The Avalanche acquired the rights to center Carl Soderberg from Boston on Thursday in exchange for a sixth-round pick in the 2016 NHL draft, which could mean they're pessimistic about signing Ryan O'Reilly to a contract extension.
Soderberg, 29, will become an unrestricted free agent next Wednesday, so the Avalanche are taking a chance they'll be able to sign him. ESPN's Pierre LeBruin reported that Soderberg's camp is looking for around $5 million per year on a new deal.
Thursday was the first day that teams were permitted to talk to pending free agents, so it's safe to assume the Avalanche had already spoken with Soderberg's representatives.
The 6-foot-3, 216-pounder is from Malmo, Sweden. He had 13 goals, 31 assists, 26 penalty minutes and a plus-10 plus/minus rating in 82 games with the Bruins last season. His salary was $1 million, according to nhl.numbers.com.
Soderberg was St. Louis' second-round pick (No. 49) in 2004. The Blues traded his rights to Boston for Hannu Toivonen on July 23, 2007. He had 16 goals, 32 assists, 36 penalty minutes and a plus-4 rating in 73 games with the Bruins in 2013-14, his first full NHL season.
The sixth-round pick the Avalanche sent to Boston on Thursday was acquired with Jordan Caron from the Bruins on March 2 for Max Talbot and Paul Carey.
Barring a trade, the Avalanche have the 10th pick in the NHL draft on Friday. They have picks in the second, third, fourth, sixth and seventh rounds on Saturday.
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The Avalanche will meet Minnesota to open a season for the second year in a row. They'll play the Wild on Thursday, Oct. 8, at the Pepsi Center to kick off a three-game homestand to start the 2015-16 NHL campaign.
Colorado also will play Dallas and Boston on the homestand, matching the franchise's longest homestand to start a season; the Avalanche did it in 1998-99, when they lost all three games, went 0-4-1 in the first five games overall and rebounded to finish first in the Northwest Division with 98 points.
They'll probably need at least that many points to make the playoffs in 2015-16. The Avalanche got off to a poor start last year, wound up with 90 points and missed the postseason after finishing first in the Central Division in 2013-14.
The Avalanche will play outdoors for the first time in their history on Saturday, Feb. 27, against Detroit at Coors Field. (The University of Denver and Colorado College will meet there on Feb. 20).
The Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks will visit the Pepsi Center twice -- on New Year's Eve and Feb. 2.
The Avalanche will play 28 games against Central Division teams, facing Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis and Winnipeg five times each, while meeting Chicago and Dallas four times. They'll play 22 games against Pacific Division teams and 32 games against those in the Eastern Conference, meeting each of the 16 Eastern teams once at home and once on the road.
The home schedule includes four games on Friday, 10 on Saturday and three on Sunday.
The road schedule includes a marathon seven-game trip Nov. 10-23 with stops in Philadelphia, Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Pittsburgh, Washington and Winnipeg. The Avalanche had a seven-game trip in October 2009 and went 4-1-2.
They'll play back-to-back games nine times, three fewer than last season, and end the regular season at home against Anaheim on Saturday, April 9.
The broadcast schedule and information regarding tickets will be released later.
Here's the schedule (all times Mountain Time):
PRESEASON
Tue Sept. 22 ANAHEIM 7 p.m. Thur Sept. 24 CALGARY 7 p.m. Sun Sept. 27 LOS ANGELES 6 p.m. Tue Sept. 29 at Calgary 7 p.m. Thur Oct. 1 at Anaheim 8 p.m. Sat Oct. 3, Los Angeles at Las Vegas 8 p.m.
REGULAR SEASON
OCTOBER
Thu Oct. 8 MINNESOTA 7 p.m. Sat Oct. 10 DALLAS 7 p.m. Wed Oct. 14 BOSTON 8 p.m. Fri Oct. 16 at Anaheim 8 p.m. Sun Oct. 18 at Los Angeles 8 p.m. Wed Oct. 21 CAROLINA 8 p.m. Sat Oct. 24 COLUMBUS 7 p.m. Tue Oct. 27 at Florida 5:30 p.m. Thu Oct. 29 at Tampa Bay 5:30 p.m. Fri Oct. 30 at Carolina 5 p.m. NOVEMBER Sun Nov. 1 SAN JOSE 1 p.m. Tue Nov. 3 CALGARY 7 p.m. Thu Nov 5 at Arizona 7 p.m. Fri Nov. 6 NY RANGERS 7 p.m. Tue Nov. 10 at Philadelphia 5 p.m. Thu Nov. 12 at Boston 5 p.m. Sat Nov. 14 at Montreal 5 p.m. Tue Nov. 17 at Toronto 5:30 p.m. Thu Nov. 19 at Pittsburgh 5 p.m. Sat Nov. 21 at Washington 5 p.m. Mon Nov. 23 at Winnipeg 6 p.m. Wed Nov. 25 OTTAWA 7:30 p.m. Sat Nov. 28 WINNIPEG 8 p.m. Mon Nov. 30 at NY Islanders 5 p.m. DECEMBER Tue Dec. 1 at New Jersey 5 p.m. Thu Dec. 3 at NY Rangers 5 p.m. Sat Dec. 5 at Minnesota 6 p.m. Mon Dec. 7 MINNESOTA 7 p.m. Wed Dec. 9 PITTSBURGH 8 p.m. Sat Dec. 12 at Nashville 6 p.m. Sun Dec. 13 at St. Louis 4 p.m. Tue Dec. 15 at Chicago 6:30 p.m. Thu Dec. 17 NY ISLANDERS 7 p.m. Sat Dec. 19 EDMONTON 8 p.m. Mon Dec. 21 TORONTO 7 p.m. Sun Dec. 27 ARIZONA 6 p.m. Mon Dec. 28 at San Jose 8:30 p.m. Thu Dec. 31 CHICAGO 6 p.m. JANUARY
Sat Jan. 2 CALGARY 8 p.m. Mon Jan. 4 LOS ANGELES 7 p.m. Wed Jan. 6 ST. LOUIS 8 p.m. Fri Jan. 8 NASHVILLE 7 p.m. Sun Jan. 10 at Chicago 5 p.m. Tue Jan. 12 TAMPA BAY 7 p.m Thu Jan. 14 NEW JERSEY 7 p.m. Sat Jan. 16 at Columbus 5 p.m. Mon Jan. 18 at Winnipeg 6 p.m. Wed Jan. 20 BUFFALO 8 p.m. Fri Jan. 22 ST. LOUIS 7 p.m. Sat Jan. 23 at Dallas 6 p.m. Tue Jan. 26 at San Jose 8:30 p.m. Wed Jan. 27 at Los Angeles 8:30 p.m.
NHL ALL-STAR BREAK Jan. 28-31 (Nashville)
FEBRUARY Tue Feb. 2 CHICAGO 7 p.m. Thu Feb. 4 DALLAS 7 p.m. Sat Feb. 6 WINNIPEG 8 p.m. Tue Feb. 9 VANCOUVER 7 p.m. Thu Feb. 11 at Ottawa 5:30 p.m. Fri Feb. 12 at Detroit 5:30 p.m. Sun Feb. 14 at Buffalo 10:30 a.m. Wed Feb. 17 MONTREAL 6 p.m. Sat Feb. 20 at Edmonton 8 p.m. Sun Feb. 21 at Vancouver 8 p.m. Wed Feb. 24 SAN JOSE 8 p.m. Sat Feb. 27 DETROIT (Coors Field) 6 p.m.
MARCH
Tue Mar. 1 at Minnesota 6 p.m. Thu Mar. 3 FLORIDA 7 p.m. Sat Mar. 5 NASHVILLE 1 p.m. Mon Mar. 7 ARIZONA 7 p.m. Wed Mar. 9 ANAHEIM 8 p.m. Sat Mar. 12 at Winnipeg 5 p.m. Wed Mar. 16 at Vancouver 8 p.m. Fri Mar. 18 at Calgary 7 p.m. Sun Mar. 20 at Edmonton 7:30 p.m. Thu Mar. 24 PHILADELPHIA 7 p.m. Sat Mar. 26 MINNESOTA 1 p.m. Mon Mar. 28 at Nashville 6 p.m. Tue Mar. 29 at St. Louis 6 p.m. APRIL Fri Apr. 1 WASHINGTON 7 p.m. Sun Apr. 3 ST. LOUIS 6 p.m. Tue Apr. 5 at Nashville 6 p.m. Thu Apr. 7 at Dallas 6:30 p.m. Sat Apr. 9 ANAHEIM 3:30 p.m.