The Avalanche are about to say goodbye to several Cup contributors
Jul 13, 2022, 6:43 AM
The Colorado Avalanche claimed their third Stanley Cup trophy and NHL championship less than three weeks ago. But today, the team’s well-earned opportunity to bask in glory will be unceremoniously interrupted by the departure of some of the significant players that helped them climb to that lofty peak.
Goaltender Darcy Kuemper is set to receive a shiny, new contract from another club — the Washington Capitals, most likely — as the Avs’ starter earned a pay raise beyond what cap-strapped Colorado knew they could afford. Striking quickly, newly-promoted team president Joe Sakic acquired former New York Rangers netminder Alexandar Georgiev for a trio of draft picks and immediately named him the defending champs’ new starter.
“That’s why we did it,” Sakic said, before signing Mikko Rantanen’s training partner and friend in Finland to a modest, three-year deal. “We are in a cap situation. To be able to make a trade to get someone a little longer — and he’ll be a little bit cheaper — it’ll help our cap situation.”
Winger Andre Burakovsky, fresh off his second career turn with the Cup, will look to parlay an uneven — but at times, impressive — playoff run that saw him fight through a hand injury. Showing newfound shot-blocking skills to go along with his usual 20-goal scoring touch, the Avalanche are likely to watch the 27-year-old Austrian depart after putting up the best three seasons of his career in a Colorado sweater.
The Avalanche still have a chance to retain defenseman Josh Manson, who was effective after being acquired at the trade deadline from Anaheim. But he and his wife seem to be California dreaming, longing for a return to the Golden Coast.
Fellow trade-deadline addition Artturi Lehkonen won’t be going anywhere; he’s a restricted free agent, and his 200-foot game plays perfectly in Denver’s mile-high air. Sakic won’t let him go anywhere. The same can’t be said for winger Nicolas Aube-Kubel, defensive specialist Nico Sturm, savvy veteran Darren Helm and fellow graybeard blueliner Jack Johnson. All four of them played significant minutes during the Avalanche’s title run, but none of them are expected to return to Colorado.
The last loss, however, is the one that will hurt the Avalanche and their fans the most. Showing Sakic that his faith was not misplaced after ending the previous season suspended from the playoffs following a careless, cheap hit against the St. Louis Blues, Nazem Kadri put together — by far — the best season of his 12-year career. Focused and productive in the final year of his contract, Kadri scored 28 goals on his way to a career-high 87 points on the season and a plus-13 plus/minus that exceeded his entire career’s total prior to that. Becoming a complete player at age 31, Kadri’s stick-to-it-ness and admirable poise through a postseason that saw him the victim of unfair smears and allegations, led to him becoming the first Muslim player to hoist the Stanley Cup while earning legions of followers this season with his clutch play and swashbuckling style.
While Sakic and the Avalanche will negotiate up and until the last possible moment, in reality, Kadri’s departure was all but assured after Valeri Nichushkin — four years younger than Kadri — signed an eight-year, $49 million extension with Colorado that kept him off the free-agent market. It was the right decision, but that won’t ease the pain of watching Kadri leave town, barring some final-hour miracle.
The Avalanche have very real needs in free agency — not the least of which includes replacing Kadri on the second line — but they’ll mostly be bargain shopping; with only $15 million or so left on the cap, and with an eye toward a massive extension with superstar center Nathan MacKinnon following next season, a combination of 30-something veterans and inexperienced youngsters will likely have to step in to augment a core of MacKinnon, Rantanen, Cale Makar, Gabriel Landeskog, Devon Toews, Bowen Byram, Sam Girard and now Nichushkin that remains the most dangerous in the league. The Avalanche will remain in prime position to defend the Cup, despite their inevitable losses.
It won’t get easier, of course; champions always have their rosters picked apart by rivals, and the Avalanche won’t be an exception — their losses will be keenly felt, too soon after the highest moments in a generation. Memories that will last a lifetime will have to suffice.
Heavy is the head that wears the crown.
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