With Joe Sakic back in the GM saddle, the Colorado Avalanche made their first move of the offseason, in what will shape the 2026-27 roster. Forward Ross Colton was dealt to the Nashville Predators along with minor league goaltender Isak Posch for pending free agent goaltender Magnus Chorna, a third round pick (Nashville’s own) in 2026 and Colorado’s third round pick in 2027.
There’s a lot to unpack here as there are five parts to this deal, which was no doubt influenced by Sakic’s relationship with
former Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland.
First, it was Ross Colton’s time to go and has been the writing on the wall for some time now. His $4 million salary was just too much for the cap crunch Colorado is facing plus he was set to walk as an Unrestricted Free Agent at the end of the upcoming season, which is also a good move to get something for him now. Colton was acquired in June of 2023 in hopes to solidify Colorado’s center depth but he never quite found his place in the Avalanche lineup. The 29-year-old’s best season was in 2023-24 when he posted 40 points but the 24 this season was considered disappointing even if he was snake-bit and shot only 5.9%. He perked up in the playoffs and contributed five points including two goals, which was just enough to encourage some trade value.
Moving on from the young goaltender Isak Posch makes sense in that the minor league goaltending depth in Colorado was getting crowded especially with Trent Miner set to return plus the newly signed Russian dup of top prospect Ilya Nabokov and undrafted free agent Nikita Novosyolov. Posch had a great start to his Colorado Eagles career and even made the AHL All-Star team but faltered a bit in the second half.
The return of Magnus Chorna from Nashville would seem to complicate things but he’s set to be a Group IV Unrestricted Free Agent on July 1st and has already signed a two-year deal in Sweden. His name might sound familiar as he was a former Denver Pioneer and was also part of the Yaroslav Askarov trade return from San Jose. But it doesn’t seem like he will be playing in Colorado. Why then include Chorna in the deal? Teams like to keep contracts slots free for more pre-July dealings or just simply optics of trading goaltender for goaltender.
As far as the picks, Nashville’s third round secretion is expected to be at 74th overall in the 2026 draft next week. Colorado would be wise to hold on to and make the rare top 100 pick in their arsenal but there’s still plenty of time for more transactions. The 2027 third round pick is a return of Colorado’s own in what was dealt to Nashville in the ill-fated Juuso Parssinen trade in which he only played 22 games for the club and then was traded to the New York Rangers in the Ryan Lindgren trade deadline deal in 2025. Getting that asset in return is a nice bonus to this deal.
What do you think of this trade, let us know in the comments!
