The Colorado Avalanche have joined the arms race in the Western Conference, bolstering an area of strength with the addition of defenseman Sean Walker from the Philadelphia Flyers.
Colorado traded a 2025 first-round pick and center Ryan Johansen, for Walker, a right-handed defenseman who is having a career year in his first season with the Flyers and a 2026 fifth-round pick. The Avs’ first rounder is top-10 protected.
Walker, 29, has six goals and 22 points while averaging a career-best 19:36 of ice time for the Flyers, who are in a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference but have been adamant about still being a seller before the Friday afternoon deadline. Walker is a pending unrestricted free agent in the final year of a four-year contract that carries a $2.65 million cap hit.
The Avalanche added Johansen in a trade this offseason with the hope that he would fill the No. 2 center role behind Nathan MacKinnon, but it hasn’t worked out. He has one more season left on his contract at $8 million — Nashville retained half of that in the trade with Colorado.
The Flyers have waived Johansen.
This is a developing story.
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