you drop a 35-year-old into his role for the playoffs and put Jost back on a wing, where he has never really excelled? Maybe if Carl is a fourth-line winger? Uh, maybe. No way would I use Carl over P.E. Bellemare, who I think is the perfect fourth-line center.

There is this though: Jost has three goals and 10 points in 39 games. He still doesn’t give a lot when it comes to point production. The Avs may just feel that “Hey, we just need more points out of our third line center.” We’ll see what coach/management says about this later.

Selected by the St. Louis Blues in the second round (49th overall) of the 2004 NHL Draft, Soderberg has played in 586 career NHL games with the Boston Bruins, Avalanche, Arizona Coyotes and Blackhawks, totaling 295 points (110g/185a). He has 12 points (2g/10a) in 41 career Stanley Cup Playoff contests and became the second player in Bruins history to make his Stanley Cup Playoff debut in the Final when he played Game 5 against Chicago in 2013.

The 6-foot-3, 210-pound center collected 151 points (57g/94a) during four seasons with the Avalanche from 2015-19, ranking fifth on the team in points, fifth in assists, fourth in goals and first in games played during that time frame. Throughout his seven seasons in the NHL, Soderberg has played all 82 regular-season contests three times and played all 70 games with Arizona last year before the season was suspended due to the pandemic.

A Malmo, Sweden, native, Soderberg spent his entire career in Sweden before joining the Bruins at the end of the 2012-13 campaign. He played for Malmo in Sweden’s Division I and II leagues from 2003-11, recording 298 points (105g/183a) in 332 games before moving to Linkoping for his final two European seasons. Soderberg averaged nearly a point per game in his two years with Linkoping, notching 95 points (45g/50a) in 96 contests. During his final season in 2012-13, he led the Swedish Elite League with 31 goals and finished second in scoring with 60 points (31g/29a) in 54 outings.

Soderberg represented his country at the 2017 IIHF World Championship, recording one point (0g/1a) in 10 games to help Sweden capture the gold medal. He skated in four games at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, notching an assist and also represented Sweden at the 2005 IIHF World Junior Championship, finishing with six points (4g/2a) in six tournament contests.

Three hours until the NHL trade deadline is over, and so far Monday has been sloooow for trade activity. Things almost always heat up in the last couple of hours, so I expect something soon. The Avalanche has about $4.6 million in cap space – LTIR cap space – right now, even after acquiring Devan Dubnyk and Patrik Nemeth over the weekend.

Will Joe Sakic spend it? I think so, at least some of it. Plenty of speculation is already out there about what the Avs might be doing, or trying to do.

There's chatter around the #GoAvsGo that they're big game hunting. No idea if they will be able to pull off a big deal, but multiple sources have told me they believe Colorado is trying. They have under 3 hours.

— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) April 12, 2021

Big game hunting? I’m not sure any of the names “out there and available” would constitute big-game hunting. I think the Avs would like to add a big forward. I believe they would like that forward to either slot into the third line, or just be a good fourth-line grinder. If you’re Jared Bednar right now, you’re probably a bit concerned that Logan O’Connor is still out a while, Matt Calvert may be still out a while and Liam O’Brien is your current fourth-line winger.

Maybe, if a third-line winger/center is added, you might drop J.T. Compher down a notch. Or, maybe Compher will be dealt to land some “bigger game.” I think, if I’m Compher, I’m maybe a little more nervous about 1 p.m. than most other Avs players. There are some Twitter rumors about Patrik Laine coming from Columbus. That would be big-game hunting, but the Avs would need to make sure they sign him to a nice extension.

I do believe that the Avs were desirous of getting Columbus’ Nick Foligno, but he went to Toronto.

I’ll update this as time moves along…