The Colorado Avalanche are continuing their busy start to the off-season, as the team has agreed to trade forward Valeri Nichushkin to the Columbus Blue Jackets for three draft picks, the team announced Thursday.
The Avalanche are receiving a 2026 second-round draft pick, a 2027 third-round draft pick and a 2028 fifth-round draft pick.
Nichushkin, 31, tallied 17 goals and 49 points in 72 games last season, and added two goals and four points in 12 playoff games.
The veteran forward has spent the past seven seasons in Colorado and has enjoyed the most success of his career in Denver, logging 131 goals and 283 points in 404 games and helping the Avalanche win the 2022 Stanley Cup with 15 points in 20 games.
This is the third trade the Avalanche have completed in the brief off-season period, as they also sent Ross Colton and Isak Posch to the Nashville Predators on June 16 and Jack Drury and Chase Bradley to the Predators on June 24.
Colorado is coming off a season in which they claimed the Presidents’ Trophy with a 55-16-11 record, but fell in four games to the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Finals.
