Predators and Avalanche strike deal after holiday roster freeze.

The Colorado Avalanche and Nashville Predators have struck a deal on the first day after the holiday roster freeze with a pair of players and a pair of draft picks on the move.

The Predators have officially confirmed that they have acquired forward Ondrej Pavel as well as a third round pick at the 2027 NHL Draft from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for forward Juuso Parssinen and a seventh round pick at the 2026 NHL Draft.

Pavel has just 2 games of NHL experience under his belt, both with the Avalanche, although that came during the course of the 2023-24 NHL season. this season Pavel has played 14 games for the American Hockey League's Colorado Eagles in which he has no goals and 2 assists for a total of 2 points thus far.

Parssinen on the other hand has considerably more NHL experience with 104 career games under his belt, including 15 this season with the Nashville Predators. Over his 15 games this season he has 2 goals and 3 assists for a total of 5 points on the season.

This is a relatively minor trade deal but it is hard to argue that the Avalanche haven't made the more immediate improvement with Parssinen already established as at least a fringe NHL player while Pavel has yet to break through at the NHL level.

The Predators do however get the more valuable of the two draft picks and given the current direction of their team this season it makes sense that they would be dealing players in favor of future assets, with any hope of making the Stanley Cup playoffs appearing to be unlikely with only 11 wins through their first 36 games of the 2024-25 NHL regular season.