The Colorado Avalanche made its first foray into free agency shortly after it opened Wednesday morning.
Colorado signed forward Jaden Schwartz to a three-year, $9.75 million contract. The deal will have an average annual value of $3.25 million per season through 2028-29.
Schwartz, 34, is a Colorado College alum. He played two seasons with the Tigers from 2010-12.
A 5-foot-10, 185-pound wing, Schwartz had 11 goals and 26 points in 50 games for the Seattle Kraken this past season. He has 233 goals and 553 points in 861 career games across 15 seasons with the Kraken and, originally, the St. Louis Blues.
The Avalanche also signed depth defenseman Noah Juulsen to a two-year, $2.2 million contract. Juulsen, 29, had a career-high 10 points last season in 52 games with the Philadelphia Flyers.
Juulsen was a first-round pick in 2015 by the Montreal Canadiens. He’s a right-handed defenseman, which means the Avs now have righties and two lefties among the top seven options on the depth chart.
Colorado began the day with 11 forwards, six defensemen and two goaltenders signed to one-way contracts. After adding Schwartz and Juulsen, the Avs will have a little less than $1.3 million in salary cap space, .
Schwartz was a first-round pick by the Blues in 2010. His best NHL season came with the Blues in 2014-15, when he had 28 goals and 63 points. He also had 12 goals and 20 points in 26 postseason games during St. Louis’ run to the Stanley Cup in 2019.
He just completed a five-year, $27.5 million contract with the expansion Kraken, which he signed in 2021. Schwartz scored the first Stanley Cup Playoffs goal in Seattle in 104 years when he opened the scoring in Game 3 against the Avs in 2023. Schwartz had two goals and five points in that series, as the Kraken upset the defending champion Avalanche in seven games.
