Avalanche land a center from the Maple Leafs in latest trade

Colorado Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland has made another trade.

And after adding two defenseman over the last 10 days, he’s now giving the Avs a new third-line center.

Nicolas Roy is headed to Denver from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for two draft picks.

We have acquired forward Nicolas Roy from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a conditional first-round draft pick in 2027 and a conditional fifth-round draft pick in 2026.

Welcome to Colorado, Nicolas! 🏔️ pic.twitter.com/cd0xIQgno3

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) March 5, 2026

Roy has five goals and 15 assists for Toronto this season, good for 20 points. It was his first and only season with the Maple Leafs after being involved in the Mitch Marner sign-and-trade with the Vegas Golden Knights last summer.

Roy won a Stanley Cup in Vegas and played there for six seasons after briefly making his NHL debut in Carolina, skating in seven games with the Hurricanes over a span of a couple of years.

The 6-foot-4, 200-pound center has competed in 428 career regular-season games and recorded 186 points, tallying 73 goals and 113 assists. In postseason play, Roy has registered 32 points (10 goals, 22 assists) in 79 Stanley Cup Playoff contests.

In return, the Avalanche will send Toronto a conditional first-round draft pick in 2027 and a conditional fifth-round draft pick in 2026. 

In the event Colorado’s 2027 first-round selection is in the top-10 of the 2027 NHL Draft, Colorado will send its unprotected 2028 first-round pick to Toronto. Colorado currently holds three fifth-round selections in the 2026 NHL Draft; the lowest of those three picks will be transferred to Toronto as part of the transaction.

Many Avalanche fans were hoping to see a reunion with Nazem Kadri, a 2022 Stanley Cup champion who’s currently with the Calgary Flames. That’s very unlikely to happen now, but Roy is a cheaper than Kadri. He’s making $3M this year and $3M next season before the contract expires.

Colorado now has Nathan MacKinnon as its first-line center, Brock Nelson on the second, Roy on the third and Jack Drury skating with the fourth-line.

The NHL trade deadline is Friday at 1:00 p.m. MT, so we’ll see if MacFarland has anything else up his sleeve.

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