The Colorado Avalanche, like all teams, must go through its annual summer roster churn to find the right combination of players for its upcoming season. That churn involves losing some free agents while signing others to replace them.
This summer, given the Avalanche’s disappointing playoff exit, will demand addressing gaps throughout the lineup as the club looks to head into the 2025-26 as a Stanley Cup contender.
With that in mind, here’s a look at three free-agent forwards the Colorado Avalanche can target to complement high-end pieces like all-world forward Nathan MacKinnon and world-class defenseman Cale Makar.
3 free agent forwards Colorado Avalanche could target in offseason
Jack Roslovic
Jack Roslovic is currently playing in the Eastern Conference Final for the Carolina Hurricanes against the Florida Panthers.
Roslovic has done a great job as the Hurricanes’ second-line center this season, putting up 22 goals and 39 points in 81 games during the regular season. Plus, he’s playing on a relatively cheap contract at $2.8 million for this season.
It’s highly probable that Roslovic goes to market looking for a long-term deal. Based on what we’ve seen this season, the 28-year-old has earned it. While it may not be a maxed-out seven-year deal, Roslovic could be looking at a six-year pact.
Now, Roslovic makes sense for the Avalanche, especially if they can’t re-sign Brock Nelson. The chatter is that Nelson would like to sign with the Wild as he’s a Minnesota native. If the Avalanche lose Nelson, adding a younger and cheaper Roslovic could be the solution to the Avalanche’s depth issues down the middle.
Kasperi Kapanen
The Avalanche could be in the market for a bottom-six winger if one, or both, of Joel Kiviranta and Jimmy Vesey depart this summer.
For the record, I’d like to see the Avalanche keep both. Vesey is a solid veteran grinder at this point, while Kiviranta had a great season playing up and down the lineup. The issue is that Kiviranta may be looking for a raise from his $775K deal from this season.
If that’s the case, Kiviranta might have priced himself out of Colorado. While Vesey remains a cost-effective option at $800K, there’s always the chance the Avs move on from the 31-year-old veteran.
So, turning to someone like former first-round pick Kasperi Kapanen could make sense. He was an under-the-radar pickup for the Edmonton Oilers this season and hasn’t been entirely awful. Kapanen signed a one-year, $1 million deal this offseason, delivering five goals and 13 points in 57 games.
At one point, the Oilers placed Kapanen with Connor McDavid and he didn’t look out of place. He’s also been a solid stand-in this postseason, getting a crucial series-clincher against the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 of their second-round series.
Kapanen could be a useful bottom-six forward who could round out the roster for Colorado. If the Avs can land him for a similar $1 million cap hit, adding him to the mix could make sense this upcoming season.
Robby Fabbri
I’d like to be writing about the Avalanche pursuing Mitch Marner or Nikolaj Ehlers this summer. But the fact is that the Avalanche just don’t have the cap space to fit another mega contract under the bar.
In an earlier post, I talked about the Avs kicking the tires on Brock Boeser. Boeser could be a great addition, especially if the Avs lose Jonathan Drouin this summer. But we have to be realistic for a second here.
Gabriel Landeskog’s return throws a monkey wrench into the Avalanche’s cap structure this upcoming season. In previous years, the Avalanche had $7 million in LTIR to play with. The team didn’t always maximize it, but it came in handy, especially this year at the trade deadline.
That extra cap space won’t be there next season, not unless Landeskog goes back to LTIR. But judging from Landeskog’s performance this postseason, he’ll be poised to play close to a full season next year.
That situation means the Avalanche will have to pinch pennies to round out the roster. That’s why I’m proposing the Avalanche kick the tires on Robby Fabbri.
Fabbri won’t light up the scoresheet, but then again, playing in Colorado’s top six could reinvigorate his career. He could live up to or even surpass his career high of 18 goals playing alongside Nathan MacKinnon or perhaps with Charlie Coyle and Valeri Nichushkin.
Granted, Fabbri is a bit of a long shot at this point, but he could be worth taking a flyer on considering that the Avs will be looking to stretch every dollar this upcoming season.