ANAHEIM — This Colorado Avalanche team has its new No. 3 center.
The Avs traded a 2027 first-round pick and a 2026 fifth-rounder on Thursday to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Nicolas Roy, a 6-foot-4 center who has five goals and 20 points in 59 games this season.
“Nic Roy is a really, really good third-line center,” TSN analyst Craig Button said. “Like really good. He is a right-shot center who kills penalties. Nic is hard to play against, really hard to play against.”
Roy, 29, went to Toronto last offseason from the Vegas Golden Knights in the deal that sent Mitch Marner to Vegas. He won the Stanley Cup with the Golden Knights in 2023. Roy had between 13 and 15 goals and between 31 and 41 points each of the previous four seasons with Vegas.
The third center position has been a need for the Avalanche this season, after Charlie Coyle was traded to Columbus in June. Jack Drury, Ross Colton and Parker Kelly have all spent time there over the past two seasons, but coach Jared Bednar prefers Colton and Kelly on the wing and Drury as the No. 4 center.
Roy has one more year left on his contract with a $3 million cap hit. Drury, who has eight goals and 21 points this season, is a restricted free agent this offseason.
Always a defense-first center, Roy’s usage has tilted even more in that direction with the Maple Leafs. He has started the fewest percentage of shifts in the offensive zone of his career, and his o-zone faceoff percentage is also the lowest.
Assuming there isn’t another move by the deadline tomorrow afternoon, the Avs will enter the playoffs with Nathan MacKinnon, Brock Nelson, Roy and Drury down the middle.
“Put Nate aside. Big, strong Brock Nelson on the second line. Big, strong center now in your third-line spot,” Button said. “Now you’re imposing yourself. Where does an opponent have any chance to take what I would call a breather? That’s how you build your team to go for two months and compete for a Stanley Cup.”
This is the fourth straight season Colorado has shaken up the center depth chart just before the deadline. The Avs added Lars Eller in 2023, who was centering the second line by the end of the playoffs. They traded away Ryan Johansen and welcomed Casey Mittelstadt and Yakov Trenin in 2024.
A year ago, the Avs made a blockbuster move for Nelson, then less than 24 hours sent Mittelstadt to Boston in a package for Coyle. Colorado now has all four of its center under team control through at least next season, though the Avs still need a new contract for Drury.
“I think Chris (MacFarland) is shrewd,” Button said. “He’s so sharp with everything he does. He acknowledges, ‘Hey look, this isn’t working, so let’s move forward.’ He did that with Casey Mittelstadt, with Charlie Coyle.
“He’s so good at dealing with reality.”
The first-round pick going to Toronto is top-10 protected. If it somehow fell in the top 10 next year, it would become an unprotected 2028 first-round pick. Colorado has three picks in the fifth round this year — the Leafs will receive the lowest of those three once the draft order is set.
Colorado has been mentioned as a possible landing spot for a bevy of centers leading up to the deadline, including ex-Avs players like Nazem Kadri, Ryan O’Reilly and Coyle.
“$3 million and for next year, too?” Button said of Roy. “Now you’re not locking into three years at $7 million. Naz is great. I’m not trying to knock Naz at all, but the calculation has to be … you have him at 35 years of age for three years at $7 million left on his contract.
“Nic has this year and next year at $3 million? That’s a pretty sweet deal to me.”
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