Ross Colton inks four-year deal with Avalanche

After a couple of weeks of waiting, the Colorado Avalanche and Ross Colton agreed to terms on a four-year contract Monday evening. The deal is worth $16M total, giving Colton a salary-cap hit of $4M per season. Colton had filed for arbitration and the hearing was set for July 27, but with this agreement that hearing will obviously be canceled.

Colton, acquired by the Avalanche from the Tampa Bay Lightning the morning of the NHL Draft with one of the picks acquired the night before in the Alex Newhook trade, will turn 27 in September before he heads to Denver and joins the Avalanche for his first training camp with the organization.

The addition of Colton, who scored 32 points last season (16 G, 16 A), should help shore up a sore spot in Colorado’s lineup last year as he is penciled in (for now) as the team’s opening night third-line center.

His physicality and competitiveness are big selling points of his game as well as his ability to score goals while battling in front of the opposition’s net. He should be a welcome addition to the depth of a forward group that got a little too easy to play against by the end of last season.

If you want to read more of an in-depth look at Colton, I did a lengthy piece on him the day he was acquired.

As Colton was in his final year of restricted free agency, this contract buys three UFA years and leaves the Avalanche with roughly $3M in cap space with only Ben Meyers left for the team to sign.