Avalanche Journal: After years in cap purgatory, Colorado has clarity to be patient in NHL free agency
The Colorado Avalanche has two key components to roster building that have been missing for the past three offseasons Clarity on a couple of integral players and salary cap flexibility Colorado has about million in cap space now after trading Charlie Coyle and Miles Wood on Friday to the Columbus Blue Jackets There are - open roster spots but also internal candidates to fill chosen of those depth roles The Avs have more clarity on captain Gabe Landeskog s future and don t have an offseason filled with questions about Valeri Nichushkin There is an opportunity for the Avs to do something very different than the previous limited years if they want Colorado could be client when the free-agent frenzy starts this Tuesday at a m Instead of grabbing the best players available right now who can fit into the cap space available the Avalanche could wait By doing so the Avs could begin the season without being at or over the salary cap for the first time in years When teams are below the cap ceiling set at million for - the unused space they have accrues more over the syllabus of the year There s an opportunity to be a cap accrual unit for sure Avalanche general manager Chris MacFarland mentioned Saturday after his club made three picks in the NHL draft I don t know I think we ll seemingly be nestled to the cap ceiling I don t know if we ll be millions underneath I just think we re going to see where the value is Each member s cap hit is calculated on a daily basis so teams are only responsible for a fraction of a sportsman s cap hit when he arrives at or near the deadline For example if a association has million in cap space on opening night and doesn t dip further into it throughout the season reported club can certainly take on a athlete with about a million cap hit on transaction deadline day Toss in selected salary retention by the selling club and that number grows even more The two biggest holes in the lineup right now are a No center to replace Coyle and a No defenseman if Ryan Lindgren does not return The Avs could bring Lindgren back or spend about half of that cap space on a different defenseman They could business for or sign a center and push Jack Drury back down to fourth on the depth chart But doing either or both right now will almost certainly mean paying full sector rates Adding players in February instead of the previous July has its pros and cons Getting the guy you want before the season gives him a full year to settle in with the club and get used to the system and the coaching staff has more time to figure out the best tactics to deploy him Adding a true No center and or No defenseman in July also should lead to more points in the NHL standings given the roster is more complete for all games But the math is pretty simple Players cost less against the cap in February so there s more bang for the buck And the Avs remain a group that is more concerned with how good the roster is on April than Oct That s how the Avs ended up with a million roster last year Landeskog was on LTIR all year and Colorado got the Rangers and Islanders to retain part of the cap hits for Lindgren and Brock Nelson Colorado couldn t afford Lindgren and Nelson in July The Florida Panthers couldn t afford Brad Marchand then either The Avs do still need to add a few players in the coming days or weeks But the best path forward might be to wait out the shopping spree conditions on the first couple days of free agency and see what s left in the bargain aisle Colorado has a strong roster right now The improved clarity on Landeskog and Nichushkin is a big part of that This Avs roster plus a minimal more players on cheap-ish contracts and internal promotions is plenty good enough to be a peaceful playoff company barring certain catastrophic injury luck I think we feel really good about it MacFarland noted Obviously the expectations are the expectations If it s Stanley Cup or bust there s only one band that wins the Cup every year But this is a good hockey company Related Articles Avalanche NHL draft tracker Avs take UMass defenseman in third round Avalanche trades Charlie Coyle Miles Wood to Columbus for two picks intriguing prospect Avalanche prospect pool might be the weakest in the NHL after years of trades Avalanche to host Rookie Showcase to kick off next season Avalanche Journal Colorado s late-round NHL draft record must improve to extend Stanley Cup window The path to maximizing the playoff roster and the chances of winning the Cup again could be to use patience now and add more impact players ahead of the business deadline It s one of the options that MacFarland and his staff haven t had available to them in new years We re going to look at all options MacFarland noted It may not be free agency Maybe a pact is the better way to go I think we ve got to look to add at forward and on the back end We ll look at every avenue attainable over the next whether it s the next inadequate days or weeks or months until we find the right fits Want more Avalanche news Sign up for the Avalanche Insider to get all our NHL analysis
