The Colorado Avalanche and Their Offseason Plans

Free agency, has started, and the draft has come and gone for the NHL. Colorado has been somewhat active in free agency, and the Avs have been fairly active. They added a goaltender in Philipp Grubauer who the Avs are hoping will be their future goalie, and in they bought out the contract of Brooks Orpik at the same time. They then added defensemen Ian Cole, and 3rd/4th line player Matt Calvert from the Columbus Bluejackets to replace Blake Comeau who signed with the Dallas Stars.

In the draft Colorado selected some players who most likely won't make the roster next season, but in the coming years could provide Colorado with the talent in the farm system that will give them leverage in the future, or give them the opportunity to add players in the coming years. With their first selection the Avs drafted Martin Kaut, who played in the Czech league and had 16 points in 38 games. He is young, and at 6'2 176lbs has room to grow. Along with him the Avs selected 4 other forwards, one defensemen, and two goalies in the draft. None of which will probably make the team this year, but as I said could be future pieces of this team.

It is apparent that the Avs are looking to find a goalie for both now and the future with the addition of Grubauer, and drafting two goalies in the draft. Adding Cole gives them a guy who can play solid defense against in the NHL, and Calvert will replace Comeau on the penalty kill, and the 3rd and 4th lines. I think the Avs need to grab two more pieces in the offseason this year. One is a guy who can win faceoffs consistently. We have been terrible in faceoffs and it is something we need to improve on. The next thing is a big power forward type who can drop the gloves. We lacked a sense of toughness last year, and while we do not need a goon, we need a player who will stand up for the rest of the team.

The Avs are a young, exciting, up and coming team that are a couple pieces away. Hopefully Joe Sakic can find the right mix of players for next year for us to make a playoff run.