General manager has made it clear to T. Signed prospects such as , J.T. Compher and A.J. Greer — each playing in their entry-level contracts for San Antonio of the American Hockey League — will be expected to vie for an opening-night roster spot next season.
If that’s the direction for this team, the NHL’s worst, the popular question is: Why not now? Why not bring up the kids now and give them the experience to allow them to feel more comfortable in October — particularly since the Rampage is last in the AHL’s Pacific Division with a .443 winning percentage and a longshot to make the playoffs?
It’s mostly about the numbers — numbers that could drastically change before the NHL’s March 1 trade deadline.
Colorado, a bona fide trade-deadline seller, only has approximately $750,000 in available salary cap space, according to CapFriendly.com, and only three players — forward , defenseman and goalie Jeremy Smith — are on two-way contracts, paying far less in the minors. Rantanen, 20, and Zadorov, 21, are major rebuilding pieces and won’t be demoted, and Smith is the required backup goalie with out for the season after groin surgery.
So the only reasonable way to see Bigras (he turns 22 on Thursday), Compher, 21, and Greer, 20, in an Avalanche sweater the rest of this season depends on what happens before the March 1 deadline. If Colorado trades veterans for prospects and draft picks, it will have the ability to bring up the young guys because of available cash and roster spots.
Still, the Avalanche might choose to keep their top signed prospects in the AHL for the rest of the season.
“When you look at where we are as a team right now, obviously, the next step is to start the process of rebuilding and make sure we get back to where we want to be as an organization,” Avs coach said Sunday before his team’s 3-2 overtime loss to the at the . “We’ve got some good young kids that we like that are playing well in San Antonio — and elsewhere, for that matter. The game is getting faster and faster, so we want to make sure we’re getting faster, and generally that means you have to find players to fit that bill, and we have some in our organization, so getting younger will help us.”
The Avs undoubtedly are trying to move their pending unrestricted free agents, most notably forward ($5,333,333 cap hit) and defenseman ($2 million), for prospects or draft picks. The unrestricted free agents include forwards , and (injured), defenseman and Smith.
Trading players signed for next season and beyond is, of course, possible, but the preferred returns would be prospects, draft picks or young NHL players in their entry-level contracts and exempt from the expansion draft in June. Each team is allowed to protect seven forwards, three defensemen and a goalie, or eight combined forwards and defensemen and a goalie.
The Vegas Golden Knights are required to select one player from every team. From the current Colorado roster, the Knights won’t get anyone the Avs can’t live without.
That’s perhaps the only advantage of being a bad team.
