Five under-the-radar, buy-low, free agent forwards the Colorado Avalanche should pursue this offseason

Here are five players, all currently making the league-minimum $775k and playing primarily in the AHL, who have high-upside and are poised to have breakout seasons. The Avalanche should consider signing them.
Angus Crookshank
Angus Crookshank | Minas Panagiotakis/GettyImages
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Takeaways

Now that Brock Nelson is under contract for the next three seasons, the Avs have hopefully, finally, filled their second-line center role, which has been a notable deficit since Nazem Kadri left for his much-deserved payday with the Calgary Flames. However, the Avs, more so than any other team, have a predisposition for "open auditions" and roster opportunities that will come both from their pre-existing minor league depth pieces and from the bargain bin that is the Group 6 FA class. How they choose to fill their roster next season remains to be seen, but each of the five players on this list can offer something that the team needs: eager, under-utilized players in search of their next chance to prove that they belong in the NHL.

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