Colorado Avalanche will Likely Part Ways with Sven Andrighetto

The Colorado Avalanche have several restricted free agents. One they are unlikely to make a qualifying offer to is Sven Adnrighetto.

The Colorado Avalanche have tough decisions to make this summer. Many of their players are moving into free agency. They have both unrestricted and restricted free agent they have to either sign or let go.

One of the former is winger Sven Andrighetto. The Avalanche acquired the now-26-year-old from Montreal as a trade deadline deal on March 1, 2017. They sent Andreas Martinsen over in what was seen as a minor move.

The trade seemed to be a winner for Colorado. The Swiss forward came in and recorded 16 points (5 goals, 11 assists) in 19 games. Remember, that was during the Dreaded 48-Point Season, so that point production was pretty impressive.

So much so that the Avalanche re-signed the pending RFA to a two-year contract worth $1.4 million annually.

Unfortunately, that production seemed to be the highlight of Andrighetto’s career. He produced 22 points (8 goals, 14 assists) in 50 games the next year and 17 points (7 goals, 10 assists) in 64 games this last year.

To be fair, Andrighetto struggled with lingering injuries both years, which is why his seasons were shortened. Nonetheless, that’s not the kind of points production that would motivate a team to sign him, not when said team has prospects in the pipeline with good potential.

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So, the general consensus is that the Colorado Avalanche and Sven Andrighetto are going to part ways. Indeed, during the playoffs it was rumored that Andrighetto was going to sign with a KHL team in the summer. He denied the rumors, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens this summer.

To my mind, Sven Andrighetto had his high points. I always saw him as a dynamic forward who could make plays happen and who limited his mistakes.

In fact, the biggest mistake of Andrighetto’s tenure with the Avalanche wasn’t even his — it belonged to the NHL. On October 19, 2017, star winger Mikko Rantanen tied a game late in the third period between the Avalanche and St. Louis Blues. Unfortunately, because Sven had entered the zone offside, the War Room in Toronto disallowed the goal when St. Louis challenged it.

That was deemed a mistake, one for which the NHL apologized. Andrighetto had been offside in the previous play, and the on-ice officials failed to catch it. So, the play wasn’t subject to challenge. The Avs lost the game.
Here’s the goal:

In the end, the Colorado Avalanche beat the Blues in Game 82 to earn a playoff berth over the selfsame Blues, so ultimate victory was ours.

I think our most vivid memory of Sven Andrighetto will be his game-tying goal in Game 5 of the 2018 playoffs. He scored late in the third period with what turned out to be the game-winning goal.

And then-radio announcer Marc Moser lost his mind calling the goal:

It appears that “guts all over the place” will last longer than “Sven-10” in Colorado. Alas.

Well, every season we have to say goodbye to some players. Before we go, let’s look at the best Sven Andrighetto tweets from this season:

Our captain is so smart. Journeyman Matt Calvert, too. And, yeah, of course Harvard grad Alexander Kerfoot. (Too many H’s, Nate!)

Swiss-born Sven certainly did display some of the best style on the team.

Free Agency Frenzy takes place July 1. The deadline for teams to extend qualifying offers to restricted free agents is the Monday after the Entry Draft, which would make it June 24 this year.

We should know then if the Colorado Avalanche extended a qualifying offer to Sven Andrighetto. If not, thanks for the good times, Sven-10.