Colorado Avalanche: What the Avs Should Do with Their Upcoming Free Agents
The season is more or less over for the Colorado Avalanche. True, there are still about 18 games left on the schedule, nonetheless, the Avalanche would need a minor miracle to even get themselves back into the playoff picture.
It is for this reason that I thought we'd take a quick glimpse down the road and start thinking about some of the decisions that the Avalanche will have to make in the off-season.
This will be the first installment of a few articles regarding the Avalanche and their exploits in the offseason, and for this one, we'll focus on the players specifically on the Avalanche that are going to be free agents at the end of this season.
We will take a look at whose contracts are up, what sort of production they've had and what the Avalanche should do with them.
Milan Hejduk
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Milan Hejduk
Free-Agent Status: Unrestricted free agent.
Current Salary: Hejduk's contract was slightly front loaded, with $3.9 million a year up until this season, where he makes $3 million.
What to do with him: This is obvious. The Avs need to put another five-year deal in front of him and lock him up for the rest of his career. The organization may feel more comfortable doing fewer years, though they probably aren't to the place they were with Sakic and are with Foote, where they just go one year at a time until he wants to retire.
Hejduk may or may not get more money, though money is most likely not going to be the driving factor behind his next contract. It's quite possible that his next, and possibly final contract, will look a lot like it does right now.
Hejduk wants to retire as an Avalanche. He loves Denver and doesn't want to uproot his family. Hejduk will re-sign, no trouble at all.
Tomas Fleischmann
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Tomas Fleischmann
Free-Agent Status: Unrestricted free agent
Current Salary: Flash is currently on a one-year, $2.6 million contract.
What to do with him: Another pretty obvious one. Flash came in and had an instant impact on the team. He had an amazing instant chemistry with Matt Duchene and found his scoring touch with Colorado.
It became quite obvious how valuable he was to this team the moment that he was out of the lineup for the rest of the season, and suddenly, the Avalanche couldn't win a game.
The only reason for caution coming into a new deal is Fleischmann's injury. He had multiple emboli (blood clots in his leg) that required blood thinners to deal with. Depending on his status, it's possible Flash may want a year off to make sure he's entirely healthy. On the other hand, if Flash is healthy, the Avalanche might not want to invest for terribly long should that type of life threatening occurrence once again rear its ugly head.
Prediction, Flash is re-signed to a nice two-year contract similar to the one that Peter Mueller signed during this last offseason. That way, the Avs are committed but not over the edge with the commitment.
The most important thing with all of this is that Flash get healthy and fit again.
T.J. Galiardi
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T. J. Galiardi
Free-Agent Status: Restricted free agent
Current Contract: Galiardi is on an entry contract, making only $637,000 dollars in his second year on the Avalanche roster.
What to do with him: Poor T.J. has had a really tough year this year. He's had a couple bad injuries to his hand this year and never really managed to get his scoring touch.
He was in Coach Sacco's doghouse a couple of times this year and even spent a little bit of time back down in Lake Eerie.
Galiardi really found a calling as a pest during last year's playoff series against the Sharks, where he was a thorn in the side of Joe Thornton. He showed a few flashes of that this year but struggled with his overall consistency.
As a restricted free agent, his options are much more limited, so I definitely expect him to come back to the Avalanche for a couple more years, with a very small raise in funds. Wouldn't expect a big raise at all. Possibly another two-year deal.
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David Jones
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David Jones
Free-Agent Status: Restricted free-agent
Current Salary: Jones makes $838,000 this year.
What to do with him: To this point in his career, Jones has yet to be able to put together a complete season where he remains healthy. This is actually the first season where he has done that, and it has paid off big time for him.
Jones currently leads the Avalanche in goals, with 23, and has really been on a hot streak in the past three or four games. With 18 games left in the season, he has the potential to hit 30 goals.
This makes things interesting. Jones is clearly an effective scorer; his numbers this year show that. At the same time, he has a history with injuries—and not just small injuries. His injuries have been ones that kept him out of 60+ games for multiple seasons in a row. It's hard to make a big time commitment like that until you know the guy can stay healthy for more than just one season at a time.
He will get a pay raise, no doubt. You don't put up the kinds of numbers that he did this year and not get a substantial increase in pay. The big question that is going to come about is the length of the contract. The Avalanche will want to make it a length that doesn't put them in a serious bind should he experience another serious injury. Look for a two to three-year deal on this one.
Kevin Porter
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Kevin Porter
Free-Agent Status: Restricted free agent
Current Salary: Porter currently makes $600,000.
What to do with him: Porter is a tricky one. Porter has had several very good games this year, but he has also had several less than stellar games this year.
He has pretty good hands but has a tendency to make really bad passes that kill offensive chances yet still manages to log time on the second power play unit as a point man. Very interesting.
He's pretty decent defensively but is another undersized guy on a team that is already too small.
One of two things could happen with Porter. First, he re-signs with the team—short-term, not very big contract, and is placed in a role where he isn't on one of the top two lines. He is not top-six forward for any team. This seems to be the most likely scenario.
The second scenario is that the Avalanche trade his rights in the offseason—either for another prospect, or as part of a larger package. This seems less likely, but nobody really knows.
David Koci
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David Koci
Free-Agent Status: Unrestricted free agent
Current Salary: Koci is on a one-year, $575,000 contract.
What to do with him: Koci is another real no-brainer. Why the Avalanche re-signed him last year remains a mystery considering the fact that, if he's even dressed in a game, he tends to log a thrilling three to five minutes of ice time.
As it stands, Koci really is Sacco's current message sender and not really in the thug sense. He does fight, but Koci is the guy that he puts in over people that are usually starters. The message being "I'd rather play this three minutes of ice-time thug than you, so get your game back."
What do you do with Koci? Very easy, you drop him like yesterday's newspaper. He is a waste of a roster spot and needs to move on.
Philippe Dupuis
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Philippe Dupuis
Free-Agent Status: Restricted free agent
Current Salary: $500,000
What to do with him: Dupuis has been one of the pleasant surprises of the year for the Avalanche. For a fourth line center, he has made quite an impact.
During that horrible 10-game losing streak, Dupuis was probably the best and most consistent player for the Avalanche.
He comes out with energy on every shift and isn't very deceptive with his ability. On many of his goals or scoring chances, he has shown some amazingly soft hands.
He plays a very solid physical game and is a great defensive forward. He is awesome on the penalty kill and is a threat to score some short-handed goals. He is the type of player that can get out there after the team has had a bad shift or had a goal scored against them and create some serious energy.
He was recently a healthy scratch a couple of times, which is something that didn't really make too much sense as he was the best player for the Avs in the games leading up to his scratch.
At any rate, Dupuis will be back, making probably a bit closer to $750,000 than the minimum.
Ryan Stoa
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Ryan Stoa
Free-Agent Status: Restricted free agent
Current Salary: $850,000
What to do with him: Stoa is a big guy. He's had quite a good year down in Lake Eerie, but you can't really judge a player's NHL value based on how they do in the AHL.
Stoa has shown some very good things in a few of his games in an Avalanche sweater, but he has also shown some drawbacks.
It seems that this will be a pretty easy keeper. He'll be re-signed to a contract that will really let the Avalanche see if he can become that power forward that they really want him to be.
Adam Foote
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Adam Foote
Free-Agent Status: Unrestricted free agent
Current Salary: $1 million dollars a $250,000 bonus.
What to do with him: One of two things will happen with Foote. One, he will sign an identical one-year deal with the team that he has this year. This is very much the same approach the team took with Joe Sakic when he was in the twilight of his career.
The other option, which seems more and more likely every day, is that Foote will retire at the end of this season and make the decision on what to do with him for us. Again, this seems like the most likely scenario.
Matt Hunwick
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Matt Hunwick
Free-Agent Status: Restricted free agent
Current Salary: $1.55 million
What to do with him: As a whole, Hunwick has been nothing short of absolutely horrendous ever since he got to the Avalanche.
Joe Sacco really likes this type of small, fast-skating, puck-moving defenseman. The only problem is that Hunwick stinks in his own zone. He has played much better lately, that is for sure, but he still has a long way to go before even becoming respectable.
Many people, including myself, have directed our ire at Hunwick many times this season as he has been a turnover machine—and not the good kind.
What should happen with Hunwick is that he should be let go or traded for whatever you can get for him, and replace him with a defenseman that knows how to use a physical game.
What will most likely happen with him is that he will probably be re-signed to a deal similar to the one he has now. This is a result of the mystifying man-crush that Joe Sacco seems to have on him—one that continues to baffle Avalanche fans everywhere.
Ryan O'Byrne
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Ryan O'Byrne
Free-Agent Status: Restricted free agent
Current Salary: $1.4 million
What to do with him: You lock this guy up, and you do it for a long time. O'Byrne has really been the Avs best defenseman that they have had all season. He's big, he's tough, he skates pretty well, he kills penalties and he has a bomb of a shot when he decides to let it go.
Pay this man, and keep him an Avalanche for a long time.
Kyle Cumiskey
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Kyle Cumiskey
Free-Agent Status: Restricted free agent
Current Salary: $675,000
What to do with him: Cumiskey is another one of those small, fast-skating, puck-moving defensemen that is a horrible defensive liability in his own zone. Cumiskey and Hunwick are carbon copies of one another.
I imagine the same thing will probably happen with him, even though Cumiskey has shown that he is the type of player that gets a concussion if you look at him the right way.
If I run the Avs, I trade his rights for whatever the best offer I can get is, or I just cut him loose.
Ryan Wilson
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Ryan Wilson
Free-Agent Status: Restricted free agent
Current Salary: $530,000
What to do with him: Wilson has definitely proven that he is capable as a defender. One of the best things that he has brought to this team is the threat of the big hit.
I remember watching the Avalanche play the Devils last year, and he knocked Patrick Elias out of the game with a clean hip check that just caught him off guard.
Wilson will continue to grow as an NHL player as he gets more and more experience, so this one seems pretty obvious. He won't get a real long-term deal, and he won't get a huge pay raise, but he'll get about three years, for maybe about $1 million a year.
Peter Budaj
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Peter Budaj
Free-Agent Status: Unrestricted free agent
Current Salary: $1.25 million
What to do with him: What to do with Boods depends on a whole lot.
Do they plan to look for a solid No. 1 in the offseason? If so, then you have Elliott as a better option for a backup.
Do they plan to try a two-goalie system that rotates? If so, then maybe you want to keep Budaj and Elliott in order to avoid overspending on a free-agent goalie.
In the end, I think Budaj is probably going to stay around for at least one more year. He feels a great amount of loyalty to the team and doesn't feel like he deserves better. He seems to realize that his role on any team will be as a backup and is fine with that.
Budaj is one of the ones that I really have no idea what to expect.
Brian Elliott
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Brian Elliott
Free-Agent Status: Restricted free agent
Current Salary: $900,000
What to do with him: Whether he earns the No. 1 spot or whether he ends up as a clear backup, Elliott will stick around for at least one more year. Hard to think the Avs would trade last year's MVP for him, and then, let him go right after the end of the season. It just wouldn't add up.
Elliott will be around a bit longer.
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