Avalanche open free agency by keeping the band together

Part of the wider appeal of free agency across all sports is finding out which players you’ve definitely heard of have decided to come to play for the team you root for/cover/occasionally watch and how they’ll fit into the conversation.

Free agency is uniquely fascinating because not all teams have the same goal. Some teams are in the heart of rebuilds and are focusing on short-term contracts that can be flipped for the promise of more draft picks. Some clubs are tired of rebuilding and dedicated to spending serious cash for an infusion of talent right now in order to take a step forward from the basement to what they hope is the precipice of the postseason.

A team such as the Colorado Avalanche, though? They know they’re going to lose players in years like this. When you have multiple pending free agents coming off career years, then you go on to win the championship and suddenly everyone on the roster gets the “winner tax” added to their next deal, it’s inevitable you’re going to watch talent walk out there door.

The excitement of free agency was certainly no less in Colorado today, however, despite them focusing almost entirely on re-signing their own players (they also added the few expected AHL veterans for the Colorado Eagles).

Two days ago, Valeri Nichushkin went from being one of the market’s more sought-after players to signing a monster eight-year contract that took his annual salary from $2.5M to $6.125M. He had a breakout season and is one of the league’s best two-way forwards. Keeping him was an obvious priority for the club.

Beyond that, things were mostly quiet on Colorado’s front. Nazem Kadri and Andre Burakovsky were expected to get big deals elsewhere because the Avs simply couldn’t match the salaries they were seeking.

Then this morning rolled around and immediately we got off to a fun start. Within a few minutes of each other, Darren Helm and Josh Manson decided to stay in Colorado, Helm on a one-year deal and Manson for four more years.

As free agency progressed and players dropped off the board, Colorado continued taking care of its own in-house business.

Artturi Lehkonen was issued a qualifying offer before the deadline two days ago, which assured the Avs would retain his rights and be able to work out a deal at any point over the summer. Knowing his salary, however, would give them a stronger idea of what they needed to do not only for next year’s roster but down the road, as well, if they couldn’t agree on a longer-term contract with Lehkonen.

Instead, Lehkonen became a priority for the Avs after getting their early-morning deals done. As they grinded away to put the finishing touches on their prized deadline acquisition, the Avs watched Burakovsky take a five-year deal with the Seattle Kraken. With that, 61 points disappeared from their lineup.

Then came Lehkonen’s deal, a five-year pact that will keep Lehkonen in Colorado into his 30s.

One of the agendas on Colorado’s summer to-do list is to get Nathan MacKinnon under contract beyond next season when his current deal expires. Both sides understand the basic parameters of a deal and the conversations have led folks to believe it will be a relatively drama-free process of getting their star center on the gigantic new contract he has earned.

Once the Avs and MacKinnon agree to terms on his new deal, five of Colorado’s top-six forwards will be signed through the next three seasons. That’s the kind of security that has a very good chance to breed excellence as these guys showed an affinity for playing together and their mix of playstyles meshed perfectly into a well-oiled offensive machine.

Now, the sixth forward spot that is currently lacking is the second-line center job, vacated by Kadri’s expected departure. I say expected because right now Kadri is still unsigned and the Avs are trying to stay involved enough to make choices when the time comes for Kadri to sign on the dotted line. Any desire to keep Kadri will involve a major move elsewhere on the roster to clean out cap space, so it’s something to keep an eye on.

The market has a number of solid players who could fill that 2C role, however, in players such as Paul Stastny, Evan Rodrigues, and Dylan Strome, there is genuine uncertainty about what the Avs can realistically afford to spend the rest of the way.

On paper, they still have right around $4.5M left to spend and sit with 11 forwards, seven defensemen, and two goaltenders. Because Kurtis MacDermid can play both spots, I’m making the assumption the Avs aren’t going to fill out a full 23-man roster and instead give MacDermid a reserve spot at both positions.

Colorado needs another forward or two and certainly one more depth defenseman to feel like this roster is fully fleshed out. The 2C question looms because the internal options are either entirely unproven (Alex Newhook, Ben Meyers?) or have shown they simply can’t consistently do that job (J.T. Compher). The external options mentioned above have price tags we don’t currently know. There is real uncertainty here.

But what we did learn about Colorado’s internal spending spree on this day is they recognized a special group that went 16-4 in the postseason and decided to try to run it back.

As much as losing Burakovsky is a loss of a skilled player, he was healthy scratched on multiple occasions during the playoffs. The Avs looked pretty comfortable without him. There currently is no replacement for Kadri, but the Avs doubled down on what should open next season as the NHL’s best defense.

Bringing back Manson gives Colorado, in essence, the luxury of a true top pairing (Toews-Makar) and two second pairings filled with a variety of skills that can be mixed and matched a lot of ways but also align perfectly with a left-right-handed balance and pairings that flourished together in the postseason (Byram-Johnson, Girard-Manson).

When the season opens and Colorado’s worst defenseman on opening night is one of Erik Johnson or Josh Manson, you’re talking about a ridiculously talented group that should only get better as Byram continues to improve in his sophomore year. Hell, Sam Girard struggled the most we’ve seen since he arrived in Colorado and no doubt part of that was his consistent playing with Jack Johnson, who had a detrimental effect on every pairing he was a part of.

This commitment to a defensive identity is crucial because the Avs are willingly back on the goaltender carousel and taking a chance that Alexandar Georgiev’s poor season as a member of the New York Rangers turns around in Denver when given the starting goaltender job. The best way to set Georgiev up for success is to invest in the defense in front of him.

That’s what Colorado’s offseason has been all about to this point. They won with a great offense but a stifling defense that survived the worst postseason goaltending from a Cup winner since 1988. The commitments to Nichushkin and Lehkonen, two elite defensive wings who flourished offensively next to Colorado’s stars, further drive home that the Avalanche are now a defense-first team.

The Avs will still score, of course, because their star players are, you know, star players, but the real heart of Colorado’s talent lies on the backend. Whenever they find a solution at 2C, don’t be surprised if he’s a guy with a track record of strong defensive play.

This is who the Avalanche are now.