By Sean Gentil, Shayna Goldman and Dom Luszczyn
Athletics has live coverage of the NHL 2025 trade deadline.
Avalanche Get: F Brock Nelson (50% of the salary kept), F William Dufour
The islanders get: First round piece in 2026 or 2027, a third round conditional choice in 2028, F Calum Ritchie, D Oliver Kylington (then exchanged at Anaheim ducks for future considerations)
SEAN Gentil: Each deadline for trade has its beautiful ball. It’s a simple economy: good players tend to be shortened, and appetite to talk about trades – real, hypothetical, intelligent, stupid – is endless. We all have jobs to do.
A by-product of everything that is that bad players tend to become useful, the useful tend to become good, good people tend to become tall and adults tend to become Mario Lemieux. Attention too often led to hyperbole. In the case of Nelson, however, I think that the way he was discussed generally corresponds to what he brings to a list. He is really, really good. Colorado treated it as such and sent a package to Icelanders adapting to its skills.
For years in Long Island, he produced offenses like a first legitimate liner, showing a well-balanced game as a marker and playmaker who helped Icelanders often strike over their weight category. A decent part of their model was based on him. Without her robust, versatile and productive hockey brand … What would she have been exactly? How would we have treated them? Would they have been worthy of attention? Be honest. I lean towards “no”. Strongly.
In Colorado, it is a second line center. There is no shame on this, given the presence of Nathan Mackinnon. There is an irony at stake; The Colorado spent almost three years trying to replace Nazem Kadri. To various degrees, they failed. Now they have one of the best 2C of the company. Their time is now. They know it and act the game.
What makes this affair fascinating, however, is that the islands – the key like Nelson was, good that it remains and perfectly that it adapts with the AV – could be your winners. The first round choices are nice. The high -end perspectives like Calum Ritchie are more beautiful; It is a large intelligent center (6 feet 2 inches and 190 pounds), qualified and intelligent which is in rhythm for its second consecutive season of 80 points in ONH. This should seem familiar to fans of the islands. Losing a faithful in Nelson stings a little less when he helps you to decline in a 20 -year -old child legitimately capable of filling his shoes.
Grade of avalanche: A
Grade of islanders: A +
Shaya Goldman: As busy as the avalanche was on the commercial market, this team still lacked a key element: a legitimate 2C.
Casey Mitelstadt, adding the deadline for last year, adapts perfectly to last spring. But he has not built at all on this momentum this season. His game in Five-on-Five took place completely, leaving a clear hole that the team had to approach. Given the quantity of the avalanche in this season with all their transactions, management had to upgrade the position to give this team its best competition.
Enter Nelson, the best center on the market. It is a second -line center of the elite whose efficiency sometimes goes under the radar. Nelson’s rating rate has dropped this season, but this is probably a consequence of the disastrous power of the Icelanders.
At five against five, he still prosper at both ends of the ice. Nelson is a reliable scorer and his game is first -rate. What separates him from Mittelstadt is his reliability in his own area. Nelson can manage difficult minutes and help his team go from defense to the offensive with his chalice recovery and eruptions. In addition to a combination of Valeri Nichushkin, Artturi Lehkonen and Jonathan Drouin, the new AVS line should be pain to play.
The price of the acquisition was high for a rental, but this tends to be the nature of the company during this period of the year for the centers, in particular when the retention of wages is involved. And Nelson is really worth it. It solidifies the avalanche to compete with the best in the West. This is really all that matters to Colorado at the moment – not the uncertainty of what a choice of project or a perspective could become.
As much as Nelson meant for the Icelanders, management actually did what should be done. The Icelanders tried to fight in the playoff race, but the injuries crushed their chances.
Pat standing on the deadline would have been the worst case for the Islanders, as this would not help them put the needle in both directions. Sometimes the teams prioritize a low -risk strategy that ultimately burns them. Playing safely can be death if it leads to a flesh spell, and the Icelanders have been insured for too long. This team must take a step back and start to ride up for next season. Unlike some teams at the end of their conflict cycle, the Icelanders had an ace in Nelson to move in order to launch the process.
The Icelanders have decimated their pipeline over the years to compete, and now their pool of prospects ranks 25th in the league. Obtaining a first round and the best hope of Colorado, Ritchie, is a very solid first step in a necessary modification.
Grade of avalanche: A
Grade of islanders: A
DOM LUSZCZYSZYN: When it comes to exchanging a favorite from the franchise, it is important to do good from him and obtain total value. The Icelanders made both here, sending Nelson to a real competitor of the Stanley Cup to continue a ring while obtaining absolute transport for its services.
In a different season, with a better chance of injuries, it would probably not have been able to get there. It would have been Nelson leading a push in the playoffs while the Islanders did this thing they always do: cring and make their way to a joker place and hope that a magic will happen. Unfortunately, the injuries to which they have treated this season have been too much – congratulations to recognize them. The Icelanders changed speed and took advantage of the market of a seller by winning not only a first round choice for Nelson but also Ritchie. It is massive transport.
I will not pretend to know anything about the game of Ritchie, but the glowing criticism of Scott Wheeler from last January should be sufficient for fans of the Islanders to be extremely excited. It is not often a hope of the top 25 is exchanged (with a first round!) And that obviously makes it a big victory for the Icelanders. This is the exact type of re-insallation trade that this franchise needed.
As for the avalanche, they obtained their guy in Nelson. Everyone and their grandmother knew that they needed a legitimate 2C, in particular with the fact that Mittelstadt does not take this opportunity. The impact of Nelson stole a little under the radar on Long Island, but he creates chances of an elite diploma and can put the washer in the net. He is a double -meaning player who does a lot of little things and who is particularly capable of recovering the rings and bursting. Do not be fooled by its total points total this year either – at five out of five, its 2.29 points per 60 is equally with the place where it was in each of its previous three seasons. Since 2021, 2.35 points per 60 from Nelson has ranked 27th in the League, between Nico Hischier and Jack Eichel. There are the kinds of high -end 2C pretenders must go deep.
The price may have been high for Colorado, but it is always a great level for the avalanche, which seriously moves the needle. We have not yet executed the figures on the impact of their chances of cup, but on paper, this decision puts the team online with the rest of a very tight class.
The question of whether Colorado could face this season was slightly in question, given the strength of the rest of the West and the weaknesses of the team in the middle. With Nelson on the list, there are no more questions. It is a manufacturer of difference, whose addition positions the avalanche well for a deep race.
Grade of avalanche: A
Grade of islanders: A +
(Photo of Brock Nelson: Thomas Salus / Imagn Images)
