The Colorado Avalanche have some contracts to take care of in the future. With Cale Makar entering the final year of his deal, the team still has to take care of other pieces, including left wing Artturi Lehkonen.
Lehkonen has played on a five-year deal that pays him $4.5 milion against the salary cap. He’s going to want a pay raise, which is understandable. Lehkonen is one of the better top-wing players in the league. Playing with Nathan MacKinnon doesn’t hurt, but some of the things he can do have nothing to do with his star center.
Lehkonen is a big, physical force for the Avalanche. He’s strong on the forecheck, does things right without the puck, and is just the perfect natural fit for the Avalanche.
However, there is one major thing at the Avalanche’s advantage in terms of negotiating. He has only played a full season one time in his career, and that came with the Montreal Canadiens.
With the Avalanche, the fewest games he’s missed in one season is 12. In his first three seasons with the Avs, he played in 16, 64, and 45 games. While he’s lowered those numbers to 12 and 13 in the past two seasons, surely the Avalanche are aware of this and could take advantage of the fact that he hasn’t been healthy for a full 82 games.
Add the fact that the league is going to 84 games starting this upcoming season. The Avalanche hold the cards in these upcoming negotiations with Lehkonen and his agent.
That being said, Lehkonen does deserve a raise. He’s underpaid at $4.5 million a year. Even if his pay is bumped up to $5 million, Lehkonen could be happy to stick around with a team he knows so well. I do believe the Avalanche will explore a little bit of a higher number for him, which would be awesome. But his injury history could play a pretty big role in those negotiations.
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