With just a few months to go before the Aug. 15 deadline, the Colorado Avalanche and Will Butcher have made no progress to agreeing to a deal, according to Adrian Dater of BSN Denver. The University of Denver defenseman and the winner of this year’s Hobey Baker Award, given to the best player in college hockey, has still not accepted a contract from the Avalanche, who drafted him in the fifth round of the 2013 NHL Draft.
If the 5-foot-10 defenseman waits until the Aug. 15 deadline, Colorado loses their exclusive rights to sign him and Butcher can negotiate with any club, leading to speculation that he might be interested in signing with a different team. This has nothing to do with money, however, as league rules dictate that the 22-year-old Butcher can only sign a two-year entry-level deal of no more than $925,000 base salary. This comes down to Butcher being allowed to pick which team he wants to play for.
A similar situation happened last year when Harvard’s Jimmy Vesey, the previous year’s Hobey Baker Award winner, was the property of the Nashville Predators. They were unable to sign him and traded his rights to the Buffalo Sabres before the deadline for a third round pick. Despite the Sabres’ attempts, they failed to sign him and Vesey eventually inked a deal with the New York Rangers.
Butcher finished his season at the University of Denver last year with seven goals and 30 assists.