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Cole traded for Pateryn; Burakovsky, Francouz hurt; EJ in

January 19, 2021, 7:12 PM ET [0 Comments]
Rick Sadowski
Colorado Avalanche Blogger •Avalanche Insider • RSSArchiveCONTACT
UPDATED:

The Avalanche on Tuesday afternoon traded Ian Cole to Minnesota for Greg Pateryn in an exchange of veteran defensemen who will be unrestricted free agents after the season.

The Avalanche reportedly will retain $800,000 of Cole’s $4.25 million average annual value salary. Pateryn has a $2.25 million AAV, so the Avalanche will save $1.25 million in salary cap money.

Interesting that the Avalanche play in Los Angeles on Tuesday to open a four-game road trip and the Wild will play in Anaheim on Wednesday, so it’ll be an easy commute for Cole and Pateryn to join their new teams.

Here are the GAME NOTES.

The Avalanche were going to dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen against the Kings because Andre Burakovsky has an upper-body injury. Erik Johnson was going to make his season debut as the seventh defenseman, so now he and presumably Dennis Gilbert can alternate as Cole’s replacement on the third pair with Conor Timmins. Johnson missed camp to quarantine after testing positive for COVID-19.

Gilbert, Timmins and goalie Hunter Miska have moved from the taxi squad to the active roster. Miska will back up Philipp Grubauer because Pavel Francouz has a lower-body injury. Goalie Adam Werner was promoted to the taxi squad from the Colorado Eagles.



The 6-foot-3, 218-pound Pateryn, 30, is in his seventh NHL season. He has two assists in three games this year and 41 points (four goals, 37 assists) in 270 career games.

“Greg is a strong, veteran defenseman who plays a heavy game," Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic said in a release. "He's a hard-nosed, competitive player who can kill penalties, block shots and brings some additional grit to our back line.

“We thank Ian for his two years with the Avalanche, for his efforts both on the ice as well as in the community. We wish him the best of luck moving forward."

Pateryn had three assists in 20 games last season after undergoing bilateral core muscle surgery. He missed the postseason because of an upper-body injury.

Pateryn, who is from Sterling Heights, Mich., played four years the University of Michigan. A fifth-round pick (No. 128) of Toronto in 2008, he made his NHL debit with Montreal in 2012-13. He played parts of four seasons with the Canadiens, parts of two seasons with Dallas and was in his third with the Wild.

Cole, 31, was in his third season with the Avalanche after signing as a free agent on July 1, 2018. He had 41 points (six goals, 35 assists) and plus-20 rating in 138 games with Colorado. A two-time Stanley Cup champion with Pittsburgh, the Notre Dame grad has 138 points (26 goals, 112 assists) in 543 NHL games, having also played with St. Louis and Columbus.

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Here's coach Jared Bednar on the injuries to Burakovsky and Francouz:.

“Frankie left practice on the day we were leaving on the plane. Burky’s injury happened in practice too, but he has something that’s nagging him. I don’t know if it’s just for tonight or if it’s going to be longer than that. We’ll see as the trainers get me information every day.”

Grubauer will make his third start. He’s coming off a 21-save 8-0 win against St. Louis on Friday. He has a 2-2-0 career record against the Kings with one shutout, a 1.50 goals-against average and .951 save percentage.

The lineup:

FORWARDS:
Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Brandon Saad -- Nazem Kadri -- Joonas Donoskoi
Tyson Jost -- J.T. Compher -- Valeri Nichushkin
Matt Calvert -- Pierre-Edouard Bellemare

DEFENSE:
Devon Toews -- Cale Makar
Ryan Graves -- Samuel Girard
Erik Johnson -- Conor Timmins
Dennis Gilbert

GOALIES:
Philipp Grubauer
Hunter Miska



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