Colorado Avalanche Free Agency Profile: Devante Smith-Pelley
The Colorado Avalanche should make an offer to character and clutch playoff guy Devante Smith-Pelly, whom the Capitals have not qualified.
The Colorado Avalanche already have a reigning Stanley Cup champion on their roster in Philipp Grubauer. They now have the opportunity at a second one.
The Washington Capitals have failed to make a qualifying offer to 26-year-old winger Devante Smith-Pelly, making him an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
The Avalanche did an excellent job of filling some of the gaps in their depth over Draft weekend. However, a team needs a lot of working parts to make it successful. Colorado is a team built on scoring, rather than preventing scoring. So it would behoove them to pick up some more scoring outside of the top line.
Devante Smith-Pelly
Age: 26
Height: 6’0″
Weight: 223 lbs.
Position: Right wing
Shoots: Right
Previous Contract: 1 year, AAV $650,000
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Previous Teams: Anaheim Ducks,. Montreal Canadiens, New Jersey Devils, Washington Capitals
Devante Smith-Pelly isn’t going to wow you with his elite skill set. However, he’s not going to let you down either. He definitely possesses some of the finer skills — he’s just not as highly talented as some other players.
Smith-Pelly is a meat and potatoes kind of player — which is what the beefy winger appears to spend a lot of time eating. No one is going to accuse him of being willowy. That said, he’s a very competent skater. What’s more, he’s versatile at both wing positions.
As you can imagine, one of the best aspects of his game is physicality. He can make some bone-jarring hits. What’s more, his low center of gravity on such a sturdy frame also makes him pretty darn hard to knock off the puck.
Devante Smith-Pelly and the Colorado Avalanche
As alluded to above, Devante Smith-Pelly isn’t going to wow you with his stats. In 341 NHL regular season games, he has 93 points (40 goals, 53 assists). What’s interesting is that he’s also Mr. Clutch. In 48 playoff games, he has 16 points (13 goals, 3 assists). He
had seven playoff goals this last post-season to help the Capitals win the Stanley Cup.
I also see Smith-Pelly as a character guy. I’m going to be honest — his stating that he wouldn’t like to visit the White House because Trump has acted “racist and sexist” is about one of the strongest character moves I’ve seen from an NHLer in… I don’t know how long. This is a post-season that might see convicted wife beater Slava Voynov make his return to the NHL.
These social issued matter. And sometimes sports transcends what happens on the ice/field.
Along with that, though, I like Smith-Pelly’s clutch play. I think he could also add a level of grit the team needs. Colorado has A.J. Greer coming up the pipeline, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say Smith-Pelly is an upgrade on Greer.
DSP would make a great addition to the third line in place of Blake Comeau, whom the Colorado Avalanche are not going to re-sign. Plus, he knows what it takes to grind through the season and the playoffs to win a Stanley Cup.
Other Free Agency Profiles:
Free Agency Frenzy begins this Sunday, July 1. Teams are able to contact players they’re interested in starting last Sunday.