The Colorado Avalanche are a contending team with a chip on their shoulder after last year's first-round exit at the hands of the Seattle Kraken – just the sort of franchise you want to keep your eye on ahead of the trade deadline.

And you can't say the Avalanche don't have needs, particularly up front. It wouldn't quite be fair to characterize the Avs as a one-line team, but they aren't that far off either. The Stanley Cup playoffs are nothing if not a war of attrition, so that's something they'll surely look to address in the coming week.

They don't have much cap space, though, and they aren't exactly flush with draft picks, missing this year's second and third-rounders. There are some good prospect trade chips in their system, though, and we'll profile some of the ones most likely to move