REPORT: Teams Trying To Trade For Rugged Defenseman; Any Interest From Avalanche?

It’s NHL Draft Day, and business is going to continue to pick up around the league. We saw one big trade take place after the awards show on Thursday night, some buyouts this morning, and I’d expect a lot more moves to take place over the weekend. Colorado is a team that has had one player mentioned multiple times as being on the block, and apparently there’s another guy teams want to get their hands on.

The Avalanche might not be all that interested in moving him, though.

On the latest episode of 32 Thoughts that was released late on Thursday night, Elliotte Friedman mentioned that teams are calling the Avalanche about Josh Manson. Teams can call, but it doesn’t sound like Colorado wants to move on from the 32 year old defenseman.

“I just heard that teams had asked Colorado about Manson,” Friedman said. “He also goes to partial (trade) protection on July 1, but I heard that Colorado had no interest in doing that. He is there most physical defenseman and they’d really be losing a lot if they couldn’t keep him. I heard they had, like, no interest in moving him.”

The part about partial trade protection kicking in on July 1 goes against the information that CapFriendly has, who have that his trade protection switched on June 15 to a 12 team no-trade clause. Either way, it doesn’t sound like Colorado really wants to move Manson. Moving a top four defenseman would mean the team would have to go out and find another one, which might cost about the same money anyway.

Any move that the Avalanche might make seems like it would be done to create flexibility under the salary cap. That’s why we continue to see the name of Ross Colton come up in trade rumors. I don’t think Colorado wants to move Colton at all, but they might feel like they have to do something to give themselves some wiggle room going into next season. Colton isn’t a guarantee to get dealt, but with his no-trade clause kicking in on July 1, it makes sense that his name is at least being thrown around.

The NHL Draft begins tonight at 5 PM MST and CHN will be live at the Sphere with all the coverage you need.