News of Brock Nelson’s extension with the Colorado Avalanche, while not really surprising in itself, was surprising in terms of its timing.
Personally, it seemed that Nelson would test the free-agent market before making up his mind. But it seems the Avalanche’s three-year, $22.5 million deal was the best he was likely to get in this year’s relatively thin market.
Nelson and the Colorado Avalanche are a natural fit for one another. The Avalanche need a 2C and the Nelson wants certainty moving forward. But there’s more to Nelson’s extension than meets the eye.
Firstly, the New York Islanders made a hard push to keep their first-round pick from 2010 in the fold. The Islanders had reportedly offered a three-year deal in the $7 million AAV range before pulling the trigger on the trade with Colorado at the deadline.
Secondly, Nelson was far from guaranteed to re-sign in Colorado. Rumors emerged suggesting that he would sign with the Wild to play in his native Minnesota.
Perhaps Nelson wasn’t convinced the Wild would pony up an offer similar to the one Colorado put on the table.
So, it seems Nelson realized the Avalanche were the best he could do this offseason. As The Hockey News Stefen Rosner Tweeted, Nelson figured the Avalanche’s offer was the best one he was going to get.
Ultimately, Nelson made the right call. He will have a spot in the Avalanche’s top six waiting for him at training camp. A full camp plus and regular season could set up Brock Nelson to have a strong season in 2025-26.
Brock Nelson’s contract complicates Colorado Avalanche’s cap situation even further
The Colorado Avalanche had nearly $9 million in cap space on Wednesday morning. After Brock Nelson’s deal became official in the afternoon, PuckPedia reported that the Avalanche had $1.2 million in cap space.
Yikes.
That is not nearly enough to re-sign the Avalanche’s remaining free agents or even add cost-effective contracts to round out the lineup.
While teams can go over the cap by 10% during the offseason, the Avalanche will need to get under the $95.5 million ceiling before the beginning of the season.
That situation includes signing enough players to ice a full squad.
Oh, what the pickle!
This complex cap situation can only mean one thing: The Colorado Avalanche will need to clear space. To do so, cap casualties will emerge.
We can only speculate who those cap casualties will be at this point. But one thing is for sure, someone will have to go.
The likeliest candidates are those with larger cap hits with soon-to-expire contracts. So, Avalanche fans shouldn’t be surprised to see Chris MacFarland pull the trigger on a deal at some point leading up to or during the 2025 NHL Draft.
That deal may include getting some later-round draft picks back. But an earth-shattering deal is hardly on the horizon. The Avs will be lucky to get much of anything back in a cap dump trade.
But then again, anything is possible. So, stay tuned.