There was speculation that Chris MacFarland would trade Ross Colton dating back to at least last offseason.
Now he’s traded for him.
Joe Sakic and the Colorado Avalanche sent Colton to the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, where he will reunite with the club’s former general manager. The Avs also sent along minor-league goaltender Isak Posch.
The return is two third-round draft picks, plus former University of Denver goaltender Magnus Chrona.
Moving Colton frees up $4 million of cap space for the 2026-27 season for the Avalanche. They now have nearly $7 million in space available, .
That could allow Colorado to sign No. 4 center Jack Drury, who is a restricted free agent, or UFA defenseman Brett Kulak, plus make some depth additions to fill out the roster. Sakic may still need to move another forward if he wants to keep Drury and Kulak, or invest more resources into the defense corps.
The draft picks coming to Colorado are Nashville’s 2026 third-round selection, which is No. 74 overall, and the Avs’ 2027 third, which was originally traded to the Predators for Juuso Parssinen during the 2024-25 campaign.
This trade is similar to the one MacFarland made for the Avs last summer, sending Miles Wood and Charlie Coyle to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Gavin Brindley and two picks. That deal opened more than $7 million in cap flexibility for the Avs and helped further bolster a club that went on to win the Presidents’ Trophy and finish with a franchise-record 121 points, but fell short of its ultimate goal with a stunning Western Conference Final defeat to the Vegas Golden Knights.
Colton is entering the final season of a four-year, $16 million contract he signed with the Avs in July 2023. His three years with Colorado were a bit of a mixed bag.
His production decreased each of the three years, with nine goals and 24 points in 73 games this past season. Colton had multiple stretches over the past couple of seasons where he went through a prolonged scoring drought, even though his two-way play was solid throughout much of that time.
Colton began the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs as the Avs’ 13th forward. He was a healthy scratch for the first two games against the Los Angeles Kings, but had two goals and five points in the Avs’ final 11 playoff contests.
It is possible that Nashville will give Colton another chance to play center. He started in the middle for the Avalanche in 2023-24, before moving to the wing after some trade additions. Colton also made a brief appearance back as the center of the third line this past season, but Colorado coach Jared Bednar clearly preferred him on the wing.
Chrona won a national championship with the Pioneers in 2022. He played nine games for the San Jose Sharks in 2023-24 near the end of the season, but has mostly been an AHL netminder the past three seasons.
The 25-year-old goalie was set to be an unrestricted free agent July 1, but has already agreed to a two-year contract with Brynäs in the Swedish Elite League.
Posch, 24, went 15-7-8 with an .891 save percentage for the Colorado Eagles in the AHL this season as the No. 1B/backup to Trent Miner. Moving Posch does provide a bit of clarity for Colorado’s depth chart in net.
The Avs will have top prospect Ilya Nabokov and new signing Nikita Novosyolov to compete with Miner for the No. 3 spot on the depth chart behind Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood.
