The Avalanche Are SECRETLY Planning Something BIG...

As the Avs head into the offseason, they could secretly be planning something big in free agency as this front office has been hyper-aggressive in the past and I don't expect that to change whatsoever. We are going to be looking at some potential free agents as the time goes on here and some players that the Avs could look to move on from as we get into longer in this cup window for the Colorado Avalanche. What is up Avs Nation? This is Avs Digest, your number one source for all your Avs news and your one-stop shop. So just go ahead and click that subscribe button. It's better for the both of us and we'll just get right into it. Comment down below what you think your favorite free agents are but mine for right now is absolutely Sam Bennett for the Colorado Avalanche. He has been having a great year. It's a contract year for him as well and he has not signed an extension as of late and he is currently still in the playoffs for the Florida Panthers and he is playing out of his mind. You can see his stats right here. He's been fairly good overall in his career and you can see in general I mean his playoffs right now he has nine points in ten games in these playoffs and he's always been a playoff dog. You can see his playoff stats right there as well along with his regular season stats and Sam Bennett is an interesting case because he's kind of been a bit of a bust throughout his career. I'm not going to call him a complete loss but really he was drafted fourth overall by the Calgary Flames and just did not pan out for the Calgary Flames at all. His career in Calgary was not good whatsoever. He went to the Florida Panthers and then was great. He was actually playing fairly well as a middle six center and this season has been amazing. I mean he's got a great amount of skill, physicality as well. He's great two-way forward so he's good defensively on top of it and really this is the type of guy who also by the way has quite a bit of a of a mean streak so that very much reminds me of our own Nazem Khadri when he came to Colorado. Now I'm not saying he's going to be quite to that level that Nazem Khadri reached but this is definitely a player that you just trust completely. Think Ryan O'Reilly, great two-way player but has the potential for better offensive upside or is exactly who Ryan O'Reilly was in his prime with the good offense as well. I would not mind whatsoever bringing this type of player in for the Colorado Avalanche. Now the question really is how much money does he want in free agency? I've heard a bunch of different reports. I've heard different factors. I mean he's a great player in his own right. He's absolutely lighting it up right now against the Maple Leafs. Just kind of dismantling that team yet again. Sorry Maple Leafs fans but everybody in their mother saw this coming. But you look at the current ASCAP system and when you wonder what how exactly the contract situation for Sam Bennett might be. I mean I've heard positions that he might want seven million dollars or he might want eight. I think eight would honestly be way too much for a player like Sam Bennett who hasn't ever hit 60 points in his career. He's only hit 50 once so I think he's definitely an overpay if you were going to ask a guy like that for Sam Bennett. But really if you're asking for seven million then that's definitely a situation you're looking to have. I mean I would not mind moving out certain players on this roster that just didn't perform well at all in the playoffs. In fact let's kind of take a look at that. I mean this is really the 5v5 scoring chance contributions for the Colorado Avalanche just this playoffs. You see Arturi Lekinen as always. Beautiful Finnish boy leading the pack. I say boy and he's older than me. Just ignore that. Nathan McKinnon as always. Marty Netjes playing fairly well. And then look at that Gabe Landis-Cogg turning back the clock like he was never injured. And then after that you see Jack Drury and Logan O'Connor in an awesome fourth line. Then you get to the players you don't want to see hanging out down on the bottom. Brock Nelson is way too low as your second line center on the offensive impact chart. He is getting crushed in his playmaking. You can see the chance assists basically talk about how many plays he was making. That's not good that that's in the red. It's really kind of disappointing. And you look at Parker Kelly. That's a fourth liner. But he's beating out Valerie Nichushkin as well. These are not guys you want to see just not playing well. Val Nichushkin had a horrible series for the avalanche. He had a good goal and then really just kind of didn't do anything since. It's fairly disappointing for a guy like that. And I think if you're talking about moving out a guy with value, you're talking about moving out Nichushkin. I don't know what that value looks like at this point in time, but that might be a guy that the abs might be looking on to move forward. So you never know. Charlie Coyle, absolute ghost. I think that the abs are going to be looking to move out of that contract any way possible unless you're trying to ride Charlie Coyle as your second line center. That would just be horrible. Yoel Kibiranta. I mean, he's been a fourth line player most of his entire career. It sucks to see that he's there, honestly, considering how good he was in the regular season. But you can see that it's not that disappointing. Someone seriously disappointing, however, is Jonathan Druin. Absolute ghost everywhere he went. He was bad on the first, second and third line. And as a guy that's contract is coming up, that's just not something you want to see, especially if he's going to be asking for over $3 million. That's a tough sell, especially with Gabe Landiscock back in and that cap situation coming into play. It's going to be pretty hard to justify keeping a guy like Jonathan Druin, who at best, most likely with the depth chart is playing on your third line. If you're signing that guy for $4 million, I would say you need to focus on your center depth instead of that. So it's kind of looking like the end for a guy like Jonathan Druin. Now, where does that leave us for the rest of the forwards? Well, I would also say that Miles Wood needs to be completely shot into the sun and away from this roster. He was worthless in the playoffs. He actively hurt you in, I think, game two, where he just basically caused that overtime loss to happen for you. But really, when it comes to the forward side, you have guys that are already going to leave that you're not really liking. And then guys like Nichushkin or guys like Hoyle that you're kind of looking at and saying, how much value can we actually get from selling this player? Because their value isn't at an all time high. So really, the forward side, it's kind of hard to make room aside from a few obvious pieces, where it really comes down to where can we make room, in my opinion, is truly in the defense. You look at the defense, and you can't really say anything else to yourself. Other than this cost too much. Look at the 2022 Stanley Cup run. Girard was injured. This $9 million, almost $10 million of Josh Manson and Sam Girard didn't even exist for you in those playoffs when you won the cup. Honestly, the fact that Girard and Manson can't even play together, and they cost $10 million is quite honestly, just bad contracts. You're definitely looking to move on from them. And really, I like Sam Girard. I think Sam Girard is the third best defenseman on this roster. But for $5 million, and for a guy that does not really provide a lot of offense, especially in the playoffs, you're looking at a guy like that and saying, can that money be spent better elsewhere? Can we maybe get a $3 million defenseman and get that $2 million put elsewhere, maybe towards a second line center like Sam Bennett. It's the same with Josh Manson. If you're going to have a $5 million defenseman and Sam Girard, fine. Having a player like Josh Manson at 4.5 is a criminal overpayment. And this really highlights the importance of guys like Sam Malinsky for you. Sam Malinsky is a great kid making league minimum who is probably only going to get a qualifying offer this season. He's a guy that has some good upside and is super cheap for you. So as we move forward, those contracts are going to be the most impressive thing. As we look forward for a guy like Sam Bennett, possibly a playoff absolute contributor. And you look at this chart right here, wouldn't it be nice to have a Sam Bennett dropped in here too? I think so. Absolutely. And we're going to look at even more free agents as time goes on. But let me know what you guys think of this one. And don't forget to subscribe to Avalanche Digest. This is your number one stop shop for all of your ABS news. And we're going to have plenty of free agents coming up in the rotation to see exactly who would be a good fit for the ABS. We're definitely going to be covering it as time goes on. So I hope you guys have a good one and enjoy the rest of your day.