Offseason Keys

Offseason Keys: Los Angeles Kings

May 20, 2017 at 12:39 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 1 Comment

While the expansion draft is set to headline a busy NHL offseason, there are still several other storylines for each team in the months ahead. Here is a closer look at what lies ahead for the Los Angeles Kings.

This season was a tough one for the Kings. An injury in the opening game of the season to goaltender Jonathan Quick set the stage for things to go downhill in a hurry and that’s exactly what happened. They wound up missing the postseason and the team cleaned house, letting both head coach Darryl Sutter and GM Dean Lombardi go. Both were replaced internally with John Stevens being promoted behind the bench while Rob Blake took over as general manager. Here are some of the things he’ll be tasked with in the months ahead.

Clear Up Cap Room

Los Angeles is locked to in a lot of big money, big term deals and as a result, their cap space is at a premium. Presently, they have nearly $62.2MM committed to 16 players for next year per CapFriendly which doesn’t give them much room to add impact players once they take care of their own free agents.

The good news is that they don’t have many no-trade clauses to deal with if Blake decides to shake things up. Dustin Brown has a 22-team no-trade clause while Anze Kopitar has a no-move clause and that’s it as things currently stand.

Marian Gaborik’s situation could be an interesting one to keep tabs on. It has been speculated that he could be a candidate to start on long-term injury reserve next year which could free up a bit of money when the season starts. However, it’s hard to imagine that he’d be okay with being stashed on there similar to the way Joffrey Lupul was with Toronto this year so it’s not a long-term solution by any stretch. Whether it’s through moving out one big contract or trying to save a bit here and there in a few moves, some of their dealings this summer will be motivated by their cap situation.

New Deal For Toffoli

Earlier this month, the Kings wrapped up one of their two key offseason re-signings with a new four year, $15MM contract to Tanner Pearson. Now they’ll need to turn their focus to their other key RFA in Tyler Toffoli.

Last week, it was reported that substantive talks had yet to start although that was expected to occur in the coming days. Toffoli is coming off a bit of a down season as a leg injury cost him 19 games and as a result, he recorded just 34 points (16-18-34) in 63 contests.

Toffoli’s salary this past season was $3.9MM with a cap hit of $3.25MM. As the salary sets the qualifying offer, that’s going to be the minimum cap charge on his new deal (unless he agrees to a contract less than that qualifying offer which isn’t likely). He’s coming off a two year bridge contract and is two years away from unrestricted free agency so it’s reasonable to expect that the team will be looking to pursue a long-term pact. How long (and expensive) the deal is will certainly affect the amount of cap room Blake has to work with.

Add Speed

If you were to ask the average fan how they’d classify the Kings, the word slow would likely come up quickly. Lombardi built a team with an emphasis on size and as a result, they have quite a few slower players. A decade ago, that approach made a lot of sense but as the league trends towards speed, this isn’t a good spot to be in.

It’s believed that Stevens plans to employ a more up-tempo system next season as one of the tweaks he implements as the head coach. For that to happen, Blake will need to bring in some players who are better suited for that style of play. Given that many teams are heading in that direction though, there will be plenty of suitors either via trade or free agency for some of the players that they’re likely to target.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Offseason Keys: Florida Panthers

May 19, 2017 at 8:55 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

After a surprising postseason run in 2015-16, the Panthers removed Dale Tallon from the GM post with Tom Rowe taking over. He signed several core players to long-term extensions but the team failed to perform to expectations and Gerard Gallant was let go as head coach before long with Rowe taking over there as well. The struggles continued and Rowe was relieved of both duties after the season (although he remains with the organization). The reins have been handed back to Tallon after a year of wackiness; here’s what’s on the docket for Florida this offseason.

Hire A Coach

The obvious task is to name a new bench boss to take over from Rowe. Tallon has cast a wide net and has been very thorough so far. Among those known to have interviewed are former Canadiens coach Michel Therrien and Denver (NCAA) coach Jim Montgomery who are believed to have gone through a couple of interviews. The team reportedly has interest in Washington associate coach Todd Reirden as well while Nashville assistant Phil Housley has also been suggested and there are likely others that are flying under the radar at the moment.

While there is no stated timetable to make this hire, presumably Tallon will look to get this wrapped up within the next two to three weeks. It’s reasonable to think that the new coach will want input on any potential moves and the expansion draft (which is likely to really kick start the offseason movement) is now less than a month away.

Jagr’s Future

Although he fell well short of the 66 points he put up a year ago, Jaromir Jagr still had a fairly productive season, picking up 46 points (16-30-46) while playing in every game. Not too shabby for someone who turned 45 back in February. Jagr is slated to become an unrestricted free agent in July and will likely be headed for another one year contract; he has stated that he intends to plan in 2017-18.

Several members of the organization have lauded Jagr’s contributions not only on the ice but off of it as well in terms of mentoring some of their younger players.

However, he is really starting to slow down and we’re seeing more and more how important speed is in the current NHL. If the Panthers are looking to play an up-tempo style, Jagr may not be the best fit for them.

If there is mutual interest in a return, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Jagr take a bit of a pay cut. He earned a base salary of $4MM this season while hitting another $1.5MM in games played incentives. Florida already has a little over $60MM committed to 16 players for next year and they haven’t been a team that has typically spent to the ceiling so slotting him in for another $5.5MM doesn’t seem like a likely scenario at this time.

Reshape The Defense

Last summer, the Panthers transitioned into a team that relied heavily on analytics and in particular, they looked to rebuild their blueline with more emphasis on mobility and puck possession. While the individual acquisitions made sense at the time, the unit as a whole really failed to live up to expectations, especially at the defensive end.

While it’s unlikely that Tallon will completely tear apart the defense corps, it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see him try to bring in more of a prototypical stay-at-home player to give at least one of the pairings a new look. Failing that, adding some grit to their blueliners is another potential move to change things up. However, given their cap situation, they’re probably not going to be looking at the higher-end free agents (or possible trade acquisitions). Any moves made will likely come out as tweaks but that coupled with a new coach may be enough to turn around what is a quality unit, at least on paper. Given that they allowed 34 more goals this year than last, it may go a long way towards getting them back into the playoff picture as well.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Offseason Keys: Dallas Stars

May 19, 2017 at 5:25 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

The season ended only a month ago but already GM Jim Nill has made two significant changes. First was the return of Ken Hitchcock behind the bench to replace former head coach Lindy Ruff. The second was the move to shore up their goaltending situation with the addition of Ben Bishop from the Kings while signing him to a six year, $29.5MM contract. While those are two big elements already taken care of, there are still a few other avenues that are likely to be addressed this summer.

Move A Goalie

The addition of Bishop gives Dallas three goalies on big ticket contracts for next season. Clearly, Bishop’s spot as the starter is locked in but a decision will need to be made on who to keep (if either) of Kari Lehtonen or Antti Niemi.

Both netminders have one year left on their current contracts with Lehtonen carrying a cap hit of $5.9MM and Niemi checking in at $4.5MM. Combined, the duo was the priciest tandem in the league in 2016-17.

It appears that there is going to be a bit of musical chairs when it comes to goaltending this offseason which could potentially present the opportunity for Nill to try to move one of them out in a trade. However, it would seem likely that they would need to take a goalie in return which doesn’t exactly solve the logjam.

As things stand, the expected course of action is that a buyout is forthcoming. If the team opts to buy out Lehtonen, they will eat a cap hit of $2.57MM this season and $1.67MM next year. Niemi’s cap charge if bought out is more uniform, coming in at $1.5MM for each of the next two seasons.

Rebuild The Back End

While their goals against should drop with the addition of Bishop (while Hitchcock is certainly a defensive-minded coach), the Stars are lacking in top four defensemen. John Klingberg took a step back last season but is still their biggest threat but there aren’t many proven options beyond him. Dan Hamhuis isn’t the top pairing player he once was and while the team has high hopes for Esa Lindell and Julius Honka, among others, they’re still developing and aren’t ready for a top role just yet.

It’s not a great free agent market for defenders but it wouldn’t be surprising to see Nill try to be active, particularly when it comes to the second tier. There aren’t many top end options available but there are several players who could slide into a top four role for a year or two while their youngsters continue to develop. Going the trade route is another option but the Stars will have some money to spend which makes it more likely that they’ll skew towards the open market.

Hit In The Draft

Dallas hasn’t had a lot of first round success lately. From 2009-2013 (the last few years are really too early to judge), they’ve missed on just about every pick. Radek Faksa – a pending RFA – is turning into a quality player but Scott Glennie, Jack Campbell, Jamie Oleksiak, and Valeri Nichushkin all have failed to come close to meeting their draft day expectations. The only two left in the organization are Oleksiak and Nichushkin; the former has been in a time share on the back end for the last two years while the latter was in the KHL this season.

The Stars were big winners in the draft lottery as they jumped from eighth overall to third to give them their earliest draft pick in franchise history. After missing on that many first rounders, Nill and his staff simply cannot suffer the same fate this time around. If they keep the pick, they should be able to land a core prospect, something they’ve been lacking for a while now. However, it was reported yesterday that they’ve already had some talks about potentially moving the pick in exchange for an established player in the hopes of getting back into contention quickly.

With Anaheim making the conference final, Dallas picks up their first rounder as well. It’s slated to be somewhere between 28-31 but that will give them a shot at adding another decent prospect or a better trade chip. The Stars haven’t had a lot of draft success as of late but they have a strong opportunity to change that next month.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Offseason Keys: Detroit Red Wings

May 13, 2017 at 3:58 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end and that’s what happened to Detroit this season as their quarter-century playoff streak came to a halt. GM Ken Holland doesn’t appear to be willing to kick off more of a full-scale rebuild just yet but even with that in mind, there are a few key things he should be looking to accomplish this offseason.

Fix The Goalie Logjam

The Wings had one of the priciest goalie tandems in the NHL last season with Jimmy Howard ($5.29MM) and Petr Mrazek ($4MM). Both have shown themselves to be capable of being starters but were basically pushed into a platoon situation when both were healthy last season.

There is likely going to be a large amount of goalie turnover across the league this summer and Holland would be wise to try to capitalize on that. At just 25, Mrazek is the likely keeper which makes Howard and the two years remaining on his contract expendable. The 33 year old saw his value get rebuilt somewhat this season with a strong 2.10 GAA and a .927 SV% in 26 games.

In theory, Detroit could try to incentivize Vegas to select Howard as their expansion choice but if that’s a no-go, there are other teams that will be on the lookout for goalie help. With youngster Jared Coreau waiver eligible beginning next season and seemingly ready for a longer NHL look, Holland may want to try to avoid taking on another goalie in a return but that may not be possible.

Shore Up The Back End

Detroit has over $21MM tied up in their defense corps for next season (with Xavier Ouellet to re-sign as a restricted free agent) but their returns on that money have been diminishing. Niklas Kronwall has lost a couple of steps while Jonathan Ericsson also is starting to break down. That placed a lot more pressure on Mike Green (who only has one year left on his deal) and Danny DeKeyser who isn’t a prototypical number one defender.

With the likes of Ouellet, Ryan Sproul, and Nick Jensen, their depth is decent but Holland needs to find a way to bring in another impact defender to allow the youngsters to develop at more of a steady pace. There aren’t many higher-end blueliners available in free agency which could force them to the trade market in a swap of bigger contracts.

Free Up Cap Space

Another reason why the free agent market isn’t a likely looking spot for the Wings is their salary cap situation. To put it nicely, it’s not particularly pretty. As things stand, they have a little over $67MM committed to just 16 players for next season, per CapFriendly. Restricted free agents Tomas Tatar and Andreas Athanasiou (as well as Ouellet) will take up a decent-sized chunk of the remaining room. They will get a bit of relief through long-term injury once Johan Franzen returns there next season but that’s still not much room to work with if Holland is trying to add parts to win in the short-term.

There are some bloated contracts for the team to try to navigate through including forwards Justin Abdelkader (six years remaining at $4.25MM) and Darren Helm (four years left at $3.85MM) as well as Kronwall (two years at $4.75MM per season) and Ericsson (three years, $4.25MM per year remaining), not to mention Howard’s deal. In a perfect world, they could find a taker for one of these contracts without taking much salary back but with a lot of the higher spending teams projected to be tight to the cap once against next year, that doesn’t seem likely to happen.

Instead, the more likely outcome may wind up being simply swapping one not-so-good contract for another while trying to save a few bucks in the process while hoping the new player winds up being a better fit. It’s not an ideal situation long-term (especially with Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha among those to need new deals after 2017-18) but that may be the only realistic possibility of player movement in what is looking like will be a fairly quiet offseason for the Red Wings as things currently stand.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Offseason Keys: Buffalo Sabres

May 13, 2017 at 12:50 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

After another disappointing season, the Sabres cleaned house, letting both head coach Dan Bylsma and GM Tim Murray go. Earlier this week, they filled the latter vacancy with the hiring of Jason Botterill away from the Penguins. While hiring a coach will be a main focus (Botterill plans to have a new bench boss in place by the draft in June), here are a few other key decisions that are worth watching for out of Buffalo this offseason.

Time To Commit To Lehner?

Two years ago, the Sabres dealt a first round pick to the Senators to get what they hoped was their core goalie for the present and future in Robin Lehner. The results have been a bit of a mixed bag. Over the last two years, he has played in just 80 games, posting a 2.63 GAA and a .921 SV%. Both of those are decent but not towards the top of the league either.

Lehner is coming off of his bridge deal and is only a couple of years away from unrestricted free agency. The decision needs to be made as to whether or not he’s still the goalie of the future.

If Botterill believes that is the case, he’ll likely look to lock him up long-term on a deal that could double his current $2.25MM cap hit. (His qualifying offer comes in at $3.15MM so any new deal, long-term or short, is likely to start at that amount at a minimum.) If not, they could become part of what’s likely to be a very busy offseason in terms of goaltenders changing places. However, most of the goalies that will be available in this shuffle are shorter-term fits and thus, only a temporary solution.

Rebuilding The Defense

Buffalo spent over $24.75MM on their blueline in 2016-17 between their regulars and injury recalls and didn’t get a whole lot of bang for their buck. While Rasmus Ristolainen continues to be one of the more impressive young defenders in the league, other veterans such as Josh Gorges, Dmitry Kulikov, Cody Franson, and Zach Bogosian all underachieved.

Fortunately for Botterill and the Sabres, the team will have an opportunity to reshape their back end this summer. Both Kulikov and Franson are unrestricted free agents and carried a combined cap hit of just over $7.65MM this season which is more than enough money to go after the big fish in free agency if they so desire. If not, it’s still enough cap space to put towards a couple of veteran free agents (or trade additions) who should be a better fit for the team moving forward. Either way, it seems likely that some changes will be coming on the blueline.

Extension For Eichel?

Just prior to the departures of Bylsma and Murray, reports surfaced that Jack Eichel wouldn’t be willing to sign a contract extension if Bylsma remained behind the bench. Both Eichel and his agent denied the report but the firings were made just one day later.

Eichel, the second overall pick back in 2015, was Buffalo’s leading scorer this past season despite missing 21 games due to injuries. He’s well positioned to be their franchise player for years to come and has five years of team control remaining.

While he’s signed through June of 2018, Botterill will likely kick off extension talks with Eichel and agent Peter Fish in the hopes of getting him signed as soon as they can (no deal can be struck until July 1st). Not only would that get their star player locked up long-term, it would also provide them with some cost certainty and send a strong message to the rest of the team and fan base. While there’s no real rush to get something done (since they have more than a year to sign another deal), it wouldn’t be surprising to see this wrapped up pretty quickly once the calendar turns to July.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Offseason Keys: New Jersey Devils

May 10, 2017 at 5:20 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

Last offseason, Devils GM Ray Shero took a big swing with the addition of Taylor Hall up front in the hopes that he would bolster their offense. That didn’t exactly happen as the team managed one fewer goal scored than they did in 2015-16. Their blueline struggled with the loss of Adam Larsson and as a result, they were near the top of the league in goals allowed. Not surprisingly, those two issues resulted in a tie for 27th place overall meaning that it’s time to go back to the drawing board for Shero who has a few intriguing decisions to make this summer.

The Number One Pick – Keep Or Trade?

While there weren’t many good things happening on the ice in New Jersey, they did get some good news off it with their victory in the NHL Draft Lottery. Unfortunately for them, this draft class lacks the top flight star that we’ve seen the last couple of years while there isn’t even a consensus top selection.

Accordingly, many wonder if this might be an appropriate time to deal the top pick away. There isn’t a whole lot of precedent for doing so but with young, cheap, and controllable talent being much more valuable now in the salary cap era, the Devils could potentially land a core player that could make an impact right away.

If they decide to keep the pick, it’s likely between a pair of centers for the top spot in Nolan Patrick (Brandon, WHL) and Nico Hischier (Halifax, QMJHL). Patrick is more of the all-around player but Hischier could certainly be enticing to a team that still needs to add some offensive punch to their lineup.

The Kovalchuk Situation

Although Ilya Kovalchuk retired from NHL action in 2013 and the team is eating a small cap hit of $250K per season through 2024-25 in salary cap recapture, the Devils are poised to facilitate a move that will allow them to get something for a player that isn’t playing for them.

Kovalchuk has made it known that he would like to take himself off the Voluntary Retired List and return to NHL action next season. He can do so and enter free agency if the 30 other teams approve. That’s not going to happen which opens up a sign-and-trade scenario.

While the 34 year doesn’t appear to have much interest in returning to New Jersey, the team still has some leverage in that they have to get good enough value in a deal to entice them to facilitate Kovalchuk’s return, especially given the weak free agent market up front in terms of impact forwards. It’s not likely that they’ll command a premium return but Shero should be able to at least add an asset or two which, for someone that ‘retired’ a few years ago, is still not bad. He could opt to try to add draft picks but he could also wind up with a player in return, especially if the acquiring team needs to shed some salary to fit Kovalchuk onto their payroll.

Add Defensive Help

The Devils didn’t have the deepest of defense corps before they moved Larsson last offseason and they certainly missed his presence on the back end in 2016-17. They’re missing a true shutdown defender that can anchor a penalty kill and be counted on in late game situations and while John Moore scored 12 goals this season, he’s far from the key offensive threat that any team with eyes on a playoff push needs.

Accordingly, expect the blueline to be something New Jersey will focus on this offseason. If they do dangle the number one pick, they could potentially add a core defender with several years of team control which. It’s unlikely that they’ll do the opposite of last year and trade a key forward for a defender but they could conceivably look to the trade route to upgrade their bottom half.

It also wouldn’t be surprising to see Shero take a run at the biggest fish on the back end in free agency in Kevin Shattenkirk. The Devils have just $51.6MM committed in payroll for next season and have the cap space to make a big splash. There are several other players who could step in and play a top four role for them so there’s a good chance that they will be look to be active on the open market in July.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Offseason Keys: Arizona Coyotes

May 6, 2017 at 12:57 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose Leave a Comment

2016-17 was expected to be full of rough patches for the Coyotes and that’s exactly what happened. The team integrated a plethora of young players into the lineup and while most showed considerable promise, they also showed that they’re not ready to all be counted on as core contributors right away. Arizona appears fully committed to their current direction which would seem to suggest a fairly quiet upcoming summer but there are still a few things to keep an eye on this offseason.

Arena Certainty

Unfortunately for GM John Chayka, this one is completely out of his control but it will very likely play a big role in his offseason shopping. An agreement that would have seen them move to the East Valley fell through when Arizona State University backed out and ownership is once again looking for alternatives as they are unhappy in their current location in Glendale.

Unsurprisingly, this has once again revived possible talk of relocation and that simply cannot bode well for the Coyotes’ recruitment efforts. It can’t be easy to try to get a player to sign when they can’t say with certainly how much longer they’ll be at their current arena and how much longer they may be in Arizona altogether.

While team officials are (at least publicly) optimistic that a resolution will eventually be found, Chayka and his management team have to hope that some traction is made in the weeks ahead. If not, they’ll be dealing with another hurdle when it comes to free agency in July.

Cap Creativity

Last offseason, Chayka was very creative with his cap space, adding the retired contract of Pavel Datsyuk as well as injured center Dave Bolland in an effort to add quality young talent to the organization. That also resulted in them using long-term injury reserve to stay in cap compliance despite the fact that they had one of the lowest actual payrolls in the NHL.

Datsyuk’s contract now comes off the books, as does that of Chris Pronger, who last saw NHL action in 2011-12. As a result, the Coyotes have some more space to work with that Chayka could potentially use in a similar way this offseason. The salary cap is not expected to go up by a substantial amount this summer (pending the NHLPA’s usage of their 5% inflator) which is going to create that much more of a cap crunch that Arizona could potentially capitalize on once again.

If they do opt to go that route, they would be wise to only bring in short-term contracts. While the team has plenty of room to work with now due to so many players being on entry-level deals, that won’t be the case for too long so they won’t want to potentially burden themselves down the road. That said, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see Chayka make at least one similar move this summer as he looks to flood the organization with as big of a young core as possible.

Decisions On Veterans

Shane Doan’s situation drew a lot of attention during the season as there were rumblings that he might be open to being traded at the deadline and leave the only organization he’s ever known. He wound up staying put and is set to become an unrestricted free agent in July. There has yet to be a decision as to whether or not he wants to play another year and if the organization wants to bring him back, at least in an on-ice capacity.

Goaltender Mike Smith is another interesting case. He has two years left on his deal with a $5.67MM cap hit and has underachieved the past few years. Normally, given those two elements, he’d be perceived as tough to deal but it’s shaping up to be an offseason that could be full of goalies changing places. Several of those are change of scenery candidates and a case can certainly be made that Smith could be in a similar spot. It’s worth noting that Smith has a full no-trade clause that he would need to waive in order to be dealt.

Given that the Coyotes have a grand total of two skaters under contract that are over the age of 30 (forward Brad Richardson and defenseman Alex Goligoski), it’s likely that Chayka will look to add a couple of veteran voices either via trade or free agency as well. They’re more content than other rebuilding teams to put their key youngsters in big minute situations right away but it’s likely that they’ll still want some more experiences players in the room to act as a supporting cast on and off the ice.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Offseason Keys: Vancouver Canucks

May 6, 2017 at 8:30 am CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

2016-17 was a year to forget for Vancouver. Their season was mired with several slumps and what seemed like a ticking time bomb with their head coaching situation. The inevitable happened early in the offseason with Willie Desjardins being let go with AHL coach Travis Green getting tasked to right the ship but there is still much work to be done. Here are some of the things that GM Jim Benning will likely be looking to address this offseason.

New Deal For Horvat

There haven’t been a lot of bright spots for the Canucks lately but Bo Horvat’s continued progression would certainly be towards the top of the list. He has taken on a bigger role in each season and has made solid strides at both ends of the rink.

Now, the 22 year old is set to enter restricted free agency for the first time (but does not have arbitration eligibility). Benning has noted recently that they would like to focus on a long-term pact and skip the bridge deal with Horvat. The team does have some financial flexibility to work with when it comes to the salary cap so there at least shouldn’t be concerns on that end.

As Horvat is widely viewed as the closest to being a cornerstone piece of the franchise in the years to come, it will be interesting to see if the team looks to make his new deal the benchmark contract in that no signings down the road can be for more money than this deal. Given all this, negotiations may take a while with Benning even suggesting that it could be a discussion that goes on for most of the summer.

New Goaltender

With Ryan Miller heading for unrestricted free agency, Vancouver will have a decision to make. They also have Jacob Markstrom’s three year, $11MM contract kicking in and as a result, they’ll likely look to give him more starts which could push Miller out the door.

There are a handful of second tier options slated to be available on the open market in July while the upcoming expansion draft may also have a few other players changing places. It’s a year where supply will likely outweigh demand which should have Benning working with the upper hand.

A big decision the GM will need to make here is what type of term to give out. Thatcher Demko is still quite likely to be the goalie of the future and although he just finished his first pro campaign, the expectation has been that he’ll be ready fairly quickly. Accordingly, whoever they do bring in to split duties with Markstrom is probably going to wind up receiving a short-term contract.

Scoring Help

Aside from the Avalanche (the one team who finished behind Vancouver in the standings), the Canucks were at the bottom of the league in goal production. The Sedin twins are on the downswing of their respective careers (and have suggested in the past that they don’t want to leave Vancouver despite their current situation) and the team doesn’t have any players who are poised to jump into top roles next season.

That isn’t to say that there isn’t help coming as the late season addition of Nikolay Goldobin was certainly a promising one and 2015 draft pick Brock Boeser, who joined the team out of college, can also help. While they’re likely to receive lots of ice time, the team will likely want to shield them somewhat from taking on too much too quickly.

As a result, it won’t be surprising to see Vancouver go after some scoring help in free agency even though on the surface it would seem to go against the idea of rebuilding. That would ease the pressure off the young core and allow them to transition into the post-Sedin era, which may just be one year away. Of course, with a lot of teams looking for scoring help in a light free agent market, this is something that’s much easier said than done for Benning to try to accomplish this offseason.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Offseason Keys: Colorado Avalanche

April 30, 2017 at 7:35 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 3 Comments

Things haven’t gone well for Colorado this season. In fact, that’s really an understatement. After Patrick Roy abruptly resigned back in August, GM Joe Sakic had to scramble to find a late replacement in Jared Bednar. That seemed to set the stage for a disastrous season, one that saw the team bottom out in the standings and then to make matters worse, they had no good fortune in the lottery, dropping from the first overall pick down to fourth. That’s far from the only concern for them moving forward, however. Here are three key issues that Sakic and the Avalanche need to address beyond the upcoming expansion draft.

Reshaping The Defense Corps

The back end has been an area of concern for Colorado for several years now and it played a large role in their struggles this past season. They have a pretty good group of forwards but without a solid blueline, a lot of those talents are going to waste.

The Avs have a decent starting point to work with as Erik Johnson and Tyson Barrie both have at least three years left on their respective contracts. Johnson hasn’t lived up to the billing of his number one status but is a quality option at both ends of the ice. Barrie isn’t the most reliable in his own zone but is one of the more dangerous offensive threats from the back end. Nikita Zadorov is a pending restricted free agent but should be a part of their future moving forward. After that though, there’s a sizable drop-off.

Whether it’s via the free agent market where they could make a run at repatriating Kevin Shattenkirk (who was a first rounder of Colorado back in 2007) or via the trade route, it’s likely that a big part of Sakic’s focus this offseason will be to give the defense a new look heading into 2017-18.

Matt Duchene’s Situation

The rumor mill was buzzing during the season with the revelation that the team was listening to offers on Matt Duchene and even captain Gabriel Landeskog. Most of the attention was paid to the 26 year old Duchene and after he wasn’t dealt at the deadline, many expect him to be moved before training camp.

During the season, Sakic was believed to be seeking a kings’ ransom and while there were some teams known to be interested, no one was able to meet the asking price. There is typically more flexibility with the salary cap in June than there is midseason so it’s quite possible that there will be more teams involved in the discussion in the weeks and months ahead. It’s quite likely that any move for Duchene will bring back a core blueliner as well.

If they aren’t able to find the right fit in the summer, it will be interesting to see if Sakic decides to publicly take Duchene off the block. At some point, frequent trade chatter begins to become a distraction and if they head into training camp without this case resolved one way or the other, it could dominate the headlines once again.

Veteran Supporting Cast

Three years ago, Colorado signed Jarome Iginla to act as a mentor to their young core while also providing some top six production. The move started off well but by the end of his deal, the veteran was a shadow of himself and was virtually given away to the Kings at the deadline.

The Avalanche have a trio of core forwards aged 21 or younger in Nathan MacKinnon, Tyson Jost, and Mikko Rantanen while Landeskog is still only 24. As we’ve seen in other rebuilds over the years, simply acquiring top young talent isn’t enough to win. Instead, adding quality options as a supporting cast both on and off the ice is required.

Even though Colorado is squarely in a rebuilding mode, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Sakic try to add a quality veteran or two up front to give his young core some help while also taking some of the pressure off their shoulders.

Cap Situation

$54.4MM in commitments to 15 players per CapFriendly.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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Offseason Keys

Clear Up Cap Room

New Deal For Toffoli

Add Speed

Hire A Coach

Jagr’s Future

Reshape The Defense

Move A Goalie

Rebuild The Back End

Hit In The Draft

Fix The Goalie Logjam

Shore Up The Back End

Free Up Cap Space

Time To Commit To Lehner?

Rebuilding The Defense

Extension For Eichel?

The Number One Pick – Keep Or Trade?

The Kovalchuk Situation

Add Defensive Help

Arena Certainty

Cap Creativity

Decisions On Veterans

New Deal For Horvat

New Goaltender

Scoring Help

Reshaping The Defense Corps

Matt Duchene’s Situation

Veteran Supporting Cast

Cap Situation

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