Right before the trade deadline arrived on Friday at 3pm est, the Colorado Avalanche sneaked in one last trade to add to their lineup. The night before the deadline, the Avs made a much needed trade to acquire center Brock Nelson from the New York Islanders. I talked about that trade in my most recent article.

Today Colorado made a deal to bring back a player that has been well established with the organization for basically his entire career, and has even won a Stanley Cup with the franchise in 2022. 36 year old defenseman Erik Johnson, came into the NHL as the number 1 overall pick in the 2006 draft and was traded to the Avs just five years into his career in 2011.

Since then, Johnson was a key member of the team’s back end, being a key contributor to the team throughout his tenure from 2011-2023. As previously mentioned, Johnson was also a piece on the Avalanche’s Stanley Cup winning roster in 2022, being a great leader and locker room presence for the entire team. Now Johnson returns home to Colorado after playing the last two seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, and he looks to bring some added depth on the blue line for this Avs team, as they continue to build up for the inevitable playoff series’ the team will have to go into in about one month’s time.

Johnson would most likely slot into the bottom 4 pair of D-men, either playing along side newly acquired Ryan Lindgren on the third line, or Samuel Girard on the fourth line. Regardless of where Johnson fits, he brings a very positive upside to this team as he always has, and will be warmly welcomed back into the locker room by many familiar faces.