The Colorado Avalanche had a disappointing season even though they won the President's Trophy as the NHL's best team. The Vegas Golden Knights sent the Avalanche packing after the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. In the team's defense, there were some injuries and games rescheduled due to COVID. The Avalanche would have to figure out a way to navigate an offseason that included the Seattle Kraken Expansion Draft. The offseason included making trades, managing the cap, getting key players re-signed, and signing some depth players.
The first piece of the team's offseason was creating cap space to re-sign two key players. The Avalanche traded defenseman Ryan Graves to the New Jersey Devils for Mikhail Maltsev. Graves played top-four minutes for the Avalanche the past few seasons, but about $3.2 million over the next two years came off the books with the trade. Maltsev will be an unrestricted free agent this summer but should get an opportunity to show what he can do on the ice in training camp. This was a good deal since it cleared cap space, brought in a young player, and the team is stacked with young talent on the blue line.
The Avs then lost forward Joonas Donskoi to the Kraken in the 2021 NHL Expansion Draft. In 116 games played over the past two seasons, Donskoi had 33 goals, 31 assists, and 64 points. He played third or fourth line minutes while with the team and had decent production. The Avalanche may miss his production, but won't miss his $3.9 million cap hit over the next two seasons. I'm sure it wasn't easy to lost Donskoi and his production, but I understand why he was left unprotected for the Draft.
The second piece, and possibly the most important, piece of news was the re-signing of restricted free agent defenseman Cale Makar. The 22-year-old signed a new six-year, $54 million contract which came with a $9 million per season cap hit. Makar made an immediate impact for the Avalanche after getting called up with six points in 10 playoffs games in 2019. The young defenseman has been great in his first two full seasons even with the craziness of COVID-19. He won the Calder Trophy as best rookie for the 2019-20 season and finished second in the Norris Trophy voting as the League's best defenseman. The raise and investment was a good one for the Avalanche since Makar is young and hasn't even reached his prime yet.
The Avs picked up depth defenseman Kurtis MacDermid, who could fill the role of the sixth or seventh defenseman on the team. The team then went and re-signed captain Gabriel Landeskog to a new contract before he hit free agency. The deal is eight years, $56 million, and comes with a $7 million per season cap hit. The veteran has played for the team for the past 10 seasons after being drafted by them. The 28-year-old has had some injuries in the past few seasons, but when he's healthy, he produces. He may be entering his prime, and the eight years are the thing that bothers me about this contract.
The Avalanche lost a few key players in free agency like Philipp Grubauer, Brandon Saad, and Pierre-Eduoard Bellemare. Saad and Bellemare were cap casualties since both are depth players that will be replaced. The Avalanche couldn't agree to a new contract with its Vezina Finalist goalie, Grubauer, so he signed with the Kraken in free agency. After losing Grubauer, the team went and made a trade with the Arizona Coyotes. The Avalanche acquired goalie Darcy Kuemper for defenseman Connor Timmins. Kuemper is a good goalie, but his issue is staying healthy, and that is the biggest reason to be skeptical of this trade.
In free agency, the Avalanche let some of the organizational depth go and replaced it with new faces. The Avalanche signed the following players to one-year deals: Roland McKeown, Stefan Matteau, Dylan Sikura, Jordan Gross, Ryan Murray, and Darren Helm. The signings will create battles for depth spots on the roster come training camp. Helm, should he make the team, will bring more veteran leadership, while Sikura could bring some speed to the bottom six. Jack Johnson and Artem Anisimov are invited to training camp.
The Avs re-signed some of its restricted free agents, starting with Jayson Megna, who signed a two-year deal worth $1.5 million. Tyson Jost, a versatile forward, signed a new two-year, $4 million deal. The Avalanche also signed defenseman Dennis Gilbert to a new one-year, $750,000 contract.
The Avalanche receives a B- for the offseason. I liked the Makar signing because the kid will be a stud on the blue line for years to come. The Graves trade made sense to shed some cap, and the team is loaded with young talent on the blue line. The fact that Makar is under contract and should report on time to training camp is big. There are still teams that do not have notable restricted free agents under contract.
I am not a fan of the Landeskog contract because he is under contract for the next eight years and is 28 years old. It could be hard to move down the road if needed. Another reason for the B- is the goalie situation. I get that the Avalanche have a decent goalie now, but he is injury-prone, and my biggest concern is if he can stay healthy. Grubauer was a Vezina Trophy Finalist and played phenomenal last season despite the team losing in the second round.
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