Rival Avalanche adds Boedker, Gelinas in advance of game vs. Wild

UPDATED

The Wild hosts the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday night for a chance to get into the top-8 in the West for the first time since Jan. 25.

This afternoon, in the first big trade of a quiet deadline day in the NHL, the Avalanche made a significant move by acquiring speedy 26-year-old winger Mikkel Boedker, a pending free agent, for veteran Alex Tanguay and two prospects.

Big, big upgrade. The slowing Tanguay, also a pending free agent, scored his fourth goal the other night.

With 80 minutes to go before the deadline as of this blog entry, the Coyotes had made the only two trades of the day until recent acqusitions by Dallas of Kris Russell and now defenseman Eric Gelinas going to the Avs, too. Only thing I really know about the latter is he's got a big shot.

As for the Wild, we'll see if the Avs' move pressures GM Chuck Fletcher into something. Of course, he'd say it does not, but the Avs are two points up on the Wild right now and really are the only team the Wild's chasing right now.

However, if the Wild ends the day with no moves or a minor move, you can bet the spin will be that Jason Zucker and Jonas Brodin are close to returning from injuries and would be the so-called "trade deadline pickups."

I'm told by sources that the Wild has gotten a lot of calls today on both Brodin and Zucker, although they're not being "shopped." For the Wild to make an impactful trade with one of the Edmonton young forwards or Loui Eriksson or Jonathan Drouin, it would have to be significant pieces going the other way.

Drouin, still to me, makes little sense. He hasn't played in a month-and-a-half. Are you really going to trade a significant fixture off you roster for somebody that probably wouldn't be able to help immediately?

Eriksson would have to be a significant move. No chance the Wild trades one of its top D for a rental unless more is coming back with Eriksson. That would seem to be a difficult move to make at this point and the Wild keeps throwing hot water on it anyway. Of course, the Wild did the same thing with Chris Stewart last year, too.

But I do still think Brodin's in play right now and with an hour to go, we'll see. I asked a source if this means Brodin's activation means he returns against the Avalanche, the reply was, "Not necessarily."

Some possible rental moves if the Wild goes that route include Jamie McGinn and David Jones. Scottie Hartnell has also been offered with Columbus willing to retain salary, sources say.