Ryan Lindgren is another member of the Colorado Avalanche who spent little time in the Mile High City in the 2024-25 season. The Avs are only the second team of his career.

With the Rangers

Before joining Colorado, he was a member of the New York Rangers for seven years. He had a career year in the Big Apple, with two goals and 17 assists in 54 games.

Lindgren was comfortable on the blue line for the Blueshirts. However, the Rangers had their own problems, faltering in the division and slipping away from the playoff race. He also kept dealing with injury.

Lindgren saw one of his blue liners traded to the Anaheim Ducks in Jacob Trouba. He would be one of the next ones to depart New York.

With the Avalanche

On March 1, he moved to Colorado alongside Jimmy Vesey and Hank Kempf. The Avalanche gave up Calvin de Haan, Juuso Parssinen, and conditional second and fourth-round picks in the 2025 NHL Draft for the upgrade on defense.

Questions were definitely asked when he was first acquired. Nonetheless, when Lindgren joined the Avs, he had high hopes and expectations if he was being utilized correctly. The thought was less playing time would make him more useful as a third pairing.

He ended up playing in 18 regular-season games for Colorado. While he only had two goals and an assist, he was solid in terms of hitting and blocking shots. He also tacked on three assists in the playoffs against the Dallas Stars.

But he continued following a similar trend to a lot of defenders this season with the Avalanche. He gave away the puck a lot. He had 55 turnovers in New York, and averaged just under one turnover per game with Colorado – 17 total.

At the end of the day, he still ended up playing nearly as much as he did nightly with the Rangers. He averaged 19 minutes with the Avs and ultimately didn’t live up to the possibility of advancing up the totem pole.

He became a free agent this summer. With the little cap space Colorado has and having already signed Brock Nelson, it was always unlikely Ryan Lindgren would be back. He has since signed a four-year deal with the Seattle Kraken worth $18 million overall.