The Avalanche announced this morning (or late last night if you were paying attention to social media) the club had come to terms with Tyson Jost and Hunter Miska on new contracts. Jost’s deal is his qualifying offer, a one-year contract worth $874,125 next year before he becomes a restricted free agent again. Miska’s two-year deal is a two-way contract…...

The Colorado Avalanche avoided free agency but made a splash in the trade market acquiring Brandon Saad and Devon Toews. https://youtu.be/12ptTEuuJMw

It was a relatively quiet Monday morning. The Avalanche scheduled two pressers, one with newly-acquired Brandon Saad, the other with Joe Sakic, to talk about the only external move the Avs had made to improve their team. There were internal contracts, of course, as Andre Burakovsky and Valeri Nichushkin got new contracts. As we’d come to learn, Ryan Graves had…...

For the second consecutive season, the Colorado Avalanche used the opening of free agency to make a blockbuster trade. Once again tapping into their depth of defensemen, the Avs dealt Nikita Zadorov to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Brandon Saad. The entire deal works out as: Colorado receives: Brandon Saad, Dennis Gilbert Chicago receives: Nikita Zadorov, Anton Lindholm, $1M…...

The Avs announced at the crack of dawn today (I’m a late riser, sue me) that Andre Burakovsky had agreed to terms on a new two-year contract. The contract will carry an AAV of $4.9M and is the first significant move of the offseason for the Avs. In the breakdown of the contract, Burakovsky gets $4.4M in salary this year…...

I know, I know. You can’t really grade a draft class until a few years down the road when you see how players develop and what they become in the future and all of that. But that’s no fun because giving everyone an INCOMPLETE on draft day isn’t something people want to read. How did the Avalanche do? Who are…...

Adversity often teaches us the most important lessons of how to navigate the unpredictability of life. Riding the emotional roller coaster through the fires of hell and back to the top of the mountain creates a natural learning environment. What we take from those lessons often go on to define many of the decisions we make later on when presented…...

The first day of the NHL Draft is finally upon us. Thank whatever deity you believe in, too, because I am completely sick of this draft class. I can only imagine how the scouts who exclusively cover prospects every year feel about this class. Now that we’re here, though, the offseason is in full swing. That means it’s time for…...

Okay, so you clicked on the story. You’re at least interested in what I have to say about the potential of Taylor Hall coming to Colorado. Was it a hate click or are you genuinely intrigued by the possibility of Hall to the Avalanche? As we face the open of free agency this week, we’re living in the most unpredictable…...

While the NHL Draft is next week and we’ve been focusing a lot of our energy there, just two days after the completion of the draft is the opening of free agency. It’s already been a rumor-filled offseason as teams face the unexpected flat salary cap and their desire to improve to chase next year’s Stanley Cup. For all teams,…...

Here’s our final swing at a mock draft for the 2020 NHL Draft. It’s the same mock we did on this week’s Free Skate Friday but not in video form! If you want to watch it all unfold and us explain our picks, here’s the YouTube link. Otherwise, he’s our final mock draft for the 2020 draft class. 1. NY…...

You’ve got to know when to hold ’em Know when to fold ’em Know when to walk away And know when to run You never count your money When you’re sittin’ at the table There’ll be time enough for countin’ When the dealin’s done In the last couple weeks, the dealing’ has finally been done for both of the residents…...

Okay, let’s try this again. The Avs were all set to select 24th because of division winners and such and then the NHL decided to ignore them completely and pushed the Avs to the 25th pick instead of 24. Throwing out everything we learned about the history of the 24th pick, we’ll just run down the same parameters but with…...

As our written and video content about the upcoming NHL Draft carries on, today I’m going to delve into some of the fits for the Avalanche in the first round that I like the best. Drafting isn’t so much as trying to find the best player overall but it’s more about finding the player that will best fit your organization.…...

Every year when the dust settles on the playoff races and the draft order starts settling into place, people begin to look at where their team lands and what that pick could mean for the franchise. For the Avalanche, they find themselves in very uncomfortable territory. With the 24th pick, they are slated to make their lowest selection in the…...

Coming into the 2020 NHL Draft, the Avalanche find themselves in an unfamiliar position. For the first time in many years, the NHL Draft was a secondary (at best) storyline for the franchise as they weren’t rooting for another team to lose or gauging their own draft position throughout the season. Following a strong regular season and second consecutive loss…...

Okay. It’s going to be like that. For the second time in three years, Nathan MacKinnon lost a very close vote to finish second place in the Hart Trophy voting. 20 voters put MacKinnon in fourth or fifth place and two voters left him out of the top five entirely. After losing to Taylor Hall predominantly behind the argument of…...

If the Avalanche offseason was a sitcom, it could be titled “But What About Bo?” The interest in what comes next for Bowen Byram, the fourth overall pick of the 2019 NHL Draft and the guy who spent the first half of his return to the WHL last year appearing more bored than challenged by not making the NHL team,…...

The Avalanche announced this evening they have agreed to a new contract with Logan O’Connor, a two-year pact that will count $725K against the salary cap. The 24-year-old O’Connor was set to be a restricted free agent following a year in which he split time between the Colorado Eagles, scoring 25 points in 40 games, and the Avalanche, where he…...