The Colorado Avalanche have found their second-line centre in the form of Ryan Johansen, after completing a trade that will send Alex Galchenyuk back to the Nashville Predators, the teams announced on Saturday.

“Ryan is a talented, veteran center who helps our top six,” Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland said, according to NHL.com. “He gives us size (6-foot-3, 218 pounds) in the middle of the ice and brings leadership and experience to our roster. We look forward to adding him to our team.”

Galchenyuk is a pending free agent, so this move looks to be strictly a cap dump for the Avalanche; the Predators are also retaining $4 million of Johansen's $8 million AAV.

It's a pretty cheap price to pay for the Avalanche, although it isn't clear whether Johansen is the capable second-line centre he was earlier in his career.

The 31-year-old is set to step into the role previously held by Nazem Kadri before he signed a seven-year, $49 million contract with the Calgary Flames in free agency last summer.

“On behalf of the Predators organization, we want to thank Ryan for his contributions to our team and community over the last seven-plus years,” Trotz said on Saturday. “He played a large role in our franchise's accomplishments since arriving in January 2016, helping lead us to the 2017 Stanley Cup Final, the 2018 Presidents' Trophy, back-to-back Central Division titles in 2018 and 2019 and several postseason appearances.”

Johansen finished with 28 points in 55 games last season after amassing 63 points in 79 games in 2021-22. It's the first significant move by new Predators GM Barry Trotz after he replaced John Hynes with Andrew Brunette behind the bench.

It's a much-needed move for the Avs, who didn't really have a serviceable 2C with Gabriel Landeskog set to miss another season while recovering from cartilage replacement surgery.

The goal for Colorado is that Ryan Johansen will be able to step into that role with more skilled linemates than he had in Nashville, while it's unclear whether Alex Galchenyuk will play a single game for his new team.