International lacrosse and drag racing have consumed me the last week or so, and we haven’t seen an “official” announcement from the Avalanche, but CapGeek.com has one-year, two-way extensions for defensemen Stefan Elliott and Karl Stollery and forward Joey Hishon built into the. Also, Montreal reporter Renaud Lavoie tweeted this last week:
signed Karl Stollery ($605 000) Paul Carey ($715 000) and Stefan Elliott ($850 000) All for 1 year (2 way)
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva)
Elliott, Stollery and Hishon were given qualifying offers by the club as restricted free agents, and all three will be RFAs again next summer, if they don’t sign extensions before then. Because of their two-way deals, none will likely make the big club out of camp, unless injuries and/or trades open up spots. The Avs “essentially” have 13 forwards and eight defensemen on one-way contracts, plus soon-to-be-signed F Ryan O’Reilly and D Tyson Barrie (F Nathan MacKinnon and D Nick Holden are on two-way deals but won’t be reassigned).
So 14 forwards, nine D and two goaltenders is already two more than the 23-man roster limit. If all things remain the same, F Marc-Andre Cliche ($700,000) and D Maxim Noreau ($625,000) will be among the candidates to make an NHL salary in the American Hockey League, joining Elliott ($67,500 AHL salary), Stollery ($100,000) and Hishon ($67,500).
Clearly, the Avs have better depth at F and D than a year ago, with NHL-experienced players poised to be the AHL call-ups, and reporters like me will be writing fewer “NHL debut” stories.
