Colorado Avalanche Should Overpay Mikkel Boedker
The Colorado Avalanche should make a bold play to sign pending free agent Mikkel Boedker, even if it means overpaying him a little.
There are quite a few free agents on the NHL market this summer, and pundits will suggest the Colorado Avalanche should go after a defenseman such as Mark Fistric or Anton Volchenkov. While Colorado certainly look perpetually thin on the blueline, the truth is the forward depth isn’t any better.
At the NHL trade deadline the team acquired left wing Mikkel Boedker from the Arizona Coyotes. According to former Howlin Hockey editor William Grigsby, one reason the Coyotes were willing to unload the talented Boedker was because he’s a pending unrestricted free agent, and he already turned down a contract extension offer from Arizona. It may have been five years at $5 or even $5.5 million per year that Arizona offered.
Now, that’s steep, but remember that Arizona has been a salary dump more than a playoff contender for a while now. I guess the team is in rebuild — or maybe just trying not to get a restraining order put out again by its landlords in Glendale. In other words, it’s not really a promising place for the 26-year-old Boedker.
As of now, Mikkel Boedker is in the final year of a contract with an annual cap hit of $3.75 million.
Boedker has decent size at 6-foot, 212 pounds. He’s not really in the habit of throwing his size around, unless you’re talking about his thighs. Supposedly he has Marty St. Louis thighs, which power him across the ice with great speed.
In fact, that’s his big talent — he’s very speedy. He’s the perfect player for the rush, which is the Colorado Avalanche’s preferred style of play. He’s also an excellent stick handler with a powerful release.
Now, Boedker doesn’t have the most impressive of stats. In eight years in the NHL, he has yet to crack the 20-goal mark, though he came close with 19 in the 2013-14 season. (Which was the golden season for the Avs as well, ironically.) This season, he has 17 goals and 34 assists for 51 points on the season.
That’s not what makes Boedker so valuable to the Colorado Avalanche. It’s that speed. With Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon up front and Tyson Barrie and Erik Johnson in back, Colorado is a team built for speed.
Indeed, when he first arrived, his immediate linemate was Nathan MacKinnon. He had a small impact with an assist on a goal against the Minnesota Wild and a goal against the Florida Panthers. He also scored the game-winning goal (plus a spare) against the Vancouver Canucks. In fact, he has four goals and 12 points in 15 games games with the team.
Here’s the two goals he scored against the Vancouver Canucks to help the Colorado Avalanche finally become victorious against the pesky Canucks:
Tenacious, Boedker was motoring for the empty net for a hat trick when time ran out in the third period.
Once MacKinnon went down with a knee injury and Duchene returned to the lineup, Boedker started lining up with the latter. He even had a hand in Duchene’s controversial goal #30 and secured the puck for Matt to keep.
During his press conference, Avalanche GM Joe Sakic said he’d be interested in signing Boedker “if it can be worked out.” For his part, Boedker told the Denver Post:
"“There’s no decision as of right now. I’ve enjoyed my time here so far and we’ll see what happens in the summer.”"
According to numerous sources, he’s found immediate chemistry with his Colorado linemates. That would be such a boon for the team going into next season. The Colorado Avalanche had slow starts to their last two seasons, and a large part of that was because of so many new faces being in the lineup. Duchene and MacKinnon could use a familiar face as they prepare to take on the true mantle of leadership next season and carry the team like head coach Patrick Roy proclaims they must.
I get it — none of that really makes Mikkel Boedker worth more that the $5 million he was supposedly offered. I think the Colorado Avalanche could get him for that if they offer term and a no-trade clause. Maybe they could even afford to pay a little more. I’m not suggesting they break Duchene’s $6 million structure — that should be for MacKinnon alone to break — but they could cozy up to it.
Some team is going to overpay Boedker at least a little. Why shouldn’t it be the Colorado Avalanche?