Free agent day in October? True, but it’s no weirder than having the NHL draft in October or awarding the Stanley Cup in September.
Or beginning the 2020-21 season in January (hopefully).
Anyway, the free agent market opens Friday at 10 a.m. MT and it’s anybody’s guess what the Avalanche will do.
General manager Joe Sakic suggested on Monday, after selecting Justin Barron with the Avalanche’s first-round pick, that he wasn’t going to go on a spending spree despite having what appears to be a decent amount of salary cap space, about $22 million, according to capfriendly.com.
“We have a lot of RFA (restricted free agent) guys we have to take care of, a lot of guys with arbitration rights,… Sakic said in a Zoom call with local media. “We know the (arbitration) numbers and once those come in we’re not going to have a lot of room under the cap.…
The salary cap will remain at $81.5 million, same as in 2019-20, because the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on every aspect of the season, as it has with every other sports organization.
The Avalanche late Wednesday announced they have sent qualifying offers to all nine restricted free agents to retain their negotiating rights:
Andre Burakovsky, Sheldon Dries, Ryan Graves, A.J. Greer, Tyson Jost, Vladislav Kamenev, Hunter Miska, Valeri Nichushkin, Nikita Zadorov.
The Avalanche have the first right of refusal or could accept draft picks as compensation if any of these players sign an offer sheet with another team.
Interesting that Kamenev has signed to play in his native Russia, but the Avalanche keep his rights if he ever decides to return to the NHL.
Aside from re-signing these guys (or trading any of them), the Avalanche have several unrestricted free agents of whom the most significant ones are Kevin Connauton, Michael Hutchinson, Vladislav Namestnikov, Matt Nieto and Colin Wilson.
Pretty good guess they’ll say goodbye to Hutchinson and Wilson.
Namestnikov, whose cap number this season was $3.25 million, might do better on the open market. Nieto could be expendable because Logan O’Connor, who was a restricted free agent, signed a two-year, $1.45 million contract; it’s considerably less than what it would take to re-sign Nieto, whose cap hit was $1.975 million for essentially the same role. Connauton ($1.375 million) could be kept as a spare part.
Keep in mind that several players, including Gabriel Landeskog, Cale Makar, Matt Calvert and Philipp Grubauer, will be up for new contracts after next season.
“We’ll have a little flexibility and we’re going to try and use that smartly, whether it’s free agency or we’re more comfortable taking our time and seeing what trades are out there,… Sakic said. “It’s going to be a long offseason, so there’s no pressure to do anything right away. We can wait and make sure we get the right player to try and help our team.…
St. Louis defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and Arizona forward Taylor Hall head a list of significant players who are expected to be free to sign with anyone Friday.
Some others: Toronto defenseman Tyson Barrie, Boston defenseman Torey Krug, Vancouver forward Tyler Toffoli, Florida forwards Evgenii Dadonov and Mike Hoffman, Tampa Bay defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, Nashville forward Mikael Granlund, and Ottawa forwards Anthony Duclair and Bobby Ryan.
A ton of goalies will be available, including Chicago’s Corey Crawford, Washington’s Braden Holtby, the New York Rangers’ Henrik Lundqvist, Vancouver’s Jacob Markstrom and Dallas’ Anton Khudobin. Vegas is expected to trade Marc-Andre Fleury after signing Robin Lehner to a five-year, $25 million contract.