The Avalanche signed veteran defenseman Jack Johnson to a one-year, league-minimum contract extension Sunday, but they aren’t bringing back top-six forward Evan Rodrigues next season.
Rodrigues agreed to a four-year deal with the Eastern Conference champion Florida Panthers. His average annual value was reported to be $3 million, a sturdy boost in salary and term from his one-year, $2 million contract in Colorado.
Coming from Pittsburgh, Rodrigues scored 39 points (16 goals) in 69 games for the Avs last season. He was one of only four forwards on the roster to gather five points in Colorado’s seven-game first-round playoff series.
Johnson, 36, has become one of the organization’s most trusted depth pieces. After winning the Stanley Cup with the Avalanche in 2022, he signed a one-year deal with Chicago but was brought back to Denver before the trade deadline in February.
With Sunday’s developments, seven of the Avalanche’s eight unrestricted free agents (excluding two-way players) have signed contracts for the 2023-24 season. Only Johnson and Andrew Cogliano have been re-signed. Rodrigues, J.T. Compher, Lars Eller, Erik Johnson and Matt Nieto have moved on to other teams.
The extension of Jack Johnson was signed amid fascinating context. Erik Johnson, who signed a one-year, $3.25 million deal Saturday with the Sabres, told Buffalo media Sunday that he wanted to stay in Colorado — but that the Avs didn’t want to bring him back.
Erik Johnson is the same type of player as Jack Johnson, a veteran third-pairing defenseman who kills penalties and isn’t expected to contribute much offensively at this stage of his career. The obvious difference in their short-term deals this season is cost. The Avalanche kept Jack Johnson at $775,000.
He’s likely to play alongside a combination of Sam Girard and Josh Manson on Colorado’s third pairing this season. The ideal six-man blue line for 2023-24 seems close to finalized now, and it looks familiar: Cale Makar, Devon Toews, Bo Byram, Girard, Manson and Johnson. Potential next men up are Sam Malinski, Brad Hunt and Kurtis MacDermid.
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