The Colorado Avalanche has made a pair of moves in a seismic roster shakeup ahead of the NHL trade deadline later this week.
Colorado traded Bo Byram to the Buffalo Sabres for forward Casey Mittlestadt, the team announced, in a swap of top-10 picks that helps fill the Avalanche’s biggest need but also sends out one of the top young defensemen in the league.
Mittlestadt, 25, has 14 goals and 47 points in 62 games for the Sabres this season. He had 15 goals and 59 points in a breakout campaign last year. He could be the latest answer to who is the No. 2 center behind Nathan MacKinnon for the Avalanche.
Colorado had hoped Ryan Johansen would be that guy after trading for him this past offseason, but the Avs sent him to Philadelphia along with a 2025 first-round pick in a separate trade Wednesday after that experiment did not work out.
Mittlestadt is a pending restricted free agent who is in the final season of a three-year, $7.5 million contract. He was the No. 8 pick in the 2017 NHL draft.
Byram, 22, has 20 points in 55 games this season while averaging 19:51 of ice time. He was the No. 4 pick in the 2019 draft.
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