Here are 3 difficult decisions the Colorado Avalanche need to make this offseason.
With the Colorado Avalanche entering the offseason with many questions to answer, we will see some things change. Once the season begins, there are some things that we will keep an eye on.
The team cannot currently sign many players with their horrible salary cap situation, so they’ll probably be in need of doing some things they would have preferred not to.
The structure of the roster is not currently what it will look like during the time that teams are required to be at the roster maximum. Unfortunately, even with the salary cap increasing, the Avalanche are still in trouble, but they can get out of that trouble with various moves.
Here are some difficult decisions the Colorado Avalanche have to make.
Is Gabriel Landeskog ready to make a bigger impact this season for the Colorado Avalanche?
Gabriel Landeskog made an amazing return to the ice in the postseason after three seasons away from head-to-head play. He played in two games with the Eagles before his official postseason return to the Colorado Avalanche. He passed the eye test, in my opinion, but ideally we would have liked to have seen more. That would have happened had the team defeated the Dallas Stars.
Landeskog is already ramping up his workouts to prepare for the 2025-26 season. We have seen how hard he has been working to get back onto the ice, thanks to his docuseries throughout his recovery from the devastating knee injury.
There is a major factor at play when it comes to Landeskog. He has a $7 million cap hit, and if he ends up not performing well, the Avalanche really couldn’t put him on LTIR unless there is some sort of issue with his knee (or another injury for that matter). The Avalanche are in salary cap hell with just $1.2 million and have several roster spots to fill. That number will increase though once the team trades someone to free the space up.
Even with the salary cap rise in 2025-26, the Avalanche need to figure something out to free up space. I know this is a huge long-shot, but the reality is that trading Landeskog is technically a possibility. The Avalanche could trade him to a team such as the Hurricanes, Bruins, or Sabres, just to name a few.
Who will replace the departed players in 2025?
We still have to wait until July 1 for free agency to officially open. By then, we will have some more clarity on who will be a part of the team for the 2025-26 season (or until the trade deadline at the very latest). The Avalanche took care of one of the players, Brock Nelson, signing him to a three-year contract. However, there are more questions to answer.
The big names on the Avalanche who are scheduled to be free agents are Jonathan Drouin, and Joel Kiviranta. Personally, I feel like Drouin is the only one of those three who will leave. I don’t think that’s the right move for him, but he’ll do what he feels is best for him.
Charlie Coyle has a $5.25 million cap hit on his contract, While Coyle did have 11 assists with two goals for the Avalanche after being traded from Boston, where he had 15 goals and seven assists in 64 games, I feel like the Avalanche could move on from his cap hit with a younger player. The Avalanche are going to sign some different players this offseason, and there’s no way I think that Coyle stays. He’s 33 years old and nearing the end of his career. If he had a bigger role, I’d likely think differently. That’s not the case.
I feel like the Avalanche should try and trade Coyle.
Kiviranta had a career year last season. I’m really looking forward to seeing him continue to grow. I don’t think that he’ll cost a whole lot as he’s only had one phenomenal year (in the standards of his role). I would re-sign him to a cheap contract for several years, and if he puts up more huge seasons, he would be considered for an extension with a bigger AAV.
Maybe all of these free agent moves are tougher in the eyes of the front office. It’s possible they have different views than I do of these pending free agents. I said what I’d do. Let’s see what they have up their sleeve.
What do the Avalanche do with Josh Manson?
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Do you notice a theme in this article? Everything is tied to the Avalanche’s salary cap situation, including Josh Manson’s contract. His cap hit throught his contract, which expires after this season, is $4.5 million. This is where the team could shed some of that salary by agreeing to a trade with another team.
Manson is 33 years old and also nearing the end of his career. He’s with Sam Girard on the second defensive pairing. I don’t think that he’s necessarily done anything wrong to warrant him being moved, but perhaps it would be a smart move strictly for cap purposes.
I don’t expect anyone to try and be a Cale Makar-like player. I think that we could possibly find a cheaper option than Manson. An idea would be someone who is younger and has shown some scoring ability but with room to grow.
It might be easy for another team to figure out an extension with Manson. That would be a big selling point from the Avalanche.
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