The Colorado Avalanche will have to decide which players to renounce their rights and which restricted free agents to retain with qualifying offers as June approaches. The NHL will probably move the deadline ahead, like they did to June 30th in 2023, as it is typically the Monday following the NHL Draft, which falls on July 1st this year and is another extremely important date on the calendar.
Teams will attempt to beat this deadline by signing RFAs to contracts ahead of time in order to avoid the entire qualifying offer procedure and, more crucially, arbitration if the player has such rights. The Avalanche is not an exception to this rule. Since both goaltenders Trent Miner and Justus Annunen are currently signed through the 2024–25 season, Colorado has signed them without using their RFA pool. Chris Wagner, a depth forward, was an upcoming unrestricted free agent but had already signed.
Here are the current RFAs and their chances of returning. There are still a lot of decisions to be made, and it’s possible that more early contract extensions will be revealed in the upcoming weeks.
Without Question
With a high likelihood of receiving a qualifying offer and signing a contract with the Avalanche for the next season, Casey Mittelstadt is in a league of his own. The 25-year-old center has one year of restricted free agency remaining, and if the Avalanche don’t give him what he wants, he can take a one-year arbitration award to unrestricted free agency. This gives him a lot of leverage. But since a long-term marriage is the greatest situation for everyone and Colorado was already committed when the trade was completed, it is in everyone’s best interests to work things out.
The question isn’t whether it will happen, but rather when and how difficult the procedure will be to finally sign on the dotted line. Long-term agreements take time to complete, so the Avalanche would prefer to know exactly how Mittelstadt’s deal will affect their available spending funds even though it might not be completed by July 1. After only earning $7.5M over the course of three years on his previous contract, he has earned the right to negotiate a big deal and secure his future. All of it hinges on how hard the new center will negotiate and maintain his power over the team.
Hard Choices
The hardest group of RFAs to re-enter is the one with arbitration rights, as their leverage begins to work in their favor and frequently results in substantial increases in minor league compensation or terms longer than a year. After signing as an undrafted free agent out of Minnesota State, defenseman Wyatt Aamodt has been a mainstay with the Eagles for the past two seasons, participating in 112 games. However, he also missed some games in the final stretch and never got a call from the Avalanche. He could be better off looking for a new opportunity right now.
After just one professional season in which he played 42 games and scored 10 points in the AHL, Jason Polin, another undrafted free agency signee, was also awarded arbitration rights. The soon-to-be 25-year-old forward also saw action in seven NHL games and recorded a goal. In this instance, Polin should sign an extension with the company if they are interested before the qualifying offer and arbitration process start. If he doesn’t, the Avalanche will likely conclude it’s not worth it and move on. These two situations have equal potential for success.
Not Coming Back
Even though they do not have arbitration rights, defenseman Gianni Fairbrother and forward Alex Beaucage are not anticipated to get qualifying offers. Under former head coach Greg Cronin, Beaucage was a somewhat reliable member of the Eagles, but he was transferred to the Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL to finish the season in the final year of his entry-level contract. Though he was assigned to Utah when healthy, Fairbrother was hurt after just one AHL game and may have been the organization’s reclamation project.
Group Six
Thanks to the Group VI technicality, which permits 26-year-old players who have not reached an NHL games played threshold to have their rights released a year early, a sizable group of Colorado RFAs are on their way to unrestricted free agency. Among this group, which also features goaltenders Arvid Holm and Ivan Prosvetov, defenseman Nate Clurman, and forward project Riley Tufte, is the most well-known name. Group VI is a sign of disinterest and the need to go on to another organization, not that Colorado can’t get them back. Teams in Europe have expressed interest in the goalies, and on July 1st, Tufte and Clurman will probably check out their options.
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