The Colorado Avalanche won a sweepstakes for veteran winger Brock Nelson at this year’s Trade Deadline. It took a massive trade package that included top prospect Calum Ritchie and a first-round draft pick, but Colorado was able to convince both Nelson and the New York Islanders’ brass to make the move – bringing an end to Nelson’s 12-year tenure with the Islanders. He flashed strong play as he rounded out the regular season, netting 13 points in 19 games with Colorado, but then recorded no goals and four assists in the club’s seven playoff games. The sour end to the season seemed to set Nelson up to enter unrestricted free agency this summer. But with June rolling around, mutual interest in signing an extension is beginning to grow, shares David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.
Re-signing Nelson would go far in supporting Colorado’s 2025-26 campaign. Not only would it give the team a chance to reaffirm their blockbuster swap at the deadline, but Nelson would also nicely meet the team’s need for depth at left-wing. The Avalanche have been void of a consistent, top-six left-winger as captain Gabriel Landeskog and vet Jonathan Drouin battled routine injuries over the last few seasons. Landeskog played in his first games since 2022 during this year’s postseason and managed an impressive four points in five games – but the extent of his availability for next season is still hard to gauge. The same can be said for Drouin, who posted another strong year – 37 points in 43 games – with Colorado but is currently set to enter unrestricted free agency this summer.
Nelson would be the perfect player to hedge Colorado’s bets on the open market. Combining his statlines from New York and Colorado, Nelson managed 26 goals and 56 points in 80 games this season – an impressive mark for a 33-year-old wing. Even more notable is the fact that 2024-25 marked a down year for Nelson – and the first since the shortened 2020-21 season that he didn’t challenge a 35-goal season. He found a new groove with New York over the last few years, and posted a career-high 75 points in 82 games as recently as 2022-23. Nelson also has ample playoff experience and – save for his performances this year – always seems to come through in the clutch. He’s scored 54 points, split evenly, in 85 playoff games over the course of his career.
The downside of a new deal will inevitably be Nelson’s price tag. He just wrapped up a six-year, $36MM contract originally signed in New York – and is almost certainly due for a pay raise after netting three seasons near or above 60 points in just the last four years. He’s projected to earn up to a three-year, $21MM extension on his next deal by CapWages. An annual cap hit of $7MM would take up nearly all of Colorado’s $8.7MM in available cap space this summer, and could limit the team’s ability to re-sign their six other pending-UFAs. That could require Colorado to get savvy in negotiations, and may potentially push Nelson closer to the door as he anticipates getting to choose a home away from New York for the first time in his career.