Unestablished Defenseman Swap

			2015		2016
To Colorado	POS	Age	G/W	P	Cap
Brandon Gormley	D	23	2	4	$850k
--------------
To Arizona	POS	Age	G/W	P	Cap
Stefan Elliott	D	24	0	0	RFA

An interesting swap on Wednesday nights, as the Arizona Coyotes and Colorado Avalanche part with a couple of former top end defensive prospects, still holding hope that either/or could step up and fill the role that they were once drafted for.

Gormley was on the verge of being an everyday defenseman for the Coyotes, before this deal, as he drew into 27 games last season and was looking at the depth chart, which only had about five players ahead of him, likely licking his chops for that everyday job.

Now Gormley finds himself in a pretty good logjam for jobs in Colorado, after the acquisition of Nikita Zadorov, not to mention a veteran presence in Brad Stuart.  This could be a tough road, but if he's coming into his own now, he could be in good shape.

Elliott was in that logjam and now is in the opposite position as Gormley.  Elliott, who had his share of troubles, trying to crack the Avs everyday roster, now has a chance to be the guy in Arizona, once he signs a new deal, of course.

As an AHL defenseman, Elliott has been decent, picking up 95 points in 199 AHL games, while it hasn't really translated into NHL time, playing in 63 games, picking up 18 points.

Gormley has some projections by his name this year, was likely going to be a depth defenseman, if he was going to be used in the pool at all.  I had him in at around 10 points for the year, but the logjam in Colorado has cut that in half.

Elliott wasn't going to work with any projections, heading into the draft, but once he signs, I would say that he would get a very modest 10 points here as well.  He should get a good chance to shine, as they will need someone to really step up behind Oliver Ekman-Larsson, in the offensive side of the blueline.

If Elliott was to make the team and get the power play time, I could see his numbers shoot up even futher.