Nemeth traded to Avalanche by Red Wings for NHL Draft pick

Patrik Nemeth was traded to the Colorado Avalanche by the Detroit Red Wings on Friday.

Detroit receives a fourth-round selection in the 2022 NHL Draft.

The 29-year-old defenseman can become an unrestricted free agent after this season. He played 142 games for the Avalanche from 2017-19 before signing with the Red Wings as a free agent.

"There's certainly a spot for him on this team," Colorado coach Jared Bednar said. "We have some of those heavy-lifting minutes that he can bring. He's a player a lot like [Ryan] Graves in that regard, where he'll be one of our top penalty killers and fill in with some tough [defensive] zone starts, and he's a big-bodied guy that plays physical. ... He's a real good defender, knows what he is, so he'll be able to take some of those minutes that, say [Samuel] Girard and [Cale] Makar and [Devon] Toews are playing on the penalty kill, and give them a little extra rest, so they can use their energy to some of their strengths."

Nemeth scored eight points (two goals, six assists) and was minus-1 in 39 games for Detroit this season. He has scored seven goals in 353 NHL games.

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A second-round pick (No. 41) by the Dallas Stars in the 2010 NHL Draft, he has 49 assists in the regular season, and one assist in 18 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He led the Avalanche in time on ice (23:42 per game) in six playoff games in 2018.

"We obviously lost a good teammate yesterday in Patrik Nemeth," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said Saturday. "We all understand why. But he's still a good friend and a good teammate, a guy who went to battle with us numerous times and was a great competitor for us."

Detroit (13-23-6) is last in the eight-team Discover Central Division, 13 points behind the fourth-place Nashville Predators with 14 games remaining.

The Avalanche acquired goalie Devan Dubnyk from the San Jose Sharks on Saturday for defenseman Greg Pateryn.

San Jose also received a fifth-round pick in the 2021 NHL Draft for the goalie.

Dubnyk is in the final year of a six-year contract he signed with the Minnesota Wild on June 27, 2015 and can become an unrestricted free agent after the season.

The 34-year-old is 3-9-2 with a 3.18 goals-against average and .898 save percentage in 17 games (13 starts) this season. He was acquired by the Sharks in a trade with the Wild on Oct. 5.

Colorado (27-9-4) leads the eight-team Honda West Division; San Jose (18-17-4) is sixth, three points behind the fourth-place Arizona Coyotes.

The top four teams in each division will qualify for the playoffs.

NHL.com independent correspondent Kurt Dusterberg contributed to this report