Colorado Avalanche: 5 Players Unlikely to Return Next Season

Five Colorado Avalanche players are unlikely to return next season. They are either pending UFAs or RFAs who don’t fit with the team mold.

The Colorado Avalanche are a team that’s in the middle of what we all hope is a successful rebuild. As part of that rebuild, the team is going to try out players for short amounts of time. It’s also going to cut existing players who don’t fit the mold.

The Avs have committed to getting younger and faster. To that end, there are a couple players on this list who are unlikely to return next season because they don’t fit that formula. There are also some players who simply didn’t live up to expectations.

Here are five players we probably won’t see playing for the Avalanche next season.

Joe Colborne

Let’s start with the obvious. Forward Joe Colborne didn’t play a single game for the Colorado Avalanche this season. He spent the entire year down in San Antonio. What’s more, he only played 13 games for the Rampage because of a concussion.

It’s really a hard-luck story for Joe Colborne. When the Avs brought him in, they were looking for size — which he has at 6-foot-5, 221 pounds. However, they started focusing on speed, with a sacrifice to size. Colborne just couldn’t keep up.

The 28-year-old Colborne is an unrestricted free agent come July 1.

Andrew Hammond

Another obvious choice is goalie Andrew Hammond. He played exactly one regular season game and two-and-a-third playoff games. He famously won Game 5 in Nashville to extend the playoffs and bring the play back to Colorado. He also famously allowed five goals on 37 shots in said Game 6.

I’m certainly not going to blame Hammond for the playoffs. Very few of the Avs players played well in Game 6. And Hammond had only played 2 1/3 NHL games since getting traded to Colorado in November. However, he’s not the answer to the Avs’ goalie woes.

The 30-year-old Hammond is a UFA this summer.

Jonathan Bernier

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Unfortunately, I don’t think Jonathan Bernier is the answer to Colorado’s goalie woes either. It’s not that Bernier didn’t perform well. In fact, he went 34-19-13 this season, including a nine-game winning streak as part of the Avs’ 10-game winning streak.

Rather, it’s that the 29-year-old goalie — he turns 30 this August — suffered two concussions this season. He also left in the middle of Game 4 with a “lower body injury.” The Avs already have a 30-year-old injury-prone goalie — they don’t need another. Plus, the signing of 27-year-old Pavel Francouz suggests they want to get younger at that position as well.

Bernier is an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Gabriel Bourque

Gabriel Bourque is an example of a player who doesn’t fit the Avalanche’s mold. At 27 years old, he’s hardly old by normal standards. However, he turns 28 before the start of next season, and that’s entering veteran territory for a forward.

That said, Bourque did play some good games for Colorado last season. He’s not overly fast or skilled. However, he does display tenacity and a solid work ethic. Such players, though, are a dime a dozen, and Colorado can upgrade to a younger model.

In 58 games, Gabriel Bourque recorded five goals and six assists. He’s a pending UFA.

Nail Yakupov

This one stings a little. Nail Yakupov seems like a definite positive force in the locker room, and he’s a definite fan favorite. Unfortunately, he developed on-ice chemistry with Matt Duchene, and Duchene got traded in November. Yakupov never developed real chemistry on another line again.

Yakupov seems destined to be a first-overall bust. His best season points-wise was 2014-15 when he recorded 33 points (14 goals, 19 assists) in 81 games. Points per game, he recorded 31 in 48 games (17 goals, 14 assists) his rookie year. For the Avs, he recorded 16 points (9 goals, 7 assists) in 58 games. The majority of his missed games were due to being scratched.

Yakupov has already been rumored to be in negotiations with KHL teams. He’s a pending restricted free agent.

Next: Looking Back at Preseason Goals and Predictions

The Colorado Avalanche always make changes from one season to the next. This summer’s turnover is unlikely to be as significant as last summer’s, when about half the team changed. Nonetheless, for better or worse, we’re likely to have seen the last of the above players.

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