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NHL Announces 2023-24 All-Star Teams

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The NHL announced their annual season-ending All-Star teams as part of last night’s award festivities. The rosters, as voted on by members of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association, are as follows.

First All-Star Team

LW: Artemi Panarin (Rangers)
C: Nathan MacKinnon (Avalanche)
RW: Nikita Kucherov (Lightning)
D: Quinn Hughes (Canucks)
D: Roman Josi (Predators)
G: Connor Hellebuyck (Jets)

Second All-Star Team

LW: Filip Forsberg (Predators)
C: Connor McDavid (Oilers)
RW: David Pastrňák (Bruins)
D: Adam Fox (Rangers)
D: Cale Makar (Avalanche)
G: Thatcher Demko (Canucks)

The First Team nod caps off quite a successful 24 hours for MacKinnon, who also swept both media-voted and player-voted MVP honors with the Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award. It’s his third All-Star nod, although his two prior ones were both Second Team honors in 2018 and 2020. The 28-year-old pivot led the Avs in scoring with 51 goals and 140 points this season and recorded a league-high 405 shots on goal.

Notably, the voting ledger (available in the league’s announcement) indicates Kucherov was the unanimous First Team selection at right wing. That’s the first time that’s happened since 2002, when the Flames’ Jarome Iginla was the across-the-board pick after also winning the Richard and Art Ross trophies. Like Iginla, Kucherov was crowned this year’s Art Ross winner after recording 144 points in 81 games. He tied with McDavid for a league-leading 100 assists, becoming the first winger in NHL history to hit the mark.

Absent from either team is Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews, whose 69 goals this season were the most of anyone since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96. He also fell short of being a Hart Trophy finalist behind Kucherov, MacKinnon and McDavid. He was third in All-Star voting among centers, though, and did receive nine First Team and 55 Second Team votes out of 187 ballots. The only other center to receive consideration was the Penguins’ Sidney Crosby, who only appeared on four ballots.

Nathan MacKinnon Wins 2023-24 Hart Trophy

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After opening Awards Night with the Ted Lindsay Award as the MVP as voted by the players, Avalanche winger Nathan MacKinnon capped off the festivities with another victory.  The league announced that MacKinnon has won the Hart Memorial Trophy, awarded “to the player adjudged to be the most valuable to his team,” as selected by the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

It’s a fitting award for someone who blew past his career highs offensively, notching 51 goals and 89 assists, recording only the fifth 140-point campaign across the NHL over the last 30 years.  MacKinnon became the sixth player in franchise history (including its time in Quebec) to reach the 50-goal mark while he comes in second in club history in assists, checking in three behind Peter Stastny back in the 1981-82 campaign.  MacKinnon recorded at least one point in 69 of 82 games played during the regular season.

MacKinnon took home 137 of 194 first-place votes and appeared on all but one ballot.  That helped get him a margin of victory of more than 500 voting points over Tampa Bay winger Nikita Kucherov, who had more assists and points than MacKinnon did this season.  After Auston Matthews beat out Connor McDavid to be the third finalist for the Ted Lindsay Award, they were reversed for the Hart with McDavid coming in third and Matthews in fourth.  A total of 14 players received at least one top-five vote.

It’s the fourth time MacKinnon has been a finalist for the award but his first time as the winner.  He joins Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic as the only players in franchise history to win league MVP.

Nathan MacKinnon Wins 2023-24 Ted Lindsay Award

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While the NHL has already revealed many of its award winners, there are still five awards being handed out today.  The first of those is the Ted Lindsay Award which the league announced was won by Avalanche winger Nathan MacKinnon.  The award is presented annually to “the most outstanding player in the NHL,” as voted by fellow members of the NHLPA.

This was the third time that the 28-year-old was a finalist for the award (2017-18 and 2019-20 were the others) but he is a first-time winner.  MacKinnon blew past his previous career bests this season, scoring 51 goals and 89 assists; his 140 points were second-most in the NHL while setting a franchise record in the process.  Not surprisingly, he led all Avalanche forwards in ice time.

MacKinnon had a 35-game home point streak, the second-longest streak in NHL history behind Wayne Gretzky.  He also led all scorers in even-strength points (92) and shots on goal (405), also new career highs.  He becomes the second player in franchise history to win the award, joining Joe Sakic, who won back in 2000-01.

The other finalists for the award were Toronto’s Auston Matthews (who led the NHL in goals) and Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov (who tied for the league lead in assists while recording the most points).  Edmonton’s Connor McDavid won the award last year but didn’t quite make the top three in player balloting.

Daniel Winnik Announces Retirement

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Versatile forward Daniel Winnik has retired, as he announced on his personal X page this morning. A veteran of 11 NHL seasons, Winnik had a respectable journeyman career, suiting up for eight major league teams after being taken in the ninth round of the 2004 draft by the Coyotes. The 39-year-old last suited up in the NHL in 2018 before heading to Genève-Servette HC of the Swiss National League, where he’s spent the last six seasons.

“For the past 19 years, I have lived a dream, from signing my first contract with the Phoenix Coyotes to my last with Geneva Servette,” Winnik wrote in his announcement. “Some experiences I thought would only remain dreams became reality: being coached by Wayne Gretzky, playing for my hometown team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and representing Canada at the Olympic Games.”

As expected for a late-round pick, Winnik took a few years to break into the NHL. But unexpectedly, he wasn’t a depth piece or a fringe player subject to endless recalls and reassignments. Instead, he immediately cemented himself as a full-time piece for Phoenix upon making his debut in 2007-08, making 79 appearances in his rookie season while contributing 11 goals and 26 points in 14:06 of ice time per game, a good portion of which came on the penalty kill. Winnik spent the first three years of his NHL career with the Coyotes, recording 52 points (18 goals, 34 assists) in 202 games before they traded him to the Avalanche for a fourth-round pick in the 2010 offseason.

In 2010-11, Winnik rediscovered his valuable depth-scoring contributions from his rookie season, matching his 11 goals and 26 points in 80 games for the Avs while averaging 16:33 per game, the most he’d played at that point in his career. He was also one of Colorado’s most-used forwards in shorthanded situations that season, averaging 2:44 per game while down a man. Unfortunately, he was slugging it out on an Avs team that finished with only 68 points, earning them the right to select future captain Gabriel Landeskog with the second-overall pick in that summer’s draft.

Winnik was dealt again to the Sharks midway through the 2011-12 season, beginning a run of playing for seven different teams in the final seven seasons of his NHL career, including two separate stints with the Maple Leafs. He would also end up logging action for the Capitals, Ducks, Penguins and Wild, although he only managed to play more than 150 games for one team, the Coyotes. His career-defining season was split between Toronto and Pittsburgh in 2014-15, recording a career-high 34 points (nine goals, 25 assists) in 79 games and a +23 rating, earning him a second- and fifth-place vote in Selke Trophy polling.

However, after completing a one-year, $660K contract with the Wild in 2017-18, which saw him produce six goals and 23 points in 81 games, there wasn’t much interest in his services stateside. That led him to head to Geneva, where he broke out immediately as one of the best two-way threats in the top-flight Swiss league. Over six seasons with the club, he recorded 91 goals and 234 points in 270 games, winning three major trophies – a Spengler Cup in 2020, an NL championship in 2023, and a Champions Hockey League title this season. He also represented Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics, contributing a goal and an assist in five appearances.

Ultimately, Winnik ended his NHL career with 82 goals, 169 assists, 251 points and a +52 rating in 798 games. We all at PHR congratulate Winnik on such a lengthy stint in the pros, especially for a ninth-round pick.

Free Agent Focus: Colorado Avalanche

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Free agency is now less than a week 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 have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well.  We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Avalanche.

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Jonathan Drouin – One summer ago, the Avalanche brought Drouin into the fold on a low-risk one-year, $825K contract. Paired with Nathan MacKinnon for the first time since their time with the Halifax Mooseheads, Drouin would be among the highest-value signings of the previous offseason. Over 79 regular season games, Drouin scored 19 goals and 37 assists in Colorado, with the latter statistic marking a career-high. As much as there is a mutual interest between Drouin and the Avalanche on a contract extension, the organization will have to be very frugal this summer based on the pending status of Gabriel Landeskog and Valeri Nichushkin. Although he has more than earned a raise upon his previous salary, Drouin will still need to take a fairly hefty discount to remain in Denver.

D Sean Walker – Acquired to offset the departure of Bowen Byram during a busy trade deadline for the Avalanche, Walker will likely depart this summer. Walker was acquired by the Philadelphia Flyers last summer as a salary dump before finally making his way to Colorado for a top-10 protected first-round pick and the contract of Ryan Johansen. Walker logged heavy minutes during his time with the Flyers and rewarded the team with six goals and 22 points in 63 games. His average ice time dipped nearly two minutes after the trade to the Avalanche but he still managed four goals and seven points in the remaining 18 games of the regular season. Regardless of going scoreless through 11 games in the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs; Walker should command $4-5MM per year on a multi-year contract agreement on the open market.

F Brandon Duhaime – A part of a rare intra-division trade during the trade deadline, Duhaime was brought in to serve as a bruiser in Colorado’s bottom six. Not much of a weapon in the points department — Duhaime has averaged 2.63 hits a game since making his debut with the Minnesota Wild during the 2021-22 NHL season. Unlike most of the other trade deadline acquisitions made by the Avalanche, Duhaime’s price tag wouldn’t necessarily prohibit him from staying in Denver. The team already has Josh Manson, Miles Wood, and Ross Colton as reliable physical options; but contending teams will always be looking for more physicality come springtime.

F Yakov Trenin – Similarly to Duhaime, Trenin was brought in via an intra-division trade with the Nashville Predators at the trade deadline as a physical presence. However, Trenin has been known to score much more than Duhaime evidenced by his 41 goals since the start of the 2021-22 NHL season. Trenin saw his role reduced considerably with the Avalanche, and may want to join a team where he can once again average 15 minutes of ice time per game. Colorado should have the financial flexibility to retain Trenin if they desire, but he will likely move on for a better opportunity this summer.

Other UFAs: F Joel Kiviranta, D Jack Johnson, D Caleb Jones, F Fredrik Olofsson, F Spencer Smallman, F Riley Tufte, D Brad Hunt, D Corey Schueneman, G Ivan Prosvetov

Projected Cap Space

This is where matters become incredibly complicated for the Avalanche. Going into the summer, the team will largely have to assume Landeskog and Nichushkin will return at some point during the 2024-25 NHL season, which would tack on another $13.125 million to the salary cap. Even though Colorado has just under $10.5MM available in cap space, the contract for Nichushkin alone would bring that value down to $4.34MM if he eventually returns.

Much like last offseason, the Avalanche will have to nibble around the fringes of the free agent market with the hope of landing some high-value contracts similar to Drouin. However, this approach does leave considerable room for danger. If Landeskog and Nichushkin do not return at any point next season, the Avalanche will have a bevy of unused cap space. As a team primed for Stanley Cup contention, this is a reality that Colorado can not allow to happen.

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

Avalanche Sign Casey Mittelstadt To Three-Year Extension

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The Avalanche have signed center Casey Mittelstadt to a three-year extension with a cap hit of $5.75MM, per a team announcement.

Mittelstadt had two years remaining under team control, so his new deal buys one UFA year. He’ll be 28 years old at the end of his deal, putting him in the middle of his prime when he’s able to cash in a long-term bet as a UFA.

The Minnesota native entered the season as a Sabre, beginning his sixth full NHL campaign. Buffalo’s eighth-overall pick in 2017 had been largely underwhelming through the first few years of his development, failing to crack the 30-point mark through his first four seasons. But 2022-23 signaled a breakout for Mittelstadt, who contributed 15 goals and 59 points while playing in all 82 games to help the Sabres’ offense rocket up to third in the league. Although they missed the playoffs by one point, it was an important step forward for the pivot, who now looked to be part of a long-term one-two-three punch down the middle in Buffalo with Dylan Cozens and Tage Thompson.

But the Sabres’ forwards failed to carry over their forward momentum into 2023-24. An injury-plagued campaign from Thompson and regression from key pieces like Cozens, Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch canceled out their strongest goaltending performance in quite some time. Mittelstadt was one of the few immune to a step back in scoring, though. In fact, he was arguably Buffalo’s best center last season. He put up the best possession metrics of his career, controlling 51.9% of expected goals at even strength, and added 14 goals and 47 points through 62 games. He averaged 18:16 per game as well, a career-high.

That also meant Mittelstadt was setting himself up for a significant raise in the final season of a three-year, $2.5MM bridge deal signed with Buffalo in 2021. Cozens and Thompson had previously been signed to long-term deals by general manager Kevyn Adams, and the Sabres had plenty of prospects still to come down the middle. That made him expendable and thrust him into trade rumors ahead of this year’s deadline.

Colorado pounced, parting ways with promising but injury-plagued defenseman Bowen Byram to acquire Mittelstadt. The fit was clear. The Avs have had a gaping hole at the second-line center position since Nazem Kadri left for the Flames in free agency in 2022, one of the biggest factors preventing them from repeating as Stanley Cup champions. J.T. Compher tried admirably to shoulder those minutes after Kadri’s departure, but, like Kadri, he converted his breakout year into a richer deal in free agency elsewhere.

Ross Colton and Ryan Johansen also tried and failed to be effective as stopgap solutions behind Colorado’s primary option behind Nathan MacKinnon down the middle. The Avs were especially banking on Johansen, who they acquired from the Predators at a half-reduced $4MM cap hit over the summer, to be Compher’s replacement. But after the veteran struggled to produce with only 23 points in 63 games, Avs general manager Chris MacFarland had to make a move.

He found a willing partner in Adams, swapping Byram for Mittelstadt in an increasingly rare one-for-one deal. It immediately paid dividends. It took a little while for Mittelstadt to adjust to Denver, but he didn’t look out of place and added four goals and six assists for 10 points in 18 games to close out the season in an Avalanche uniform.

The playoffs saw Mittelstadt fully arrive, though. In his first-ever postseason showing, Mittelstadt flourished offensively with three goals and nine points in 11 games, getting 24 shots on goal and averaging 17:25 per game. The Avs had strong shot attempt numbers with Mitteltsadt on the ice at even strength in both the regular season and playoffs, signaling he has the two-way competency necessary for a top-six pivot on a contending roster.

Now, Mittelstadt will hold that second-line center role in Colorado through at least the 2026-27 season. It comes in just around market value, too. Evolving Hockey projected a three-year scenario as the most likely deal for Mittelstadt this summer at a cap hit of $5.8MM, $500K richer per season than what he’s ended up signing for.

With Mittelstadt locked up, the Avs have $10.5MM in projected cap space remaining with a roster size of 15, per CapFriendly. That figure includes the cap hit of injured captain Gabriel Landeskog, who’s expected to return next year after missing two seasons recovering from multiple knee surgeries. However, it doesn’t account for the $6.125MM cap hit of winger Valeri Nichushkin, who will begin the season on the non-roster list while he remains in Stage 3 of the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program. He’ll be unavailable for at least a month as he serves a six-month suspension assessed in May. Colorado still has a handful of notable pending UFAs in Jonathan Drouin, Yakov Trenin and Sean Walker.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Avalanche Still Talking With Jonathan Drouin

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The Vegas Golden Knights have reportedly been in talks with the Boston Bruins about acquiring goaltender Linus Ullmark (as per Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia). The news is a bit surprising given the Golden Knights’ depth at the position, however, Vegas has received interest in their own goaltenders and might see Ullmark as a way to improve their netminding in the short term.

Boston has reportedly been looking at a center in exchange for Ullmark, and Vegas could potentially make that happen although it would create a hole in their forward group. The Golden Knights currently have Adin Hill and Logan Thompson under contract for next season, however, neither goalie was able to grab the net last season and both men posted save percentages below .910. It’s always interesting to see Vegas pop up in trade negotiations as they have a recent history of getting the players that they target, and Ullmark would certainly solidify the position for the team for the next couple of seasons.

In other morning notes:

  • Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia is reporting that the Detroit Red Wings have had talks with the Boston Bruins regarding goaltender Linus Ullmark. Garrioch didn’t specify when the trade talks took place, but it is possible they happened before Red Wings general manager Steve Yzerman said that he wasn’t interested in a veteran goalie who wouldn’t be with Detroit in 2-3 years (as per Sean Shapiro). Yzerman also told the media he wasn’t opposed to improving Detroit’s goaltending if something made sense, and Ullmark would be a dramatic improvement over any of the other netminders in Detroit’s depth chart. Detroit gave up 274 goals last season, finishing 24 out of 32 teams.
  • Colorado Avalanche writer Adrian Dater tweeted that he believes the Avalanche will re-sign forward Jonathan Drouin. Dater called his speculation “an educated guess” but added that there are still conversations between the team and the 29-year-old pending unrestricted free agent. Drouin came over to the Avalanche last summer as a free agent, signing a bargain one-year contract for $825K. That deal was an absolute steal for Colorado as Drouin regained his offensive form and tallied 19 goals and 37 assists. Any long-term deal with Drouin will carry a certain degree of risk given his play in previous years, however, he should be able to fetch a short-term commitment this summer with a healthy AAV.

Andrew Cogliano Announces Retirement

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2022 Stanley Cup champion Andrew Cogliano is retiring after a 17-year NHL career. The Avalanche announced the news regarding their pending free agent forward in an announcement Friday. He’ll stay in Denver in a wide-spanning player development and scouting role. Cogliano released the following statement through the team:

The game of hockey has given me and my family so much and I am grateful for every moment. I am blessed to have played for so long with some great organizations and amazing teammates. I will miss being with the guys in the dressing room and battling for each other on the ice every night but it’s time to move on. Thank you to everyone I ever played with, played for and all the great fans for all of their support. I am excited to start my new chapter in the front office.

An unlikely first-round pick of the Oilers back in 2005, Cogliano had a peculiar development path as one of the few first-round picks in recent memory to be drafted out of lower-level juniors. After racking up 102 points in 49 games with the OPJHL’s St. Michael’s Buzzers in his draft year, Cogliano walked away from Canadian juniors and embarked on a collegiate career with the University of Michigan, where he again dominated. He turned pro with Edmonton in 2007-08, playing in all 82 games during his rookie season – something that would quickly become a common theme.

That rookie season was a strong one for Cogliano, who finished ninth in Calder Trophy voting after racking up 45 points, a number that would end up standing as a career-high. Suiting up for Edmonton in the early days of their so-called ’Decade of Darkness,’ Cogliano quickly developed into a respected, versatile two-way skater who could play anywhere he was needed, skating on virtually every line and at every forward position. After four years, 146 points and 328 games of service for Edmonton, never missing a contest since making his NHL debut, he was dealt to the Ducks in the 2011 offseason in exchange for a second-round pick.

The offense never popped consistently for Cogliano in Anaheim, although he did notch his only 20-goal season in the 2013-14 campaign. Still, he remained an incredibly serviceable and adept two-way skater, routinely averaging between 14 and 16 minutes per game while contributing solid secondary scoring. Consistency remained perhaps his greatest asset – his career-opening ironman streak didn’t end until a suspension in the 2017-18 campaign, his 11th one in the NHL and his final full season with the Ducks.

Cogliano remained a strong utility forward with penalty-killing upside even as he aged, giving solid showings for the Stars, Sharks and finally Avalanche as he declined into a solely bottom-six role. Colorado acquired him for just a fifth-round pick from San Jose at the 2022 trade deadline, and he went on to contribute three goals and six points in 16 playoff games as he helped the Avs to their first Stanley Cup in nearly 20 years.

Now 37, Cogliano finishes his career with 1,294 games played, tied for 75th all-time. He tallied 190 goals, 274 assists, and 464 points with a +31 rating and 449 PIMs while averaging 14:06 per game. All of us at PHR extend our best wishes to Cogliano as he begins his front-office career.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Offseason Checklist: Colorado Avalanche

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The offseason has arrived for all but the two teams who are still taking part in the playoffs.  For the rest, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months.  Next up is a look at Colorado.

Expectations were high once again for the Avalanche heading into 2023-24.  The team made some moves to shore up their forward group over the offseason, leading them to be a speculative favorite to come out of the Central Division.  However, they came up a bit short, falling to Dallas in the division final.  Now, GM Chris MacFarland will look to add to his group again, a task that will be harder this time around.  Here’s what should be on his checklist in the coming weeks.

Create Cap Flexibility

Captain Gabriel Landeskog missed the entire season, allowing Colorado to go well into LTIR last summer as they knew in advance he wouldn’t be available to play.  There is still some uncertainty as to whether he’ll be ready to play next season but the winger has made it known he intends to try.  That effectively encumbers $7MM as they need to have that free in case he’s able to return from his knee cartilage transplant.

Then there’s Valeri Nichushkin.  He’ll miss the first few weeks of the season while being in Stage Three of the Player Assistance Program and will be cap-exempt during that time.  However, whenever he is cleared to return, his full $6.125MM cap charge will come onto the books.  They have to assume he’ll be cleared to come back so that money will be tied up as well.

While the Avs have over $16MM in cap room, per CapFriendly, they have quite a few roster spots to fill with that money; a big chunk of which will go to a pending RFA which will be highlighted shortly.  With the volume of spots (as many as eight) to fill, they’ll be hard-pressed to spend big on an unrestricted free agent which will make it difficult to re-sign Jonathan Drouin.

Finding a way to move all or at least some of Josh Manson’s $4.5MM AAV would be one way to accomplish this although it’s usually not easy to free up that much cap space for a couple of years.  Ross Colton ($4MM for three years) might be another option to move although doing so would create another hole down the middle to fill.  There aren’t many ways to do it but if MacFarland can open up some more wiggle room, they’ll have plenty more viable options to build their roster.

Rantanen Extension Talks

While this is something that could easily stay on the back burner this summer, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Colorado take a real run at an extension for winger Mikko Rantanen.  Once July 1st hits, he’ll officially be in the final year of his contract, making him eligible to sign a new deal at any time.

The 27-year-old has been playing on a contract that pays $9.25MM per season since 2019.  It’s hard for that pricey of a contract to be construed as a team-friendly one but that is the case here.  Rantanen has become an impactful and consistent producer, averaging at least 1.23 points per game in each of the last four seasons.  He has been even more productive in the playoffs, averaging a minimum of 1.25 points per game over the last four postseason, tallying 62 points in 48 games over that span.

As a result, Rantanen is well-positioned to earn a considerable raise along with a max-term agreement of eight years if he wants to sign for that long.  Earlier this month, Corey Masisak of The Denver Post outlined some possible comparables for what Rantanen’s next deal could look like.  At this point, it’s fair to suggest that there’s a chance that Rantanen could sign the richest contract for a winger in NHL history (in terms of cap hit), surpassing Artemi Panarin’s $11.643MM.  That still would slot him a bit behind Nathan MacKinnon who checks in at $12.6MM.

This isn’t something that MacFarland has to get done this summer as Rantanen is signed through next June.  However, it would be worthwhile to at least get an understanding of the asking price (if not get a deal done altogether) to aid in their spending plans now as some of the players they’ll be pursuing shortly will undoubtedly be seeking multi-year deals.  Having a better sense of what the 2025-26 books will look like makes navigating those other discussions a little easier.

Re-Sign Mittelstadt

Now, let’s get back to that pending RFA of note, center Casey Mittelstadt.  The Avs pulled off arguably the most surprising trade back at the deadline, acquiring the 25-year-old from Buffalo in exchange for promising young defenseman Bowen Byram.  In doing so, they shored up their second line, something they’d been looking to do since losing Nazem Kadri to Calgary in free agency.

Mittelstadt followed up a breakout 2022-23 performance that saw him put up 59 points with a similar showing between the two teams this season, tallying 57 points in 80 games.  However, that doesn’t quite tell the full picture as he was limited to 10 points in 18 appearances following the swap, a point-per-game drop of 0.2 compared to his output with the Sabres.  However, Mittelstadt was more impactful in the playoffs, collecting nine points in 11 games which will help his case this summer.

Mittelstadt is coming off a three-year bridge agreement that carried a $2.5MM AAV and has a required qualifying offer of $2.6MM.  He’s also arbitration-eligible for the first and only time as he can reach unrestricted free agency next summer.  That last note effectively rules out another short-term contract that would only buy a year or two of team control.

Given their cap constraints, it’s hard to envision the Avs working out a max-term agreement as the cost of it in terms of a higher AAV would make things a bit harder for them in the summer.  Accordingly, a medium-term deal (four to six years) feels like the sweet spot to try to aim for.  If that winds up being where the two sides land, he’s likely to at least double his qualifying offer and could push for $6MM.  Getting him locked up would certainly give them some stability down the middle with MacKinnon not going anywhere either.

Load Up On Depth

Last summer, Colorado needed to sign several players to low-cost one-year deals to round out their roster.  Up front, they added Drouin, Chris Wagner, and Joel Kiviranta while re-signing Andrew Cogliano all for $825K or less and also brought in Frederik Karlsson for the minimum from Dallas.  On the back end, they brought back Jack Johnson for the minimum and later acquired Caleb Jones who was also making the minimum salary.  They didn’t hit on every addition but most of them turned out pretty well while Drouin wound up being a key part of their forward group.  However, all but Wagner are free agents next month.

That’s a lot of roster spots to try to fill and depending on what happens with Mittelstadt’s deal and potentially trying to bring Drouin back, they’re going to be looking at trying to fill the rest either internally or with low-cost free agent pickups.  With their internal options, Nikolai Kovalenko and recent free agent pickup Jere Innala figure to be the likeliest to grab spots although both of them also check in at price tags higher than last summer’s group of depth additions.

With that in mind, MacFarland will likely be targeting four to six players for the league minimum or very close to it to try to backfill their forward group and round out the defense corps.  Additionally, he will likely be trying to add some potential in-season recalls on two-way deals worth the minimum in the NHL.  There will be a lot of these types of contracts signed in the first few days of free agency; expect Colorado to be among the leaders in them.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Evening Notes: Manson, Johnson, Islanders

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Colorado Avalanche defenseman Josh Manson saw a change in his contract on June 15th, 2024, as his full no-trade clause became a modified 12-team no-trade clause (as per CapFriendly).  Manson is entering the third year of his four-year $18MM contract and can now be traded to 19 NHL teams. The change in contract status doesn’t mean that the Avalanche are interested in trading the 32-year-old, but it does give the team options as they try to navigate multiple complex contract situations, while simultaneously trying to extend Jonathan Drouin and potentially address deficiencies in their roster.

Manson enjoyed a bounce-back season last year after an injury-riddled 2022-23 season, he posted eight goals and 17 assists in 76 games and continued to provide sound work in the defensive zone. He remained a good penalty killer with his long reach and mobility.

In other evening notes:

  • Kevin Kurz of The Athletic tweeted that the Philadelphia Flyers remain in conversation with pending free-agent defenseman Erik Johnson. Kurz believes that the former first-overall pick intends to keep playing next season and is interested in signing with the Flyers. At 36 years of age, Johnson is not the defenseman he once was, but he can still provide physical play and take care of the defensive zone. He won’t score much, but for a team in need of a veteran in the room, re-signing Johnson might make sense for the Flyers.
  • Stefen Rosner of The Hockey News believes that pending free agent forward Anthony Duclair would be a great fit with the New York Islanders. Rosner doesn’t cite any direct sources from the Islanders organization to link them to Duclair but believes the 28-year-old’s ability to play up and down the lineup would be a huge asset for the Islanders and his previous relationship with Islanders head coach Patrick Roy could factor into the equation. Roy coached Duclair for two years in his junior hockey days and Duclair speaks glowingly of him, calling Roy a mentor. Duclair posted 24 goals and 18 assists last season in 73 games and should have a lot of interest in free agency given his skillset.

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