The Avalanche haven’t gotten into substantive contract discussions with pending UFAs Gabriel Landeskog and Philipp Grubauer, reports Peter Baugh of The Athletic (subscription link). Landeskog, Colorado’s captain, has spent the last ten years with the Avs and will be hitting the open market for the first time. He’s believed to be seeking a long-term contract and an eight-year pact would basically lock him up for the rest of his career. However, they have to be mindful of the fact that Nathan MacKinnon is two years away from needing a substantial raise and Cale Makar will get one this summer as a restricted free agent. If Landeskog wants top dollar, they may not be able to afford it.
As for Grubauer, he could have a shot at doubling the $3.33MM AAV he had on his last contract which could also price him out of what the Avalanche can afford. But they also can’t afford to go into next season with Pavel Francouz – who didn’t play at all in 2020-21 – as the number one. Whether it’s Grubauer or someone else, they’ll need to set aside some money for goaltending.
Elsewhere around the league:
- The Blue Jackets are looking into adding an advisor to their coaching staff, relays Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (subscription link). No one on their staff has ever served as a head coach at the NHL level so bringing in someone in a mentorship type of role would make sense. Portzline suggests veteran bench boss Jacques Martin could be a viable candidate for such a position and that the 68-year-old is interested in a position like that.
- What do the Golden Knights need to add this offseason? Team owner Bill Foley told David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal that power play help will be a priority this summer. They were held without a power play goal in 15 opportunities in their semifinal loss to Montreal which contributed to a 9.5% success rate in the playoffs, the lowest among all postseason teams. Even during the regular season, they were below the league average with the man advantage. While Vegas has built impressive depth up front, bringing in someone to help boost their power play would certainly give them a big lift offensively.
Yeah, Colorado is screwed. They’ve got $21 million in cap space. Anyone think they can sign Landeskog AND Makar AND Grubauer for as little as $21 million between them? And then they have to fill out the rest of the roster too. Saad, Jost … heck, unless they stick Byram back on the farm, his cap hit’s $2.5.
Honestly, not only do they have to buy out Johnson (which saves them $4 million on the cap), but they may just have to wave goodbye to Landeskog.
@Nha Trang – Good news! CapFriendly shows them at $25.49MM in projected cap space. Big fat hairy deal, right? Landy, The Saadfather, Grooby, and Cale being the big four here. Landy might be a cap cannibal, but there’s a chance he tries to make things work out for the team. B-Saad seemed to fit in unusually well, so bringing him back on the semi-cheap wouldn’t be a terrible idea (big if). I’m not on board with Grooby deserving double his previous deal, as he didn’t have stiff enough competition in the COVID-West division this year. Poor Cale doesn’t have arb rights yet, so he might have to settle for a bridge, but it should be a fair one. Jost and Sherwood are RFA w/arb, so they could get non-QO’d if the team can’t get them back at minimum. The same could be said for UFAs O’Brien, Bellemare and Nemeth. Some contract will be taken by Seattle, but who knows which one and how much help it will be. And you thought July 4th, wouldn’t end without one last “thud!” :)
I love your takes Mac..you’re one of my fave posters. The saadfather love it man. I agree I think grubauer was fantastic but does it double his contract..doubtful…In this market Landeskog doesn’t command much more than nuge got IMO, Makar is a total stud and needs to be paid, and Saad is a good fit but if they can’t keep him he’s not irreplaceable.
@Nha Trang. Byram is on his ELC. His cap hit next year is not $2.5 it’s just shy of 900k
Why is owner Foley the spokesperson for hockey operations all the time?
@HockeyDude77 – Because he has the ultimate 24K Gold steering wheel for being THE backseat driver. And the old Food & Wine Society doesn’t eat up enough time during the day to keep busy… (I’m already past asking that question, now just at head-shaking time.)