General manager Joe Sakic is looking to improve the Colorado Avalanche ahead of the trade deadline, but he's not willing to mortgage the team's future to do so.

Sakic told the Denver Post that he still believes the Avalanche can make the playoffs, despite a 2-8 record in their past 10 games, and that he is hoping to add supplementary scoring behind the team's dominant top line of Mikko Rantanen, Nathan MacKinnon and Gabriel Landeskog.

“We like our back end. We like our goaltending – we just got to get them playing with more confidence,” Sakic said Tuesday. “If we can add some scoring, some depth scoring, that would be our priority.”

Rantanen and MacKinnon are both over 70 points this season, while Landeskog leads the team with 29 goals and has 54 points. Carl Soderberg is the team's next-highest scoring forward with 31 points in 52 games.

Sakic said he's been engaged in trade conversations, but the asking price is simply too high for the Avalanche.

“We’ve been talking with teams the better part of three, four weeks now. But what we’re not doing is moving our high picks and prospects,” Sakic said. “Right now, for any player you’re talking about, they’re looking at players we’re not willing to give up. But we got three weeks to go and we’ll see where we are at that time. There are things we’ll continue to look at – hockey trades – and see how we can get better.”

The Avalanche currently have two first-round picks in the 2019 NHL Draft, including that of the Ottawa Senators, which would have the top lottery odds if the season ended today. Sakic said the team is not willing to use either pick as fodder in a deal.

“We’re looking at the big picture here. We love what’s coming,” he said. “It’s a process, and we’re not going to deviate from that plan. If there’s a player that can help us that isn’t going to include one of those [first-round] picks and top prospects, then we’ll look at that.”

Colorado sits two points back of the Vancouver Canucks for the final wild-card spot with two games in hand. The Avalanche will look to snap a four-game losing skid on Thursday against the Washington Capitals.