Avalanche Rumors

Colorado Avalanche Re-Sign Kiefer Sherwood

July 22, 2021 at 3:36 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 2 Comments

The Colorado Avalanche have re-signed restricted free agent forward Kiefer Sherwood to a one-year contract. PuckPedia reports that the two-way deal is worth $750K in the NHL and $335K in the AHL, with a minor league guarantee of $365K. Sherwood was eligible for salary arbitration.

Now 26, Sherwood has played 76 NHL games over the past three seasons, including 16 with the Avalanche this year. He’s not a dominant piece at that level, but he is in the minor leagues, as he showed with ten goals and 16 points in ten games for the Colorado Eagles. Sherwood is a valuable depth piece, able to come into the lineup in a pinch and contribute, but he won’t be smashing down any doors for a full-time roster spot.

That is to say, as long as there is a better option in Colorado ahead of him. The team has just a handful of forwards under contract for next year, with Gabriel Landeskog, Brandon Saad, Liam O’Brien and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare all scheduled for unrestricted free agency. Joonas Donskoi was nabbed by the Seattle Kraken and Tyson Jost is an RFA, leaving just six other forwards under one-way contracts.

With the kind of cap crunch the Avalanche face from potential extensions for Landeskog and goaltender Philipp Grubauer, perhaps Sherwood’s league-minimum deal will actually be pretty appealing on the fourth line next season. At any rate, he’ll now be able to compete for playing time and earn a pretty healthy minor league salary even if he misses out on the NHL roster.

Offseason Checklist: Colorado Avalanche

July 18, 2021 at 6:56 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 11 Comments

The offseason is in full flight with the draft and free agency fast approaching. We continue our series which examines what each team needs to accomplish over the coming weeks and months. Next up is a look at Colorado.

This was a season that some felt might be Colorado’s best time to take a run at the Stanley Cup with some core players on team-friendly contracts, allowing them the flexibility to add Brandon Saad last offseason. However, things didn’t go as planned as they were eliminated by Vegas in the second round. Now, GM Joe Sakic has considerable cap room at his disposal but several key players in need of new deals. Accordingly, Colorado’s checklist this summer revolves primarily around those pending free agents.

Re-Sign Makar

Before digging into the notable UFAs, let’s look at the big RFA first. Makar has been an impact player since joining the Avs for the 2019 playoffs where he left college and played a regular role right away. From there, he has become one of the most dynamic offensive threats in the league from the back end and was the runner up in Norris Trophy voting while recording 44 points in 44 games this past season.

Generally speaking, players that don’t have the longest of track records typically can’t command the long-term, big-money contract. Makar technically falls into this category as two abbreviated regular seasons have left him with just 101 regular season contests under his belt, roughly a year and a quarter of a full 82-game campaign. However, how much more does he really have to prove at this point? He’s already a premier talent and that’s not going to change.

Accordingly, Makar should be one of the exceptions to the rule in that someone with that few games played can command a long-term deal if he wants one (which isn’t a guarantee with the current cap landscape). There aren’t many comparable players to work from but Ottawa’s Thomas Chabot had inked the richest post-entry-level contract by a defenseman at eight years and $64MM. That just changed with the eight-year, $67.6MM deal that Dallas gave to Miro Heiskanen on Saturday. If he gets a max-term contract, his agent will undoubtedly be working off the templates of these two deals.

Sign A Starting Goalie

Three goalies posted a goals against average below two in 2020-21. One won the Vezina, one played a dominant half-season in Carolina, and the other is Philipp Grubauer whose timing for such a season was perfect as he’s set to hit the open market later this month. He now stands atop the free agent class for goaltenders which has him well-positioned for a substantial raise on the $3.33MM AAV he had on his most recent contract. Considering some of the goalies that have signed in recent years such as Matt Murray, Jordan Binnington, and Jacob Markstrom, Grubauer has a legitimate chance of doubling his previous price tag despite never playing more than 40 games in a season, a mark he reached this year for the first time.

One question for Colorado is can they afford to pay their starter that much knowing they need to save big money for Makar’s deal, the fact they have another key UFA to bring back (more on him shortly), and have Nathan MacKinnon up for a lucrative new contract two years from now. They can only afford so many big-ticket deals on the books.

However, can they afford to not bring Grubauer back? There is plenty of uncertainty with backup Pavel Francouz who missed the entire season due to a lower-body injury and it’s not as if he’s particularly proven in the NHL with all of 36 career NHL regular season contests. They need a proven starter and while Grubauer doesn’t have the longest track record, it’s a better one than any of the other viable free agents out there. They don’t need elite-level goaltending with the caliber of the team in front of him and keeping Grubauer around would give them some long-term stability between the pipes.

If they can’t agree to terms with him, the plan may shift to trying a short-term platoon and there are enough veterans available to make this an option. It’s not a long-term solution though and shouldn’t be their primary plan heading into free agency while the trade market could yield some more intriguing options at a higher acquisition cost. This will need to be addressed quickly as it’s hard to see any viable options left by the time the calendar flips to August.

Re-Sign Or Replace Landeskog

Onto the other significant pending UFA. Gabriel Landeskog has been a fixture in Colorado’s lineup for the last decade after being the second-overall pick in 2011. He has spent the majority of his time on their top line and has been on a bargain contract throughout his career as after his entry-level deal expired, he played on a seven-year deal with a $5.571MM cap hit which is certainly below market value for a top liner. The captain has made it clear that he wants to stay and has even publicly voiced his frustration over the fact a deal isn’t done.

So what’s the holdup? Salary is one thing – he’s heading for a raise in Colorado or elsewhere despite the reported recent offers from the Avs – but speculatively, I think the term of a new deal may be the bigger issue in discussions. Yes, Landeskog is only 28 but with over 700 career games played (regular season and playoffs), that’s a fair bit of mileage. He also plays a rugged style, one that doesn’t necessarily tend to age well which adds a layer of risk to any deal that approaches the eight-year maximum which is why the reported eight-year offer from the Avalanche to Landeskog is as low as it is. Is there a happy medium that takes a year or two off the term of the contract but keeps it at an affordable price point for the team? Having that option could very well push things along.

If they can’t work out an agreement, that’s a big hole for the Avalanche to fill. Re-signing Saad becomes a more viable option but if not, they could be a player in free agency to try to find someone to step onto the top line. But there are still nearly two weeks before Landeskog gets to the open market. It’s hard to see Colorado giving up on the prospect of re-signing their captain until he puts pen to paper elsewhere.

Center Decisions

With MacKinnon in place, there are no questions about their top center. J.T. Compher is still in the mix for now although we’ll see what happens with him being made available to Seattle. Things could change fairly quickly after that, however.

Nazem Kadri is coming off another quality season on the second line and is signed for this season with a $4.5MM price tag before becoming an unrestricted free agent next summer. Of course, the question stems from what happened in the playoffs when he received an eight-game suspension for an illegal check to the head on Blues defenseman Justin Faulk. It wasn’t his first notable incident either and the number of games per suspension is going up from here. Is Colorado prepared to move forward with him or will they be better off trying someone else who could be a longer-term option in that role?

Then there’s Tyson Jost. He was the tenth-overall pick in 2016 but he hasn’t been able to establish himself as more than a role player. He’s arbitration-eligible for the first time this summer after accepting his qualifying offer in the fall but his projected role hasn’t changed as he’s still a bottom-six option. Now 23, is he someone that would be better suited with a change of scenery? They’d be selling low but another year like his last few would send Jost’s value even lower.

There’s also Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, their fourth-line pivot for the last two years who is set to be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the month. He isn’t a major point producer but has been a fixture on their penalty kill and well above average at the faceoff dot. He’s also 36 and clearly not in anyone’s long-term plans. Is that spot better suited for someone closer to the league minimum or someone younger? At this point, it seems like he won’t be back.

Sakic will have some decisions to make about his middlemen in the coming weeks. The end result could be a group that’s a fair bit different than the one that finished up the season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

Ryan Graves Traded To New Jersey Devils

July 15, 2021 at 7:34 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 21 Comments

The Colorado Avalanche have dealt defender Ryan Graves to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for Mikhail Maltsev and a second-round pick in 2021, originally owned by the New York Islanders.

The Avalanche dealt Graves just days ahead of the upcoming Seattle Expansion Draft. It’s a foregone conclusion that Graves was going to be left unprotected, allowing Colorado to protect Devon Toews, Cale Makar, and Samuel Girard from the Kraken. With this trade, Colorado and general manager Joe Sakic are able to recoup some assets for Graves who they could’ve lost for nothing. With Graves’ spot opening up, expect young Bowen Byram to get an extended look in Colorado’s top-four defense core next season, possibly paired with Girard.

It’s also rather crucial for Colorado to clear some cap room, especially while they’re able to deal an expendable asset. With three giant free agents coming up with Gabriel Landeskog, Cale Makar, and Philipp Grubauer, freeing up Ryan Graves’ $3.17MM cap hit gives Colorado that much more flexibility. Colorado’s got a somewhat promising prospect in return, too. Maltsev broke into the league this season, scoring six goals and nine points in 33 games. It was a nice showing for the 23-year-old rookie, who was drafted 102nd overall in 2016. Maltsev isn’t a guarantee to crack the much deeper Colorado roster next season, but he does present some long-term NHL upside for a fair price.

For New Jersey, they acquire a solid bottom-four defender who’s been rather skilled at preventing quality against in recent years. And while this acquisition at the same time last year may have put too much pressure on Graves with the Devils’ thin blue-line, last year’s emergence of rookie Ty Smith allows Graves to more comfortably settle into a second-pairing role with the team, and could possibly boost P.K. Subban’s defensive impacts in the final year of his big contract.

All around, it appears as though both the Avalanche and Devils walk away happy from this deal, with both teams getting exactly what they needed out of the transaction.

All salary figures via CapFriendly.com

Latest On Gabriel Landeskog’s Pending Free Agency

July 14, 2021 at 11:32 am CDT | by Gavin Lee 15 Comments

The Colorado Avalanche are getting closer and closer to unrestricted free agency without any resolution to their two biggest UFA negotiations. While most assumed captain Gabriel Landeskog would be re-signed without issue, things haven’t progressed as quickly as the veteran forward was hoping. In fact, Landeskog expressed some frustration when speaking with Peter Baugh of The Athletic:

I can’t help but be honest with you that I’m a little bit disappointed that it’s gotten this far and it’s had to come to this point.

We’ll see what happens. I’m still hopeful that we can agree on something and come to terms, but if it was up to me, I would have liked it to be done eight months ago, 10 months ago.

It’s difficult to imagine Landeskog in any sweater other than Colorado’s, given he has been a fixture there for so long. Selected second overall in 2011, the Swedish forward immediately jumped into the NHL to win the Calder Trophy with 52 points in 82 games. By the start of year two, he was made the then-youngest captain in NHL history. It’s been his team ever since, even as other supremely talented players have come and gone, even as Nathan MacKinnon assumed the mantle as the best player on the team; it was still Landeskog who wore the “C”.

Last night, Darren Dreger of TSN reported that Landeskog and the Avalanche are “not even close” in their negotiations, which raises some eyebrows given how close free agency is. In just two weeks teams will be able to call up Landeskog and offer him a huge long-term contract. The market for his services will be large, as it’s not often a player that combines first-line offensive production with physicality and leadership hits the market at the age of 28. With 52 points in 54 games this season, he recorded his eighth season of at least 20 goals.

There is still time for the Avalanche to work things out with their captain, but given the fact that they also need to sign Vezina finalist Philipp Grubauer and restricted free agent Cale Makar, there might not be enough money to go around. The team currently has more than $25MM in cap space, but that will shrink considerably after a deal is completed with Makar and the Avalanche still have MacKinnon’s free agency to think about. The 25-year-old center will hit the open market after the 2022-23 season, likely deserving to be paid among the highest earners in the entire NHL. Signing Landeskog and Grubauer to long-term deals would certainly complicate things going forward, but watching your captain walk out the door in the prime of his career is certainly not an optimal scenario.

Erik Johnson Waives No-Movement Clause For Expansion Draft

July 13, 2021 at 10:42 am CDT | by Gavin Lee 5 Comments

The Colorado Avalanche already may end up losing a good young defenseman, but it would have been even worse if they were forced to protect Erik Johnson. According to Peter Baugh of The Athletic, the veteran has officially waived his no-movement clause and will not require protection.

That does not mean that Johnson is exempt from selection, rather the opposite, but his high price tag of $6MM per season and his unclear injury situation will likely keep him away from Seattle. More specifically, the Avalanche will still likely have to expose a defenseman like Ryan Graves, who seems to be a much more appetizing selection given his relative youth and strong playoff performance. There is obviously still time to change things in order to protect Graves as well, but at least when it comes to expansion, the team won’t have to worry about Johnson’s NMC any longer.

Johnson, 33, played just four games this season and was held out most of the year with concussion symptoms. He was back skating with the team in the playoffs but never played, and it is now unclear where his future lies. If he’s unable to play again next season, that $6MM cap hit could be moved to long-term injured reserve, giving the Avalanche quite a bit more flexibility. There is also the possibility of a buyout, but the Avalanche would need to show that Johnson is healthy enough to continue playing, as injured players are ineligible.

Expansion Primer: Colorado Avalanche

July 6, 2021 at 3:53 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 3 Comments

Over the next few weeks, we will be breaking down each team’s situation as it pertains to the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. Which players are eligible, who will likely warrant protection, and which ones may be on the block to avoid the risk of losing them for nothing? Each team is required to submit their protection lists by 4:00 PM CDT on July 17th. The full eligibility rules can be found here, while CapFriendly has an expansion tool to make your own lists.

The last time the expansion process rolled around, the Avalanche were in great shape. They ended up losing depth goaltender Calvin Pickard, who never even played a game in the Vegas organization. He cleared waivers and then was traded for a sixth-round pick and Tobias Lindberg the following October, meaning Colorado certainly didn’t part with much of an asset. This time around the Avalanche are a much deeper roster and things may not be so painless.

Eligible Players (Non-UFA)

Forwards:

Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, Andre Burakovsky, Nazem Kadri, Joonas Donskoi, J.T. Compher, Valeri Nichushkin, Tyson Jost, Kiefer Sherwood, Travis Barron, Logan O’Connor, Ty Lewis, Jayson Megna, Vladislav Kamenev

Defense:

Erik Johnson (NMC), Samuel Girard, Devon Toews, Ryan Graves, Dennis Gilbert, Cale Makar, Jacob MacDonald

Goalies:

Hunter Miska, Jonas Johansson

Notable Unrestricted Free Agents

F Gabriel Landeskog, F Brandon Saad, D Patrik Nemeth, G Philipp Grubauer, G Devan Dubnyk

Notable Exemptions

F Shane Bowers, F Sampo Ranta, F Alex Newhook, F Martin Kaut, D Conor Timmins, D Bowen Byram, G Pavel Francouz

Key Decisions

Just reading through the list of eligible players you can start to see a problem for the Avalanche, and a potential reason why Landeskog remains unsigned. It’s not clear whether the team has a deal “in the drawer” for their captain (reports indicate that isn’t the case, though things can change at any moment), but it certainly would help the situation if he signs after the draft instead of before it. Remember, that strategy technically gives the Kraken a chance to speak with Landeskog ahead of the draft, meaning they could offer him a huge contract to try and pry him away from the only team he’s ever known.

Even if he and Saad are not signed before the draft though, it still leaves Colorado GM Joe Sakic with a tough decision. Do you protect seven forwards and three defensemen, potentially risking a young player from the blueline, or eight skaters in order to make sure that defense corps stays intact? The decision will be almost entirely based on whether Johnson agrees to waive his no-movement clause, which would normally force the Avalanche into protecting him. The veteran defenseman is an unlikely target for Seattle because of his age, contract, and recent injury issues, meaning waiving it would only serve to help the franchise he currently plays for.

Assuming he does waive it and the team goes the seven forwards-three defenseman route, there are still plenty of decisions to be made. Rantanen, MacKinnon, Burakovsky, and Nichushkin are easy choices to protect at forward, but that leaves the group of Kadri, Donskoi, Compher, Jost, and O’Connor to fill just three spots.

It might have been easy to pencil Kadri into that must-protect list a few months ago, but after getting another playoff suspension, there will have to be at least some discussion over whether he should be a core piece moving forward. Three times now in his career he hasn’t been available when his team needed him most, and the 30-year-old center has just one year left on his contract.

Donskoi and Compher are both valuable players, but given their cap hits ($3.9MM and $3.5MM respectively) it wouldn’t be the end of the world to lose one of them, with so many free agents to sign this offseason. One of those free agents is Jost, who is an arbitration-eligible RFA. He too has settled into a role with the Avalanche and is still just 23, but hasn’t experienced the offensive breakout that was expected when the team selected him 10th overall in 2016.

That leaves O’Connor, who some may overlook simply because of his undrafted status and lack of NHL experience, but there were real moments of upside from him this season as a bottom-six piece. The fact that he will carry a cap hit next season that is less than league minimum ($725K) makes him a valuable option for an Avalanche team that will be skirting the salary cap ceiling all year long.

Of course, even if Johnson does waive his clause, it doesn’t mean things come easy on defense. The simple answer is to protect Makar, Girard and Toews, who each logged more than 23 minutes a night this season and are all core pieces of the roster. But that would mean exposing Graves, who arguably outplayed Toews and Girard in the playoffs and carries the lowest cap hit of the three. The 26-year-old Graves looks like he is still improving and could very well be part of the Kraken top-four if left exposed.

In net, there isn’t even anyone that really deserves protecting, unless Grubauer re-signs before the draft. That means the Avalanche could actually make a trade for a new starting goaltender before the draft if they believe their incumbent Vezina finalist will be too expensive to bring back.

Projected Protection List

F Mikko Rantanen
F Nathan MacKinnon
F Andre Burakovsky
F Nazem Kadri
F Joonas Donskoi
F Valeri Nichushkin
F Tyson Jost

D Samuel Girard
D Devon Toews
D Cale Makar

G Jonas Johansson

*Assuming Landeskog does not re-sign before the draft and Johnson waives his NMC

Skater Exposure Requirement Checklist

When Vegas had their expansion draft, a minimum of two forwards and one defenseman had to be exposed that were under contract and played either 40 games in the most recent season or 70 over the past two combined. Due to the pandemic, those thresholds have been changed to 27 games played in 2020-21 or 54 in 2019/20 and 2020-21 combined. In creating our expansion list for each team in this series, we will ensure that these criteria are met.

Forwards (1): J.T. Compher
Defensemen (3): Erik Johnson, Ryan Graves, Jacob MacDonald

Of course, in this situation the Avalanche still have some work to do. They need to leave two forwards exposed that meet the requirements, and by protecting both Donskoi and Kadri it leaves just one. A new contract for Landeskog, or Saad would change this, but they could also just extend Bellemare or even Calvert if he is healthy enough to return to action. On the back end, Johnson waiving his NMC would do the trick, but even without him they have enough options to fill the single required spot.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.

No Substantive Talks Yet With Pending UFAs Landeskog And Grubauer

July 4, 2021 at 7:53 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 6 Comments

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.

“Every GM In The League” Has Called On Seth Jones

July 4, 2021 at 10:07 am CDT | by Zach Leach 16 Comments

The Columbus Blue Jackets are having to make another difficult decision this off-season, as star defenseman Seth Jones has indicated that he will test free agency next summer rather than re-sign. As The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline writes, barring a change of heart, this means that Jones will be traded, as expected. GM Jarmo Kekalainen has allowed other top players to stay with the team and walk as free agents in recent years, but with the team re-tooling and John Davidson back in his role as team president and focused on the future, Jones will not follow suit.

Fortunately, the Blue Jackets will have no trouble at all trading Jones and will be able to get a major return back. Kekalainen tells Portzline that he has ” heard from just about every GM in the league” since Jones’ availability became public. This could be puffery from the veteran executive to drive up the price, but is also entirely believable. Jones has been playing top-pair minutes for years, produces on offense, is solid on defense, and has improved in his physicality as well. At just 26, Jones is one of the more complete defensemen in the NHL and any club could use him.

Who will be the lucky team that lands Jones though? Portzline has heard four names come up repeatedly in conversations with sources around the league: Chicago, Colorado, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. The Avalanche certainly stand out as a outlier; the top contenders have plenty of depth on defense and are lacking in cap space, this year and beyond. They would likely be looking at Jones as a year-long rental as they push for that elusive Stanley Cup. Would the cost be worth the short-term investment though? The other three clubs certainly would be eyeing a long-term deal with Jones as they are each in need of a top-tier defenseman. The Flyers have long been searching for a capable player to pair with Ivan Provorov on their top pair and Jones is as good a fit as can be found on the market. The Blackhawks also have been without a truly elite defenseman for some time. Like Colorado, they have salary cap issues but would be more willing and able to make it work. The Kings are the most dangerous buyer on the market, armed with a ton of talented prospects and fueled by a desire to improve before their aging core calls it quits. A top defenseman would go a long way in L.A.’s effort to return to relevance.

Of course, as Jones’ market continues to develop and the asking price becomes more concrete, another suitor could swoop in. Every team in the league will keep an eye on the bidding war over the next few weeks, before the Blue Jackets are expected to pull the trigger, by the NHL Entry Draft if not before.

Negotiation Notes: Larsson, Andersen, Makar, Canucks

June 29, 2021 at 9:38 pm CDT | by Zach Leach 5 Comments

After locking up Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to a long-term deal earlier today, the Edmonton Oilers will next turn their attention to reaching a new deal with defenseman Adam Larsson. According to TSN’s Darren Dreger in the latest edition of “Insider Trading“, that is more of a “when” than an “if” at the is point. Dreger states that the two sides are already close to a new deal and “in the final stretch” of negotiations. He expects that an extension will be reached soon. For Expansion Draft purposes, soon may not be until later next month, but a handshake agreement will do in the meantime. Larsson, 28, is one of the more stable defensemen in the NHL. If the defensive-minded right-shooter hit the open market, he would draw plenty of attention, but like Nugent-Hopkins, Larsson appears willing to settle on a deal to keep him in Edmonton with reigning Hart Trophy winners Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. So really, with RNH signed and Larsson not far behind, the Oilers may actually be focusing on external negotiations already, as Dreger notes they must add a goalie and complementary scoring forwards this summer.

It may come as a surprise following a career-worst season, but there is mutual interest in an extension between the Toronto Maple Leafs and goaltender Frederik Andersen. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that agent Claude Lemieux recently met with the Maple Leafs’ brass and both sides expressed interest in a new deal, perhaps to the surprise of both. Andersen is likely not keen to enter the open market after a down year (and really many years of slow decline) when he could instead stay in familiar territory in Toronto. The Leafs also need a netminder this off-season and may be content to stick with Andersen, despite his struggles, given the play of Jack Campbell this season. LeBrun does point out that Toronto has told Andersen’s camp that he would be sharing the net with Campbell, potentially even starting out at less than 50% of starts, but Andersen is reportedly open to that arrangement.
Every year there is the threat of offer sheets and every year it never happens, but LeBrun notes that rumblings around the league are that Colorado Avalanche star Cale Makar could be the prime candidate this summer. With the Avalanche needing to extend the First Team All-Star as well as captain Gabriel Landeskog, starting goaltender Philipp Grubauer, and top-six forward Brandon Saad, all while saving room to extend superstar Nathan MacKinnon and replace several impending UFA’s next summer, cap space is tight in Denver. If another team swooped in with an offer that Makar couldn’t refuse, it might just be too much of a handicap for the Avs. Doubtful, but possible. Colorado can eliminate the risk of an offer sheet to their young phenom if they can lock Makar up before the market opens on July 28.
The Vancouver Canucks are already hard at work on extension for arguably their two most important players, defenseman Quinn Hughes and center Elias Pettersson. The pair of restricted free agents are centerpiece players for the Canucks and the team will whatever it takes to keep them around as long as possible. Dreger notes that GM Jim Benning and company are meeting again this week with agents from CAA Sports, who represent both young stars. A number of possibilities are on the table for both players, including a three-year bridge deal for Pettersson in the same vein as the recent contracts of Mathew Barzal and Brayden Point. However, it seems like long-term is the ideal goal. Pettersson is reportedly open to a long-term deal like that of Mikko Rantanen, while Hughes has explored contracts with terms between four and six years.

Free Agent Focus: Colorado Avalanche

June 29, 2021 at 3:20 pm CDT | by Gavin Lee 2 Comments

Free agency is now just a little more than a month away and many teams are already looking ahead to when it opens up. There will be several prominent players set to hit the open market in late July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well. The Avalanche have their captain to sign, but he isn’t even the most important deal they have to complete.

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Tyson Jost – Not the first player you think of when you think of pending free agents on the Avalanche, but an important negotiation just the same. Jost, 23, is an interesting case study to watch this summer after signing his qualifying offer last year. For one thing, he is now arbitration-eligible, meaning the negotiation will be taken out of their hands if necessary, but the young forward has still not taken the developmental step that many expected. Selected 10th overall in 2016, Jost quickly became a regular in the Colorado lineup, but has failed to record more than 26 points in a single season. His average ice time increased this year to over 14 minutes, but he still had just seven goals and 17 points to show for it. Can he be a long-term piece in the middle-six, or will Jost try to maximize earnings by reaching free agency as quickly as possible? Because he has already completed four seasons, he’s just three years away from unrestricted free agency and won’t have to wait until he’s 27.

D Cale Makar – This is the player that everyone is watching in Colorado as he gets set for his first contract negotiation. Makar has played two seasons in the NHL and could very well have two major trophies to show for it. After winning the Calder in year one, he is a finalist for the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman in just his sophomore campaign. There’s a very real argument to be made that he is the most valuable defenseman in the league right now and a contract indicative of that is likely coming down the pipe. As Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet wrote yesterday, any talk of long-term extensions will have to start at Thomas Chabot’s eight-year, $64MM extension in 2019 and go up from there. Makar (along with fellow young stars Miro Heiskanen and Quinn Hughes) is ahead of Chabot in terms of early-career success and any new contract could end up making him one of the highest-paid defenseman in the league straight out of his entry-level deal. Currently, there are only four defensemen in the league with an average annual value of $9MM or more; Erik Karlsson ($11.5MM), Drew Doughty ($11.0MM), Roman Josi ($9.06MM), and P.K. Subban ($9.0MM). If the Avalanche want to go max-term with Makar, that group is almost certainly going to grow.

Other RFAs: F Kiefer Sherwood, F Travis Barron, F Ty Lewis, D Dennis Gilbert, D Conor Timmins, G Peyton Jones, G Adam Werner

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Gabriel Landeskog – A second-overall pick steps directly into the NHL, wins the Calder Trophy as the league’s top rookie, and is named captain before his sophomore season. That’s how Landeskog’s story started, and ten years into his career he has established himself as a true franchise icon. Even though there have been other players that take the spotlight at times, the 28-year-old winger has been a constant driving force behind any success the Avalanche have experienced and already sits among the franchise greats on many all-time lists. Seventh in games played, sixth in goals, eighth in points, even if Landeskog doesn’t play another game in an Avalanche sweater, he has made quite the impact on the franchise. That’s why it seems so unlikely that they let him go at this point, especially after another outstanding season.

The problem is that there is only so much money, and given how big of a contract Makar is looking at, the Avalanche won’t be dealing with a ton of cap space. Landeskog scored 52 points in 54 games this season and is the kind of physical, heart-and-soul player that would be coveted by every other team in the league. If he wants to check the open market there will be plenty of suitors waiting to snatch him up. That includes the Seattle Kraken, who will get a chance to speak with him ahead of everyone else should Landeskog still not be signed by 48 hours before the expansion draft. It seems entirely reasonable to assume Colorado already has a deal done with Landeskog that will be announced after that expansion draft is completed, but until those papers are filed, other teams can certainly dream.

G Philipp Grubauer – Oh that cap space problem? Don’t forget that the Avalanche don’t currently have a starting goaltender for next season, as their Vezina finalist is also a pending UFA. Grubauer put together the best season of his career at the perfect time, recording a .922 save percentage in 40 appearances. Though he has put up those kinds of save numbers in the past, one of the biggest questions that followed him was whether he could carry the load of a true starting goaltender. Well, strapping on the pads for 40/56 games in a condensed schedule certainly answers that question, especially when it results in 30 wins. Of course, there was a few slip-ups in the postseason, which may cause teams to hesitate when drawing up a long-term contract, but there is still little doubt that Grubauer will receive a substantial raise on the three-year, $10MM deal he signed in 2018. Still just 29, he is Colorado’s best option and at the same time could have played himself out of their price range.

Other UFAs: F Brandon Saad, F Liam O’Brien, F Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, F Matt Calvert, F T.J. Tynan, F Mike Vecchione, F Sheldon Dries, D Patrik Nemeth, D Kyle Burroughs, D Dan Renouf, G Devan Dubnyk

Projected Cap Space

The good news: Colorado has nearly $25.5MM in cap space. The bad news: the rest is owed to just 11 players. Normally, players like Saad and Timmins would be front and center on any examination of pending free agents, but on the Avalanche they are secondary to the big fish that need new deals. GM Joe Sakic simply isn’t going to be able to keep everyone around to run back the same group in 2021-22, meaning difficult decisions will have to be made. Can they fit in a long-term deal for Makar alongside healthy extensions for Landeskog and Grubauer? What kind of cap space will that leave them with to fill out the rest of the roster? One important factor is the health and future of Erik Johnson, who ended the year on long-term injured reserve. He played just four games this season and though he skated with the team, didn’t appear in the postseason. His $6MM cap hit could be extremely useful to the Avalanche in other areas, but he’s also an important part of the leadership group in Colorado.