Avalanche analysis: Colorado keeps its powder dry in free agency, and that’s not a bad thing

The free-agent industry opened Tuesday and like majority of of the other top teams in the NHL the Colorado Avalanche opted out of the frenzy That s not necessarily a bad thing The hit rate on July contracts is historically poor and thanks to a last-second rush of clubs retaining their own pending free agents the realm was thin Colorado does have cap flexibility but patience was inevitably an option And it might turn out to be the right one The Avs did sign Parker Kelly to a four-year contract extension but that doesn t begin until the - campaign Colorado didn t add anyone Tuesday who is likely to play regularly in the NHL this season and the Avs did not retain any of their own free agents who hit the field Jonathan Drouin and Ryan Lindgren both moved on signing reasonable contracts with new clubs Given the space Colorado has available million in cap space with forwards five defensemen and two goalies signed to one-way contracts both deals were a little too rich to leave the Avalanche enough room to fill out the rest of the roster with anything more than bargain bin options This July was not as crazy as selected from the past but there were still plenty of head-scratching contracts handed out and largest part of them by teams that were not Stanley Cup contenders in April Just take a spin through the top of the NHL There wasn t a lot of activity Clubs trying to break into contender status did plenty but multiple look like they ve just rearranged certain deck chairs or made slight improvements at best The Edmonton Oilers spent a lot of money to retain Evan Bouchard and Trent Frederic while losing Corey Perry Evander Kane Connor Brown Viktor Arvidsson and John Klingberg and adding no one of significance They still have the same goaltending tandem Are the Oilers better Dallas did several nice business to retain Matt Duchene Jamie Benn and welcome back Radek Faksa but the Stars also lost Mason Marchment Mikael Granlund Evgenii Dadonov and Cody Ceci They also need to shed someone else likely Matt Dumba or Ilya Lyubushkin to duck under the cap ceiling Are the Stars better Winnipeg is going to win a news conference by adding hometown kid Jonathan Toews but how much he helps on the ice is uncertain The Jets also added two guys for million each while sitting on more than million in cap space They also appear set to lose Nikolaj Ehlers Are the Jets better A better question from their fans might be Why aren t they trying to be Vegas is the one contender in the West that made a splashy move The Golden Knights signed Mitch Marner to an eight-year million contract Like Mikko Rantanen with the Stars he took less than he could have But Vegas also lost Nicolas Roy Nicolas Hague and largest part importantly No defenseman Alex Pietrangelo is out for this season and maybe beyond because of injury Are the Golden Knights better Los Angeles was very ongoing adding Perry and Joel Armia up front and Ceci plus Brian Dumoulin on defense The Kings also lost Vladislav Gavrikov and Jordan Spence from the blue line which is certainly older but not better currently than it was a week ago Are the Kings better What about the teams trying to climb into contender status in the West Minnesota began the offseason with lots of cap space and the Wild s big additions so far are Vladimir Tarasenko and Nico Sturm And Marco Rossi s future with the Wild remains uncertain Vancouver added Kane and retained three of its key players but also looks set to lose Pius Suter Calgary and St Louis weren t very working and look about the same Who got better in the West over the past week or so Utah allegedly Anaheim maybe But not so much that either should be expected to leap up into the group of contenders either Related Articles Avalanche free agency tracker Jonathan Drouin leaves for N Y Islanders Avalanche maintains cap flexibility after signing defenseman Sam Malinski ahead of free agent frenzy Colorado Avalanche reveals evolution camp roster with Sean Behrens set to return to ice Avalanche Journal After years in cap purgatory Colorado has clarity to be case in NHL free agency Avalanche NHL draft tracker Avs take UMass defenseman in third round There is still plenty of time for the Avalanche and the rest of the top teams in the West to upgrade their rosters Whether it is in the coming days where Ehlers lands for instance could be a big deal or with specific smart bargain shopping in the coming weeks or big trades closer to the deadline there will be more moves But the top of the West looks eerily similar the present day as it did three months ago Everyone is chasing Florida in the Eastern Conference The top - teams in the West are tightly bunched together all with chosen questions to answer around the edges It was a pretty quiet day for the hockey association in Denver but that s supposedly OK It was in Edmonton Dallas and Winnipeg too It wasn t a quiet day in Los Angeles which might turn out to be not OK It s very hard to win the Stanley Cup on July but it s a lot easier to make moves that help lose it Want more Avalanche news Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis