With the NHL Trade Deadline drawing near, teams are starting to construct ways to ensure they have the most space beneath the salary cap in order to add the necessary assets to bolster their rosters.

One of those teams is the Colorado Avalanche, a team that had a sluggish start to the season but has already been active by completely rebuilding its goaltending tandem by acquiring Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood.

However, despite hanging near the top three in the Central Division, some believe there are still some parts of the lineup the Avs can improve on. According to CapWages, Colorado has a little over $2.2 million in cap space. However, they could use money from the players currently placed on long-term injured reserve – Tucker Poolman, Miles Wood and captain Gabriel Landeskog – to give them some flexibility.

On Friday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss how the Avalanche can use LTIR to become players at the trade deadline.

Frank Seravalli: I know Gabriel Landeskog has been working his way back…I would expect the Colorado Avalanche to have all $7 million of that pool to use. They’ve got a great case to have him come back in the playoffs if he wants to and/or is ready…This guy’s been out since the 2022 Stanley Cup Final. I don’t know if anyone would be able to see anything otherwise, even if he were closer.

So, they have that benefit, and I think they should take full advantage because I believe this Colorado Avalanche team is so much better than the standings would even indicate or appreciate. Their goaltending has been better with Mackenzie Blackwood. They’ve got three of the best players in the game with [Mikko] Rantanen, [Nathan] MacKinnon and [Cale] Makar. They’re going to be an absolute threat come the playoffs.

You can watch the full segment and entire episode here…