Will he or won't he? Guess we're all wondering if center Paul Stastny will re-sign with the Avalanche or test the free agent market starting July 1.
I don't think there's any question that Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy want to bring him back, but Stastny -- one of six Avalanche players eligible for unrestricted free agency -- has all the leverage.
Stastny grew up in St. Louis, so there's been speculation he could wind up with the Blues. But he has roots in Denver, too, having played two years at the University of Denver and eight with the Avalanche. He said several times during the season that he wanted to see how the year went, and it was a smashing success despite the first-round playoff loss to Minnesota. The future looks bright with Sakic and Roy running the show, especially with the team's stable of young and skilled forwards, and a Vezina Trophy finalist in goalie Semyon Varlamov.
Yes, the Avalanche needs to upgrade the blue line, whether through trades or the free agent market, and re-signing forward Ryan O'Reilly (he'll be a restricted free agent July 1) is a priority.
Stastny is coming off a very productive season in which he had 25 goals -- three short of his career high -- and 35 assists, and he was the team's best faceoff man, winning 54.1 percent of his draws. He scored a team-leading five goals in the playoffs against the Wild -- including the tying and overtime goals in Game 1 -- and tied rookie Nathan MacKinnon with 10 points.
The question, of course, is what kind of compensation will he command after being paid $6.6 million in each of the past five seasons? O'Reilly's salary cap hit this year was $6.5 million, and it's going to cost plenty to bring him back after he scored a team-high 28 goals and led the NHL with 83 takeaways.
The Avalanche also needs to re-sign potential restricted free agents forward Jamie McGinn and defenseman Tyson Barrie. McGinn, whose cap hit was $1.75 million, set career highs for goals (19), assists (19) and points (38). Barrie ($715,000) had a breakthrough season with 13 goals and 25 assists. His absence after sustaining a knee injury on Matt Cooke's hit in the second period of Game 3 against Minnesota really hampered the Avalanche for the rest of the series.
The good news is that the league salary cap is expected to rise from $64.3 million to between $67 million and $70 million next year. According to capgeek.com 17 players are signed through next season for $45.1 million, giving the Avalanche plenty of room to spend.
New long-term deals for Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog, John Mitchell and Varlamov kick in next season, which Stastny alluded to as positive signs the Avalanche is serious about winning a Stanley Cup.
Five other players will become unrestricted free agents (cap hits in parentheses): defensemen Andre Benoit ($900,000), Matt Hunwick ($1.6 million) and Cory Sarich ($2 million); goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere ($1.5 million); and forward Brad Malone ($735,000).
Giguere is expected to retire, and Hunwick and Sarich won't be back. The others are questionable.
Forward Paul Carey ($600,000) and defenseman Stefan Elliott ($843,333) will be restricted free agents.
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Hardly shocking news, but Roy is a finalist for the Jack Adams Award, which goes to the NHL Coach of the Year.
The other finalists are Detroit's Mike Babcock and Tampa Bay's Jon Cooper. Voting was done by members of the NHL Broadcasters' Association. The winner will be announced June 24 at the league's award show in Las Vegas.
Roy, in his first season behind the Avalanche bench, guided the team to the Central Division title with a 52-22-8 record and 112 points. The Avalanche had the third-best record in the league after finishing 29th a year ago and last in the Western Conference.
The Avalanche was the first team since the NHL expanded to 21 teams in 1979 to finish as high as third in the overall standings after being among the bottom three the previous season. Colorado matched the franchise record for wins and had the best road record (26-11-4) in the league.
The Red Wings (39-28-15, 93 points) made the playoffs for the 23rd consecutive season, the longest active streak in North American professional sports. Detroit lost a franchise-record 421 man games to injury or illness. Babcock was a finalist in 2007-08 when he finished third in the balloting.
The Lightning (46-27-9, 101 points) finished second in the Atlantic Division in Cooper's first full season as coach after placing 28th in the overall standings in 2012-13. Tampa Bay used eight rookies who played in at least 40 games.
Three Avalanche players are finalists for various awards: MacKinnon (Calder Trophy), O'Reilly (Lady Byng) and Varlamov (Vezina).
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Duchene is one of eight players in the running to be on the cover of NHL 15. He is facing off against St. Louis' T.J. Oshie in quarterfinal voting.
The other matchups: Toronto's Phil Kessel vs. Montreal's P.K. Subban; Boston's Patrice Bergeron vs. Ottawa's Erik Karlsson; San Jose’s Logan Couture vs. Los Angeles' Drew Doughty.
Voting for the quarterfinals runs through May 18. The semifinals take place May 19-25 and the finals May 26-June 1.
The winner will be announced during the league awards show.