It’s not a big move, but it might have a big impact on what the Colorado Avalanche can do at the trade deadline.

On Friday, the Avalanche announced that they’ve traded Kurtis MacDermid to the New Jersey Devils. The return? Not a whole lot. They’ll get back a 2024 7th round pick and prospect Zakhar Bardakov, who is currently playing against Nikolai Kovalenko in the KHL playoffs.

MacDermid had moved full-time to forward this year, playing in 29 games and registering just two points. He was never on the roster to score points, though. The Avalanche brought him in to add some toughness, and to be a “glue guy” in the locker room. Pretty much everyone on the team loved having him around, although he didn’t provide a ton on the ice.

The 29 year old is a pending unrestricted free agent and makes $987,500.

That contract is the key. This is, essentially, a cap dump.

MacDermid was taking up a roster spot, but the team clearly didn’t trust him to play regular minutes. Despite playing a decent amount of games the prior two seasons, he did not dress for a single playoff game. He averaged just 5:05 of ice-time a game this season

By trading him, the Avalanche have freed up a roster spot, a contract spot, and most importantly, cap space. I have to imagine this move gives Colorado and Chris MacFarland more flexibility moving forward to add someone making a little bit more money.

What will Colorado do next? We’ll find out soon enough, as the NHL Trade Deadline is one week from today.