It’s been a busy 14 days for Joe Sakic. He’s made two trades with his former colleague in Chris MacFarland, dealt away one of the key players from the 2022 Stanley Cup team, and signed two veteran defenseman.

It doesn’t sound like he’s done, either.

“We’d still like to sign one or two forwards and a (defenseman),” Sakic told the media ahead of the first round of the NHL Draft.

Now, that’s easier said than done given the situation the Avalanche are in. After signing Brett Kulak and Brent Burns earlier in the day, Colorado now has a little under $5.7 million in cap space. That number includes Burns’ bonus overage from last season that will carry over to the 2026-27 cap number, but doesn’t include any of the bonuses on his new contract.

Simply put, the Avalanche have room for a few cheaper players, but they can’t go too crazy over the next week or two. There’s a reason why the bulk of Sakic’s work thus far has been dumping contracts to create cap space.

“Those decisions for us really were cap decisions, free up some space. We couldn’t have brought everybody back,” Sakic said. “We just had to do things to free up cap space while accumulating draft capital, which hopefully tomorrow we can get some good prospects in our systems. And we got a lot more draft picks now next year that we can use during the year or trade deadline or whenever to try and help our team.”

So, while there may be a few minor additions moving forward, the bulk of Colorado’s roster appears set for next season. That means the two young forwards the Avalanche acquired earlier this week in Fedor Svechkov and Zachary L’Heureux will likely start the year in the NHL.

Sakic sounds excited about both.

“Svechkov, he’s like a (Chris) Drury,” Sakic said. “He’s not quite at Drury’s level yet, but we think he can get there, and he’s only 23. So a little more confidence from him, but we do see a similar player that could play that role.”

The other acquisition in the trade, L’Heureux, plays with an edge, often crossing it. The 23-year-old forward has been suspended 12 times dating back to his junior hockey days.

But Sakic, who played with a guy like Claude Lemieux and knows good teams can benefit from having someone like that on their roster, thinks the Avalanche could have used a player like L’Heureux a few weeks ago.

“He’s going to be exciting for us,” Sakic said. “He’s type of player that we were looking for. He’d be great for us, we probably wish we had that player in the playoffs, and he’s going to bring a lot of enthusiasm, excitement, physicality, and he goes to the net. He’s always around that net, so we’re excited to have both of them.”

Things can change on a dime in this league, but it sounded like the draft picks the Avalanche acquired for Valeri Nichushkin, including the 43rd pick in this year’s draft, will be used to replenish a prospect pool that has been severely depleted in recent years. Carolina showed that you can win with youth on your roster, something the Avalanche haven’t had over the last few years.

“Absolutely (need it),” Sakic said. “I mean, “You always need some younger guys to bring the enthusiasm, the freshness. They give the older, I won’t say older guys — we’re not that old but you know what I mean — they give them a boost. They see them playing and bring that energy, and it just brings everybody’s level up a little bit.”

Colorado is set to pick 10 times between rounds 2 through 7 during this weekend’s NHL Draft. Free agency opens at 10 a.m.