To say the dust has settled on the NHL‘s offseason landscape would be underselling it, but the Colorado Avalanche still have an unanswered question or two that might put them back into action.

The defense is already rolling seven deep, but there is still flexibility there if the Avs want to dip their toes into the free agent waters looking for a depth opportunity. The questions at forward are a bit louder, as the Avs have watched Val Nichushkin, Ross Colton, and Jack Drury exit the organization while bringing in Jaden Schwartz, Fedor Svechkov, and Zachary L’Heureux.

As imports from the Boston Bruins organization, the Avs also added Georgii Merkulov and Fabian Lysell. Merkulov has been a very productive AHL player for the Providence Bruins, who should get a long look in training camp, but is most likely going to be a star for the Colorado Eagles. Lysell is a former first-round pick (in the same draft class as Svechkov and L’Heureux) whose game never quite came along but whose rocket-skated style could be an electrifying fit in Denver if he gets his head on straight (attitude issues defined much of his Bruins tenure).

All of the uncertainty on the younger forwards the Avs brought in means there could be an opportunity for a classic buy-low opportunity still out there in free agency.

With that in mind, I wanted to take a look today to see what kind of players remain in free agency and identify a few fits that could make sense. Let’s start with the much shorter list.

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