Colorado Avalanche: Beauchemin Buyout Right Move

The Colorado Avalanche have decided to buyout the remainder of Francois Beauchemin’s contract, leaving them with more flexibility this offseason.

After months of speculation, the Colorado Avalanche announced Thursday that Francois Beauchemin’s contract would be bought out. The organization was characteristically tight-lipped on the situation, and even Avs insider Adrian Dater didn’t seem to know what would happen.

Well, the wait is over, and to the relief of many, it finally happened: Francois Beauchemin has been bought out, giving the organization some much-needed flexibility. Before we dissect what this means for the organization, let’s recap Beauchemin’s time with the team.

Related Story: Avs Buy Out Beauchemin's Contract

The Saga of Francois Beauchemin

Beauchemin was brought on as a free agent in 2015 to add a veteran presence to the still-young blue line. The hope was that the Stanley Cup-winning defender could help mentor Erik Johnson and the rest of the defensive corps into something resembling a playoff-worthy blueline.

In his first year with the team, Beauchemin actually managed to tie his career-high in point production, racking up 34. He also led the league in blocked shots, and was living up to his billing as a veteran leader. The team narrowly missed the playoffs after a late-season collapse, but Beauchemin was seen as living up to his billing.

After Patrick Roy’s untimely exit from the team, new head coach Jared Bednar selected Beauchemin as one of the Alternate Captains for the 2016-17 season. Beauchemin had a great preseason, and continued to mentor the youth on the team.

He showed that leadership during the season by trying to light a fire under the team when things started to go down hill.

Unfortunately, Beauchemin’s season was nothing like the year before. He only managed to put up 18 points, and often looked out of place with the new systems. Speculation about his place in the expansion draft quickly became the subject of debate.

Still, I’ll always remember him as a player that gave his all on every shift, and wanted to win at all costs. It’s unfortunate how things ended up for him with the Avalanche, but hopefully he’ll be able to land on his feet.

What this means for the team

More from Mile High Sticking

• Could Colorado Avalanche move on from Pavel Francouz next offseason?
• 4 goalies to replace Pavel Francouz if he has to miss time
• Colorado Avalanche make sneaky signing with Tatar
• Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog could return in 2023-24 playoffs
• Colorado Avalanche rookie face-off tournament roster

What this buyout does for the Colorado Avalanche is huge. While it provides no salary cap relief, it does give them the ability to protect another player in the expansion draft, since Beauchemin’s contract would have taken one of the spots.  It also opens up a roster spot for a younger talent to earn, as the team attempts to get younger and faster.

This is what many, myself included, feared wouldn’t happen. Joe Sakic has proven over the years to have a large amount of respect for veteran players, and this has sometimes hindered him from making the smart hockey move.

I’ll admit, the moment Dater’s tweet came out that the team would probably not buy out Beauchemin, I just about lost all hope for the season. How could the team get younger and faster if it was going to use one of its protection spots on Beauchemin?

Thankfully, we’ve seen Sakic make a move that ultimately may save his tenure as General Manager. As much as I like Beauchemin as a person and leader, his skill set did not fit with the new direction of the club.

Next: Worst Case Scenario for the Offseason

There’s still a lot of offseason to go, but the Avs aren’t off to a bad start so far.