Avalanche goaltender Philipp Grubauer had a dominant 2020-21 season, earning himself a Vezina Trophy nomination along the way as he posted a 1.95 GAA along with a .922 SV% in 40 games. That has him extremely well-positioned heading into unrestricted free agency for the first time this summer, even in a flat-cap marketplace. However, talks on his next deal haven’t started yet as his agent Allain Roy told Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic (subscription link) that those discussions will wait until Colorado’s playoff run comes to an end. Grubauer is in the final season of a three-year, $10MM contract and could potentially double that on the open market this summer with a couple of recent comparables at $6MM or higher.
More from the West:
- Wild prospect Marco Rossi has been given the all-clear and will skate for the first time on Saturday as he works his way back from a bout with myocarditis, relays Michael Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link). Rossi was initially diagnosed with COVID-19 following the World Juniors and was sent home for the season to recover before the heart issue was later revealed. With this good news, Rossi should be ready for next season and will still have three years left on his entry-level contract as his deal will slide since he didn’t see any NHL action.
- Jonathan Dahlen could be making his return to North America. Adam Johansson and Johan Svensson of SportExpressen report that the Sharks are expected to sign the winger for next season. Unhappy with his situation with San Jose, he signed up for a second year with Timra in Sweden’s Allsvenskan after playing there on the final year of his entry-level deal. He has been quite dominant in that stretch, notching 77 points in 51 games last year and 71 and 45 contests this season. The 23-year-old restricted free agent was believed to be seeking a one-way deal to return to North America so it will be interesting to see if he gets it, assuming this eventually comes to fruition.
I don’t get to see enough Avs games to judge…
Is Grubauer Chris Osgood or Andrei Vasilevski?
I’d say he’s like Halak towards the end of his Habs stint.
FIRE DOUG WILSON!!!
No, extend Martin Jones! ;)
As good as Grubauer has been (most recent game against Vegas, his play was reason they won), I could see Colorado finding it difficult to pay him the dollars that may be available to him on the open market. (Watch for Edmonton to push for him the same way they did Markstrom last off-season . . . just a guess!) Goaltending is such a tricky position to invest big dollars and term, and with Colorado’s puck possession and incredible mobile d-core, I wonder if the need for big financial commitment to a starter sits a little lower on the priority scale for the Avs. (?) Save mention the big dollars needed for Landeskog and Makar, and then on MacKinnon in 2 years time.
All these top goalies reaching free agency the past couple of years like Grubauer and Markstrom just makes Ottawa trading for and then giving Murray over 6 million per season that much worse.