Colorado Avalanche: Evaluating the Signings of Alt and Shvyrev

The Colorado Avalanche continued to fill their coffers as they made two signings this week. Neither is a headline signing, but they’re both low-risk.

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The Colorado Avalanche have recently signed two players to contracts. With the signings, the team seems poised to keep filling the once-replete coffers.

On Tuesday, the Avs signed 19-year-old forward Igor Shvyrev to his entry-level contract. Colorado selected the Russian in the fifth round (125th overall) of the 2017 NHL Draft. His three-year contract carries a cap hit of $775,833 at the NHL level.

Last year Shvyrev split the season with Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL and Stalnye Lisy Magnitogorsk of Russia’s junior league. While he didn’t have great numbers in the KHL — just one goal — he also saw very little time on the ice.

A.J. Haefele of BSN Avalanche spoke with scout Alan Hepple last summer when the Avs drafted Shvyrev. The big concern with Russian players is their reluctance to leave the lucrative KHL to come and play in North America. However, Hepple and the Avs thought Shvyrev was worth the risk, looking then at the 70 points he’d recorded in the minors and his overall skill level.

To be honest, I hope this doesn’t turn into another Andrei Mironov situation. The Avalanche brought him over from Russia, but they never gave him a proper chance. He languished in the AHL and finally, fed up, returned to Russia.

The scouting staff was banking on the array of Russians the Avs have in the system, including Mironov. However, it’s easy for them to leave and return to their homeland for lucrative careers. Mironov did so, and it looks like Yakupov will take off, too. That leaves Semyon Varlamov, Nikita Zadorov and the very breakable Vladislav Kamenev in the regular system.

Well, the risk was in spending a draft pick on Shvyrev. Once they’d already done that, there was no harm in signing the talented Russian. Hopefully he’s more Vlad Kamenev than Andrei Mironov in his willingness to wait his turn in the AHL-NHL system.

The Colorado Avalanche also signed 26-year-old defenseman Mark Alt yesterday. They offered him a two-year, two-way deal worth $750,000 each season at the NHL level. He’ll make $225,000 and $300,000 respectively at the AHL level.

I was just fixing to write a post about the Avs free agents we should see next season, and Alt was on that list. He’s a solid shutdown defenseman who showed responsibility in each zone. He’s also a journeyman hard worker who did everything asked of him without over-reaching. I’m not surprised the front offices are enamored of him.

Next: 4 Players Who Might not Return

The Colorado Avalanche are still in the midst of their rebuild. While neither Igor Shvyev nor Mark Alt is a key component of the rebuild, they are low-risk, decent-reward signings.

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