Avalanche Acquire Casey Mittelstadt For Bo Byram

What an eventful last 30 minutes that was.

On the heels of acquiring defenseman Sean Walker, the Colorado Avalanche have acquired their 2C in Casey Mittelstadt from the Buffalo Sabres. In exchange, the Avalanche are sending defenseman Bowen Byram to Buffalo in a one-for-one deal.

A lot to unpack here, but the starting point is Mittelstadt’s age. He’s 25 years old and a restricted free agent at the end of the year. Simply put, the Avalanche have some control in this deal.

Mittelstadt is building off a career year last season when he scored 59 points in 82 games.

The former eighth overall pick in 2017 had 14 goals, 47 points, and a +12 in 62 games, averaging 18:16 time on ice with Buffalo. Mittelstadt is a player the Avalanche can plug in on the power play as well, with two goals and eight points coming from that department.

In some sense, the two transactions today remind me a lot of 2022 when the Avalanche acquired Josh Manson and Artturi Lehkonen.