Saturday: TSN’s Renaud Lavoie reports that Grubauer has signed a three-year contract extension, like expected, for around $10MM. The deal will be worth an average of $3.33 AAV, worth $3.35MM, $3.9MM and $2.75MM over the three years, according to Pierre LeBrun.
Friday: The Colorado Avalanche have acquired Philipp Grubauer and Brooks Orpik from the Washington Capitals in exchange for a second-round pick (47th overall) in this year’s draft. This move accomplishes big things for both teams, despite the Capitals only receiving a second-round pick. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports that Orpik may not be long for Colorado, as the team will either try to trade him or buy him out.
Capitals GM Brian MacLellan was clear that he would look for an opportunity to send Grubauer somewhere he could become the starting goaltender, or at least work in tandem with one. While Colorado still has Semyon Varlamov under contract, he’ll be an unrestricted free agent next summer and has struggled with injury in recent years. Grubauer is a restricted free agent, but is only 26-years old and could be a long-term solution for the team.
The team is already working on a three-year contract with Grubauer according to LeBrun, giving the team some continuity in net going forward. It’s not clear where his salary will end, but you can bet Colorado didn’t make the deal without having some idea of the demands of Grubauer and agent Allain Roy.
This all but guarantees that Jonathan Bernier will not be returning to the Avalanche, but does solidify their goaltending situation. Orpik comes as a pure salary dump by the Capitals, as getting rid of his $5.5MM cap hit will help them offer John Carlson a fair market deal. Orpik played a big part in the recent Stanley Cup Championship, but he’s clearly slowing down and losing his touch as the league gets quicker and quicker.
The Avalanche are committed to speed all over their roster, which makes the flip or buyout of Orpik extremely unsurprising. Led by Tyson Barrie and Samuel Girard on the blue line, there isn’t much room for a bruising defender like the 37-year old Stanley Cup champion.
Good move, both should help the Avs while the Caps needed cap relief.
Agreed makes a lot of sense both ways. I like how Colorado basically bought Grubauer though, because he’s probably worth more than the 47th overall pick.
Agreed this is a really good deal for both teams. At a quick first glance, this is a questionable move for Colorado since they have Varlamov, but it makes sense given some of his consistency and health issues as well as his pending free agency. Even if Grubauer ends up in a semi-timeshare for the number 1 goalie spot, the Avalanche have upgraded their team as long as he plays decently well.
For the Capitals this is a sneaky good move. I honestly thought Orpik might be an unmovable contract without attaching some picks/prospects. I didn’t think a team would take him with Grubauer since the receiving team would need to absorb Orpik’s contract plus the new contract for Grubauer.
This is a great trade for Colorado. If he doesn’t work out as a true number 1 they can use him in a tandem with Varlamov or Bernier
Too bad they can’t dump Varlamov and his salary.
They could still.
Or they’re stuck with it and don’t bring back Bernier which would suck as its time to move on from Varly and hope one of those two step up and take over as a #1.
Varly to NYI.
I could see a team taking a chance on Varlamov on his 1 year deal. Islanders or Hurricanes both make sense and the Avalanche would probably take a slightly lesser return for the full cap relief.
Expecting Bernier to step up and magically turn into a #1 goalie is a mistake. I know he played well in relief last year but despite all his potential, he hasn’t put it all together consistently for a whole year let alone string together a couple of good seasons. To me, Bernier is a very high end backup but anything more than a two or three year deal I would shy away from.
I was hoping Orpik would help lead the youngsters, but Sakic already says he’s not staying.
“Orpik, 37, is under contract at $5.5 million next season before eligible to become an unrestricted free agent. “We gave up a second-round pick, a good pick, but we felt to take (Orpik) and give (Washington) cap relief, we wouldn’t have to pay as much of a premium,” Sakic said. “I talked to him and the plan is to see if we can maybe move him here or buy him out.””
“Wouldn’t have to pay as much of a premium”…. they gave up a 2nd rounder AND $4 MILLION…. that sounds like a pretty large premium and they have dead money on the books for two years…