The Colorado Avalanche have acquired forward Ryan Johansen from the Nashville Predators in exchange for forward Alex Galchenyuk.

An important term to this transaction is that the Predators will be retaining half of Johansen's $8 million cap hit for two more seasons. So this trade is about the Predators freeing up some cap space without the use of a buyout. The Avalanche acquire a potential second-line center to make up for the potential losses of Evan Rodrigues and J.T. Compher, both of whom are UFAs.

Johansen's production has generally been on a downswing since being traded from Columbus to Nashville during the 2015-16 season, although he had an unexpected 63-point season in 2021-22, when he rode a 22 SH%. His 2022-23 season ended in mid-February with a leg injury, finishing at a 42-point pace (28 points in 55 games). The hope would be that he is able to rebound to some degree for a more offensively-focused Avalanche team. If he is able to latch onto Colorado's first-unit power play – even for a short period of time – then his fantasy stock could improve.

Johansen's addition could also help Colorado middle-six wingers such as Artturi Lehkonen, although there could be more turnover on the Avalanche roster this offseason. They have a long list of UFAs, including Rodrigues, J.T. Compher, Lars Eller, and Andrew Cogliano. So it may be too early to determine how much this helps or hurts anyone for Colorado.

Galchenyuk is basically a spare part at this point in his career, as this will be his eighth team over the past six seasons. For what it's worth, he will also be a UFA on July 1.

Tommy Novak in particular benefits from this trade. While Johansen was injured, Novak scored 26 points in 27 games, making him an integral late-season waiver-wire pickup in many leagues. The worry was that Novak would move down the lineup with the return of Johansen, Matt Duchene, and Filip Forsberg all returning from injury. However, this trade frees up an important top-6 center spot for Novak to retain. As well, Nashville has been in sell mode since the trade deadline, so don't expect any major signings from them on July 1.

Cody Glass should also be in line for a bump in usage. His icetime increased in two-minute increments from 11 minutes in the first quarter to 17 minutes in the fourth quarter. Expect that number to be on the higher end of that range in 2023-24.

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Players this helps, in order:

Novak

Glass

Johansen

Lehkonen

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Players this hurts, in order:

Forsberg

Duchene

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Discuss this trade on this thread in the Forum.