This was one of the more shocking trades today. After the Colorado Avalanche traded Ryan Johansen to the Philadelphia Flyers as part of the deal to acquire Sean Walker, they soon announced they were acquiring Casey Mittelstadt from the Buffalo Sabres for defenseman Bowen Byram. The trade was one-for-one.
Mittelstadt has become a competent second-line center over the last couple of seasons, something the Avalanche desperately needed to upgrade. Byram is a former top-five pick but has struggled in recent seasons and has injury concerns. There’s upside for the Sabres but also plenty of risk. Let’s grade how each side fared.
Johansen wasn’t cutting it out as the Avalanche’s second-line center. He had just 13 goals and 23 points in 62 games, which is production akin to a bottom-six center. With Mittelstadt, the Avalanche will be getting an upgrade in that department. He has 14 goals and 47 points in 62 games, putting him on pace to finish with 19 tallies and 62 points.
Mittelstadt is an interesting player of sorts. He’s not much of a goal-scorer, but he is one of the better playmaking centers in the NHL. He’s averaging 1.61 assists per 60 minutes at five-on-five, and many of those have been primary assists.
The question I have with Mittelstadt is how sustainable are his numbers. Yes, this is the second season in a row he’s produced at this level, but he also has an on-ice shooting percentage of 12.47 percent in 2023-24. That means some of his success has been percentage-driven, which is a bit of a red flag.
However, when looking at his microstats, his passing data grades out pretty well. He ranks in the 84th percentile in primary assists, 91st percentile in rush shot assists, and 83rd percentile in high-danger passes, to name a few:
