Avalanche qualify five, release five others

The deadline for extending qualifying offers to restricted free agents came and went today. The Colorado Avalanche had 10 RFAs entering the day and qualified five of them.

The players they qualified come mostly as no surprise. NHL fixtures Patrick Nemeth and Matt Nieto were extended QO, as were AHL players Spencer Martin, Ryan Graves, and Mason Geertsen.

Nemeth and Nieto were both claimed on waivers during the last two seasons and eventually worked their way into lineup mainstays. Each had career years last year and the team is in talks on extensions with both players. The QOs the received were merely formality while they work out the details of new deals.

Martin has been nothing short of a mild disappointment after being a third-round selection in the 2013 NHL Draft but he will compete with new challenger Pavel Francouz for the starting job in the AHL next season. Graves was acquired in a trade deadline deal with the New York Rangers in exchange for Chris Bigras. While his Rampage stint was disappointing, the Avalanche obviously felt compelled by Graves’ body of work to give him another look. Geertsen had a slow start to his pro career, struggling to find ice time before finally breaking through last year and showing significant improvement.

The players who were not extended QOs are now unrestricted free agents and able to sign anywhere. They include Nail Yakupov, whose hot start was a charming early-season story before his play predictably fell off as the year went on and he struggled to find ice time. Also not extended a QO was Duncan Siemens, the 11th selection of the 2011 NHL Draft who finally got to see a little action with the Avalanche last year, including very limited minutes in the playoffs, but it looks like the run with the organization that drafted him has come to a close.

The remaining players not given QOs are Reid Petryk, Jesse Graham, and Felix Girard.

Orpik bought out

In another piece of news, the Avalanche bought out the final year of Brooks Orpik’s contract, which they agreed to take in a trade with the Washington Capitals over the weekend in order to keep the price of also acquiring goaltender Philipp Grubauer to just one draft selection (47th overall). Orpik now becomes a free agent while the Avalanche is on the hook for cap hits of $2.5M next year and $1.5M in 2019-20. Given the abundance of cap space Colorado has, this will not have a significant impact on their decision-making.

New ECHL affiliate

The Utah Grizzlies announced on Twitter today they are becoming the new ECHL affiliate for the Avalanche. The official announcement is expected to come this Thursday. The Avalanche affiliation reshuffling sees the Avalanche with their new AHL affiliate in Loveland and their ECHL affiliate now in Utah, making this the most geographically advantageous affiliation partnership in Avalanche history.