The Colorado Avalanche are in for a tumultuous offseason. The team has just five forwards on the NHL roster under contract for 2023-24, and most of their pending free agents are unrestricted.
One of the few players needing a new contract under team control, however, is promising young defender Bowen Byram. In his latest for The Athletic, Peter Baugh outlined what the 21-year-old’s next contract could look like, given Byram’s stellar play in limited NHL action due to frequent injuries.
The most expensive comparable listed for Byram is the only in-house one in Baugh’s article – Samuel Girard, who signed a seven-year, $5MM average annual value contract extension after just two NHL seasons. The deal’s been met with mixed results, with injury issues of his own leading Girard’s play to become inconsistent in the past few seasons. But the rest of Baugh’s list, which includes players such as Noah Dobson, Vince Dunn, Adam Boqvist, and Travis Sanheim, indicates a two-to-three-year deal in the $3MM-$4MM range is more likely based on past signings.
- With their upper management set in stone, expect the Calgary Flames’ focus to immediately shift to hiring a new head coach, says TSN’s Darren Dreger. The Flames haven’t seen their name pop up in coaching rumors as much as other teams on the market, but their focus, up until last weekend, was restricted to naming their next general manager. Now that the hires of Craig Conroy and Dave Nonis are expected to be made official today, Calgary’s name will start coming up in connection to potential coaching candidates.
- If the Arizona Coyotes can’t make their reported secondary arena plan in Mesa come to fruition, PHNX Sports’ Greg Esposito says the team’s backup-backup plan could come in the form of Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia, who expressed interest in participating in discussions if the Coyotes were put up for sale. It’s likely the last remaining avenue that would keep the Coyotes in the region, although for now, it would put them back in the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix that contains thousands of obstructed view seats for hockey.
Byram is light-years ahead of Sammy Spin-O-Rama, who should’ve been dumped for two bags of pucks and some dirt shortly after they realized “buyer’s remorse”.
I always was of the mind he got too much flak early on in the deal, but his analytics have started to dip significantly too… he has an M-NTC that kicks in July 1, 2024. I’d be surprised if he’s still an Av by then, free up space to address areas of need. They have significant flexibility here with Landeskog’s uncertainty.
@Josh – From what I’ve seen, he doesn’t pass the eye test or the smell test. I’m afraid they might have to pay to unload him, and, as you state, that’s definitely needed to free up space. They need to patch the hole created by Landeskog’s absence, like you said. While listening to a Leafs game from earlier this year against EDM, Ryan McLeod had a horrendous turnover in his own end, and put it right on Marner’s stick. Marner had barely enough time to finish the ham sandwich and bottle of pop before doing a kind of cool-looking Denny Savard-esque move to put it past Skinner, beating the poke check. I immediately thought of Girard doing that repeatedly and many times having the same result. Ryan McLeod’s a center, though.
Enough of this Coyotes joke.