Mikhail Maltsev signs one-year contract

The Colorado Avalanche depth forward returns.

Continuing to grind away at all their offseason loose ends, the Colorado Avalanche inked another one of their depth players in center Mikhail Maltsev to a one-year contract for the upcoming 2022-23 season.

Maltsev spent most of his season with the Colorado Eagles where he was a top player scoring 48 points in 56 games and another six points in nine playoff contests. He was up with the Avalanche for 18 games in the first half of the season but didn’t produce any points in a fourth-line role.

After playing the majority of the shortened 2020-21 season with the New Jersey Devils and the subsequent exchange in the Ryan Graves trade the was perhaps thought Maltsev would become a fixture on the Avalanche roster. With this deal, Maltsev has another chance to fulfill that role or at least receive a couple of call-ups as serviceable depth.

Maltsev was a Restricted Free Agent with arbitration rights but he chose not to file. There were thoughts that he was keeping his options open to return to Russia and the KHL SKA St. Petersburg but instead he chose to keep the door to the NHL open. The 24-year-old will be an RFA again at the conclusion of this deal.

Shane Bowers is now the only remaining unsigned RFA and he too elected not to file arbitration so there is no timeline on his contract. There’s also that matter of Nazem Kadri or another forward yet-to-be signed but the Avalanche have more time to see how that matter unfolds.