Transactions to shape the 2025-26 roster will happen soon.
Now a month into the early summer, it’s time turn the page from the disappointments of the 2024-25 season and begin plans for the 2025-26 campaign, which will be here before we know it. Therefore here are our thoughts on how the Colorado Avalanche front office should proceed this summer.
What can the Avalanche learn from the teams remaining?
Ryan: We can learn a thing or about who we need on our team. If the Avalanche can get their hands on Sam Bennett, I would be happy with that. He’s not only a guy who can score, but he’s also a bit of a throwback and has good body checking ability. It drove me nuts throughout Round One watching our guys get cross-checked in the face and we would do absolutely nothing about it. Bennett is the type of player who wouldn’t put up with it, and the same goes with another potential unrestricted free agent in Brad Marchand. You love to play with him and you hate to play against him. However, I believe Brad will stay in Florida, but one could hope.
We need more than just guys who can score goals. We need leadership and individuals who know how to stir the pot. Colorado needs a little bit more of that old-school swagger back in the lineup.
Jackie: Scoring depth is important as well as having the luxury and confidence in them to spread out even strength time on ice. I know depth has been an organizational buzz word recently but this means building real roster depth, not imaginary depth provided from AHLers and temporary rentals. The importance of a young impact forward should be a lesson as well. Florida’s Anton Lundell, Dallas’ Wyatt Johnston, Carolina’s Jackson Blake and even Edmonton’s reclamation of Vasili Podkolzin as 23-and-under forwards producing and making a difference for who were the final four teams.
Adrian: I second Jackie’s point about scoring depth and its sourcing, emphasizing the long-term aspect of acquiring depth. It’s safe to say that leveraging draft capital and prospect talent for rental players isn’t a successful enough strategy to continue deploying. The three remaining teams have built their squads over time and made splashy moves that have panned out and will likely result in long-term signings. Rantanen is already a Star for eight more years, and I bet Marchand stays in Florida.
Which free agent would you like to see return?
Jackie: Jonathan Drouin is truly the only upcoming unrestricted free agent I hope to see return. Whatever happened in the playoffs was a disaster but the left winger was a good fit and provided near point-per-game production for two seasons. Price will be a big factor but hopefully there’s still common ground between the two parties to continue in Colorado. Replacing Drouin really isn’t a luxury the Avalanche have.
Jess: I’m with Jackie, I would absolutely love to see Jonathan Drouin return. Whether or not that happens is obviously a different conversation, because I’d have to think that the possibility of him arguably taking a discount two years in a row is a low-probability outcome, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. Yes, his playoff performances aren’t pretty by any means, but he’s been a great fit in the regular season regardless. If there’s mutual interest in him being an Av, I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t at least try to get something done, because, like Jackie also said, replacing him isn’t exactly a luxury they have right now. I could see them being very interested in keeping him around for that reason alone.
Adrian: I’ll be the first to admit that Jonathan Drouin didn’t have an ideal post-season and wasn’t available nearly enough. That said, I think his services can be secured yet again, but he can be retained on an affordable basis. Paying the league minimum for an optional first liner is the savings this team has to take advantage of. Jo needs to stay healthy and find a different element to his game.
Which free agent would you like to see depart?
Ryan: Brock Nelson. It blows my mind that we gave up multiple draft picks, including our top prospect, and a solid defenseman in Oliver Kylington for Nelson. He wasn’t worth it and that $6 million hit could be better used elsewhere.
Jonathan Drouin. The time has come. He simply is not a good fit with this team.
Ryan Lindgren. Nothing against him. I actually think he’s a solid player, albeit he got burned really badly on the Mikko Rantanen goal in Game 7. My issue is that he doesn’t have good enough offensive numbers to merit $4.5 million a season. Again, this was another player that we acquired late in the season in exchange for a pair of draft picks and Calvin de Haan.
Jess: I wouldn’t like to see anyone depart, but the one that I think is the most likely to depart is Brock Nelson. Beyond anything else, I think he’s the most likely to depart due to contract reasons. If we’re to believe what was reported right around the trade deadline, that the Islanders made a contract offer to Nelson with around a $7.5 million AAV and he rejected that, I have an insanely hard time believing Colorado’s going to be chomping at the bit to match or one-up that price tag. If they do that, then that means they’d have to do some insane surgery elsewhere on the roster to make him fit, and that’s far easier said than done, especially in the period of a little over a month before July 1 hits.
Jackie: Can I say all except for Drouin? Nelson has already been mentioned in detail so I’ll say I really hope the Avalanche resist temptation to bring back Joel Kiviranta. He was overused by Bednar and that crutch needs to get taken away. Let some other team pay for the 16 goals which were scored on the back of a 19.05% shooting. We know Kiviranta is streaky (remember the bubble playoffs, anyone?) but it’s a red flag if anyone actually expected production from him. The front office can start off the summer on the right foot by resisting temptation.
Adrian: I don’t think the Avalanche should spend money to feel better about trading Cal Ritchie and a first for Brock Nelson. Chris MacFarland whiffed on that trade; he’s not a fit, and he’s likely headed off to Minny. I beg the Avalanche not to overpay and hit the open market for a better fit at 2C.
What would you like to see from the front office this offseason?
Ryan: This is far-fetched and likely will never happen, but I would like to see the front office take some responsibility. That would be my starting point. This team has become addicted to the idea of bringing in mercenaries and rentals late in the year. They seem to have forgotten why the 2022 Stanley Cup team was so special. You had an actual team. There was brotherhood, chemistry, and everyone played a role. The depth of that club was absolutely incredible. Every line was a threat. We couldn’t say that about this team. It was two lines if we were lucky.
I know that some fans want to jump on the Mitch Marner train, but let’s ask ourselves this question. Are we in a position to sign him? Yes, the salary cap is going up, but that’s still going to be at least a $10 million hit, if not more. I would suspect we would have to trade Nichushkin, but what team is going to eat that contract? I would argue that we should go after a defenseman this offseason, perhaps Matt Grzelcyk. He’s the best available D-man this offseason and he puts up respectable numbers.
Jess: Honestly, I don’t know fully, that kind of depends on who all leaves immediately on July 1. I said it in my answer to the first question, but Drouin is the guy that I’d love for them to find a way to keep right off the bat. Aside from that, I’m not entirely sure who’s a reasonable target for them on the free agent market, admittedly, or who’s projected to be a reasonable target. I’ve had finals and then training for my summer job these past few weeks, so I admittedly haven’t looked too hard into who’s an upcoming UFA quite yet! That’ll change, though, as we get closer to July 1, and I’m sure there will be plenty of good potential targets once free agency starts.
Jackie: I would like to see evidence of some responsibility as Ryan mentions and self-reflection to focus more on building a team rather than patching holes. I want a real team that’s ready to go for training camp and not a temporary group with the intention of changing things with trades and rentals during the season. This means addressing their shortcomings at center and defense now to the best of their ability and not waiting for the perfect fix. Instant gratification should be off the table and a focus on the best team possible through MacKinnon and Makar’s primes. Building the resources that were lost is going to take time but the team needs to reset the foundation and build back an identity of Avalanche hockey.
Adrian: I’d like to see some accountability from this front office for not making a decision on the assistants sooner. The powerplay has been an issue too consistently for it to have taken this long to change its approach. It got stale. You traded Mikko, and it worked again for a month, then it went stale again. That sort of hot-and-cold attribute can’t exist in a power play. Consistency is key. The Avalanche made decisions that they can’t go back from that, probably should have been preceded by a change of assistants. With that,, they have to sleep in the bed they have made and come about their depth the old–fashioned way.