The Avalanche, already deep on defense, nevertheless acquired defenseman Patrik Nemeth from the Detroit Red Wings on Friday in exchange for a 2022 fourth-round pick.
Nemeth, 29, is in his second season with the Red Wings after playing in 2017-18 and 2018-19 with the Avalanche, which acquired him off waivers from Dallas. Detroit is retaining half of Nemeth’s $3 million cap hit and $2.8 million salary, and he can be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Nemeth, 6-foot-3 and 228 pounds, is a defensive defenseman, shot-blocker and penalty-killing specialist who will likely slot in on Colorado’s third pairing at even-strength.
The Swedish-born Nemeth is poised to become the 14th defenseman to play for the Avs this season.
The Avalanche’s blue line entered Friday with an NHL-most 102 points. Cale Makar led all defensemen in points-per-game (1.00), Sam Girard was sixth in assists (25) and points (30) and Devon Toews was ninth in goals (sixth) and second in plus/minus (+21). Those three players are relatively small offensive-minded defensemen.
Makar, Girard and Toews have been killing penalties, but it appears the Avs want a bigger player who has made a living doing that — particularly because Erik Johnson is on long-term injured reserve. The other big-body penalty-killing defensemen are Ryan Graves and Greg Pateryn, the latter of whom has played just eight games.
According to @PuckPedia, the Avs’ roster on Friday features 23 players accounting for $84.1 million in cap space — $2.6 million over the $81.5 million cap. But with their LTIR pool (Johnson, $6 million; goalie Pavel Francouz, $2 million), they are permitted to be $8 million over the cap, leaving them $5.4 million in available cap space.
Adding Nemeth is probably not the last move Colorado will make ahead of Monday’s trade deadline.
