Where things stand with the Avalanche heading into free agency week

It’s been two weeks since the Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup. There have already been significant changes to the group that doesn’t seem interested in stopping the celebration anytime soon. There has been some big news sprinkled in with some smaller bits of news so let’s catch up on everything that’s happened in the last couple of weeks.

First, the NHL Draft happened last week and for the first time in our history, we didn’t go wall-to-wall with coverage. This is because the Avs entered draft day with picks in rounds 3, 5, 6, and 7. By the time day two got underway, however, the picks in rounds 3 and 5 were already gone.

GEORGIEV SIGNS

That’s because the Avs traded those picks, along with a 2023 3rd-round pick to the New York Rangers for goaltender Alexandar Georgiev. Georgiev was a restricted free agent at age 26, meaning he had one year left until unrestricted free agency, and he brought with him a qualifying offer of $2.65M. That offer never had the chance to be made, however, because the Avs signed Georgiev over the weekend to a three-year contract worth $3.4M per season.

It’s a pretty hefty raise for Georgiev and really reinforces just how much the Avalanche believe in the netminder’s ability to replace Darcy Kuemper, who will sign with another franchise this week after spending one successful season (he won a Stanley Cup as the starting goalie) in Denver.

Instead of the Avs giving Kuemper upwards of $5M per year and making him one of the highest-paid goaltenders in the NHL, Colorado will not be spending a combined $5.4M on their goaltending duo of Georgiev and Pavel Francouz.

Granted, neither has ever been a true starter in the NHL and the team is taking a pretty significant risk at one of the most volatile positions in pro sports, but the Avalanche front office has been nails the last several years so their leap of faith is everyone else’s, too. It’s on Georgiev to reward that faith and if he does, the sticker shock of $3.4M for a goaltender who had a .898 save percentage last season will permanently be in the rearview mirror.

MACDONALD RETURNS

Also signing on Sunday was noted wild man Jacob MacDonald, the sometimes-defenseman, sometimes-forward who seems to elicit only the strongest of feelings from Avalanche fans.

The 29-year-old MacDonald signed a two-year extension worth just $762, 500 per year. It’s a two-way deal for MacDonald that will guarantee him $450K in the AHL, which will end up as one of the league’s highest numbers when it’s all said and done.

Since being acquired from the Florida Panthers three years ago, MacDonald has scored 67 points in 89 games for the Colorado Eagles and has added nine points in 41 games for the Avalanche. As a player who can play both forward and defense, his contract is twice as valuable and he is expected to be an important contributor for the Eagles once again.

QUALIFYING OFFER DAY

Today is the deadline for NHL clubs to extend qualifying offers to eligible restricted free agents. Only two Avalanche regulars are on that list this year. Artturi Lehkonen is guaranteed to receive one as the team works to secure his future on a long-term contract but Nicolas Aube-Kubel is a more interesting story here.

Aube-Kubel was claimed off waivers from the Philadelphia Flyers way back last November and then proceeded to have a career-high 22 points in 67 games, including 11 goals. While Aube-Kubel failed to score in any of the 14 playoff games he participated in, he managed to only take four penalty minutes along the way, which has been a major problem for him in his career.

Aube-Kubel’s qualifying offer will be for $1.225M should the Avs decide to extend him one. If they don’t he will be an unrestricted free agent (this is what happened). The two scenarios I think are likeliest are the Avs extending NAK the qualifying offer, then negotiating a multi-year deal (likely just two years) for a lower AAV than $1.225, or just extending him the QO and letting him sign it. It would be a mild surprise to me if they chose to move on from him entirely.

Other RFAs for the Avs include forwards Shane Bowers, Callahan Burke, Nick Henry, Mikhail Maltsev, Andreas Wingerli, and defenseman Keaton Middleton.

THE DRAFT!

While the rest of the NHL had a grand ole time drafting the future of the league, the Avs sat as idly by as any team in recent memory as they did not have their first pick until the 193rd selection, all the way at the end of the sixth round.

With that pick, Colorado selected defenseman Chris Romaine out of Milton Academy, a high school in Massachusetts. Romaine is listed at 6’0″ and 190 pounds as is a right-shot defenseman who scored 22 points in 18 games this year.

From the guys over at Draft Prospects Hockey, here’s what they had to say about Romaine, who is attending Providence College beginning in the fall:

In the seventh round, the Avs actually managed to generate a little bit of noise with the final pick of the draft, goaltender Ivan Zhigalov from the Sherbrooke Phoenix of the QMJHL.

At 6’3″, 168 pounds, there was actually a little bit of buzz surrounding Zhigalov from a number of draftniks who approved of the selection by the Avalanche. He’s considered an extremely raw goaltender but one who certainly has some talent.

Once again, from the fellas over at Draft Prospects Hockey, here’s their view on Colorado’s newest netminder:

Tall, lanky, right-handed catching netminder that plays a mobile butterfly style. Covers a ton of the net standing and in his butterfly. Great athleticism with real fast legs and reflexes. Capable of making highlight-reel desperation saves. Strong lateral pushes to get over side-to-side quickly. Never gives up on a puck showing excellent battle on cross-ice plays and loose puck scrums in the crease.

Fluid moving from post to post. Proper RVH technique to seal his posts and stand tall to not allow bad angle shots to go in. Controlling his movements is an area for improvement as he can overplay shots from time to time. Holds his glove high. Confident blocker hand punching shots towards the outside. Squares up to shooters coming out to the top of his crease.

Tendency to compact his stance too much. Uses his height to look around screens and track the puck efficiently. Strong puck playing ability. Comes out regularly to stop or move pucks to help start the breakout. Solid rebound control on low shots but come inconsistency trapping up high shots. Projects as an NHL starter down the road once he starts to control his movements and technical play.

While Zhigalov will not be attending this week’s Avalanche Development Camp (reasons unknown), Romaine is expected to be in attendance.

SAKIC GETS HIS DUE

After years of aggressive and quality roster-building, Joe Sakic finally got the recognition many of us have been clamoring for on his behalf the last few years when Sakic was named the Jim Gregory GM of the Year.

He beat out Tampa Bay GM Julien BriseBois and New York Rangers GM Chris Drury for the award, which almost always goes to one of the teams that made the conference finals in a given year. That voting trend meant Sakic was left hanging the past couple of seasons as the Avs failed to get out of the second round.

They did this year and Sakic was given recognition by his peers for the job he did in building a team that finished with a 119-point season and subsequently went 16-4 in the playoffs en route to knocking off the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning.

Just one more piece of hardware for Sakic, who really needs a separate wing of his house simply to house all of the accolades he’s earned over the years.

WORK LEFT TO DO

The Avalanche walk into the week with approximately $21 million available to spend on their roster. Already signed are eight forwards, six defensemen, and two goaltenders. Given Kurtis MacDermid’s ability to play both forward and defense, it’s safe to assume the Avs are only looking for one, maybe two more NHL defenders at the absolute most but will need to find a way to get some forwards signed (Lehkonen and NAK would bring that total to 10 if they extend them both QOs).

At the moment, the Avs don’t have a second line under contract so they could probably stand to get a name or two inked on the dotted line.

It is expected, at least for now, that Nazem Kadri and Andre Burakovsky will ultimately seek employment elsewhere as their price tags are likely too steep for the Avalanche and salary cap-crunched reality.

Valeri Nichushkin remains the team’s top priority and while there was optimism throughout the weekend that things were progressing to a positive conclusion, until that agreement is reached, everyone will remain uncomfortable. Keep in mind Gabe Landeskog’s negotiations lasted until the very last few minutes before the Avs lost the ability to offer the eighth year, which is ultimately what got Landeskog to stay.

Darren Helm, Nico Sturm, Jack Johnson, Josh Manson, and Ryan Murray are all of the other Avalanche UFAs that could be hitting the open market this Wednesday when free agency officially opens.

IMPORTANT DATES THIS WEEK

There’s a lot to remember this week, so here’s a handy little guide for what is happening and when this week:

Monday, July 11, 5 pm ET: Qualifying Offers due to RFAs
Tuesday, July 12, 5 pm ET: First buyout window closes
Tuesday, July 12, 11:59 pm ET: Teams lose the ability to offer 8th year to own pending UFAs
Wednesday, July 13, noon ET: Free agency opens (no more legal tampering period).