Breaking: Colorado acquires Nick Blankenburg — and more

We’re less than 48 hours away from the NHL Trade Deadline this upcoming Friday, and the Avs have made another trade a week after acquiring defenseman Brett Kulak from the Pittsburgh Penguins. This time around, Colorado acquired right shot defenseman Nick Blankenburg from the Nashville Predators in exchange for a 2027 5th-round draft pick.

The 27-year-old Blankenburg will very likely be Colorado’s 7th defenseman for this season, and serve as “break glass in case of emergency” depth, in case the Avs need an NHL-caliber defenseman to slot in for any number of reasons. In 49 games for Nashville this season, Blankenburg has recorded six goals and 15 assists for a total of 21 points this season, and is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer on an expiring $775K contract.

Blankenburg is a good set-and-forget third-pairing defenseman and should be more than fine stepping into the lineup whenever he might be called upon. It is interesting that after a week of hearing how much the Avalanche value big strong and size on the back end that they’d target not only another right hander as well as someone listed at 5-foot-9 and 177 lbs. But the price must have been right and Blankenburg is an affordable depth addition.

As previously mentioned, we’re less than 48 hours before the deadline as of tonight and action has started to pick up around the league. Colorado has yet to address their forward group, which might be next on the docket after seemingly setting their defensive core for the rest of the season.

Oilers cut ties with $3.6 million forward with trade before deadline originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Edmonton Oilers have moved on.

Andrew Mangiapane ended up being a total bust, but at least they found a way off of him.

He's reportedly being sent to the Chicago Blackhawks in a fascinating deal reported Wednesday night:

Trade details, per sources:

To #LetsGoOilers:
C Jason Dickinson (50% retained)
F Colton Dach

To #Blackhawks:
F Andrew Mangiapane
2027 1st Round Pick

Condition: 1st round pick is Top 12 protected.

— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) March 5, 2026

MORE: Maple Leafs getting help from Flyers to trade veteran center

The Oilers actually made this deal more likely by passing Mangiapane through waivers earlier in the week.

The Athletic's Chris Johnston wrote : "Quite the contrary, in fact, because an acquiring team can send Mangiapane directly to the AHL once he’s passed through waivers and would be in a position to get a sweetener from Edmonton for taking on his contract. Mangiapane’s game is a long way from the 35-goal season he had in 2021-22, but he did score 13 even-strength goals in Washington last season and was also deployed as a penalty killer on the league’s fifth-best unit. Edmonton is desperate to clear up cap space for other moves, so he has to go."

Mangiapane has a $3.6 million annual average value and is still under contract through the 2026-27 season.

That appears to be Chicago's problem now.

More NHL news:

• Oilers want 2 positions before the NHL trade deadline
• A salary cap rule may make 2 Flames trades difficult
• Canadiens know trade cost for Robert Thomas
• It'll be complicated to trade for Steven Stamkos
• Alex Ovechkin has shared an update on his retirement plans
• Buffalo Sabres have gone from last to the best story in hockey

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