Hockey Trade Rumors

Rob Blake was a peculiar healthy scratch for the Colorado Avalanche last night in a 4-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild leading me to wonder if a trade has been made or is in the works.

This may be nothing, much like the recent speculation that the Avs were trading for a goalie when they called up Kolesnik and had three goaltenders on the roster. Obviously, that proved false as evidenced by the demotion of Kolesnik back to the farm team.

However, I find it odd that Blake, although having a sub-par season by Rob Blake standards, was scratched considering he plays big minutes for the Avs. Could a trade be in the works? Blake’s salary is among the largest on Colorado’s roster and he is currently a minus 14, which is obvioulsy quite atypical. He has been his usual self on the offensive side of the ice, but he has had trouble adjusting to the new NHL on the defensive end. Colorado has struggled mightily at times in goal, but many believe that team defense is the more glaring problem. Blake has played poorly in his own end. Perhaps Lacroix is about to make a splash. To me, it would make sense for the Avs to trade Blake even though I consider him an elite player. He is getting older in years and the relief of his salary could allow Colorado to bring in a top tier goaltender and a lower priced defenseman to replace him. In my opinion, with Colorado scoring the third most goals in the league, offense is not the problem and losing Blake’s numbers there wouldn’t hurt them much. However, if the Avs were to acquire a solid goaltender such as Luongo or even Brodeur, and were able to get a solid stay at home defenseman for Blake and Aebischer, they would look on paper… and I say on paper… just like the Ottawa Senators.

Your Thoughts?