The unfortunate reality of a salary-cap world is that success becomes a punishment that snowballs over time, as it leads to more expensive rosters year after year. That is where the Colorado Avalanche find themselves this summer after winning the Presidents’ Trophy this season. The Avalanche have massive money committed to their core, with new extensions set to kick in, other players seeking raises, and roster holes sure to be created by tough decisions coming Colorado’s way. The trade of superstar Mikko Rantanen last year was supposed to help the team avoid long-term cap issues, but just 16 months later, they are headed towards cap trouble anyway. As of today, Colorado has just under $3MM in available cap space with just 17 players signed, making it impossible to ice a full roster as currently constructed (all numbers via PuckPedia). The Avalanche have no choice but to make tough decisions, especially if they want to re-sign Jack Drury, who was one of the pieces in the Rantanen trade.
Since the Avalanche moved on from Rantanen, they have made three key moves that have consumed roughly $25MM in cap space. Those moves included acquiring and extending Martin Necas and Brock Nelson, as well as the trade-deadline pickup of Nazem Kadri from the Calgary Flames. These moves aren’t the primary reason Colorado is in cap trouble, but they’ve taken up a huge chunk of cap space and left the team top-heavy.
It was clear in the Vegas series that Colorado’s depth wasn’t enough to advance past the Western Conference Finals, and it’s hard to see that depth improving anytime soon. None of the moves for Necas, Nelson or Kadri were bad, and they were clearly made to give the team more firepower for an inevitably difficult playoff series. But when you add the contracts of defensemen Devon Toews ($7.25MM) and Cale Makar ($9MM), as well as forwards Gabriel Landeskog ($7MM) and Valeri Nichushkin ($6.125MM), you have another $30MM committed to the top of the team’s lineup, which eats away at depth.
Now, that issue hasn’t necessarily happened yet to the Avalanche. Through the first two rounds of this year’s playoffs, they received plenty of depth scoring, but that dried up against Vegas, and some forwards are going to need to be moved. This will always be an issue for top teams, as their cheap depth gets cycled out yearly when those players get to play with a team’s top stars, inflate their statistics, and cash in elsewhere. This makes it difficult to keep secondary scoring in the fray and forces the team to try to find cheap depth on the open market or bring up AHL players who may not be ready for the NHL. This is something that Florida and Vegas have done a great job of in recent years, but it’s become more of a struggle for Colorado, which may need to move several mid-tier contracts out the door or a top-tier player.
The obvious depth player to move is forward Ross Colton, who had a disappointing campaign with just 24 points in 73 games. Colton ranks 22nd on Chris Johnston’s offseason trade board and has one year left on his $4MM contract. Colorado can’t afford that kind of price tag on a bottom-six forward, but moving him alone will not be close to enough.
Another potential depth piece to move out is the recently acquired forward Nicolas Roy. The Avalanche picked up the 29-year-old from the Toronto Maple Leafs before the trade deadline in exchange for a first-round draft pick in 2027 and a fifth-round draft pick in 2026. Roy took some time to settle into the lineup but had a decent playoff showing in the first two rounds before going ice cold in the Western Conference Finals. However, even moving Roy along with Colton wouldn’t exactly solve the issues, as their absence would create two additional roster holes, leaving Colorado with just under $10MM in cap space and eight players to sign.
Roy might be worth keeping for one more season, given his low salary, but Colorado faces a difficult choice: a big talent has to go, or some combination of higher-end roster players has to go. Artturi Lehkonen and his $4.5MM could be moved, but the best move might be to send out Colton and Nichushkin. That would free up an additional $10.125MM. Colorado would then have a few internal options to bring back and fill out their roster. AFP Analytics projects Drury to earn around $3MM per year on a three-year deal, while Zakhar Bardakov is likely looking at a one-year deal at league minimum ($850K). Bringing in defenseman Brent Burns would also cost around $1MM, leaving Colorado with around $8MM under the cap and just five players to sign. It’s not an impossible task, but not an ideal one either.
Then there is the looming Makar extension that management will try to iron out this summer. That contract will likely make Makar the highest-paid defenseman in the NHL, topping the likes of Rasmus Dahlin and perhaps falling in the $13MM to $15MM range. If the negotiations drag into the summer or training camp, they could create an elephant in the room for Colorado.
This summer could be quiet for the Avalanche, but it could also be one in which they pivot, trying to get a little younger and perhaps a little less expensive. All will be answered in the future, but it could be a tough summer for Avalanche fans as they watch their roster plateau while the teams around them look to improve.
Nelson, Kadri, And, Landeskog will be dead weight very soon.