*Photo from Mile High Sports*
The Colorado Avalanche have had a good offseason, coming off a strong season that saw them win the presidents trophy, given to the team with the best regular season record in the NHL. Last season, the Avalanche finished first in the Honda West Division with a 39-13-4 record, losing in the second round of the playoffs to the Vegas Golden Knights.
As always, we start with the departures from Colorado. Joonas Donskoi came first, being selected in the expansion draft by the Seattle Kraken. Brandon Saad, who experienced a renaissance in Colorado, signed a 5 year deal with the St.Louis Blues in free agency. Pierre-Edouard Bellemare has left as well, signing with the Tampa Bay Lightning. They also lost D-Man Ryan Graves in a trade, as well as Connor Timmins.
Now, we get to the big departure in goal. Devan Dubnyk was minor, as he is still a UFA after hitting free agency, but the big one is Vezina trophy finalist Philipp Grubauer. He is gone, signing a lucrative 6 year deal with a $5.9 million AAV with the Kraken, joining Donskoi out west.
To help replace Grubauer, they already have Jonas Johansson and Pavel Francouz, but they needed a true number one. They went to the Arizona Coyotes, trading Timmins and two draft picks to Arizona to acquire Kuemper. Adding a top flight goalie, with reliable insurance policies in Francouz and Johansson, will stabilize the Colorado goaltending.
Outside of Grubauer, they signed left shot D Ryan Murray away from the Devils to try and compensate for the loss of Graves. Darren Helm and Mikhail Maltsev were also brought in as forward depth, replacing Saad and Bellemare. They also got two big pieces back in the fold, extending Gabe Landeskog and Cale Makar.
So far, after a spending offseason, the Avalanche are once again looking like a juggernaut in the NHL, with the Stanley cup window still wide open.
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