The Avalanche made a serious attempt at signing Artemi Panarin, the biggest name in NHL free agency when the market officially opened Monday, but the high-scoring forward signed a seven-year, $81.5 million contract with the New York Rangers.
“He’s the one guy to me that we thought was a great fit for our organization for what he could bring,… general manager Joe Sakic said in a conference call. “We were right there until the end. He was the one guy we were willing to wait on. Obviously, he went to the Rangers. We were willing to pay more for shorter term and it didn’t work out. We were aggressive in what we wanted to do.
“We decided to add as much depth as we could to our group. Now we’re in the next phase where we can sit back and maybe there’s a trade we can do or explore , so that’s where we’re at.…
The Avalanche signed right wing Joonas Donskoi and center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, and re-signed forward Colin Wilson.
Donskoi, 27, signed a four-year, $15.6 million contract (a $3.9 million annual average value). The 6-foot, 190-pound Donskoi, who is from Raahe, Finland, spent the past four seasons with the San Jose Sharks and had 37 points (14 goals, 23 assists) in 80 games last year with three points (one goal, two assists) in 12 playoff games.
“He’s a complete 200-foot-player that you can put in different spots in your lineup,… Sakic said. “He competes and the coaches are going to love the type of game he’s going to bring. He can play penalty kill, power play; he’s very versatile.…
Donskoi was San Jose’s fourth-round pick (No. 99) in the 2010 NHL draft. He has 122 points (45 goals, 77 assists) in 283 regular-season games and 21 points (nine goals, 12 assists) in 50 playoff games.
Bellemare, 34, signed a two-year, $3.6 million contract ($1.8 million AAV). The 6-foot, 198-pound Bellemare won’t score much, but he’s an excellent defensive forward, penalty killer and face-off guy. He had 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in 76 games with the Vegas Golden Knights and didn’t score in six playoff games.
“He’s a fourth-line center, one of the better fourth-line centers out there,… Sakic said. “He’s going to help with the penalty kill and is great on face-offs. He’s a really reliable defensive player and an elite penalty killer.…
Bellemare, who was born in Le Blanc-Mesnil, France, has 65 points (29 goals, 36 assists) in 385 games and four assists in 31 playoff games.
Wilson, 29, re-signed for one year and $2.6 million, $1.4 million less than his previous salary. He had 27 points (12 goals, 15 assists) in 65 games with eight points (four goals, four assists) in 12 playoff games.
The 6-1, 221-pound Wilson has 282 points (113 goals, 169 assists) in 623 games and 33 points (17 goals, 16 assists) in 65 playoff games.
“He played an important role on our second line and power-play unit last season and was one of our better players down the stretch, especially in the playoffs,… Sakic said. “He brings leadership and experience to our dressing room.…
Sakic also talked about left wing Andre Burakovsky, who last week was acquired from Washington for minor-league forward Scott Kosmachuk and second- and third-round picks in the 2020 NHL draft. The third-round pick was acquired Tuesday from Arizona with defenseman Kevin Connauton for Carl Soderberg.
“We think he can take another step,… Sakic said of Burakovsky. “He has major skill, he can shoot, great shot and he’s super fast. He can fly up and down the ice, he gets pucks out of the blue line and he enters the offensive blue line with incredible speed.…
The 6-3, 201-pound Burakovsky, 24, is an unsigned restricted free agent. He had 25 points (12 goals, 13 assists) in 76 games last season with a goal and an assist in seven playoff games.
Of the Avalanche’s unrestricted free agents, longtime goalie Semyon Varlamov signed a four-year contract with the New York Islanders (terms not known), defenseman Patrik Nemeth signed a two-year, $6 million contract with Detroit and minor-league goalie Spencer Martin signed a one-year, two-way contract with Tampa Bay.
Sakic said Pavel Francouz will be the backup goalie to Philipp Grubauer.
Adam Werner, a fifth-round pick (No. 131) in the 2006 NHL draft, is expected to replace Francouz as the No. 1 goalie for the Colorado Eagles of the AHL. The 6-5, 200-pound Werner, 22, went 15-6-3 with a 2.02 goals-against average and .926 save percentage for Farjestad in Sweden last season.
“Werner’s coming, it’s his first year in North America, so we’re going to look at options to try and acquire another goalie, someone for the Eagles that we feel confident enough to come up and play games if there’s an injury,… Sakic said.
On the injury front, Sakic said defenseman Erik Johnson (shoulder surgery) might be ready to begin the 2019-20 season but defenseman Ian Cole (hip surgeries) won’t be ready for training camp and could be out until December.