Avalanche Sign Justus Annunen To Two-Year Contract Extension
The Colorado Avalanche have reportedly signed goaltender Justus Annunen to a two-year, one-way contract extension, per NHL insider Kevin Weekes. Weekes adds that the deal will carry a cap hit of around $833K.
This move is a welcome bode of confidence in the 24-year-old Annunen, who has played in just 12 NHL games since debuting in the 2021-22 season. He’s managed an admirable seven wins and .908 save percentage in those appearances – including a .926 save percentage in eight games this season – but he’s still struggled to win out starting spots over backup competition Ivan Prosvetov and Pavel Francouz over the last few years- the latter yet to play this season. The matter isn’t helped by the fact that starter Alexandar Georgiev has played in an NHL-leading 56 games. But now on a one-way deal, Annunen can breathe a sign of relief knowing that starts are soon to come.
And Annunen has certainly earned the opportunity. He’s posted 60 wins across 114 AHL games since joining the league at the end of the 2020-21 season, recording a combined .903 save percentage. He’s seeing that success translate to the NHL for the first time this season, finally starting to find his footing at the top level. With the progress, Annunen joins fellow 2018 draftees Joel Hofer and Lukas Dostal as encouraging, young netminders fighting for starts from a backup role.
Pavel Francouz May Be Headed For Retirement
Meghan Angley of DNVR Avalanche is reporting that Colorado Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland provided an update today on the status of injured netminder Pavel Francouz. MacFarland said that the goaltender’s situation could lead to retirement because of the nature of his injury. He added that there are no plans for Francouz to ramp up his efforts to return to NHL action.
Francouz has been sidelined this year with a groin injury and was ruled out of action for this season back in November 2023. He returned to Czechia to be with his family at that time leading to speculation about the severity of his injury.
The 33-year-old hasn’t played since April 9th, 2023, and made 16 appearances during the 2022-23 season, recording an 8-7-1 record with a 2.61 goals-against average and .915 save percentage. He was a key part of the Avalanche’s 2022 Stanley Cup run, particularly in the Western Conference Finals against the Edmonton Oilers. Francouz went 6-0 in that playoff run with a shutout and a 2.81 goals-against average.
If this is the end for Francouz it will leave a big hole for the Avalanche to fill both on the ice and in the dressing room. Aside from being a fan favorite, Francouz has repeatedly shown a desire to stay with the Avalanche for less than market value signing a two-year $4MM extension back in 2022. The Avalanche will be hard-pressed to find similar value this summer on the free-agent market.
Should Francouz retire, it will be a sad ending to a rock-solid NHL career as one of the better backups we’ve seen in recent memory. Francouz has compiled a 44-21-6 record in 73 appearances along with a .919 career save percentage and a 2.49 goals-against average.
Colorado Loans Nikolai Kovalenko To The AHL
Earlier today, the Colorado Avalanche announced that the team had finally brought up-and-coming prospect, Nikolai Kovalenko, to North America. Not under the best pretenses, however, as the team announced Kovalenko would start with their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles, to rehabilitate from a leg injury suffered during his time in the Kontinental Hockey League.
The obvious hope for the Avalanche is that Kovalenko is eventually able to play at the NHL level at some point this season. Playing for Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of the KHL for the last two years, Kovalenko has scored 32 goals and 89 points in 98 games after being a sixth-round pick by Colorado in the 2018 NHL Draft.
The Eagles do have a game tonight as well as one tomorrow against the Milwaukee Admirals, but it is unlikely that Kovalenko will draw into the lineup for either of those two matchups. After that, AHL Colorado does not have another game until March 29th, which may set a timeline for Kovalenko’s debut within the Avalanche organization.
Lehkonen, Parise, And Drouin Expected To Return, Olofsson Sent To Eagles
- Avalanche winger Artturi Lehkonen is expected to return tonight versus Edmonton after missing the last two games due to illness, relays play-by-play voice Conor McGahey (Twitter link). The 28-year-old has been limited to just 30 games so far this season but has done well when he has been in the lineup, collecting 11 goals and 11 assists. Meanwhile, McGahey adds that wingers Zach Parise and Jonathan Drouin are also expected to return tonight. Parise has missed two straight with a lower-body injury while Drouin missed Wednesday’s contest with a lower-body injury of his own. Parise has seven points in 15 games in his final NHL season while Drouin has done well, picking up 38 points in 64 appearances so far.
- With those returns, the Avalanche announced (Twitter link) that they’ve returned forward Fredrik Olofsson to AHL Colorado. The 27-year-old played in two games on this recall to bring his season total to 57. Olofsson has nine points in those appearances while averaging 9:45 per contest.
Western Notes: Scheifele, Vilardi, Dunn, Kovalenko
The Winnipeg Jets could be getting major reinforcements back soon, with the team hopeful that Mark Scheifele will return to the lineup on Friday, per Scott Billeck with the Winnipeg Sun. Billeck also shared that Gabriel Vilardi will remain out on Friday. Vilardi has been out since February 29th with an upper-body injury, missing the team’s last seven games. The extended absence has continued a season of injuries for Vilardi, who has now missed 27 games on the season.
Scheifele missed Winnipeg’s Wednesday night game with illness. He continues to lead the Jets in scoring, with 19 goals and 57 points in 58 games. The Jets simply haven’t been the same team without Scheifele, averaging a measly 1.57 goals-per-game in his absence compared to 3.22 goals-per-game with him in the lineup – leading Winnipeg to a 2-5-0 record without their top forward.
Scheifele’s importance to the Winnipeg roster can’t be understated, placing plenty of weight on his game-time decision ahead of Friday’s matchup. If he can’t go, the Jets will need to rely on one of David Gustafsson or Rasmus Kupari. Gustafsson has been Winnipeg’s de facto fill-in this year, with four points in 31 games, though Kupari’s role as a natural center could earn him a leg-up, even despite his sole assist through 27 games this season.
Other notes from around the league:
- The Seattle Kraken will be without defenseman Vince Dunn for the fourth straight game, per Scott Malone with Root Sports. Dunn has been Seattle’s top defender this year, averaging over 23 minutes of ice time for the second-straight season. Dunn has managed 11 goals and 45 points in 57 games on the season, scoring at nearly the exact same pace as he did last season, when he posted a career-high 14 goals and 64 points in 71 games. Without Dunn, Seattle has promoted top young defender Ryker Evans back into an NHL role. Evans has five assists in 19 games this season – the first games of his NHL career – though he’s still searching for his first career goal. Evans has also managed two goals and 15 points in 25 AHL games this year.
- The Colorado Avalanche could be adding a major boost even after the Trade Deadline, with Russian forward Nikolai Kovalenko reportedly headed to America soon, per Evan Rawal of Colorado Hockey Now, as well as a social media post from Kovalenko’s barber. The Avalanche drafted Kovalenko in the sixth-round of the 2018 NHL Draft, with the winger since emerging as a strong option for the KHL’s Nizhny Novgorod Torpedo. The 24-year-old scored 11 goals and 35 points in 42 KHL games this season, after posting a career-high 21 goals and 54 points in 56 games last season. He will look to carry that same scoring energy onto the high-offense Colorado lineup.
Artturi Lehkonen, Zach Parise Ruled Out For Wednesday
The Avalanche will again be without forwards Artturi Lehkonen and Zach Parise against the Canucks on Wednesday, head coach Jared Bednar said on 92.5 FM Altitude Sports Radio (via Evan Rawal of Colorado Hockey Now). Bednar did not rule either player out for the following contest, a Saturday game in Edmonton, although he did not confirm either would be ready to return by then either.
Without two players who have spent extended time in Colorado’s top six, recent trade pickup Brandon Duhaime will continue to get a tryout on their new-look second line alongside Jonathan Drouin and Casey Mittelstadt in Vancouver. The 26-year-old grinder has averaged only 10:40 per game this season across 64 games with the Avalanche and Wild, recording four goals and nine points.
Zach Parise Returns To Practice
- After leaving last week’s game against the Detroit Red Wings with a lower-body injury, Zach Parise was back on the ice this morning with the Colorado Avalanche in a non-contact jersey (X Link). In his final attempt to lift the Stanley Cup, Parise has been productive for the Avalanche after signing a one-year, $825K contract with the team back in January. In 15 games for Colorado, Parise has scored four goals and seven points in total, averaging just over 14 minutes of ice time a night.
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Avalanche Reassign Chris Wagner, Recall Fredrik Olofsson
The Avalanche have assigned forward Chris Wagner to the AHL’s Colorado Eagles after he recovered from an undisclosed injury he sustained last week, per a team announcement. Winger Fredrik Olofsson was recalled to the Avalanche in a corresponding transaction, keeping Colorado’s active roster at 24 and their remaining LTIR salary pool at $2.1MM.
With today’s move, the Avs have used two of their four allotted post-deadline recalls. The first one was used on backup netminder Justus Annunen, who was briefly assigned to the Eagles on deadline day to make him eligible for the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Wagner, 32, has been limited to 20 combined NHL and AHL games this year after sustaining an Achilles injury during training camp. He returned to action with the Eagles in January, where he was solid with seven points in 11 games before earning a recall to the Avs in mid-February. Playing spot duty on the fourth line, the Massachusetts native posted an assist and a +2 rating in nine games while logging just 7:46 per game, a career low. Since he’s been rostered for 30 days and played less than 10 games since clearing waivers in January, he doesn’t need them again for today’s transaction.
The 27-year-old Olofsson gets another shot with the big club after they opted to waive him near the end of February. After acquiring his signing rights in a trade from the Stars last June, the Avs inked Olofsson to a one-year, two-way deal ($775K NHL/$300K AHL/$350K guarantee). He managed to stick on the roster out of camp and spent the first 60% of the season in a fourth-line role, recording career highs with three goals and nine points in 55 games while posting a -3 rating and averaging 9:53 per game. He played six games on his AHL assignment, recording three assists and a +5 rating. The native of Helsingborg, Sweden, will serve as Colorado’s 13th forward while Zach Parise is dealing with a knee injury and Logan O’Connor is done for the year after undergoing hip surgery.
Wagner, signed to a one-year, two-way deal, earns $375K in salary while on assignment to the AHL. He’ll be a UFA this summer, as will Olofsson.
Multiple Teams Showing Interest In Marcus Sylvegard
With the trade deadline now behind us, the focus will shift in the coming weeks and months to the undrafted free agent market. We’ve already seen several major junior players sign while college free agency will pick up soon as well. Meanwhile, there are some international free agents that will also garner interest.
One of those appears to be Swedish winger Marcus Sylvegard. The 24-year-old is putting the finishing touches on arguably his best SHL season as he has 23 goals and 18 assists in 50 games so far with Vaxjo with one game remaining on the schedule. It’s his second straight season reaching the 40-point mark after failing to reach 20 in his first five seasons at that level which likely helped get him on the NHL radar.
SportExpressen’s Johan Svensson reports that the Panthers, Avalanche, and Flames are among NHL teams who have shown interest in his services so far with Florida believed to have shown the most interest at this point. A signing won’t be imminent, however, with Sylvegard indicating that his focus will be on the upcoming league playoffs so it stands to reason that he won’t choose his next team until after his postseason comes to an end.
Regardless of whomever he signs with, Sylvegard will be subject to entry-level restrictions. He’ll be entering his age-25 year next season so he will be capped at inking a one-year deal; the maximum compensation for an entry-level deal in 2024-25 is $975K plus performance bonuses.
Logan O’Connor To Undergo Hip Surgery, Out For Season
Avalanche winger Logan O’Connor will undergo hip surgery this week and will not return this season, Ryan Boulding of NHL.com reports. O’Connor, who last played on March 4, has been dealing with the injury for most of the season, head coach Jared Bednar said.
Bednar issued multiple other injury updates Sunday, confirming that veteran winger Zach Parise is day-to-day with a lower-body injury and that Ross Colton, Jack Johnson and Artturi Lehkonen did not practice due to illness but will travel with the team on their upcoming four-game road trip. Depth center Chris Wagner, who sat out Friday’s game against the Wild with an upper-body injury, will be available on the trip if needed, Bednar said.
Before exiting the lineup last week, O’Connor missed a four-game stretch in February and a two-game stretch in November with a lower-body injury. Bednar’s comments imply that O’Connor sustained the initial injury as late as Nov. 20, the game immediately prior to his first absence of the season.
Despite the injury, O’Connor has managed the best season of his career and was a necessary stabilizing force with many Avalanche depth forwards either missing significant time or underperforming. He managed 13 goals, 12 assists and 25 points in 57 games, a career-best 0.44 points per game pace, although he’d failed to get on the scoresheet in his last seven games.
Aside from his point totals, O’Connor also recorded career-highs in ATOI (14:57) while putting up good even-strength possession stats (54.5 CF%, 54.3 xGF%) in shutdown usage. He was also a significant part of the Avs’ top-10 penalty kill, averaging 2:17 per game.
Luckily for Colorado, GM Chris MacFarland went big-game hunting at the trade deadline. Their acquisitions of Casey Mittelstadt and Sean Walker will draw the most attention, but a targeted move to snag Yakov Trenin from the Predators should help balance out O’Connor’s absence. The 27-year-old Trenin hasn’t scored at O’Connor’s rate this year, posting 14 points in 61 games, but he does have double-digit goal totals and is comfortable in defensive usage and penalty-kill scenarios. He’ll slot seamlessly into the third-line right wing O’Connor was projected to occupy behind Valeri Nichushkin and Mikko Rantanen down the stretch and in the postseason.
O’Connor is in the second season of a three-year, $3.15MM extension signed with the Avs in 2021 that began in the 2022-23 season. He costs $1.05MM against the cap, which the Avalanche could use to increase their financial flexibility down the stretch by placing him on LTIR, but are unlikely to do so with a $2.1MM cushion still remaining from Pavel Francouz‘s and Gabriel Landeskog‘s combined $9MM cap hits.