After Dan Hinote signed a free-agent contract with the St. Louis Blues on Sunday, only two players on the Avalanche roster have been with the team since 1999.
Hinote had been one of the three, along with Joe Sakic and Milan Hejduk. But the Blues signed Hinote to a multiyear contract, after the Avs deemed the popular depth winger expendable.
Hinote, 29, played 353 games for the Avalanche, scoring 27 goals and 65 points, with 254 penalty minutes. His best season with the Avs was their Stanley Cup-winning season of 2000-01, when he netted five goals and 15 points, and two goals and six points in 23 playoff games. One of the goals helped beat New Jersey in Game 3 of the Finals, and he assisted on Alex Tanguay’s goal to give the Avs a 1-0 lead in Game 7 against the Devils.
Hinote, who made $643,720 last season, became an unrestricted free agent and the Avs did not agree to meet his salary desires.
A popular player in the locker room and the community, Hinote was active in local charities. While not an offensive threat, the native of Leesburg, Fla., was a good penalty killer and agitator, with a talent for drawing penalties.
Kings show Blake money
When the Avalanche declined the option years on the contracts of Joe Sakic and Rob Blake in October, it was unclear whether the bonus payments each player was due – $2.3 million each – would count toward this coming season’s salary cap.
They did, which partially explains why the Avs had to say goodbye to one of them, Blake, on Saturday. Clauses in each player’s five-year contract, signed in 2001, stated that, if their options were declined, they would receive $3 million bonus payments. It might have seemed at the time to the Avs that declining the options on such star players was highly unlikely, but that was four years before the NHL implemented a $39 million salary cap.
Even after the cap came, however, it was unclear whether the bonus money due each player – reduced 24 percent – would count toward Colorado’s payroll in 2006-07. The Avalanche contacted the NHL’s legal counsel and that of the NHL Players’ Association, and was informed later in the season the money would, indeed, count.
“We got word pretty late in the year, probably, about the bonus situation counting,” Blake said Saturday.
Blake said he still was optimistic a week ago that he would re-sign with the Avs. But the offers he received on one- and two-year deals from new general manager Francois Giguere were nowhere near the eventual $12 million, two-year deal he signed with his old team, Los Angeles.
“I couldn’t turn that down,” said Blake, who will pocket $8.3 million this season counting the bonus money. “It was a lot more money, and my wife (Brandy) is from (Southern California), and we have a house here still. It’s tough to leave Denver, though. It was just a great place to play, the fans were great to me and we’ll miss it.”
Giguere reiterated his belief the Avs, though suffering a potentially big loss in Blake, are in good shape for next season. One reason, he said, is the presence of goalie Jose Theodore.
“This year, we’re going into the season with a top-flight goaltender, from Day One,” Giguere said.
Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-820-5454 or adater@denverpost.com.