Colorado Avalanche: 4 Players the Team Must Unload

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Besides the players whose contracts are coming off the books in the offseason, the Colorado Avalanche should attempt to move four other players.

It’s time for the Colorado Avalanche to have a firesale. I’m not talking about core players — the more I think about that, the more I’m against it:

Avs Can Rebuild without Trading Core Player

That said, the team does need to trim the fat from some of its current contracts.

Now, the Avalanche are going to have as much as $22 million in freed-up cap space already this post-season. Here’s how it plays out:

Colorado has six players who will be unrestricted free agents after this season:

Jarome Iginla, 39 ($5.3 million)
John Mitchell, 31 ($1.8 million)
Rene Bourque, 35 ($650,000)
Andreas Martinsen, 26 ($640,000)
Fedor Tyutin, 33 ($2 million)
Cody Goloubef, 27 ($650,000)

They also have five players who will be restricted free agents at the end of the season:

Mikhail Grigorenko, 22 ($1.3 million)
Matt Nieto, 24 ($735,000)
Eric Gelinas, 25 ($1.5 million)
Nikita Zadorov, 21 ($894,000)
Patrick Wiercioch, 26 ($750,000)

Of the six UFAs, I think only Martinsen has a chance of returning. (I hope, anyway, that Goloubef won’t be re-signed.) Iginla will likely be traded to a contender before deadline out of respect.

Of the five RFAs, I’m pretty sure Zadorov will return. Nieto probably has a chance to impress the Avalanche enough to earn a contract. I’d only want to see Grigorenko return if he takes a deserved pay cut. With Gelinas, I doubt he’ll return. Wiercioch is 50-50.

Even with all those contracts coming off the books this summer, the Colorado Avalanche still need to move four other players.

Francois Beauchemin

Position: Defenseman

Age: 36

Height: 6’1

Weight: 208 lbs

Shoots: Left

Contract: $4.5 million cap hit through 2018

Defenseman Francois Beauchemin was a good player on a good team with the Anaheim Ducks. He was a semi-good player on a semi-good team last year for the Colorado Avalanche, though I did appreciate his leadership.

This year, he’s a bad player on a bad team. Right now he’s got a Corsi For of 40.2% and a relative Corsi of -10.5. That means the Avs definitely are not better when he’s on the ice — we’ve all got stories of watching Beauchemin watch the puck go in.

What’s more, Beachemin is on the north side of not just 30 but 35, so he’s in his declining years. Yet he carries a cap hit of $4.5 million through one more season.

Scenario: Unloading Francois Beauchemin won’t be easy. What makes him undesirable to the Avs — his age and cap hit — would make him undesirable to other teams for trade. This fact is compounded by his no movement clause, which means he can’t be moved or even waived without his own consent.

That said, the Avs have two options. They could convince him to accept a trade to a contender who needs a veteran blueliner in the playoffs. He played in 61 post season games with the Anaheim Ducks. The Avs might have to retain salary, though, which isn’t ideal.

The other option is to buy his contract out. This doesn’t take his salary off the books for next season, but it does open up a roster position for a young defenseman.

Carl Soderberg

Position: Center

Age: 31

Height: 6’3

Weight: 210 lbs

Shoots: Left

Contract: $4.75 million cap hit through 2020

Carl Soderberg is younger than Beauchemin, but he’s slightly more expensive and signed on for two years beyond Francois.

The Colorado Avalanche picked up Soderberg as a poor man’s Ryan O’Reilly. They needed a big, two-way center to take O’Reilly’s place in preparation for trading Ryan to Buffalo.

Soderberg had a lot of potential — in his early years, when he kept playing in Sweden rather than report to his NHL team, the Boston Bruins. The Avs’ big mistake with Carl was believing he still had the same level of potential as he neared 30. His 51 points last season were the highest of his NHL career.

This season, Soderberg only looks good for around 20 points. That’s hardly worth $4.75 million.

Scenario: Carl Soderberg would be even harder to unload than Francois Beauchemin. Again, the Colorado Avalanche’s best hope is a two-way center on a contending team gets injured, making them desperate. As with a Beauchemin trade, the Avs would probably have to retain salary.

Soderberg has a limited No-Trade clause, which means there are 10 teams Colorado cannot sent him to. I’m not sure if that includes the expansion Las Vegas Golden Knights. If not, exposing him in the expansion draft is an option.

Otherwise, Colorado might as well keep him and bury him in the bottom six. It’s not like they have a fantastic two-way center coming up the ranks, thus necessitating vacating a roster spot.

Blake Comeau

Position: Winger

Age: 30

Height: 6’1

Weight: 202 lbs

Shoots: Right

Contract: $2.4 million cap hit through 2018

Unloading winger Blake Comeau‘s contract is not as big a need as with Beauchemin or Soderberg. He’s the youngest and the cheapest of the three.

Comeau had a decent year last season, scoring 36 points. That was his second-best season for points in his career. This year he’s on-pace for about 20 points.

Comeau is a pretty good energy player. He’s also pretty versatile. He took a lot of bad penalties early in the season, but he’s gotten better with that.

The rationale for trading Comeau would largely be to free up a roster spot for a prospect, perhaps JT Compher or, especially, AJ Greer.

Scenario: Blake Comeau doesn’t have any limitations on his contract, so the Colorado Avalanche could move him at any time. The fact that Colorado hasn’t even waived him means the team still sees some use in him. He averages about 15 minutes a game, usually playing on a line with Soderberg and Iginla.

If the Avalanche could get a draft pick for Comeau, it might be worth moving him. The other scenario might be including Blake as a small piece in a bigger trade, like sending Jamie McGinn to Buffalo in the O’Reilly trade.

I doubt Colorado would protect Comeau in the expansion draft, but I also doubt the Knights would care to pick him up.

Semyon Varlamov

Position: Goalie

Age: 28

Height: 6’2

Weight: 209 lbs

Catches: Left

Contract: $5.9 million cap hit through 2020

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Semyon Varlamov — you either love him or hate him. Me, I’m not a big fan. He’s way overpriced. He “earned” his fat, $5.9 million salary after that golden Why Not Us season when he stole the Central Division with his play. Neither before nor since has Varlamov been a $6-million goalie.

The thing is, Varlamov is so inconsistent. He can be capable of a 51-save shutout, and he can let three goals in on 11 shots. His groin is also a constant issue — usually after one of those high-shooting games. Then he usually comes back with a .75 save percentage kind of a game.

The Colorado Avalanche have simply invested too much money in a player who can’t reliably be their savior. His current save percentage is .901.

Besides getting rid of that inflated salary, the Avalanche would do better to acknowledge Calvin Pickard as the starter and start training his backup, most likely Spencer Martin. If the team wants to get younger, they should do so at this position, too.

Scenario: Because of the cap hit and term, Colorado’s options for moving Varlamov are limited. The Avalanche’s best hope is finding a team that’s in desperate need of a goalie, especially as the playoffs come closer. Having to retain salary is another reality even in this situation.

The other really good hope is exposing him in the expansion draft. The Knights’ George McPhee is the one who drafted Semyon Varlamov while with the Washington Capitals. Maybe he’d be inclined to give the goalie another shot with his new team. It probably depends on what other goalies are available.

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In the unlikely even that the Colorado Avalanche could completely unload these four players — including their entire salary — that would free up over $17 million more in cap space. That’s a lot of money the team would have at their disposal this summer to pick up some free agents.

However, even if Colorado could only get rid of a couple players and/or had to retain some salary, they would still be in better shape. It’s important to free up roster spots for younger players, both already in the system and that they can either sign or trade for. Plus, you never know — the Avalanche might be able to get something decent for one of those players, putting them in a good position moving forward.

By Nadia Archuleta for Mile High Sticking

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