The Colorado Avalanche acquired forward Ross Colton in a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday, hours before the start of the NHL draft.
Colorado sent the 37th pick in the draft to Tampa Bay for the player who scored the Lightning’s Stanley Cup-clinching goal in 2021.
The move almost certainly spells the end of J.T. Compher’s time with the Avalanche. A person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press that Compher is testing the free agent market.
The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the team did not announce Compher’s expected departure.
Colton would fill that void as Colorado’s latest acquisition. The team traded for center Ryan Johansen, getting him at half price in a deal with Nashville, and sent pending restricted free agent Alex Newhook to Montreal.
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The 37th pick going from the Avalanche to the Lightning was part of the return for Newhook.
Colton, who turns 27 before next season starts, also is a pending restricted free agent. He’s expected to get a raise from the $1.25 million he made last season.
He has 102 points in 240 regular-season and playoff NHL games.
The Avalanche are trying to rebuild, knowing captain Gabriel Landeskog will miss a second consecutive season while recovering from cartilage replacement surgery in his right knee. They’re able to put him on long-term injured reserve and use the $7 million in cap space.
Salary cap to go up $1M
NEW YORK — The NHL salary cap is getting another modest increase, going up $1 million again to $83.5 million.
The league and NHL Players’ Association announced the cap number for the 2023-24 season Wednesday. It’s the second consecutive season the cap went up by $1 million after staying flat the previous two.
This small increase was the recommendation made last week to the league’s board of governors. General managers were informed of the expected decision earlier this week.
There was a small chance the cap would get a bigger jump if revenue from previous seasons was enough to eclipse the money players still owed owners from the pandemic. That would have taken players raising the amount of money they make held in escrow, and NHLPA executive director Marty Walsh said they were not willing to do that.
The cap floor for next season will be $61.7 million.
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