Jacob MacDonald's new contract is one to watch for the Avs

While the world slowly continues to shut down, the Avalanche has been getting a headstart on their summer business.

Colorado Eagles leading scorer T.J. Tynan led the way with a new one-year deal last week and the organization followed it up by rewarding Jacob MacDonald with a two-year contract a day later.

The two-year pact is a two-way contract set to pay MacDonald $700K (NHL)/$350K in year one and $750K/$375K in year two. The contract also guarantees that MacDonald makes at least $400K in the first year and $425K in the second year.

That makes MacDonald one of the highest-paid players in the AHL following a season where he technically led the league in goals by a defenseman with 16. I say technically because he’s a defenseman by trade but played and scored a healthy chunk of those goals at forward this past year.

Regardless of position, you add it all up and MacDonald scored 42 points in 56 games in his first year in the Avalanche organization after being acquired from Florida over the summer.

Most of the time, AHL signings are just that. It’s quality organizational depth with an eye on making the Eagles playoff-caliber. This is especially true for players who are already 27-years-old with just two NHL games played such as MacDonald.

Upon a little deeper inspection, this signing feels like it could mean a little something more for the Avalanche than just a veteran puck-mover in Loveland.

It’s been a slow burn for MacDonald throughout his career. Following a four-year stint at Cornell where he registered just 21 points in 104 games, MacDonald embarked on a pro career that saw him primarily emerge as a star in the ECHL.

The 17 goals he scored in his first full pro year in the ECHL more than quadrupled the number of goals he scored in his entire college career and put him on the path he’s on now.

Hard work and continued production as he got more AHL opportunities eventually culminated in his first NHL deal with the Florida Panthers in 2018. He even saw action in NHL games, scoring one goal.

He landed in Colorado via trade last summer and took advantage of the organization’s rampant injury problem at forward to do some heavy lifting on the scoresheet. As the Avs got healthier and gave players back to the Eagles, MacDonald eased his way back to the defense where he continued to produce at a high level.

All of that convinced the organization to bring him back but its the situation around him that could mean bigger things are in store for MacDonald.

Colorado has a glut of defensemen between the Avs and Eagles that are on expiring contracts that could mean an increased opportunity for MacDonald.

Facing the possible departures of current Eagles captain Mark Alt and experienced NHL defenders Mark Barberio and Kevin Connauton, Colorado’s two-year commitment to MacDonald as their first move along the blue line certainly stands out as interesting.

It could be as simple as them locking down a quality AHL player who they were afraid of losing whenever the offseason takes place. In fact, that’s the likeliest outcome.

But what if it isn’t?

Colorado’s current top six is mostly locked in for next year with Nikita Zadorov the likely odd-man out from the current group and Bowen Byram very likely to make a strong push for an NHL job.

Keeping Byram and rotating him in and out of the lineup sounds like a disaster in player development terms so let’s assume if the plan is to keep Byram, it’s to have him in the lineup.

No matter how you do the math, the question of who Colorado’s seventh defenseman ends up being looms.

Barberio has been a perfect player to recognize the transition the organization has undergone in his time here. When he first arrived, he played top-pairing minutes next to Erik Johnson. Should he depart this summer, he does so as the clear-cut seventh defenseman with two high-profile prospects pushing to take his job.

Byram is one of the prospects but Conor Timmins is the other. While the natural inclination would be to have Timmins take a job outright next year, it seems the breakout of Ryan Graves and exceptional upside of Byram will force Timmins to have to steal a job or wait another year.

This is where MacDonald comes into play as a possible candidate for the seventh D job next year. While he lacks NHL experience, he’s in the prime of his career (something Barberio is now exiting as he just turned 30 a week ago) and trending upward.

With MacDonald as Colorado’s seventh defender, there is less of a temptation to use a healthy scratch as a weapon with next year’s group and it allows Timmins to continue to develop in the AHL. After all, Timmins has just 42 games of pro hockey experience; he’s far from a finished product and could benefit from more development in the AHL next season.

The commitment to MacDonald as their first means of blue line business stands out to me as intriguing. It could end up as nothing more than setting him up to be the next Eagles captain but if the Avs are content to clean out some of the players on expiring contracts this summer, this might end up being a signing that matters quite a bit more.