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.
0 Comments (3 conversations)
phawksmulder
Sad to see Dunc go. Would have liked for them to keep him around as the AHL call-up guy. I mean, yeah his progression was slow, but it was really expected to be even from his draft day. Could have probably used him vs one of the other guys in the same boat and there’s no reason to expect the guy’s career is maxed out on potential.
Dario
Graves work in the AHL was considered disappointing?
It was not a great start for him in San Antonio, for sure.
JDC15
But really could their have been a worse situation to put him in with the Rampage having a split roster and a coach the Avs clearly didn’t want?
I think with guys like Lindholm/Alt/Warsofsky/Barberio on the roster already, he simply ran out of room with other guys taking advantage of their chances and more talented young players coming up behind him. It was a numbers game that he ended up losing.
phawksmulder
Yeah, he was definitely not alone in the group. Someone was going. I wasn’t happy with the resigning of Alt for that reason. I’d rather keep rolling with the home grown talent as opposed to the similar stature transplant that was OK in his first few games with the team. Mainly, I assume any home grown talent has better odds of continued improvement than the transplant of similar stature. Never been much on trusting a dude’s first few games with a team either.
It’s almost assuredly not a setback worthy of much consideration, I just get the impression he’s as much a victim of where he was drafted as he is anything he actually does on the ice. Kind of the team going with new and not necessarily better simply because Dunc will always be looked at as a disappointment/bust in many peoples eyes.
Nels
Agreed.
Poohrash
Good luck Manson.