Given the breakout season from Sam Malinski in 2025-26, the Avs begin the offseason with a top four of Cale Makar, Devon Toews, Josh Manson and Malinski. They also have one of the best right-side depth charts in the NHL, and typically the starboard side is tougher to fill out.

The less good news is the next four guys on the depth chart are all unrestricted free agents and the Avs are still pretty tight on salary cap space even after trading Ross Colton. So that becomes one of Joe Sakic’s biggest challenges after returning to the general manager’s chair.

Colorado played with four right-handed defensemen for most of last season. It’s a rarity, but the Avs made it work. Right now, three of their top four are righties.

In an ideal world, the Avs will add at least two left-handed defensemen this offseason, and at least one that can regularly play top-four minutes. Doing so on a limited budget could be tricky, but trading one of the veteran forwards could also help with that endeavor.

Here’s a look at some of the options that could be available, either as UFAs or in the trade market.

Unrestricted free agents

Brett Kulak
2025-26: 1 goal, 12 points, 18:58 time on ice/contest in 83 games

Kulak was a really nice fit for the Avs after arriving in a trade from the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Avs needed a more defensive-minded defenseman and he provided that. His underlying numbers in the regular season, particularly before arriving in Denver, were not great. And he’ll be 33 years old in January. He’d be a solid fit for this team as the No. 5 guy, but it’s certainly plausible that another team would be willing to pay him more if he gets to July 1.

Brent Burns
2025-26: 12 goals, 35 points, 18:52 in 82 games

Does he want to play another year? Does he want to stay in Denver? Do the Avs want to bring him back? Burns repeatedly said he wasn’t thinking beyond this year during this past season, but he certainly looked like a player who has at least one more year of competent hockey in him. Given the Avs’ cap issues, bringing him back on another one-year deal with incentives that can be pushed to the 2027-28 cap if needed does make some sense. Will they want to have four righties in the top six again?

Jack Ahcan
2025-26: 0 goals, 2 points, 11:32 in 11 games

Feels like an obvious match, particularly if he’d accept another two-way contract. Not sure he’d find a one-way deal on the open market, but he’s shown he can play in a limited role in the NHL. The Avs would probably be comfortable starting the season with him as the No. 7 guy, but just like this past year, they’d also very likely be looking for an NHL veteran or two ahead of the deadline for more insurance.

Nick Blankenburg
2025-26: 8 goals, 24 points, 16:48 in 61 games

Blankenburg’s pre-Colorado numbers seem very likely to earn him a contract that doesn’t work for the Avs. It makes sense for him to look for a regular role, perhaps even as a No. 4/5 guy. The Avs are more likely to see him as a No. 6/7 guy, particularly with all the righties in front of him.

Ryan Shea
2025-26: 6 goals, 35 points, 18:53 in 80 games

Darren Raddysh just signed an 8-year, $68 million deal after one wildly successful NHL season. Shea is going to be a smaller version of that. He had 70 NHL games before last year, but was a very solid second-pairing guy for a playoff team. The offense was definitely helped by Pittsburgh shooting better than 13% when he was on the ice at 5-on-5. He’s a medium-sized lefty who is a strong penalty killer and he doesn’t turn 30 until midseason. He is also probably the best lefty on the market right now.

Jeremy Lauzon
2025-26: 1 goal, 13 points, 17:11 in 68 games

Lauzon could be an alternative to Kulak, if he finds greener pastures elsewhere. Not as dependable from an availability standpoint in recent years, but Lauzon would add size (6-foot-3, 225 pounds) and defensive solidity. He’d fit better as the No. 3 guy on the left side, if possible. He could give Jared Bednar the option of a true shutdown pairing with Manson, or an offense-defense duo with Malinski.

Mike Reilly
2025-26: 1 goal, 9 points, 14:58 in 42 games

Reilly has had solid underlying numbers for years, but he’s also played only 60 games over the past two seasons. He’s listed at 6-foot-2, can play both sides and handles sheltered minutes quite well. He played 42 games for the Carolina Hurricanes this season, but only twice during the club’s title run. He could be that type of player for the Avs — a regular for much of the season in a third-pairing role, then potentially the No. 7 come playoff time if they add another defenseman before the trade deadline.

Carson Soucy
2025-26: 5 goals, 12 points, 16:31 in 76 games

Soucy is very tall, at 6-foot-5. He had a solid start to his season with the New York Rangers. Most of his underlying numbers were pretty similar with the New York Islanders, but the latter was outscored 21-10 with him on the ice at 5-on-5 in just 30 games. The Isles collapsed near the end of the season. Other front offices will need to do their homework to understand what went wrong there. He should be a No. 6 on the Avs, but might get paid to be more elsewhere.

Vincent Desharnais
2025-26: 1 goal, 7 points, 18:11 in 53 games

Desharnais is very tall (6-foot-7) and offers almost no offense. But he’s also a better defensive player than a couple of the other size XL defensemen in this market. He is right-handed, so he’d only be an option if Burns doesn’t return and the Avs are OK with rolling out four righties at times again next year.

Colton White
2025-26: 0 goals, 4 points, 12:15 in 23 games

White is a medium-sized guy (6-foot-1, 187 pounds) who can move the puck and hold his own in sheltered minutes. Now that he’s 29 years old, getting a full-time gig might never happen. But as a potential No. 7, he could be a solid depth addition. The Avs could do worse than White/Ahcan as their No. 7/8 defensemen.

Trade market

Bowen Byram/Morgan Rielly

Here are the two best left-handed defensemen whose names are squarely in the trade market discussion. It’s hard to see a reunion with Byram. Samuel Girard is gone, but the top-two guys — and a blocked path to the power play — are still here. Rielly is an offense-first guy that doesn’t really fit what the Avs need, given both the acquisition cost and his cap number.

Pavel Mintyukov/Olen Zellweger

The Anaheim Ducks have about $43 million in cap space this summer, and basically an entire defense corps behind Jackson Lacombe to re-sign or rebuild. Any of all of the old guys (John Carlson, Jacob Trouba, Radko Gudas) could leave, but the Ducks could also move one of their young RFAs — Mintyukov or Zellweger — if the negotiations don’t go well or the available space starts to dry up (Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier also need new contracts).

Jonas Siegenthaler
2025-26: 0 goals, 16 points, 19:29 in 82 games

Siegenthaler has been a bit up and down with the New Jersey Devils, but when he’s in form, he’s a solid defense-only guy on a very reasonable contract — two years left with a $3.4 million cap hit. The Devils have a new GM, and a bit of a logjam in the defense corps.

Mason Lohrei
2025-26: 7 goals, 26 points, 16:54 in 73 games

Lohrei is a 6-foot-5 defenseman with some offensive acumen who turns 26 in January. His future value lies in the answer to one question: What improvements did he actually make on the defensive side of things last season? Two seasons ago, the Boston Bruins were outscored 72-52 with Lohrei on the ice at 5-on-5. This past season, with very similar underlying numbers, Boston outscored foes 47-30. Whether or not he’s an intriguing trade target, or why the Bruins might be willing to move him, is somewhere in the answer to that question.

FOOTNOTES: The Avs announced their four-game preseason schedule Monday. It is reduced from the typical six or seven in years’ past because the NHL is moving to an 84-game regular season in 2026-27. Colorado will play Utah at home on Sept. 20 and Winnipeg at Ball Arena on Sept. 25. The Avs will travel to Manitoba to face the Jets on Sept. 21 and to Salt Lake City to play the Mammoth on Sept. 26.

There have been six trades involving NHL players in the past week, including one by the Colorado Avalanche to free up more space below the salary cap ceiling. The first big move of Joe Sakic’s second term as the Avalanche general manager sent Ross Colton to the Nashville Predators for a pair of third-round draft picks.

What further moves will Sakic and Co. make? Who are some options that might be available?

We dug into the current state of the roster in a four-part series. The Avs look pretty set in goal.

Moving Colton also creates a hole in the forward group. The Avs have a few young players who could make a push for a full-time job during training camp, but one path forward for the club this offseason could include another forward or two on the move to refresh the roster a bit, even if Sakic said at his year-end press conference that this current group was put together with a 2-3 year run in mind.

Let’s take a look the forwards that could be available, either on July 1 in free agency or via trade. One thing to remember: There are lots of NHL teams with lots of cap space, and few impact players to spend it on. That could lead to some crazy-looking free agent contracts in July.

As an example, Bobby McMann was one of the first names on this list before he signed a six-year contract worth $5.75 million per season to stay with the Seattle Kraken. The Avs aren’t going to be able to afford that type of contract with any player unless someone else beyond Colton is moved off the current roster.

Unrestricted free agents

Oliver Bjorkstrand
2025-26: 12 goals, 32 points in 80 games

Bjorkstrand has spent most of his career as a really solid, sometimes underrated player. He wasn’t that guy last season with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He also turned 31 in April. Bjorstrand just wrapped up a contract at $5.4 million per season, but could his dip last season make him a more affordable bounce-back candidate?

Andrei Kuzmenko
2025-26: 13 goals, 25 points in 52 games

Kuzmenko had an out-of-body experience with 39 goals four years ago, but he’s settled in as a solid player who would likely produce at the same level that Colton did with the Avs. He’s bounced around a bit, but a fresh start with a better team could give Kuzmenko a boost. Given other needs, the Avs aren’t likely to replace Cotlon with a similarly-paid depth wing, though. They’d likely need a cooler-than-expected market, though Kuzmenko might thread the needle and be that player in this class.

Jack Roslovic
2025-26: 21 goals, 36 points in 69 games

Back-to-back solid seasons on cheap, one-year contracts. He will also be 29 when the season begins, which makes him one of the younger UFAs who can produce in a middle-six role. The red flags? Four teams in three years isn’t one on its own, but combine that with three goals in 51 career playoff games, and teams are probably doing a little extra homework here.

A.J. Greer
2025-26: 17 goals, 32 points in 78 games

Ex-Avs journeyman who found a home with the Florida Panthers and had a breakout year in a bigger role because of all the injuries. Did he finally get the extra opportunity needed to show he’s more than just a fourth-line energy guy? He’s a big, rugged guy who still has some championship glitter on him, so there might be a team out there that really overpays if last year was a one-hit wonder offensively.

Beck Malenstyn
2025-26: 7 goals, 14 points in 81 games

Malenstyn is big and fast. He has some of the same traits as Greer, minus the one outlier year on offense. In a normal offseason with a deeper pool of players and less collective cap space available, Malenstyn could be a nice under-the-radar pickup for a club like the Avs that might like to add someone of his profile. It’s going to be hard for anyone to make any under-the-radar value signings in early July 2026, though.

Trade candidates

Mason McTavish
2025-26: 17 goals, 41 points in 75 games

Dylan Larkin has received the most attention because of his trade request, but the chances of the Avs getting into that sweepstakes are pretty slim. McTavish is also a high-profile name in trade speculation. He’s young, and he was the No. 3 pick in the 2021 NHL draft, but he and Joel Quenneville were not simpatico this past season. Does he just need a change of scenery to fulfill his potential, or is Quenneville’s deployment a harbinger of what’s to come? Would one of the Avs’ veteran wings be enough to get a package started for McTavish, who turns 24 in January?

Warren Foegele
2025-26: 13 goals, 17 points in 68 games

Foegele scored 44 goals in the previous two seasons combined before a step back last year. He’s a UFA after next season, plus the Ottawa Senators could look a lot different with captain Brady Tkachuk reportedly on his way to Florida to play with his brother. Foegele is only $500K cheaper than Colton, but would add a little more size and has been a similar, but slightly more productive player.

Jesperi Kotkaniemi
2025-26: 2 goals, 9 points in 42 games

Kotkaniemi has size, draft pedigree and fell out of favor with a one of the other top organizations in the sport. Sound familiar? Could he be the next Avs reclamation project? He turns 26 next month. There is a chance the Carolina Hurricanes will buy out Kotkaniemi, which would make him potentially available on a shorter, cheaper contract. There could be several teams intrigued if that is what happens.

But Valeri Nichushkin has been losing playoff steam for years now, and that engine needs to be the next one Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic pawns off to somebody else.

Since April 2025, Big Val has appeared in 19 postseason games for the Burgundy and Blue. He’s scored in only four of them and picked up a point in just six.

Context: In the previous 19 Stanley Cup Playoff appearances, Val had scored in 12 of them, a run that dates back to the ’22 Western Conference Final sweep of the Oilers.

More context: The Avs since April 2023 are 8-4 in the playoffs when Nichushkin finds the back of the net. They’re 12-14 when he doesn’t. They’re 9-5 when he registers at least a point. They’re 11-13 when he doesn’t. They’re 17-12 when he suits up. They went 3-6 when he doesn’t.

Look, nobody’s happier to see the Big Nuke get his life squared away than the puck heads on the Grading The Week crew. He’s been available for two straight postseasons, now, something that we couldn’t say about 2023 and 2024. That’s progress, by any standard.

But by the same token, the clock’s ticking. And not in a good way. Val turns 32 next March; he’s in line to eat up $6.125 million in cap space through the ’29-30 season; and Cale Makar’s not likely to give the Avs a major hometown discount on his extension, is he?

Ross Colton trade setting up Nichushkin swap? — B

More to the point, Big Val is presenting to the Avs some of the same issues that the Nuggets have with Jamal Murray right now: 1.) Both the Choo Choo Train and the Blue Arrow have looked older, and played older, than their actual ages (31 and 29, respectively) as of late, and 2.) Both have lost the playoff mojo, the postseason chutzpah, that proved the “X” factor that lifted their franchises to titles earlier this decade.

Val has overcome several personal and professional demons, and again, that’s not to be discounted. Yet the returns during the window that counts, the hunt for Lord Stanley, have been visibly diminishing.

A 6-foot-4 winger with a body to bang and speed to burn, Nichushkin was invisible against the Golden Knights, who more or less shoved the Avs out of the postseason as the West’s top seed. He scored two goals in 12 playoff games in 2026. He’s averaged 0.42 points in 19 postseason appearances since the spring of ’25. He’d averaged 0.86 points per playoff tilt in the 30 Cup appearances prior to that — a production drop of 51%. With the Avalanche’s title window closing, Sakic can’t afford for Val to be half the man he used to be.

Jonathon Cooper’s mini-camp absence  — D

Cooper’s not the fave topic right now at Dove Valley, but it’s a topic, nonetheless. The courts will have their say soon. Although the admittedly unqualified legal eagles on the GTW crew aren’t too sure this was the best week for the Broncos’ in-limbo edge rusher. (While unquestionably better than, say, last week at this time, for obvious reasons.)

On the litigation front, a judge notably dropped charges against Cooper’s female companion during the time of their joint arrest on June 4. A single charge of criminal mischief was removed from her record this past Tuesday.

Cooper, meanwhile, was facing five active charges as of Friday afternoon, including felony second-degree assault by strangulation.

On the football side of things, the Broncos formally excused Cooper from mandatory training camp — but “excused” could be interpreted any number of ways, given the heat of the moment. The innocent remain so until proven guilty. But NFL precedent is not the same as the law, and it’s highly likely that the league will levy a multi-game suspension against Cooper, given the charges — whether he’s a member of the Broncos this fall or not.

Either way, Sean Payton and his staff have to plan for life without Cooper for a medium-term or a long-term window in 2026. If this past week was any indication, that process has already started.

Goaltenders | Defensemen | Wings

There are only two NHL teams besides the Colorado Avalanche who are in the conversation for best collection of centers and those clubs have combined for five Stanley Cup Final appearances in the past four seasons.

Center talent and depth was undeniably one of the reasons Colorado stormed through the regular season as the league’s top team and breezed by Los Angeles and Minnesota in the first two rounds of the playoffs. It’s also a valid reason for Avs fans to be frustrated.

Florida has two championships and a third Cup Final appearance with Aleksander Barkov, Sam Bennett and Anton Lundell. Edmonton has two trips to the Cup Final with Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

But the Avs stalled out in the Western Conference Final this past season with Nathan MacKinnon, Brock Nelson, Nazem Kadri and Jack Drury at center, not to mention Nicolas Roy and others capable of moving to the middle when needed.

Those guys are obviously a big reason why the “Cup or bust” expectations will remain next season.

“The core guys are still here, so we’re going to shoot and try and win another Cup next year, and make it two,” Avalanche president and general manager Joe Sakic said. “But I will tell you, it’s a tough league. We’re not the only team that is trying to win the Stanley Cup. I mean, it’s a deep league. There’s a lot of great teams, and there’s only one team at the end of every year that’s happy.

“With our group, their goal is to try and win another Stanley Cup, and that’s what they’re going to shoot for, and that’s what we’re going to try and hopefully do.”

What just happened

MacKinnon led the NHL in goals for the first time and finished third in the Hart Trophy voting. His 127 points are third-most in franchise history, and he now owns the two best seasons since the club moved to Denver. When MacKinnon was injured blocking a shot with the Avs up 3-2 in Game 3 of the conference final, the season effectively ended in that moment.

Nelson had a great regular season — netting 33 goals, scoring 65 points, and finishing third in the Selke Trophy voting. When he and Valeri Nichushkin were paired together, it was the best 1-2 punch in the NHL at controlling possession and one of the league’s top penalty-killing duos as well. Nelson struggled throughout the postseason, most frustratingly when he failed to convert several great chances against Vegas.

Kadri arrived at the deadline to much fanfare. His production improved with Colorado despite moving down the lineup. He helped the power play surge in March and look competent in the first two rounds. He also sustained a broken finger in April, which kind of got lost among all the other injuries Colorado players were dealing with during the Vegas series.

Drury was OK as the club’s No. 3 center, but was excellent when moved back to his No. 4 role. He’s one of the very best 4Cs in the league and a strong penalty killer.

Roy arrived one day before Kadri, and spent most of his time on the wing. He was strong in a supporting role during the playoffs. Both Parker Kelly and Ross Colton spent some time at center, but coach Jared Bednar liked both more on the wing. Rookie Zakhar Bardakov also spent some of his limited ice time at center and looked like a player who might fit better in the long term as a wing.

“When I look at their team, I guess I lean towards not making a whole bunch of changes,” ESPN analyst Ray Ferraro told The Denver Post. “But I would wonder if there’s a way they can spruce up the middle of the ice with a little more speed? So maybe Kadri needs to go to the wing, and if you do that, can you find a centerman that can play there?

What¶¶Òõap next

The Avs’ center depth and talent looked formidable before the stunning results against Vegas.

Will Nelson bounce back after a tough postseason? He was a consistent playoff performer with the Islanders.

Kadri is a slightly different case because of his history in Denver, but Nelson was much better in his first full season after the trade. Could Kadri, given the unsettling aspects of a trade and the finger injury, find a bump in play next year?

To further Ferraro’s point, Kadri turns 36 years old on Oct. 6. Nelson turns 35 nine days later. MacKinnon will be 31 in September, though he obviously remains one of the fastest, most dynamic players in the sport. Roy turns 30 in February.

It is an interesting idea, trying to find a younger center with more pace to join the group. Kadri had mixed results on the wing when he spent some time there for the Avs.

Drury is a restricted free agent and is one of the keys to this offseason. With Colton off to Nashville, the Avs have nearly $7 million in cap space. They also need to sign at least two NHL defensemen.

While Colorado views Drury as a No. 4 center and would certainly like to keep him, there is probably a team or six out there that would like to have Drury as an option for its No. 3C role. If the two sides can’t find the middle ground on a contract, the Avs could hold their ground and see what an unpleasant arbitration process yields.

That would likely lead to a one- or two-year contract and more than likely a new team in the near future. If Drury won the arbitration case, that could cause salary-cap-related problems for the club. Or the Avs could explore a trade for Drury’s rights before it ever got to that.

If everyone is here on opening night, the Avs still have a very strong 1-4 up the middle with Roy and Kelly as solid options in reserve. High-profile college free agent addition TJ Hughes can also play center. He’s been an offense-first player, but his college coach believes he can help an NHL team in the near future in any role.

Future depth chart

*Unrestricted free agent in 2027; + Restricted free agent on July 1; # RFA in 2027

This is where things could get interesting.

The Avs look set in net, both at the NHL level and beyond, for next season. The defense corps needs some work, but there’s an excellent top four to build around.

But the place to look for where newly named general manager Joe Sakic might shake up this roster for next season is on the wings. It already started Tuesday, when the Avalanche sent Ross Colton to the Nashville Predators, reuniting him with Chris MacFarland, for two third-round picks.

And Colton might not be the only wing who isn’t on the roster on opening night.

What just happened

When all of Colorado’s wings were healthy last season, it was hard to name more than one or two teams with a better collection of them in the NHL.

Martin Necas had a career season, setting new highs with 38 goals and 100 points. He was also Czechia’s best player at the 2026 Winter Olympics, had a great second round against the Minnesota Wild and then was one of Colorado’s least impactful players against Vegas in the Western Conference Final.

Gabe Landeskog’s brilliant comeback story continued. He won the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, did not miss a game in the regular season because of his reconstructed knee and then had five goals and 11 points in 13 playoff games.

Valeri Nichushkin and Artturi Lehkonen were both very good and very important players, though neither produced goals at the same per-contest rate as they have in recent seasons. Both also missed time during the playoffs with injuries, and their effectiveness was limited by said ailments in other contests as well.

Colton scuffled for long stretches in the regular season and spent the first two games of the playoffs as a healthy scratch, but was one of the club’s more consistent players once inserted into the lineup. Nicolas Roy, who also saw some time at center, was a great fit as a depth scorer and versatile player after arriving from Toronto ahead of the trade deadline.

Parker Kelly had a dream season, smashing career-best totals with 21 goals and 35 points. Logan O’Connor missed nearly the entire regular season, but looked like the critical depth playoff performer of old once the postseason began.

Joel Kiviranta’s year after a breakout offensive campaign did not look as impressive on the scoresheet as the 2024-25 season, but he remained a trusted depth guy for coach Jared Bednar. Zakhar Bardakov made the team in training camp and showed flashes of intriguing energy, but the NHL rookie played in just four of the final 12 regular-season games and did not play in the playoffs. He is a restricted free agent and could return to Russia because there isn’t an obvious path to more regular time next year in Denver.

Gavin Brindley was the club’s best rookie and an early-season spark plug, but he was sent to the AHL shortly after the Avs loaded up at the deadline and did not return. Taylor Makar made the most appearances (12) of a forward who began the season with the Colorado Eagles and looked like a player who might turn out to be a fourth-line regular at some point in the future.

What¶¶Òõap next

Colton is gone … will anyone else from this group join him?

Necas is about to start the first season of an eight-year, $92 million contract. His full no-move clause kicks in July 1. He could finish with 110 points next season, but he can’t answer the big-picture questions about his ultimate value until the 2027 playoffs.

When Nichushkin and Lehkonen are healthy and in form, they give the Avs star-level value on very team-friendly contracts. But, the first part of that sentence feels more in question, given their ages and style of play. Lehkonen is also entering the final year of his contract, so all options — an extension, playing it out or a trade — seem plausible.

In each of the past two postseasons when Colorado advanced beyond the first round, Lehkonen’s impact declined. That was definitely injury-related in 2026. Nichushkin’s availability issues have been well documented.

Not everyone in this core group will age at the same rate. Finding a way to inject another impact player into this group that is closer to Necas’ age or even younger would be ideal, but the Avs don’t have the future assets (nor the cap flexibility) to do that right now. Trading another outer-circle core piece might be the only avenue.

Landeskog had no tangible issues with his knee this year, but that doesn’t mean it’s fine in perpetuity. His value obviously goes far beyond the production. Colton has to be replaced, though there could be an internal candidate or two — at least to start next season.

Either Roy or Kelly could end up back at center if Jack Drury doesn’t return. Conversely, Nazem Kadri could slide to the wing to help one of the top-two lines if Bednar thinks one of the depth guys can handle the No. 3 center spot.

Brindley and Makar will be two guys to watch during training camp, along with T.J. Hughes, who had no trouble being an impact guy for the Eagles, but his ultimate NHL ceiling is both unclear and fascinating.

There are lots of questions here:

1. Will the Avs just run this group back, minus Colton, and expect either better health luck, improved postseason results or both?

2. Will the Avs be able to find a younger top-nine forward while still rebuilding the back half of the defense corps?

3. Could the Avs afford to part with a top-end forward to specifically add one more impact defenseman, and is there enough depth up front to cover for that, at least until the trade deadline?

Moving Colton for cap flexibility kicked off the Sakic 2.0 regime and the 2026 offseason. It might not be the last big shakeup, either.

Future depth chart

^ Unrestricted free agent on July 1; * UFA in 2027; + Restricted free agent on July 1; # RFA in 2027

Now he’s traded for him.

Joe Sakic and the Colorado Avalanche sent Colton to the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, where he will reunite with the club’s former general manager. The Avs also sent along minor-league goaltender Isak Posch.

The return is two third-round draft picks, plus former University of Denver goaltender Magnus Chrona.

Moving Colton frees up $4 million of cap space for the 2026-27 season for the Avalanche. They now have nearly $7 million in space available, .

That could allow Colorado to sign No. 4 center Jack Drury, who is a restricted free agent, or UFA defenseman Brett Kulak, plus make some depth additions to fill out the roster. Sakic may still need to move another forward if he wants to keep Drury and Kulak, or invest more resources into the defense corps.

The draft picks coming to Colorado are Nashville’s 2026 third-round selection, which is No. 74 overall, and the Avs’ 2027 third, which was originally traded to the Predators for Juuso Parssinen during the 2024-25 campaign.

This trade is similar to the one MacFarland made for the Avs last summer, sending Miles Wood and Charlie Coyle to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Gavin Brindley and two picks. That deal opened more than $7 million in cap flexibility for the Avs and helped further bolster a club that went on to win the Presidents’ Trophy and finish with a franchise-record 121 points, but fell short of its ultimate goal with a stunning Western Conference Final defeat to the Vegas Golden Knights.

Colton is entering the final season of a four-year, $16 million contract he signed with the Avs in July 2023. His three years with Colorado were a bit of a mixed bag.

His production decreased each of the three years, with nine goals and 24 points in 73 games this past season. Colton had multiple stretches over the past couple of seasons where he went through a prolonged scoring drought, even though his two-way play was solid throughout much of that time.

Colton began the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs as the Avs’ 13th forward. He was a healthy scratch for the first two games against the Los Angeles Kings, but had two goals and five points in the Avs’ final 11 playoff contests.

It is possible that Nashville will give Colton another chance to play center. He started in the middle for the Avalanche in 2023-24, before moving to the wing after some trade additions. Colton also made a brief appearance back as the center of the third line this past season, but Colorado coach Jared Bednar clearly preferred him on the wing.

Chrona won a national championship with the Pioneers in 2022. He played nine games for the San Jose Sharks in 2023-24 near the end of the season, but has mostly been an AHL netminder the past three seasons.

The 25-year-old goalie was set to be an unrestricted free agent July 1, but has already agreed to a two-year contract with Brynäs in the Swedish Elite League.

Posch, 24, went 15-7-8 with an .891 save percentage for the Colorado Eagles in the AHL this season as the No. 1B/backup to Trent Miner. Moving Posch does provide a bit of clarity for Colorado’s depth chart in net.

The Avs will have top prospect Ilya Nabokov and new signing Nikita Novosyolov to compete with Miner for the No. 3 spot on the depth chart behind Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood.

Whatever level of patience and stability Joe Sakic truly believes the Colorado Avalanche need this offseason, he’s got some work to do with the defense corps.

There could be some interesting decisions with the forwards, while the goaltending is the most likely group to look exactly the same on opening night as it does today. The blue line could generate a bunch of headlines in the next few weeks, though.

“There’s always changes, but we have the core guys here,” Sakic said at his year-end press conference. “We have a nucleus. We’re a deep team. We feel we’re strong in all the positions. Obviously, we have some UFAs that we’re going to try and sign to keep the group together, but it’s a great group.

“They care about each other. They want to win. They’re very competitive. They’re disappointed, but their expectations are to try and come back and try and compete and win a Stanley Cup.”

Two of the team’s three key free agents are part of the defense corps, and there are depth concerns as well.

What just happened

When fully healthy, the Avs defense corps was arguably the league’s best in 2025-26. Cale Makar finished second in the Norris Trophy voting despite his lowest per-game offensive output since 2020-21. The start of Devon Toews’ year wasn’t at his best, but he had a strong finish after the Olympic break and into the postseason.

Sam Malinski was one of the breakout players of the entire NHL, earned a new contract and was playing like a No. 3 defenseman at his peak. He wasn’t near the new standard he set in the Western Conference Final, and was widely believed to be playing through a compromising injury after missing two games in the second round.

Josh Manson missed four games in the playoffs, but otherwise filled his role as the club’s most physical defenseman while collecting the second-most points of his career. Brent Burns played every game like always, was a hit in the dressing room and showed he can still play even past his 41st birthday.

The addition of Brett Kulak as a steady, defense-first guy at the trade deadline was a success, even if the price tag on the day of the trade seemed a bit steep.

Former GM Chris MacFarland admitted that he tried to add three defensemen ahead of the deadline, not just Kulak and Nick Blankenburg — a sign that Colorado knew the depth of its defense during a long playoff run could be an issue. Blankenburg played to mixed results as the No. 7 guy, and Jack Ahcan ended up getting three of the eight games available because of injuries to the top six.

What¶¶Òõap next

The top priority is a new contract for Makar, who can be a UFA in July 2027. He’s eligible to sign July 1, and Sakic made it clear the Avs expect to get a deal done this summer.

But there are a lot of moves to make to build out the defense corps for next season as well. Makar, Toews, Malinski and Manson are a great foundation to build from, but the next four guys — Kulak, Burns, Blankenburg and Ahcan — are all unrestricted free agents.

The Avs are currently short on salary cap space, so one or more of the forwards could be on the move to help allocate more resources to the blue line.

Does Burns want to keep playing and do the Avs want another year with him? He can break the NHL’s ironman record next year if he continues. A similar deal to this past year — $1 million in salary with bonuses makes sense, whether that is in Denver or elsewhere.

What could Kulak get on the open market? Hint: Probably a lot. There is a strong argument that Kulak would be the No. 1 left-handed defenseman on the market, and one of the 3-5 best overall.

That leads to the next big question: Can the Avs find more balance after entering the 2026 playoffs with five righties in their top seven?

Lining up Manson and Malinski (or flip them) down the right side behind Makar is excellent, particularly if Malinski is able to retain or even build on the gains he made this past season. But the Avs need to fill out the LHD side of the depth chart. Manson and Burns worked together, but Colorado needs more lefties.

Trading Samuel Girard for a guy in the last year of his contract (Kulak) created this conundrum, but if the Avs can’t sign Kulak, they’ll be looking for a similar-style player to replace him. In an ideal world, Sakic can land a young-ish left-handed defenseman who is capable of playing on the second pairing now and possibly be the heir to Toews as the club’s No. 2 guy as he ages.

Will the Avs be able to count on any help from the Eagles? There are a couple of guys with potential to be depth options for them next season, beyond just bringing Ahcan and/or Blankenburg back.

The Avs are clearly intrigued by Alex Gagne, a 6-foot-5 lefty who was a college free agent from New Hampshire and became a solid contributor for the Eagles in his first pro season. He’ll be 24 in August. Then there is University of Denver alum Sean Behrens, who missed all of two years ago with a knee injury and just completed his first healthy pro campaign.

It’s hard to see Colorado wanting to break camp with one of those guys in the lineup, but maybe one of them can work his way up the depth chart to the No. 6 or 7 spot over the course of next season. Behrens’ size will work against him, but his smarts could help him find a depth role.

It could take some creativity, but the Avs will likely sign or trade for at least three defensemen, if not more, between now and training camp. And that’s not counting a potential mega-deal for Makar, which will help shape the salary cap puzzle for 2027-28 and beyond.

Future depth chart

^ Unrestricted free agent on July 1; * UFA in 2027; + Restricted free agent in 2027

The goaltending position is a near-perfect reflection of where the Colorado Avalanche stand heading into the summer of 2026.

Scott Wedgewood and Mackenzie Blackwood combined for one of the best regular-season performances in franchise history, winning the William Jennings Trophy for yielding the fewest goals in the NHL. “The Lumberyard” combined for a solid showing in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, but by the end of the Western Conference Final, there were questions about whether the duo can get the Avs where they ultimately want to go.

“They’re in a good spot,” Cory Schneider, a former NHL goaltender, teammate of both Avs netminders and analyst for NHL Network and MSG Networks, told The Denver Post. “You can sit there and blame the goaltending. It was one of a few reasons (they lost), but I don’t think it was the reason. They’re a team built to survive with good enough goaltending, kind of like in ’22 when they won with (Darcy) Kuemper and (Pavel) Francouz.

“I think most teams would be pretty envious of those two. If you went around the league and asked you trade your two for our two, I think most teams would take those guys.”

What just happened

Wedgewood led the league in save percentage, goals against average and finished fifth in Vezina Trophy voting. The 32-year-old career backup was one of the great stories in the NHL this season, smashing career bests in every statistical category.

Since arriving first, 10 days ahead of Blackwood during the 2024-25 season, Wedgewood quickly integrated with the Avs’ leadership core and became a fan favorite. Whether it was his style of play, underdog story or immersion into some of the club’s key theme nights, “Wedge-ie” chants became synonymous with his rise to opening the playoffs as the starter.

His play in the first round was near flawless, but he was replaced by Blackwood in each of the next two rounds.

“Scott had an amazing season and did everything you could ask of him,” Schneider said. “It¶¶Òõap not a knock to say he just bumped into his ceiling a little bit. You need a good 1B and a guy like Scott. But I think when the chips are on the table, Mackenzie has got to become the guy who is going to carry you there.”

Blackwood had an up-and-down year. It started late because of an offseason surgery, and that in part allowed Wedgewood to kick off his career-best season. When Blackwood’s season did begin, he roared to a 13-1-1 start and ultimately was the first alternate for Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano, Italy.

The middle of his campaign was undone by another injury. His play slipped after his return: 5-7 with an .880 save percentage across 14 games between Jan. 16 and March 16.

He watched while Wedgewood started the first seven postseason games. He had two great starts, including Game 4 against Vegas, but also one that he didn’t finish.

“It¶¶Òõap freaking hard not to play for so long and come into a big game,” Blackwood said after the Game 4 loss. “But you know, I just said, ‘(expletive) it and go play the best I can and give them the best chance to win and just battle.’ ”

Down a level, Trent Miner had a similar end to Wedgewood — great start to a postseason run, but the guy at the other end of the ice outplayed him in Games 6 and 7 of the AHL conference finals. Miner, 25, collected his first NHL win and a really nice year as the club’s No. 3 goalie, but will also face stiff competition to keep that place next season.

What’s next

The Avs haven’t been this stable, up and down the depth chart, in net in a long time.

Blackwood has four years remaining on his contract and currently has the 22nd-highest cap hit for the 2026-27 season at $5.25 million. Wedgewood is signed for another year at $2.5 million. There are eight goalies slated to make more than the Jennings Trophy-winning duo combined.

Still, Blackwood turns 30 in December. It’s going to be a massive year for him.

“I think Mackenzie really has to establish himself as the guy,” Schneider said. “He’s got so much talent, so much upside. But he’s starting to get older, and then it¶¶Òõap not upside anymore, it¶¶Òõap unrealized potential. When he’s healthy and confident, he can be an elite goaltender.

“He’s got to prove that he can be healthy and have his head on straight for an entire year. That is going to be his challenge. I think he can rise to it, but you kind of don’t know until he does it.”

Colorado has four more goaltenders under contract for next season. The headliner is Ilya Nabokov, the club’s top pick in the 2024 NHL draft and top prospect, regardless of position. The 23-year-old joined the Colorado Eagles at the end of his KHL season, but has yet to play in a North American game.

Nabokov is a wild card. He was great in the KHL for two years, though his numbers dipped this past season. Can he unseat Miner as the Eagles’ No. 1, or even challenge Wedgewood? The latter might be a stretch, but what impact he makes next year could alter the course of the depth chart behind Blackwood in 2027 and beyond.

“Goaltending was not an issue all year,” Avs president and general manager Joe Sakic said. “I like the way that it was operated. They both played well, and we expect, to be honest, I expect them to get a little bit even better next year and a little stronger. You go to Blackwood, and he had a tough start last year (with) injuries. It’s hard for goaltenders to miss all the training camp, basically, and get back and try and get in a rhythm.

“He’s 100%. He was 100% down the stretch. He’s got a whole summer to get ready and focus.”

Future depth chart

* Unrestricted free agent in 2027; + Restricted free agent in 2027

If anything, it might be worse.

Joe Sakic and Josh Kroenke spoke about the end of the season and what’s next earlier this week. While plenty of Avs fans have clamored online for significant changes, it sure sounded like the two men at the top of the franchise’s food chain see a different path forward.

“Yes, we had a tough last week of hockey, but we still, from September on — we won the Presidents’ Trophy,” Sakic said Thursday. “We had the most points in franchise history. We played really well against L.A., really well against Minnesota. We played against a team that, just for that time, played better than we did. No excuses, but we’ll be ready for next year. So overall, it was a great year.”

That is the great dichotomy of this Avalanche team at this specific point. This was a wildly successful group for nearly seven months. This was a team that failed, in the span of one week, and ultimately won exactly half (eight) of the number of postseason games it expected to.

How Sakic, now the general manager along with his president of hockey operations duties, and the Avs move forward, does hinge in part on analyzing what went wrong against the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final. But how much stock to put in four losses versus the previous 91 games?

How much does the failure against Vegas connect to the failures against Dallas the previous two seasons? For some fans, that is everything. For the people who run NHL franchises, there is nuance and context.

For Sakic, Kroenke and the Avs, the analysis of that nuance and context could define the remaining years of Nathan MacKinnon’s prime. What has transpired with the Golden Knights — and with the Carolina Hurricanes — has offered more context to analyze.

How have both of their runs offered insight into the Avs? It’s still pretty complicated, but let’s dig through some of it.

Let’s start with Vegas. If Carolina wins Sunday night in Game 6, it will be nearly impossible to not look at the Golden Knights’ 2026 playoff run as an outlier. And specifically, that this Vegas team, with 82 regular-season games and 18 other playoff contests outside of the conference final, beating Colorado in four games, will be one of the great outliers in playoff history.

That’s not to say Vegas didn’t deserve to beat Colorado. But how the Golden Knights did it is entirely antithetical to everything else about their playoff run and season at large. This was a championship-contending club on paper, but it rarely played like one. It may still win one, though something drastic will need to change after how Carolina has taken full control of this series — the Hurricanes are currently on a 13-6 run since falling behind 4-0 in Game 3.

Vegas absolutely devised a game plan to slow down Colorado and executed it to near perfection. For all but one period of four games, the Golden Knights looked like one of the best defensive teams in the sport.

For much of the other 17 playoff games against two inferior teams (Utah, Anaheim) and one similar club (Carolina) to Colorado, the Golden Knights have simply not been that same positionally sound, mistake-free juggernaut.

Vegas has allowed four or more goals nine times in 17 playoff games against non-Avs opponents. The Knights allowed four goals total in 11 of the 12 periods against the Avalanche, with one mistake-prone period in Game 3.

Here is Vegas’ expected goals allowed per 60 minutes, broken down by series, per Natural Stat Trick:

Utah – 2.69
Anaheim – 3.25
Colorado – 2.79
Carolina – 3.02

What changed against the Avs? Carter Hart’s six-game heater, beginning at the end of the Anaheim series, is definitely part of it. Hart went 6-4 with a .905 save percentage to start this playoff run, then 6-0 with a .948 and has followed that up with 2-3 and a historically bad .856 in the Stanley Cup Final.

How did Vegas play so well defensively against the Avs, and how has Carolina (and Anaheim) managed to find so much joy in the offensive end are two critical questions for Colorado’s front office to answer. There are other weird nuggets that point to Vegas having an out-of-body experience for a week against Colorado — like how the Golden Knights have found almost no depth scoring against the other three teams, but their “other guys” poured in seven goals against the Avs.

But for the Avs’ purposes, what went wrong for them against Vegas, and whether or not it is preventable in the future, is key. The Avs built a regular-season Terminator, and for two rounds, it looked great in the playoffs, as well.

Meanwhile, Carolina’s run to within a game of a championship offers other types of insight to ponder. Rod Brind’Amour has been one of the three most successful coaches of the past eight years, along with Colorado’s Jared Bednar and Tampa Bay’s Jon Cooper.

Those are the three teams with the most regular-season points accumulated in that span. But Brind’Amour has dealt with similar criticism as what Bednar has faced the past few seasons — namely, his style doesn’t translate to success in the postseason. Carolina made the conference finals three times before 2026 and went 1-12.

The Hurricanes stuck with their head coach, and are a win away from the ultimate reward. Cooper hasn’t won a playoff series in four years, but he has two championships on his resume and a third trip to the Cup Final.

Bednar’s resume falls in between those two. Will the patience and continuity preached by Sakic and Kroenke pay off?

There’s been another defining characteristic for the Hurricanes in the postseason under Brind’Amour — terrible special teams. From 2018-25, Carolina was 12th on the power play and first on the penalty kill across seven regular seasons. But, among the 23 clubs with 20-plus playoff games in that span, the Hurricanes’ power play cratered to 22nd, and the PK fell to 16th.

The day before this Stanley Cup Final began, Carolina’s power play was at 12.5% in this postseason. Then, against a Vegas team that had killed off 87.5% of its foe’s power plays through three rounds, it suddenly sprang to life.

Carolina is 6-for-16 with the extra man in this series, cooking at 37.5%, and one of the reasons why the Hurricanes have gained control. What happened, and what the Avs can glean from this Hurricanes run, could certainly be useful information.

Does there need to be structural changes with how this Avalanche team plays? Does there need to be more adaptability, or maybe just a different kind of adaptability, when a team tries to play the way Vegas did, or how Dallas played in 2025?

Is there something about the current personnel that needs to change to improve the odds in the postseason?

The answers are likely somewhere in between massive changes and none at all.

Sakic was back in front of the assembled Colorado Avalanche media Thursday. MacFarland is gone, off to pilot his own franchise and what was old is new again in the Avs front office.

The message was similar, even if Sakic’s role has now changed. He sat next to Kroenke Sports & Entertainment vice-chairman Josh Kroenke this time, but belief in the Avalanche players and coaches was again a central theme.

“It’s disappointing. It stings,” said Sakic, now the president and general manager of the Avs with MacFarland in Nashville. “But we’ve got a great hockey team here, and this team was built for a 2-3 year run. We still got most of the guys coming back, and their expectations, our expectations, I know the fans’ expectations, is to try and win a (Stanley) Cup.

“And we’re hopefully going to accomplish that next year, but it really was, overall, an incredibly fun year.”

Colorado ran the league for more than six months, leading the NHL standings from Nov.  1 through the conclusion of the regular season. The Avs rolled past Los Angeles and Minnesota to reach the second half of the postseason tournament for the first time since 2022.

But the Avalanche express derailed at full speed, a stunning, fiery crash of a four-game sweep by the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Final. MacFarland is gone, but Sakic and Kroenke preached belief in the group and continuity throughout a nearly 30-minute press conference.

Sticking with Bednar

Not only will Jared Bednar return for an 11th season as head coach, but his assistants will also return. Bednar is entering the final year of his contract, but Sakic alluded to a potential extension coming later in the offseason.

“We haven’t thought about [that]. Right now, the priority is getting through the draft, free agency,” Sakic said. “Try and make our team as good as possible going into the summer. The rest of the stuff we will push that down the line. We’ll figure out later in the summer on all that stuff, but I don’t think he’s worried about it. He shouldn’t be worried about it. The contracts will come when they come.”

When asked why Bednar is returning, compared with title-winning coach Mike Malone, who was fired from the KSE-owned Denver Nuggets late in the 2024-25 season, Kroenke was succinct.

“I think he has absolute belief of the dressing room,” Kroenke said.

Sakic is now the GM of this franchise, and there is no acting or interim qualification. The structure from the past two seasons remains the same, just with MacFarland out and Sakic back in the GM chair.

While Sakic said he’s enjoyed the increased workload shifting back over the past couple of weeks, what his long-term future is and the front-office structure are still to be determined.

“I’m taking over being GM right now,” Sakic said. “We’ve got a great staff. Really confident in our group. It’s business as usual from our end. We’re going to try and, as a staff, make this team as good as possible so we can try and be a contender again.”

Colorado currently has 17 of its top 20 players from last season under contract for next year. No. 4 center Jack Drury is a restricted free agent. Two defensemen, Brett Kulak and Brent Burns, are unrestricted free agents.

The Avs do not have much room below the salary cap ceiling — a touch shy of $3 million, per PuckPedia — so just retaining those players is not an option. There is also work to be done filling out the depth beyond those 20 — extra forwards Joel Kiviranta (UFA) and Zakhar Bardakov (RFA) plus next-up defensemen Nick Blankenburg (UFA) and Jack Ahcan (UFA) all need new deals or replaced.

Sakic and Kroenke both spoke more about marginal changes than drastic ones.

“We could panic and try and blow everything up and start all over, but this team, what they’ve done over the course of the year was pretty remarkable,” Sakic said. “Now we want to give them an opportunity to try and do it again. I mean, the last two trade deadlines were meant for not just that year — to try and compete for a few years with this group and try and bring home a Stanley Cup. That’s the goal.”

Upgrades off the ice

This was the first time Kroenke spoke at an Avalanche-specific press conference since Nathan MacKinnon signed an eight-year, $100.82 million contract Sept. 20, 2022. Sakic addressed the next mega-contract Colorado expects to complete with co-franchise player Cale Makar this summer, and Kroenke had updates on a couple of other long-term franchise-building items.

One was progress on a new practice facility. The Avs currently practice at Family Sports Center in Centennial, where the team’s offices are also based. Both they and the Nuggets hope to have new spaces of their own downtown as part of KSE’s 55-acre development project around Ball Arena.

“There’s one final hurdle that we’re in,” Kroenke said. “We hope to have some information relatively soon. We’re dealing with the city, and we’re working on pedestrian access over Speer (Blvd.) in and around that. So hopefully once we are able to iron out and finalize that with the city, we’ll be able to announce something. I don’t have an exact time frame, but we’re very close.”

Another was the future of the Avalanche payroll. The NHL’s salary cap ceiling is in an era of unprecedented, rapid growth. The ceiling was $95.5 million this season, but will rise to $104 million for 2026-27 and is expected to spike to $113.5 million the following year with future, similar hikes also expected.

That has led to speculation in the NHL that far fewer franchises will be willing to spend up to or near the cap ceiling. Twelve teams, including the Avalanche, spent up to or within $1 million of the cap ceiling this year, and half the league — 16 clubs — spent more than $93 million, or within $2.5 million of the ceiling.

“I think we’ve been a cap team for how many years now?” Kroenke said. “I think with the core players that we have, we’re going to keep being as aggressive as possible. I think that some of that stuff can kind of go in cycles, but I think if you have a core of Nathan McKinnon and Cale Makar, led by Gabe Landeskog, and then the depth that we have. I think you better be pushing it, trying to go for Cups.

“I think going for Cups means you are spending as much as you can when you can, and using your resources as smartly as possible as well.”