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Stastny wants to "test the market" |
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Rick Sadowski
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I was fairly optimistic a week ago about the Avalanche's chances of re-signing Paul Stastny after talking to Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy during their press conference at the Pepsi Center.
Now, not so much.
Sakic, the team's executive vice president of hockey operations, spoke with Stastny's agent, Matt Keator, this week and told the Denver Post that their conversations were "good." However, Stastny still plans to "test the market" next Tuesday when teams can start signing unrestricted free agents.
Stastny reportedly will come back to the Avalanche and give the club a final chance to make (or match) an offer, but at what cost?
Sakic and Roy, who is VP of hockey operations as well as coach -- and now the Jack Adams Award winner as NHL Coach of the Year -- were adamant a week ago that Stastny and restricted free agent Ryan O'Reilly would need to stay within the team's salary "structure;" presumably, neither will be offered more than the $6 million leading scorer Matt Duchene will make when his new contract kicks in this coming season.
Under terms of the collective bargaining agreement, pending unrestricted free agents could begin taking calls from other teams on Wednesday to see if there might be some interest in further discussions. Teams can discuss "general parameters” of a contract with the players but can't make any binding offers or promises.
ESPN's Pierre LeBrun tweeted "the Stastny camp already getting a ton of phone calls from other teams ... will keep Avs in the mix, of course."
The interest in Stastny is hardly a surprise.
Stastny is coming off a five-year, $33 million contract that paid him $6.6 million per season, which is at least $600,000 more per year than the Avalanche is willing to pay going forward. How much of a "hometown discount" is he willing to accept to remain in Colorado? And how much more are other teams willing to pay for him to move on?
It looks like we won't know the answers to those questions until Tuesday.
As for O'Reilly -- congrats on winning the Lady Byng Trophy, by the way -- it certainly looks like he'll be back with the Avalanche, whether his next contract is determined by an arbitrator or by an offer sheet he could be tendered by another team from July 1-5.
Sakic told LeBrun last week that he would match any offer sheet, just as the Avalanche did two years ago when O'Reilly signed Calgary's offer of a two-year, $10 million contract that paid him $6.5 million last season.
"There's no question that I want to be in Colorado next year," O'Reilly told NHL.com in Las Vegas, site of the league's annual awards show. "I have full confidence in my agent (Pat Morris) for getting things sorted out. All I control is really preparing for next year and letting the business side play out. When it's over, it's over."
If the sides can't reach an agreement before the case goes to arbitration, O'Reilly would be offered a one- or two-year contract by the arbitrator. Under terms of the CBA, an arbitrator must offer at least 85 percent of his previous salary, guaranteeing him no less than $5.525 million.
O'Reilly told NHL.com he wasn't upset by the Avalanche's decision to take the arbitration route.
"I don't know if it's so much anger, it's a little frustration I think on both sides," he said. "Obviously it's in the CBA and they have every right to, and it's a smart move by them, but all in all something will be worked out."
Other than Stastny and O'Reilly, Tyson Barrie remains the most significant Avalanche player yet to be re-signed. A restricted free agent, Barrie is certain to get a huge raise from the $715,000 he made last season in the final year of his entry-level contract.
*****
The Avalanche took home plenty of hardware Tuesday night in Las Vegas, with Roy winning the Jack Adams Award as NHL Coach of the Year, Nathan MacKinnon the Calder Trophy as top rookie (and a place on the NHL's All-Rookie team) , and O'Reilly the Lady Byng for sportsmanship combined with outstanding play.
Goalie Semyon Varlamov finished second to Boston's Tuukka Rask in voting for the Vezina Trophy by the league's general managers, and it was closer than many expected. Rask earned 16 first-place votes and 103 points, while Varlamov got nine first-place votes and 90 points. Tampa Bay's Ben Bishop was a distant third (one first-place vote, 32 points).
Varlamov was named a second team NHL All-Star, not too shabby.
Roy coasted to victory as top coach in balloting by the league's broadcasters. He got 68 first-place votes and 399 points. Detroit's Mike Babcock (11 and 163, respectively) was second and Tampa Bay's Jon Cooper (five and 136) third.
MacKinnon collected 136 first-place votes and 1,347 points in voting by members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association. Tampa Bay teammates Ondrej Palat (no first-place votes, 791 points) and Tyler Johnson (one and 352) finished second and third.
The writers also gave O'Reilly an easy win. He had 110 first-place votes and 1,181 points. The New York Rangers' Martin St. Louis (four and 358) and San Jose's Patrick Marleau (three and 323) were second and third.
*****
Barring a trade, the Avalanche has the No. 23 pick in Friday's first round of the NHL draft in Philadelphia, with rounds two through seven set for Saturday.
Just being honest here, I have absolutely no idea who the Avalanche will take with its first pick, but the philosophy has been to take the "best player available, regardless of position.
The Avalanche doesn't have a second-round pick, having traded it to Calgary for goalie Reto Berra. Colorado has one pick in the third, fifth, sixth and seventh rounds, and two picks in the fourth round.
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