Just a couple of days ago, the Colorado Avalanche took care of one of their pending free agents, re-signing Brock Nelson to a three-year contract. With that move, the team now has just $1.2 million to spend, prior to any sort of trade that might be coming in the near future. As of right now, the Avs have 21 total free agents, counting both restricted and unrestricted.
Last October, the Avalanche traded Erik Brannstrom to the Vancouver Canucks for Tucker Poolman and a draft pick.(fourth round in 2025). Poolman missed the entire 2024-25 season due to injury, and I don’t think that he’s going to be in their plans in 2025. He’s set to become an unrestricted free agent.
To be an unrestricted free agent in the NHL, a player must have played in the league for a minimum of seven years, or is 27 years old or older. Otherwise the players who do not fit those requirements are restricted free agents.
The rest of the Colorado Avalanche unrestricted free agents for 2025
The team’s other unrestricted free agents include Jonathan Drouin, Joel Kiviranta, Ryan Lindgren, Erik Johnson, Jere Innala, Jimmy Vesey, Jack Ahcan, Adam Scheel, T.J. Tynan, Calle Rosen, Matthew Phillips, and Chris Wagner.
Most of those players are primarily AHL players for the Eagles, but the first four on the list are guys who are in consideration of returning to the Avalanche in a big role. Unfortunately, I doubt that they will be able to keep all four, but I do expect some sort of cap relief trade to happen, to perhaps make it more likely that they keep at least two of those four. Again, that’s just a guess. I’m sure they’d love to keep Drouin, but will he seek a long-term deal with a raise? It wouldn’t surprise me, but as I wrote in another article, I think Drouin would be best to re-sign with Colorado.
Kiviranta is another player I recently wrote about. The Avalanche absolutely need to keep the 29 year old. Kiviranta had a career year for the Avalanche this past season, and was a valuable piece to the team’s offense. Letting him go to another team would be a huge mistake, especially given that, in my opinion, we’d be getting him back at somewhat of a discount.
Lindgren had a cap hit of $4.5 million this season for the Avalanche. He had four goals and 18 assists in 72 games for the team. He played on the third pair defense with Sam Malinski, but he didn’t play a whole lot of minutes per game compared to the likes of Malinski and Girard. I would be okay if the team re-signed Lindgren, but not at $4.5 million AAV.
Wagner played in 28 games for the Avalanche this season, recording a goal. he averaged 11.6 shifts per game in his limited action in the NHL, However, he had 19 goals and 12 assists in 44 games with the Eagles, which is good. He should get a look at a return.
Erik Johnson would be back at a very reasonable price, and he’s nearing the end of his career, so I’d be okay with either decision the team makes on him. Maybe he’ll want to go to a team that perhaps has a better chance at a Stanley Cup. Or, maybe he’ll buy into the Avs’ plans for the 2025-26 season and think that he has a great shot at winning another championship there.
Colorado Avalanche restricted free agents for 2025
The team who owns a restricted free agent’s rights would choose to extend a one-year contract to the player. If that player does not sign the offer, he becomes an unrestricted free agent, and can sign with any team, but the team that signs that player has to surrender a draft pick to the player’s former team. The draft pick compensation is determined by a scale that has a range of salaries that a player could agree to.
The Avalanche’s restricted free agents include William Dufour, Trent Miner, Sam Malinski, Matthew Stienburg, Kevin Mandolese, John Ludvig, Jean-Luc Foudy, and Jason Polin.
The headliner on this list is Malinski, who played in 76 regular season games and had five goals with 10 assists and averaged 15:57 of ice time this season. I wouldn’t be surprised if another team looked into him. It should come cheap if another team gives an offer sheet to him, so the Avalanche not matching whatever he’s offered would come as a surprise, in my opinion.
Malinski was an underrated player for the Avalanche this year, especially early on.