Colorado re-signed all three of their restricted free agent defensemen today. Jordan Leopold signed a 2-year deal, while Jeff Finger and Kurt Sauer re-upped for 1-year each. Including Kyle Cumiskey, the Avs now have 7 defensemen from last season under contract for next year and are still expected to be in the market for a upper-tier blueliner this summer.
Salary numbers are being reported by the Denver Post. $1,500,000 for Leopold (a steal considering he gives up a year of free agency), $719,000 for Sauer and $475,000 for Finger. All very cap-friendly numbers.
Ossi Vaananen, Patrice Brisebois and Ken Klee all become unrestricted free agents on July 1st. Klee is the only one of the three that I think has any chance of returning.
The Avalanche also signed forward prospect David Jones from Dartmouth. Hockey prospects are not my forte, so I have nothing intelligent to add here.
The Jones signing is significant. First, because David Jones is a great prospect and has been one of my sleeper favorites since he was drafted. He doesn’t have the name recognition of Stewart with most Avalanche fans but in my humble opinion I think he might turn out to be a better NHL player and in fact a future assistant captain of the Avalanche. Second, his signing means he’s foregoing his senior year at Dartmouth and we will see him at training camp.
I’m glad to see all three of those defensemen sign. Finger and Leopold may turn out to be huge bargins next year.
I’m officially excited about the David Jones era.
I am glad they signed Finger and Leopold. While Klee played well and should be brought back, what are they going to do about going after a good defenseman like Hannan. I don’t think using the same defense as last season is going to cut it.
Sure, they played well last year down the stretch. They can send Kumisky down, but if they sign, say Klee and Hannan, would they have 2 healthy scratches every game?
Seems strange to me.
I think they’ll still go after a FA. I personally don’t see Hannan as the guy though. He is going to become massively overpaid in a couple of months. Nice guy to have…but not a cornerstone guy that his salary is going to be on par with.
I think they’ll still look around and see if they can find a guy who will help them and won’t break the bank, but could conceivably go into the season with the existing D, so there’s less pressure now to overpay for someone.
my guess? I think they do sign a UFA, re-sign Klee for depth, and trade either Liles, Clark or Skrastins (Liles being the “favorite” here).
Hmm i hopoe not. Even though Liles has been uneven this year, he is the only Defensiveman they have that can generate any offense on the powerplay. Maybe Clark, but Liles is by far the best. (Leopold might be able to as well, but i know nothing about him).
If they are going to trade anyone away, I would hope it’s Skrastins. He’s the only one that could give good value, but deosn’t seem to fit with the Avs plans
Dario might chime in here as well, but I think the Avs love Skrastins.
If it was me, I’d trade Skrastins away and keep Liles.
But, thinking like the Avs…
I think they value Skrastins more than they do Liles
I think Liles would fetch more on the trade market
Liles is a UFA after this year, and they might not be able to retain him
They have Cumiskey (aka Liles Jr) in the wings.
Not saying it will happen, but it sure wouldn’t shock me if it did
Yep, I agree with DD.
If the Avs do sign Klee then I think some draft day trades are likely to go down.