Before the NHL Draft festivities got started on Friday night, the Blue Jackets made a trade splash by acquiring veterans Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood from the Colorado Avalanche. Today, we'll break down all of the moving parts and give a way too early grade on the deal.
First, the full details of the trade itself:
A broad stroke approach to this makes it pretty evident what both teams were trying to do here. The Blue Jackets add a couple of reliable veterans to their bottom-six, and they give up some futures to do it. The Avalanche free up a bunch of salary cap space, and acquire some depth futures in the process. It makes sense for both sides.
Diving deeper, I think this is a sneaky good move for the Jackets, however. At its simplest, Charlie Coyle is the best player in this deal right now. For a team that is trying to get better next season, his addition makes a lot of sense to a young CBJ roster.
A veteran of 950 NHL games, Coyle has 189 career goals and 485 points in games split between Minnesota, Boston, and Colorado. At the peak of his career, he was a 50-60 point guy who could play in all situations as a center. At 6'3" and 215 pounds, he brings size, experience, physicality, and a bit of skill to the bottom-six of the Blue Jackets. Much needed traits.
And, the Blue Jackets aren't getting him in hopes of recouping those 50-60 points. Though, that would be a big bonus. Instead, they're just looking to strengthen up their bottom six with a little more offense and experience. Check and check.
We cannot overlook Miles Wood in this deal either. We have seen all of the backlash about him online, and from a merely statistical perspective, I do get it. Wood scored just 13 goals and 24 points in 111 games with Colorado over the last two years. He's 29 years old and signed for four more seasons. Not ideal for a strictly bottom six guy.
If you take a step back and consider everything, however: I think he might be a good fit here. The Jackets have had a glaring need for a reliable 4th line left winger ever since trading Eric Robinson away last season. Wood is, basically, Eric Robinson - but with a touch more offense to his game. At the very least, Wood should be an upgrade over Zach Aston-Reese.
Is he overpaid for the next four years? Probably. But, like Robinson, he's a big body who likes to get in on the forecheck, and with more of a scorer's touch when he does get to the net. We all saw how much a change of scenery helped Robinson settle in this year. Hopefully, the same can be said for Wood next summer.
Heading out the door is Gavin Brindley. The 2023 second round pick showed a lot of promise at the NCAA level, but his first year pro did not go well. After suffering an injury in training camp, his start was delayed until the season was well under way. Once in Cleveland, he scored just 6 goals and 17 points in 52 games - far below what we hoped to see out of him in the AHL this year.
How we grade the trade: B-
The only way this trade becomes a bad one for the Blue Jackets, is if Brindley goes forth and emerges as a star in Colorado. The third round pick in this deal was negligible because the Jackets wound up acquiring the pick just before the one they traded away, landing the prospect they wanted anyway.
The 2027 second rounder is a long ways off, and one could argue that it was expendable because the Blue Jackets owned two picks in that year and round of the draft. So, even as a long-time prospects guy, I go back to an old saying: NHL players are always better than NHL prospects. Especially when you're looking at the second tier level of both.
I do think this deal will help the Jackets be a better team on both sides of the puck this season. In my opinion, giving up some secondary futures was well worth the cost to acquire Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood.