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MacKinnon, Makar Earn 2024-25 All-Star Team Honors

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C Nathan MacKinnon (Avalanche) – In the closest vote, MacKinnon nearly beat out Draisaitl as the league’s top center from the 2024-25 season, with Draisaitl receiving more First Team votes than MacKinnon. Still, the 2023-24 Most Valuable Player scored 10 more points than Draisaitl this year, while arguably being a larger part of his team’s success without having Connor McDavid as a teammate.

D Cale Makar (Avalanche) – This year’s James Norris Trophy winner received the most First Team votes of any player on the 2024-25 All-Star Teams with 189. Makar has been on one of the best offensive runs from a defenseman in recent memory, scoring 51 goals and 182 points in his last 157 games, with another six goals and 20 points in 18 postseason contests.

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Avalanche Reportedly Interested In Signing Jonathan Toews

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In today’s rendition of 32 Thoughts, Sportnet’s Elliotte Friedman gave a brief update on Jonathan Toews’s market as he attempts to make a comeback to the NHL. Friedman listed the Colorado Avalanche, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Winnipeg Jets as likely suitors for the three-time Stanley Cup champion.

All three teams connected to Toews have a common denominator: they are all in their competitive window. Surprisingly, the first team listed, the Avalanche, has the lowest need for a bottom-six center at this time. Colorado finished the year with Charlie Coyle and Jack Drury centering their bottom two lines, and Toews doesn’t project as a notable improvement on either unless they’re willing to move Coyle to the wing.

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Jedlicka Re-Signs With Eagles

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  • While the Avalanche relinquished the rights to prospect Maros Jedlicka on June 1st, he’ll be remaining with the organization for now. Colorado’s AHL affiliate announced that they’ve signed the forward to a one-year contract for next season.  Jedlicka started this year playing at home in Czechia, collecting two assists in a dozen games for HC Kometa Brno before coming to North America in mid-November.  Jedlicka played in 18 games for the Eagles this season, picking up three goals and two assists and while that wasn’t enough to earn an NHL contract, it was enough for the Avs to keep him around in their system at least.

Cale Makar Wins 2025 Norris Trophy

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Avalanche star Cale Makar has been voted the NHL’s top defenseman and will take home the 2025 James Norris Memorial Trophy, the league announced Wednesday.

It’s the second time taking home the Norris for Makar, who became the first defenseman in Avalanche franchise history to win it when he was crowned the league’s best rearguard following the 2021-22 season. He was the clear favorite for the award, becoming the first D-man to hit 30 goals and 90 points in the same season since Paul Coffey in 1988-89 while finishing the year with a 10-point lead in scoring among defenseman ahead of the Blue Jackets’ Zach Werenski, although the two tied with 54 even-strength points.

Among defensemen, Makar also ranked 11th in plus-minus (+28), first in points per game (1.15), second in shots on goal (246), and third in average time on ice (25:43). He also recorded 128 blocks, the second-highest mark of his six-year career. Makar’s possession impacts once again flourished after an unusually subpar defensive showing in 2023-24, controlling 56.6% of shot attempts and a career-high 59.4% of expected goals at even strength.

The 6’0″ righty finished ahead of Werenski and Canucks lefty Quinn Hughes for the award. Makar received 176 first-place votes and 1,861 total points, while Werenski was the runner-up with 13 first-place votes and 1,266 points. The full voting breakdown is as follows, according to Chris Johnston of The Athletic:

  1. Makar – 1,861 points (176-13-2-0-0)
  2. Werenski – 1,266 points (13-132-38-7-1)
  3. Hughes – 918 points (2-39-110-21-12)
  4. Josh Morrissey, Jets – 280 (0-5-18-41-32)
  5. Victor Hedman, Lightning – 265 (0-1-11-55-38)
  6. Rasmus Dahlin, Sabres – 120 (0-0-4-26-22)
  7. Thomas Harley, Stars – 60 (0-1-1-7-27)
  8. Jaccob Slavin, Hurricanes – 60 (0-0-2-13-11)
  9. Lane Hutson, Canadiens – 42 (0-0-1-5-22)
  10. Jake Sanderson, Senators – 33 (0-0-0-9-6)
  11. Evan Bouchard, Oilers – 29 (0-0-2-4-7)
  12. Adam Fox, Rangers – 9 (0-0-1-0-4)
  13. Gustav Forsling, Panthers – 8 (0-0-1-0-3)
  14. Ryan McDonagh, Lightning – 5 (0-0-0-1-2)
  15. Devon Toews, Avalanche – 4 (0-0-0-1-1)
  16. John Carlson, Capitals – 3 (0-0-0-1-0)
  17. Jakob Chychrun, Capitals – 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
    Brock Faber, Wild – 1 (0-0-0-0-1)
    Shea Theodore, Golden Knights – 1 (0-0-0-0-1)

Makar’s run of dominance to begin his career is putting him on a fast track to Hall-of-Fame status. He’s now the sixth player to win at least two Norrises in the first six seasons of his NHL career, and he’s been a finalist for the award in every year since his rookie season. He still finished in the top 10 in voting while winning the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year in 2019-20.

Image courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.

Offseason Checklist: Colorado Avalanche

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The offseason has arrived for all but two teams now with the playoffs nearing an end.  Accordingly, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming weeks with free agency fast approaching.  Next up is a look at Colorado.

The Avalanche set a franchise record with three straight 100-point regular seasons in 2023-24 and extended that streak in 2024-25, although their .622 points percentage was still their worst in six years. That record was influenced by one of the biggest in-season resets in recent memory, carried out by general manager Chris MacFarland, who managed to give his club a new goaltending tandem and swap out a large portion of their forward group between opening night and the postseason. While the team had an excellent record down the stretch, winning 16 of their last 23 games, they lost a seven-game heartbreaker to the Stars in the first round. With a brand-new support staff for Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar in tow, Colorado has a few items to tend to this summer to extend their championship contention window.

Solidify Nečas’ Future

Star winger Mikko Rantanen was a pending unrestricted free agent last summer; extension talks for him were an item on their 2024 offseason checklist. They now enter the same situation with Martin Nečas, the centerpiece of their return when they sent Rantanen to the Hurricanes in January following unproductive contract negotiations. He’ll become a pending UFA on July 1 as he enters the back half of the two-year, $13MM bridge deal he signed with Carolina as a restricted free agent in 2024.

Nečas’ trade value had never been higher than when Carolina dealt him. The Czech forward was on pace to break the point-per-game mark for the first time in his career with a 16-39–55 line in 49 games at the time of the trade. Even though 55 points was his career average per 82 games entering the season, the Avs hoped that might be sustainable if they plopped Nečas in Rantanen’s spot next to MacKinnon, a higher-caliber center than he had in Raleigh-Durham.

Instead, things went about as expected for Nečas in Colorado. He saw his minutes increase, skating over 20 minutes per game after averaging 17-18 during his time in Carolina, but his production tapered off slightly from his early-season tear. He still managed 11 goals and 28 points in 30 games to end the year, which still would have been a career-high 0.93 points per game pace over a full season on their own, but predictably didn’t click at the well above a point per game rate Rantanen had over the last five years in Denver.

Nečas will still be one of the Avalanche’s better-value contracts last season at a $6.5MM cap hit if he can play a full season, something he’s had no trouble doing, and remain around that 75-80 point pace. However, unlike waiting until after the season started to have aggressive extension talks with Rantanen, they’ll look to kick Nečas’ discussions off earlier to avoid a repeat and force another in-season blockbuster to avoid losing him for nothing next summer. Yet with a rising cap, he’s due a considerable raise. AFP Analytics projects a Nečas extension with a $9.9MM cap hit for seven seasons, considering the salary cap’s projected jump to $104MM for the 2026-27 campaign. MacFarland needs to begin weighing if that’s a price he’s willing to pay with Makar becoming extension-eligible in the summer of 2026.

Create Cap Flexibility

Outside of Nečas, the Avs don’t have much in the way of major contract business to attend to. They’ve had a busy past few weeks, keeping new second-line center Brock Nelson in the fold on a three-year extension with a $7.5MM cap hit. They also got their new starting goaltender, Mackenzie Blackwood, signed to a five-year extension shortly after acquiring him from the Sharks in December.

The good news is they already have 19 of 23 roster spots locked in for next season as a result. The bad news is that they have just $1.2MM in cap space, per PuckPedia, only enough to sign one league-minimum player and carry a roster with no healthy extras. At present, they stand no chance of re-signing their two top UFAs, winger Jonathan Drouin and defenseman Ryan Lindgren. Even one cap-dump trade likely won’t be enough to bring back one of them, but it would at least allow them to add more cheap pickups (or re-sign a few of their own) while having in-season flexibility in case short-term injuries arise.

The few inefficient contracts on Colorado’s books will be under scrutiny as a result. They sent Casey Mittelstadt to the Bruins at the trade deadline to acquire veteran Charlie Coyle to serve as their new third-line center, but he carries a $5.25MM price tag. With MacKinnon and Nelson, their top two centers, now making a combined $20.1MM against the cap, that’s not an affordable number for a No. 3 – even if he ended the year strong with 13 points in 19 games. With only one year left on his deal and one year removed from a career-high 60 points with Boston, they wouldn’t have much trouble moving him at first glance. However, they’d need to convince Coyle to waive his no-movement clause, something he may not be eager to do again after waiving it to join a championship contender in Colorado.

There’s also Ross Colton, whose $4MM cap hit is fine value in a vacuum but, again, a tad pricey for a third-line winger. Moving Coyle and saving an additional $1.25MM in space would be far preferable, but it would be easier to move Colton, who only has a modified no-trade clause and had a 16-13–29 scoring line in 61 games last season. Injury-prone depth winger Miles Wood, who’s less expensive at $2.5MM per season, could also be someone Colorado looks to ship out, but that could also prove semi-challenging with four years left on his contract. He also has a six-team no-trade list.

That might mean Colorado turns to their defense, where their depth is far weaker, as a necessity to free up space. They wouldn’t be looking to deal either of their major trade candidates, second-pairing fixtures Samuel Girard and Josh Manson, purely as a cap dump as a result, particularly without many suitable options to replace them in free agency. They’d be looking to attach an asset to them to gain a more cost-efficient roster player back, even if they’re getting a worse overall player, to be able to spread the wealth a little more behind their elite top pairing of Makar and Devon Toews. Girard has two years left on his contract at $5MM per season with a nine-team no-trade list, while Manson has one year left at $4.5MM with a 12-team no-trade list.

Find A New Power Play Coach

While the Avalanche continued to boast a top-10 power play in the regular season as they have for many years, they converted at just a 13.6% clip against Dallas in the first round. That was 14th out of 16 playoff teams and enough of a margin of error to cost assistant coach Ray Bennett, who had been responsible for the man-advantage unit under head coach Jared Bednar for the last eight seasons, his job.

Bennett has since landed with the Isles, but the Avalanche, who only operate with two assistants (not including a goalie coach) under Bednar instead of the standard three anyway, have yet to name his replacement. That means Nolan Pratt currently serves as Bednar’s lone assistant. This arrangement obviously won’t stretch into the regular season, but for a team with scoring talent of Colorado’s caliber, they need to find their desired option as Bennett’s successor quickly amid other teams filling their AC vacancies.

One name to speculatively watch out for is former Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft. He was a finalist for a few head coach vacancies this offseason but was passed over for all of them. There’s now a potential new opportunity for him in Dallas after the Stars fired Pete DeBoer, but if he’s not considered for the gig, he has experience managing a wealth of high-end scoring talent in Edmonton with good results and could be a natural fit.

Add Defensive Depth

As alluded to earlier, the Avs simply need more behind Makar and Toews on the blue line. This item is a bit of a TBD based on how they handle any potential Girard or Manson trade.

Assuming they manage to open up a bit of flexibility somehow, they still need some third-pairing upgrades even if Girard and Manson remain on next year’s roster. Big lefty Keaton Middleton is a fine press-box option at his peak but not a legitimate everyday third-pairing option on a contender. Righty Sam Malinski played 76 games this season and, while a pending RFA, should be cheap to re-sign and would be a good value piece as Colorado’s 3RD if so. They need a more competent two-way partner for him than Middleton at the very least, though.

That will presumably be the focus of their likely minimal activity in free agency. While not particularly inspiring, there are affordable pending UFAs like Marc Del Gaizo, Joel Hanley, and Jonathon Merrill who can comfortably average more than the paltry 11:29 per game of deployment Middleton received in his 41 games this season. If they manage to clear up more considerable cap space, they could begin to consider some higher-caliber lefties like Brian Dumoulin, Matt Grzelcyk, or Nate Schmidt to play sheltered minutes behind Toews and Girard on the left side, or potentially even bring back Lindgren.

Image courtesy of Jerome Miron-Imagn Images.

Avalanche’s Logan O’Connor Out 5-6 Months Following Hip Surgery

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Avalanche winger Logan O’Connor underwent successful hip surgery Friday morning in New York City, the team announced. He’s expected to miss five to six months recovering, meaning he’ll miss training camp and at least the first month of the 2025-26 season.

This is O’Connor’s second hip surgery in 16 months. He had surgery in March 2024 to correct a hip problem that had caused him to miss short stints of action earlier in the season, ending his season.

That procedure didn’t discourage Colorado’s hopes that O’Connor would be a long-term bottom-six piece for the club. They signed him to a six-year, $15MM extension with a modified no-trade clause last September, days after he stepped back on the ice for training camp.

While O’Connor remained a strong defensive presence on the right side of the ice in 2024-25, earning Selke Trophy votes for the first time in his career, his offensive impact took a hit following the first surgery. He posted 10 goals and 21 points in 80 games for 0.26 points per game, his worst output since the 2020-21 campaign.

There’s optimism that could be a fluky dropoff. For one, the hip surgery didn’t affect O’Connor’s calling card – his speed. He recorded a top skating speed of 23.25 mph this past season, according to NHL EDGE, 0.14 mph more than last season’s peak. He did record fewer speed bursts over 20 mph per game in 2024-25 than he did in 2023-24, but was still in the 91st percentile league-wide for the stat among forwards.

Still, two procedures in such a short time frame are concerning for O’Connor’s availability moving forward. That aforementioned extension kicks in for the upcoming season and runs through the 2030-31 campaign. His $2.5MM cap hit is a reasonable chunk of change for a minute-munching defensive specialist, though, so even if he never rebounds toward producing at a 30-40 point pace, the Avs will still get fine value out of O’Connor’s contract as long as he continues to provide high value from his possession impacts and checking game.

Until O’Connor returns to the lineup sometime around Thanksgiving, he’ll miss enough time for the Avalanche to create some early salary cap flexibility by placing him on long-term injured reserve. They’ll still need to be able to create enough space to activate him when he’s ready to return, though. In training camp, his absence will mean more leeway for names like Ivan Ivan, Oskar Olausson, and Nikita Prishchepov to fight for an opening-night job.

Image courtesy of Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images.

Jere Innala Returning To Sweden’s Frölunda HC

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Avalanche pending UFA winger Jere Innala won’t re-sign with the club and will instead return to Frölunda HC of the Swedish Hockey League, where he still had a valid contract through 2025-26, per a team announcement.

Innala, 27, joined Frölunda for the 2022-23 campaign. He put up a 26-28–54 scoring line in 94 games there, as well as 11 goals in just 14 playoff games in 2024, before landing an entry-level contract with Colorado as an international free agent last summer.

The 5’9″ Finn got a fair amount of reps with the big club, particularly mid-season when injuries ravaged their forward group. But despite making 17 appearances, he never got on the scoresheet and averaged just 7:09 per game with a minus-three rating. He managed eight shots on goal, and the Avs were outchanced 42-39 when he was on the ice at 5-on-5.

He still spent a good portion of the season in the minors with AHL Colorado, where he was a solid scoring presence but not dominant. He logged 17-11–28 in 43 games, which could presumably be the only AHL appearances of his professional career.

After failing to lock down an NHL job, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Innala remain in Europe for the remainder of his career. Doing so would provide him more opportunities to play internationally, where he’s won a gold and silver medal for Finland at the World Championships in the past few years. He also won a Liiga title with HPK back in 2019.

Avalanche Sign Brock Nelson To Three-Year Extension

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The Avalanche have signed pending UFA center Brock Nelson to a three-year extension, per a team announcement. The deal carries a $7.5MM cap hit for a total value of $22.5MM, reports Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

In doing so, Colorado takes one of the top pivots off this summer’s open market. They paid a steep price to acquire the longtime Islander from New York at the trade deadline, surrendering their 2026 first-round pick along with center Calum Ritchie, their No. 1 prospect, along with some smaller assets to land him. Losing him for nothing, especially after the Avalanche suffered a first-round playoff loss to the Stars, would have been quite the blow.

Instead, they’ll get parts of four seasons out of the 33-year-old, assuming he plays out the rest of his deal. It’s an eye-popping price tag, especially since he’s coming off somewhat of a down season with 26 goals and 56 points in 80 games split between Denver and Long Island, and a noticeable raise over his previous $6MM cap hit. Nonetheless, he’ll be the solution to fill the second-line center gap for the next few years after searching for a consistent producer following Nazem Kadri’s departure in free agency in 2022.

Nelson’s point production this season didn’t shift considerably from team to team. He posted 43 points in 61 games for the Islanders (0.70 per game) before logging 13 in 19 for Colorado down the stretch (0.68 per game). Nelson added four assists and a plus-two rating in seven playoff games for the Avs, averaging a shade under 17 minutes per game in the postseason.

Notably, the contract he signed with the Avalanche is the same one offered to him by the Islanders before they opted to trade him, Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News reports. Amid a retool with new general manager Mathieu Darche at the helm, New York is likely still happy with the move to jumpstart what was one of the worst prospect pools in the league.

Nelson’s contract will be an important comparable as other top pending UFA centers like Sam Bennett and John Tavares continue to pursue extensions with their current clubs. The deal he ended up signing came in a fair amount above the roughly $7MM AAV projected for him on a three-year deal on the open market, according to AFP Analytics.

Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland now has his center group of Nathan MacKinnon, Nelson, Charlie Coyle, and Jack Drury all under contract through next season. Coyle and Drury will become eligible to sign extensions on July 1.

Still, the premium they paid to keep Nelson from testing free agency will cause some cap headaches for MacFarland to deal with this summer. They’re down to just $1.2MM in cap space for 2025-26, according to PuckPedia. While they have a mostly full roster, they still have four open spots between them and a cap-compliant 23-man roster.

Barring a significant cap-clearing trade, their notable pending UFAs, winger Jonathan Drouin and defenseman Ryan Lindgren, are not returning. Even if they only signed players to league-minimum deals, they’d only be able to ice a bare-minimum 20-player roster out of the gate with no flexibility for a recall.

Nelson’s deal runs through the 2027-28 season, after which he’ll be able to test unrestricted free agency if he so chooses at age 36. The 2010 first-round pick could play his 1,000th game late next season if he stays healthy. He’s at 920 entering the offseason.

Image courtesy of Talia Sprague-Imagn Images.

Free Agent Focus: Colorado Avalanche

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Free agency is just over a month away, and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July, while many teams also have key restricted free agents to re-sign. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Colorado Avalanche.

Key Restricted Free Agents

D Sam Malinski – Malinski is Colorado’s only RFA to play considerable NHL time this season. It was his rookie year in the league, and Colorado opted to strap Malinski to the third-pair for nearly the whole year. He handled the role well, netting 15 points and a plus-eight in 76 games despite averaging just 16 minutes of ice time. He also ranked third in blocked shots, behind top defenders Cale Makar and Samuel Girard. That’s an impressive stat line for the young Malinski, and one that maintained his momentum after posting 10 points and a plus-three in 23 games last season. He’ll be a must-sign option for the Avalanche, even if it’s only to continue forward in a quaint role. Malinski should only come at the cost of a few years in term and a few million in salary.

D John Ludvig – Ludvig only appeared in eight NHL games this season, and his two assists and minus-four won’t be marks to remember. The rest of his season was spent in a top-four role with the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, where he posted 12 points and a plus-five in 31 regular season games – then stepped up with four points in nine postseason games. He’s a lumbering defender who supports all three lanes well enough. Those traits earned him 33 games on the Pittsburgh Penguins roster last season – but on an Avalanche team with a higher demand, it’s unclear exactly where Ludvig’s upside falls. Colorado will get a chance to declare their faith in him this summer, while also shoring up their left-defense depth at a cheap cost.

Other RFAs: F Sampo Ranta, F Matthew Stienburg, F Jean-Luc Foudy, F William Dufour, F Jason Polin, D Sergei Boikov, G Kevin Mandolese, G Trent Miner

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Brock Nelson – The Avalanche’s off-season could be based around their ability to re-sign veteran Brock Nelson. The team traded a king’s ransom for the 12-year pro at the Trade Deadline, and seemed to land a strong return when he scored 13 points in 19 regular season games. But Nelson managed just four assists in Colorado’s seven playoff games. He didn’t shine in the bright lights, and rumors in weeks since have swung both ways on his potential to re-sign. It seems mutual interest in staying with the Avalanche is growing, though it might cost the team the bulk of their remaining cap space. Nelson did finish the year with a stout 26 goals and 56 points in 80 games, and managed seasons above 30 goals and 60 points in each of the last three years. A full year in Colorado could bring out that high-end scoring once again, and make a lofty deal worth the price.

D Ryan Lindgren – Views were mixed when Lindgren came over from the New York Rangers at the Trade Deadline. He stepped up as another shutdown option near the bottom of Colorado’s depth chart, and fluctuated between as little as 16 minutes and as much as 23 minutes per game depending on game flow. But he finished his first stint in Colorado with just three points and a minus-one in 18 games. Lindgern did step up in the playoffs – with three points and a plus-five in seven games – but the sentiment on whether he should stick around could still swing either way. He’s a defense-first role player who can be trusted to block shots and throw hits. That’s a strong style to fold into the lineup – but too high of an asking price could lead to a split between Lindgren and the Avalanche this summer.

F Jonathan Drouin – Drouin has 30 goals and 93 points in 122 games with the Avalanche, spanning the last two seasons. That’s an 82-game average of 20 goals and 63 points, which would surpass any stat lines he’s posted so far. Drouin belongs in Colorado, and saw his production soar from 29 points to a career-high 56 points when he moved from the Canadiens to the Avalanche in 2023. But his season this year was marred by injury, holding Drouin to 37 points in 43 games. That’s still a productive year, and should be enough to earn a new deal – especially as Colorado looks to shore up their left-wing depth behind the uncertain Gabriel Landeskog.

F Jimmy Vesey – Colorado acquired Vesey and defender Ryan Lindgren from the New York Rangers at the Trade Deadline. Vesey quickly fell into the rut of healthy scratches in the Western Conference, and managed just two points in 10 games with the Avalanche before the end of the season. He wasn’t tapped at all in the playoffs, and posted minimal stats across the board in the minutes he did play. Vesey finished the year with a combined eight points in 43 games, far below the 26 points he scored in 80 games last year. He’s fallen into the hole of fourth-line forward – but could still have a glimmer of scoring upside. That could be enough to entice a team on the open market, but it doesn’t seem that team will be Colorado.

F Joel Kiviranta – Kiviranta received the most complete NHL role of his career this season. Despite tons of flux in Colorado’s top-end, their bottom-six wasn’t disturbed all too much – and Kiviranta was left to perform as the scorer on the team’s fourth-line. He fit the role well, netting 16 goals and 23 points in 79 games – all career-highs – despite averaging third-line minutes and no special teams. But he also shot at a 19-percent success rate – a drastic spike after his last three seasons fell below 10-percent. It’s clear by now that Kiviranta is a shooting-dependent scorer who can’t be tasked with much role. With the first double-digit goal-scoring of his career, he could convince the Avalanche to maintain him in their bottom-six on a cheap deal – but they run the risk of ending up with a forward they’ll soon need to swap out.

D Erik Johnson – Johnson learned that there’s no place like home this season. After three years in the Eastern Conference – one in Buffalo and two in Philadelphia – Johnson was eagerly dealt back to the Avalanche at the Trade Deadline. The move allowed the veteran to pursue one more Stanley Cup run with the team he’s spent 14 years with – but their hopes fell short at the hands of the Dallas Stars in the second round. Now, it’s the offseason, and Johnson must face the question of retirement after contributing just five points in 36 total games this season. He’s freshly 37 years old and seems to have a bright future in NHL coaching or management at the ready. This could be the summer that the 2006 first-overall selection opts to hang them up. If not, he’ll likely return on a league-minimum deal and continue to handle shutdown roles in Colorado.

Other UFAs: D Tucker Poolman, F Chris Wagner, F TJ Tynan, F Matthew Phillips, F Jere Innala, D Calle Rosen, D Jack Ahcan, G Adam Scheel (Group-6 UFA)

Projected Cap Space

Colorado is entering the off-season with just $8.7MM in projected cap space. That is peanuts in the NHL, and could be eaten up very quick by the mix of Malinski, Lindgren, and Drouin re-signing. Colorado could also opt to spent the bulk of it on locking down Nelson, though they’d be left at an impasse with many of their remaining free agents. Pending a major cap-clearing trade, Colorado is in store for a summer of budgeting – though a few lucrative signings is all they need to return for another strong season.

Photo courtesy of Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images. Contract information courtesy of PuckPedia.

Avalanche Sign Ilya Nabokov To Entry-Level Contract

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5:19 p.m.: Nabokov won’t be heading to North America quite yet. Rawal reported that although the Avalanche have signed Nabokov to his entry-level contract, he’ll spend the 2025-26 season on loan with KHL Metallurg.

3:02 p.m.: As hinted at yesterday by Evan Rawal of the Denver Gazette, the Colorado Avalanche have followed through in signing their highest-rated goaltending prospect. Colorado announced they’ve signed netminder Ilya Nabokov to a two-year entry-level contract through the 2026-27 season.

The Avalanche selected Nabokov 38th overall in the 2024 NHL Draft, making him the first netminder off the board. He went to an organization that desperately needed him.

Colorado corrected many of their goaltending woes this year by swapping out Alexandar Georgiev and Justus Annunen for Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood. Especially in the Georgiev for Blackwood swap, the Avalanche traded a goaltender with a .874 SV% and 3.38 GAA in 18 games for a netminder that finished the season with a .913 SV% and 2.33 GAA in 37 games in Colorado.

Still, Blackwood’s performance hasn’t diminished the team’s excitement about Nabokov. The Kasli, Russia native compiled a 23-13-3 record in 43 games, boasting a .930 SV% and 2.15 GAA, throughout his draft year with the KHL’s Metallurg Magnitogorsk. That performance in the world’s arguably third-best professional league could have garnered first-round interest in Nabokov.

If the regular season didn’t show his promise, the 2023-24 Gagarin Cup playoffs did. Nabokov backstopped Metallurg to their third Gagarin Cup championship, managing a 16-6-0 record throughout the postseason with a .924 SV%, including four shutouts.

Considering the early-season goaltending struggles, there were some rumblings that the Avalanche could seek to pull Nabokov from the KHL sooner rather than later. Still, the team opted to leave him overseas for the 2024-25 KHL season, and he had another impressive year.

Continuing with Metallurg, Nabokov finished with a 23-17-6 record in 49 contests with a .923 SV% and 2.22 GAA, with three shutouts. Assuming the Avalanche stick with the Blackwood/Wedgewood tandem for the 2025-26 season, Nabokov will likely start with their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles, while being a recall candidate should one of the former succumb to an injury.

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