Analyzing Colorado’s Middle Six Options
A season removed from winning the Stanley Cup, a major theme for the Colorado Avalanche last year was the apparent lack of depth on the roster. Due to a large amount of injuries sustained throughout the entirety of the regular season, the Avalanche used a total of 39 skaters, and five goalies, far more than most teams had to use.
This offseason, Colorado was aggressive in correcting this issue, adding Ryan Johansen, Ross Colton, Miles Wood, Jonathan Drouin, and Fredrik Olofsson to an already playoff-caliber roster. Even after adding all these assets, there does seem to be a bit of a hole in the top six, largely due to the long-standing injury of captain Gabriel Landeskog.
It is all but certain that Johansen will take on the role of second-line center, but outside of Nathan MacKinnon, Valeri Nichushkin, Mikko Rantanen, and Artturi Lehkonen, will the Avalanche trust a mixture of Drouin, Colton, and Wood to carry them to the Stanley Cup title in 2024? Much like they did with Alex Newhook last season, Colorado will likely experiment with those three, seeing if any of the trio will have staying power in the top six for the regular season and playoffs.
Although the Avalanche dealt with plenty of injuries last year, they still finished top in their division with 109 points, also tying for second atop the Western Conference. Much like they were last season, the Dallas Stars once again project to be a threat to the division crown, but Colorado is largely expected to once again qualify for the playoffs.
In the best-case-scenario for the Avalanche, either Drouin rekindles the magic he had in the QMJHL with MacKinnon, or perhaps Colton becomes a 60-point player instead of a 30-point player, but if that doesn’t work out, there will still be options available to the team. Now that it is certain Landeskog will be on LTIR all season, Colorado is heading into the season with a little over $2MM in cap space.
An obvious choice, and an oft-rumored potential landing spot for the forward at last year’s trade deadline, would be veteran Patrick Kane. Back in July, Greg Wyshynski of ESPN reported that Kane is expected to wait out the first couple weeks of the regular season before finally making a decision on his destination. It is understandable that in the twilight years of his career, Kane would now be looking to cap it off with one more ring.
Kane is not the MVP-caliber star that he used to be in the mid-2010s but showed with the New York Rangers last year that he can still be a threat during crunch time and the playoffs. Although losing to the New Jersey Devils in seven games, Kane still put up one goal and five assists, finishing third on the team in points for the postseason.
There is always fine-tuning that is needed for most Stanley Cup contenders during the regular season, and the Avalanche are no different. After already addressing much of their need for increased depth, one more big move may put them over the top as odds-on favorites for Lord Stanley’s trophy.
Colorado Eagles Sign Ivan Ivan
- The highest-scoring member of the Cape Breton Eagles last year, Ivan Ivan, has agreed to an AHL contract with the Colorado Eagles for the 2023-24 season. Last season for the Eagles, Ivan put up 33 goals and 57 assists in only 64 games, showing some significant offensive prowess from the center position. Already carrying solid depth down the middle of the ice, there is a real chance that Ivan starts the year with the team’s ECHL affiliate, the Utah Grizzles, but if Ivan continues his offensive development, he may turn into a solid prospect for the Colorado Avalanche organization.
[SOURCE LINK]
Previewing The Top 2024 Unrestricted Free Agents
This year’s free agent class was underwhelming. There’s no disrespect intended here to players like Alex Killorn, Dmitry Orlov and Vladimir Tarasenko. However, we’ve grown accustomed to at least one true star being available on the market every year – at least a top-ten player at their position. But a flurry of extensions took some potential game-breakers, such as Boston Bruins sniper David Pastrnak off the market, limiting the amount of star power available.
With the salary cap finally expected to jump significantly by about $4MM next offseason, some NHL general managers will undoubtedly look to spend that extra cash on a shiny new toy on the UFA market. As 2023 is mainly in the rearview mirror, let’s take a look at some of the best players slated to hit the open market next summer, whether or not they may extend, and offer some way-too-early contract projections in the process:
F Auston Matthews (Toronto Maple Leafs) – The unquestionable crown jewel of the 2024 free agent class might also be one of the least likely to hit the market. Matthews is more than just a superstar – he’s a season removed from back-to-back Rocket Richard Trophies, he’s led the league in even-strength goals in four out of his seven NHL seasons, and he’s coming off a “down season” in which he still managed 40 goals despite a career-low 12.2 shooting percentage. Toronto is still plugging away at an extension with Matthews, a process that was surely elongated by a change at the GM position earlier this offseason. While multiple reports suggested it likely won’t be a long-term deal to keep Matthews in Toronto, seeing his name available for anyone to pursue next July would be shocking.
Extension Likelihood: Very Likely
Projected Contract: Five years, $62MM ($12.4MM AAV)
F William Nylander (Toronto Maple Leafs) – Another star in Canada’s largest city is also headed for the open market next season. Nylander is coming off a strong season with a career-high 40 goals and 87 points, but multiple reports indicate contract talks are currently at an impasse between the two sides. The Swedish winger reportedly wants an eight-figure cap hit on his next deal, one he’s increasingly unlikely to receive after sub-$10MM extensions for players like the Carolina Hurricanes’ Sebastian Aho. He will be in his prime at 28 years old next summer, though, and he currently holds the undisputed title of the best pure winger slated to hit the market. Given the slated cap increase, Nylander may be able to garner the money he desires elsewhere if Toronto isn’t willing to fork over another eight-figure deal.
Extension Likelihood: Somewhat Unlikely
Projected Contract: Seven years, $70MM ($10MM AAV)
F Steven Stamkos (Tampa Bay Lightning) – Including Stamkos on this list seems like more of a formality than anything else. The captain of back-to-back Stanley Cup championship teams in Tampa and likely to go down as the greatest player in franchise history when he retires, it’s nearly impossible to imagine him wearing another jersey. Barring an unforeseen breakdown in communication, Stamkos will be re-upping with the Bolts on what could potentially be the final contract of his NHL career as he enters his mid-30s. After yet another point-per-game season, Stamkos will undoubtedly be sticking around in Tampa as long as they’ll have him, likely at a slight discount to help them replenish their depth reserves.
Extension Likelihood: Very Likely
Projected Contract: Four years, $31.5MM ($7.875MM AAV)
F Jake Guentzel (Pittsburgh Penguins) – The Penguins have exhibited a strong tendency toward keeping the band together in recent seasons, but it’s a trend that may change under the front-office leadership of Kyle Dubas. Still, it’s hard to imagine the Penguins won’t field a competitive offer to keep Guentzel in the fold. He’s been one of the most successful and consistent linemates to Sidney Crosby in the entire illustrious career of the future Hall-of-Famer, he’s a two-time 40-goal scorer, and he’s an incredibly clutch playoff performer. While contract extension talks haven’t begun between the two parties yet, reporting indicates the Penguins’ core shares the public’s view of Guentzel and would like to keep him around.
Extension Likelihood: Likely
Projected Contract: Eight years, $75MM ($9.375MM AAV)
F Mark Scheifele (Winnipeg Jets) – The first of two Jets on this list hasn’t been in trade rumors quite as much as his netminding counterpart, but there’s still a very good chance Scheifele is sporting a different jersey by the 2024 trade deadline. Speculation has immediately run rampant about Scheifele as a stop-gap fix down the middle for the Boston Bruins, who are without their number-one center after captain Patrice Bergeron announced his retirement last week. There are plenty of question marks about how highly Scheifele is actually valued around the league, given his significant defensive lapses, but he’s consistently produced the offense you’d want out of a number-one center. Despite scoring a career-high 42 goals last season, 2022-23 was actually Scheifele’s first campaign falling short of a point per game since 2015-16, when he was just 22 years old.
Extension Likelihood: Unlikely
Projected Contract: Seven years, $66MM ($9.4MM AAV)
D Devon Toews (Colorado Avalanche) – Toews may be the most unheralded defenseman in the league thanks to his partner, Cale Makar. On almost any other team, Toews would be a legitimate number-one defender with very few holes in his game. Little has been made of his impending free agency, but he’ll be due a major raise on his current bargain-bin $4.1MM cap hit. Combined with the potential loss of captain Gabriel Landeskog‘s LTIR relief should he return to play in 2024-25, it could be incredibly difficult for Colorado to retain him even with the cap going up. Not only does Toews consistently rank among having some of the best defensive impacts in the league, but he’s also coming off back-to-back 50-point campaigns and has finished top-15 in Norris voting during each of his three seasons in Colorado.
Extension Likelihood: 50/50
Projected Contract: Seven years, $61MM ($8.7MM AAV)
D Brandon Montour (Florida Panthers) – A pair of prominent Panthers defenders are up for UFA status next season in Montour and Gustav Forsling, but Montour’s the one we’ll cover more in-depth here after he led the Panthers’ defense in playoff scoring with eight goals and 13 points in 21 games despite playing through a shoulder injury which will cost him the beginning of the 2023-24 campaign. His stock has never been higher after exploding for 73 points in 80 regular season games, along with a career-high 107 penalty minutes. While he’s still a rather one-dimensional player and likely to be somewhat of a liability defensively, he’s finally shown legitimate top-pair ability at 29 years old. Committing any term to Montour as a UFA may be a case of buyer beware, however, as his track record is far from consistent.
Extension Likelihood: Somewhat Unlikely
Projected Contract: Four years, $26MM ($6.5MM AAV)
G Connor Hellebuyck (Winnipeg Jets) – It seemed very unlikely a few months ago that Hellebuyck would be on this list today. While there’s no chance he’ll be signing an extension with the Jets, a trade followed by an extension with a new team seemed rather likely this offseason. However, some outlandish financial demands from Hellebuyck’s camp dried up trade interest, and there hasn’t been a lot of movement on that front lately. While small, the possibility that Hellebuyck lands on the open market next season seems to be increasing without a trade or extension any closer to fruition.
Extension Likelihood: Very Unlikely
Projected Contract: Seven years, $61.25MM ($8.75MM AAV)
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Colorado Eagles Hire Steve Konowalchuk
Filling out the rest of their bench before the start of the 2023-24 AHL season, the Colorado Eagles have hired Steve Konowalchuk as an associate coach (Tweet Link). This will be Konowalchuk’s third stint within the Colorado Avalanche organization, both as a player and as a coach.
In his playing career, Konowalchuk was originally drafted in the third round of the 1991 NHL Draft. Never an elite point-scorer by any stretch of the imagination, Konowalchuk was a quality defensive player for the Washington Capitals for a little over a decade, assisting in the team’s run to the Stanley Cup Final in 1998. Right before the 2002-03 campaign, Konowalchuk was named the tenth captain in Capitals history and would hold that role for two seasons, after a draft day trade sent him to the Avalanche in 2004. Playing in 14 seasons in the NHL, Konowalchuk had his career unfortunately cut short by a Long QT Syndrome diagnosis in 2006.
Carl Söderberg Announces Retirement
Swedish forward Carl Söderberg, who played in nearly 600 NHL games, has made the decision to end his playing career at the age of 37.
Söderberg’s retirement announcement, made via SportExpressen’s Johan Svensson, comes after the player’s second season playing SHL hockey with the Malmö Redhawks and two seasons removed from his last NHL campaign.
Söderberg was selected by the St. Louis Blues in the second round of the 2004 draft, 49th overall. He was seen as a toolsy six-foot-three forward who impressed at the junior level for Malmö, scoring 48 points in 27 games, and even managed to play in 24 games for Malmö’s first-team squad.
Söderberg struggled the following season, scoring just five points in 38 games as Malmö were relegated to the second-tier HockeyAllsvenskan.
In the Allsvenskan is where Söderberg took the first developmental leap of his career, scoring 39 points in 39 games and leading Malmö to promotion back to the top tier of Swedish hockey. Söderberg looked poised to keep the good times rolling the following season in 2006-07, scoring 30 points in 31 games at a significantly increased competition level compared to the Allsvenskan, before he was thrown a potentially career-threatening challenge.
After an opposing player’s attempted stick lift went awry, Söderberg was left with a detached retina and forced to undergo what he estimates was between eight to ten surgeries on his left eye. Söderberg missed quite a bit of time as a result and became legally blind in one eye, but ultimately returned to the ice for Malmö and became a top scorer for the club for the next four seasons, all played at the Allsvenskan level.
Söderberg would then move on from Malmö and spend two years with IK Oskarshamn in Sweden’s top league, finishing the 2012-13 season leading the league in goals with 31 to go alongside 60 total points. At that point he was 27 and decided he would try his luck in the NHL, signing a deal with the Boston Bruins. Although Söderberg’s career technically began poorly, as the Bruins suffered a heartbreaking loss in the 2013 Stanley Cup Final, Söderberg himself would go on to provide a major return on investment for the Bruins.
He scored 16 goals and 48 points in his rookie 2013-14 season and followed that up with 44 points as a sophomore. That earned Söderberg a hefty five-year, $4.75MM AAV contract with the Colorado Avalanche, where he would immediately set a career-high of 51 points and in 2018-19 hit the 20-goal plateau for the first time in his career.
In 2019 Söderberg was dealt to the Arizona Coyotes for what would be the final productive season of his career. After a 2020-21 season spent largely in depth roles for the Chicago Blackhawks and Avalanche, Söderberg returned to where it all started, to the SHL and Malmö. He would lead the team in scoring in 2021-22 and although his numbers declined this past season his 14 goals and 26 points played a crucial role in the club avoiding relegation and maintaining its spot in the SHL.
Although the Avalanche would go on to finally win the Stanley Cup championship they’d been building towards in 2021-22, Söderberg’s first away from the NHL, the leadership and the guidance Söderberg provided for younger players during the early days of the careers of players such as Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon means his contributions to the team’s eventual championship are undoubtable.
Beyond club hockey, Söderberg represented Sweden at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and 2017 IIHF Men’s World Championships, winning a gold medal at the latter event. He finishes his career with quite a bit to be proud of, especially considering the major adversity he faced early in his career.
Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Avalanche Sign, Loan Nikolai Kovalenko
Jul 26: After officially signing him to a two-year entry-level contract worth $896,250 per season yesterday, CapFriendly confirms Colorado has loaned Kovalenko back to Torpedo for next season.
Jul 22: It appears that Colorado will soon be signing one of their prospects. Torpedo of the KHL announced on their Twitter account that the Avalanche will be signing winger Nikolai Kovalenko to an entry-level contract but will loan him back to Torpedo for the upcoming season.
The 23-year-old was a sixth-round pick of the Avs back in 2018 (171st overall) and has certainly outperformed his draft stock since then. Last season, he had a breakout year in his first season with Torpedo, notching 21 goals and 33 assists in 56 games. For context, his previous career best in points in the KHL was 21. That performance put him third in the league in points per game.
That performance appears to have landed Kovalenko on the NHL radar. His contract will be a two-year agreement, meaning he’ll be able to suit up full time in North America in 2024-25 or when his KHL playoffs come to an end this season. The KHL regular season ends in late February so it’s quite possible that Kovalenko will be available to Colorado late in the 2023-24 campaign.
If he’s able to have a repeat of his 2022-23 performance next year, Kovalenko could be an interesting addition to the Avs down the stretch this coming year, giving them a low-cost addition to their forward group where he’d likely start in their bottom six. Regardless of whether he suits up for the Avalanche next season, his contract will count against their limit of 50.
Colorado Avalanche Re-Sign Ben Meyers
The Colorado Avalanche have re-signed forward Ben Meyers to a one-year contract, according to a team release. In doing so, the team has locked up their last remaining RFA this offseason and has their financial picture set for 2023-24, notwithstanding any further UFA additions. Per The Athletic’s Peter Baugh, it’s a league-minimum pact with a $775K cap hit.
Meyers, 24, has already had a solid taste of NHL action, having skated in 44 regular-season games with the Avalanche over the past two seasons while tallying five goals but no assists. The young center also appeared in six of seven games in Colorado’s first-round playoff loss to the Seattle Kraken this spring.
The Delano, Minnesota product split 2022-23 evenly between the Avalanche and the AHL’s Colorado Eagles, playing at least 30 games in each league. Last year’s big fish undrafted free agent signing out of the University of Minnesota skated in 39 contests with the Avs last season, notching four of his five career goals. He fared much better offensively in the minors, posting six goals and 18 assists for 24 points in 30 games with the Eagles.
It’s impossible to talk about Meyers without discussing his incredulous senior season with the University of Minnesota in 2021-22, which saw him explode for 41 points in 34 games and earned him nods to the U.S. National Team at both the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing and the 2022 IIHF World Championship in Finland.
Next season, Meyers will look to stick with the Avs full-time. Colorado would certainly appreciate it if he could, as cost-effective pieces are increasingly crucial with another season of limited salary cap flexibility. Currently, he’s slated to take on fourth-line center responsibilities, and his ice time will likely creep higher than the 9:35 per game he received last season.
Meyers will be waiver-exempt to start the season, although it’s a designation that won’t last for long. He has just ten NHL games remaining before he loses his exempt status and will require waivers to be assigned to the Eagles.
Re-signing Meyers leaves the Avalanche with $2.025MM in projected cap space with a 21-player roster and captain Gabriel Landeskog on long-term injured reserve, per CapFriendly.
Denis Malgin Signs Long-Term In Switzerland
Swiss forward Denis Malgin is departing the NHL for his home country for the second and likely final time. The 26-year-old unrestricted free agent signed a five-year deal with NL club ZSC Lions today, keeping him overseas through 2027-28 and through his age 31 season.
Malgin split last season with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Colorado Avalanche thanks to a mid-season trade. After recording career-highs with 13 goals and 65 games played last year, though, the Avalanche did not issue him a qualifying offer, making him a UFA.
Oddly enough, Malgin recently walked away from a multi-year commitment he signed with ZSC in 2021. After spending the 2020-21 campaign on loan to Swiss club Lausanne from the Maple Leafs, Malgin signed a four-year deal with ZSC that offseason and was one of the best players in the league in the first year of the deal, recording 52 points in 48 games. He walked away from the remaining three years to rejoin the Maple Leafs last summer, who retained his rights with a qualifying offer in 2021.
It seems unlikely he’d terminate with the same club twice, however, especially after one NHL comeback that, while successful, obviously didn’t translate to any offers on the open market that he was interested in. The fourth-round pick of the Florida Panthers in 2015 will return to ZSC on a team stacked with former NHL forwards such as Sven Andrighetto, Rudolfs Balcers, Jesper Froden, and Juho Lammikko, although he’s the biggest fish of the bunch.
If it is the end of the road for Malgin in the NHL, he wraps up his career with 41 goals, 40 assists, 81 points, and a -16 rating in 257 games split between the Panthers, Maple Leafs, and Avalanche.
Colorado Avalanche Sign Ross Colton
Scheduled for an arbitration hearing on July 27th, the Colorado Avalanche and restricted free agent forward Ross Colton decided not to wait. Today, the team announced a four-year contract for Colton, paying him an AAV of $4MM.
To acquire Colton in the first place, the Avalanche originally traded center Alex Newhook to the Montreal Canadiens for the Panthers’ first-round selection in 2023, Montreal’s second-round selection in 2023, and defenseman Gianni Fairbrother. One day later, Colorado would trade Montreal’s second-round pick to the Tampa Bay Lightning to acquire the contractual rights to Colton.
In his past three seasons spent the NHL, the Lightning were the only team that Colton had ever known. Another example of Tampa Bay’s ability to churn out NHL talent from seemingly anywhere, Colton had spent his dues in the NCAA and AHL before finally making the jump to professional hockey.
During his time in Tampa, Colton showed the ability to score big goals, throw his body around, play intelligently on both sides of the puck, and become a reliable faceoff taker. Seemingly able to do it all when he is on the ice, the Avalanche rewarded his previous seasons with almost a $3MM raise.
Now joining an immediate Stanley Cup competitor in the Western Conference, Colton’s versatility should help stabilize Colorado’s forward core, one that was greatly lacking in overall depth last season. At the time of the trade, the General Manager of the Avalanche, Chris McFarland, said, “Ross is a hard-working, two-way center with a championship pedigree. “He has physicality to his game, is ultra competitive and his versatility will make him a valuable addition to our lineup in a lot of ways”.
Two seasons ago, Colton was competing as one of the more aggravating players against the Avalanche in the 2022 Stanley Cup Finals, and will now help the team on their quest for another ring. Already possessing top forward talent such as Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen on the team, Colton will now tie newly acquired Ryan Johansen as the fifth-highest-paid forward for Colorado.
Avalanche Name AHL Head Coach
- The Colorado Avalanche have announced that the head coach of their AHL affiliate the Colorado Eagles will be Aaron Schneekloth. The Calgary, Alberta native has been on the Eagles staff for a decade now and led the club to two ECHL titles in 2017 and 2018 prior to the team transitioning to the AHL. Schneekloth was retained by the Eagles after moving up a league and became an assistant coach to then-head coach Greg Cronin. With Cronin now the head coach of the Anaheim Ducks it was a natural transition for Schneekloth to take the reins of the Eagles, a club he’s coached with and played on for nearly two decades.