The Colorado Avalanche made the first trade of the almost trade season in making a deal with the San Jose Sharks to bring back familiar face Matt Nieto as well as disgruntled first round defenseman Ryan Merkley in exchange for Martin Kaut and Jacob MacDonald.

The writing was on the wall for both Kaut and MacDonald. As Kaut struggled to keep his position with the club at the NHL level, and even though MacDonald was playing nightly for the Avalanche, was playing bare-bones minutes.

We break the trade down, how we feel about it and what does this mean for Darren Helm of all people?

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