Colorado Avalanche Important Offseason Dates 2018
While the Colorado Avalanche are well into their offseason, there are still some hockey dates coming up that are important for the team.
The Colorado Avalanche concluded the 2017-18 season on April 22 when they fell in Game 6 to the Nashville Predators. That’s ok — it was a fun extra two weeks of hockey that we didn’t get last year.
Even the players who were representing their countries at the IIHF World Championship have completed their tournament. Avs players have long since turned to training for next season, or getting healthy again after surgery — Nikita Zadorov reportedly had surgery on his shoulder in Russia.
While the hockey season is in its last days, there are still a few important dates for all hockey fans.
June 1: Deadline for reserve list. The Colorado Avalanche must make an offer to any players drafted in 2016 to retain their rights. Clubs may have up to 90 players signed and on their reserve list. These are the players whom Colorado drafted in 2016:
- Tyson Jost
- Cameron Morrison
- Josh Anderson
- Adam Werner
- Nathan Clurman
- Travis Barron
Morrison, Werner, and Clurman don’t have contracts according to CapFriendly. Morrison is playing hockey for the University of Notre Dame and appears to be committed for at least one more year. The Avs retain his rights until he graduates. Werner played four games with the San Antonio Rampage on an amateur tryout contract.
June 13: Last possible day for the Stanley Cup to be awarded. Here are my predictions.
June 15-30: This is the standard buyout window, which starts 48 hours after the Stanley Cup Finals end. The buyout amount is a function of the players’ age at the time of the buyout:
- 1/3 of the remaining contract value, if the player is younger than 26 at the time of the buyout
- 2/3 of the remaining contract value, if the player is 26 or older at the time of the buyout
I don’t think the Colorado Avalanche are going to buy out any players this year. Carl Soderberg and Colin Wilson are possible options, but I doubt it.
June 20, 2018: NHL Annual Awards Show, Las Vegas. Nathan MacKinnon is up for the Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award. Jared Bednar is up for the Jack Adams Award.
June 22-29: NHL officials will be at Starbucks planning next year’s schedule, which will be announced somewhere at the end of June. At the time of writing, there had not been any preseason dates set.
June 22-23: The 2018 NHL Draft takes place at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. The Colorado Avalanche have eight picks:
- #16
- #47
- #58 (from Nashville)
- #78
- #109
- #140
- #171
- #202
June 26: The Colorado Avalanche must submit qualifying offers for any restricted free agents. The following players are RFAs this summer:
- Matthew Nieto
- Nail Yakupov
- Patrik Nemeth
- Duncan Siemens
- Felix Girard
- Jesse Graham
- Mason Geertsen
- Ryan Graves
- Reid Patrick
July 1: Free Agency Frenzy begins. The following players are unrestricted free agents this summer:
- Blake Comeau
- Jonathan Bernier
- Rocco Grimaldi
- Joe Cannata
- Joe Colborne
- Andrew Hammond
- Trent Vogelhuber
July 5: This is the deadline for player-elected salary arbitration. All of the above RFAs are eligible for salary arbitration.
July 6: This is the deadline for team-elected arbitration.
July 4-9: The Colorado Avalanche typically hold their Prospect Development Camp somewhere around this time. In addition to whomever they draft this year.
August 15: Teams can start signing college-graduated free agents. The Colorado Avalanche don’t have any pending college grads that they drafted.
The Colorado Avalanche will host their rookie camp followed by training camp in the middle of September.