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Devon Toews Avoids Arbitration

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One of the most interesting arbitration cases on the schedule this year was Devon Toews, who would have had to sit across the (virtual) table from Colorado Avalanche management that barely knew him. The Avalanche traded two second-round picks for Toews earlier this offseason, taking him away from the New York Islanders. That hearing, scheduled for October 31, will not be needed anymore, as the team has reached a four-year contract with Toews that will pay him an average annual value of $4.1MM.

CapFriendly has the full breakdown:

  • 2020-21: $2.35MM
  • 2021-22: $3.55MM
  • 2022-23: $4.6MM
  • 2023-24: $5.9MM

Toews, 26, is giving up three years of unrestricted free agency in the deal and turning down the chance to walk into the open market next offseason. An arbitration award would have only been able to be a one-year deal, making him a UFA at the age of 27. In exchange for giving that up, Toews has received quite the raise over the $700K salary he had averaged over the last two seasons.

Though it took him a while to get to the NHL, when he did, Toews found immediate success. A fourth-round pick in 2014 after his first season at Quinnipiac University, Toews would stay in college for two more years before joining the Islanders organization. In 2016-17 he would burst onto the AHL scene with 45 points in 76 games, racking up the most assists by any rookie and earning himself a place on the All-Rookie team.

Though injuries would limit his sophomore year, Toews would finally make it to the NHL just before Christmas in 2018 and never look back. In his first season with the Islanders he recorded 18 points in 48 games while averaging a little less than 18 minutes a game, but both those numbers ballooned in 2019-20.

Now thrown over the boards for more than 20 minutes a night and given regular powerplay time, Toews racked up 28 points in 68 games and was a monster in almost every possession statistic.

In Colorado, while the powerplay opportunity may disappear thanks to the presence of talented youngsters like Cale Makar and Samuel Girard (not to mention Bowen Byram, who is on the way), he’ll represent a perfect two-way complement that can slide in beside almost anyone. In fact, he seems a capable replacement for Ian Cole, who has quietly been extremely effective since ending up in Colorado, but whose contract expires after the 2020-21 season.

Avalanche Loan Martin Kaut To HC Dynamo

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Oct 26: After playing in just four games with HC Dynamo, Kaut is on his way to Sweden where the Avalanche have reassigned him to MODO. The Czech Extraliga has been at a standstill for weeks due to the COVID-19 situation in the country, meaning Kaut wasn’t getting in any game action. With his sights still set on the NHL, he’ll try his hand in another professional league, though MODO is in the second-tier of Swedish hockey. Kaut is still expected to return to North America when NHL training camps begin.

Sep 12: One of Colorado’s top prospects will be suiting up in the near future.  HC Dynamo of the Czech Extraliga announced that they’ve picked up winger Martin Kaut on loan from the Avalanche.  He had been training with them over the summer so it shouldn’t be long before he sees game action.

The 20-year-old spent this past season in North America with the majority of it coming with their AHL affiliate.  With the Eagles, he had five goals and 13 assists in 34 games, numbers that don’t stand out but are still decent for someone that was eligible to still play junior hockey even though his minor league numbers in his rookie year were a bit better (12-14-26 in 63 games).  The Avs also gave him his first nine NHL contests where he acquitted himself well, collecting two goals and a helper while averaging just over 10 minutes a night of playing time.

Those nine regular season games ultimately kept him off of Colorado’s postseason roster which is how he was able to train with Dynamo in recent months.  One more game with the Avalanche would have officially started his entry-level contract and they weren’t willing to do that.  Instead, his deal slid and will now run through the 2022-23 campaign.

Depending on what Colorado does this offseason, there could be some roster spots up for grabs up front in training camp.  Playing with Dynamo, a team that Kaut has familiarity with having played there for several years including his draft season, could give him a leg up on securing a bigger role when camps get underway.

Avs Likely To Reach Pre-Arbitration Agreement With Devon Toews

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  • Colorado is expected to reach a settlement with RFA defenseman Devon Toews in advance of Saturday’s scheduled arbitration hearing, notes Adrian Dater of Colorado Hockey Now. The Avalanche acquired the blueliner from the Islanders two weeks ago in exchange for second-round picks in each of the next two drafts.  The 26-year-old is a year away from UFA eligibility and is coming off a strong season that saw him collect 28 points in 68 games while logging 20:31 per night in ice time.  If GM Joe Sakic wants to ensure his new blueliner will be around for more than a year, they’ll need to reach an agreement over the next few days.

NHL General Managers Discussing Draft Lottery Changes

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While Friday’s NHL GM meeting was supposed to center around plans to return to play, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that “a good chunk” of the discussion instead was spent on proposed changes to the NHL Draft Lottery system. Specifically, the Detroit Red Wings are leading the charge to get the lottery odds of the league’s worst teams boosted and Friedman believes they have considerable support.

The lottery structure is far from untouchable. The design has shifted several times since its inception and odds have been tweaked regularly. When the lottery began in 1995, there was only one winner selected and that team would only move up four spots. That structure changed in 2013, when the four spot limit was eliminated and every non-playoff team had a shot at the No. 1 overall pick, as they do now. In 2015, things got even more difficult for the league’s worst teams, as the odds shifted to the benefit of those teams closer to playoff contention in an effort to deter “tanking”. Finally, in 2016 things got even worse for those bottom dwellers, as all three of the top picks became lottery selections and the league’s worst team could fall all the way to fourth. And that is exactly what has happened in three of the past four years. In fact, the last-place finisher in the regular season standings has only retained the top pick twice since the structure shifted in 2013.

With teams like the 2017 Colorado Avalanche and now the 2020 Detroit Red Wings enduring historically bad seasons – without obvious tanking tactics at that – only to drop out of the top three picks entirely, it seems many of the league’s clubs have decided a change is in order. The current odds of the 31st-place team winning the lottery is 18.5%. This is 5% more than the team in second place, but still relatively low compared to the pre-2015 odds of 25%. The league has asked for specific proposals for a new alignment, which will also have to account for an incoming 32nd team in 2021-22, but given the recent history of deeply needy teams striking out in the lottery, it would not be surprise to see the odds for the last-place team bump back over 20% at least with bottom-three in the regular season standings all receiving a boost in their likelihood of sticking in the top three slots.

Snapshots: Joyce, Colorado, Payment

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The Toronto Maple Leafs are expected to hire Eric Joyce as their new director of hockey strategy, according to Frank Seravalli of TSN. Joyce had been with the Florida Panthers since 2013, most recently as the senior vice president of hockey operations and assistant general manager. With new leadership in the Florida front office, there was bound to be additional departures.

More from around the league:

  • The Colorado Avalanche won’t be playing at the Pepsi Center next season. No, that rink will now be called the Ball Arena after a new partnership with the organization. Ball Corporation and Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, which own the Avalanche, announced a “first-of-its-kind global partnership across three marquee venues” to advance a goal of waste control and sustainability in sports and entertainment.
  • Seravalli also reports that players that have a contract for 2020-21 and were frozen on an NHL roster at the time of the league pause, will be paid 8.1% of their upcoming salary by October 31. John Shannon adds on Twitter that this will be the only payment players will receive before the next season begins. This payment is important to remember when evaluating trades starting next month, as the remaining salary will be lessened even further even though games have yet to start.

Hunter Miska Re-Signs With Colorado Avalanche

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The Colorado Avalanche have signed one of their depth goaltenders, inking Hunter Miska to a two-year contract. Miska played most of last season with the Colorado Eagles on an AHL contract before signing an NHL deal with the Avalanche in February. After issuing a qualifying offer this fall, he’ll instead sign a multi-year deal and stick with the team through the 2021-22 season.

Miska actually ended up on the bench for the Avalanche in the playoffs, backing up Michael Hutchinson after the team lost their other goaltenders to injury. That came a little more than a year after the Arizona Coyotes decided not to give him a qualifying offer, allowing him to join Colorado as a free agent. In 26 appearances for the Eagles this season, Miska posted a .924 save percentage and got his career right back on track.

The 25-year-old was never drafted, but posted strong numbers at the BCHL, USHL and collegiate levels before jumping into professional hockey in 2017. Slightly undersized for an NHL goaltender, he nevertheless has been excellent since joining the Colorado organization and will now serve as valuable depth behind Philipp Grubauer and Pavel Francouz. The Avalanche of course also have Adam Werner under contract, who figures to get a good chunk of the AHL starts again this season.

Colorado Re-Signs Tyson Jost

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Colorado has taken care of one of its restricted free agents as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that center Tyson Jost has accepted his qualifying offer.  That means he receives a one-year, one-way deal from the Avalanche worth $874,125.

The 22-year-old was a first-round pick of the Avs back in 2016 (10th overall) and while he made his NHL debut less than a year later, he has yet to become the impact forward they were hoping he’d be.  Instead, he has been a relatively consistent depth scorer, notching between 22 and 26 points in each of his first three full seasons.  Last year, Jost was in between those amounts, picking up eight goals and 15 assists in 67 games while his ice time dipped below 13 minutes for the first time in his career.  Things didn’t go much better in the playoffs either as he had just a single goal in a dozen contests.

Accordingly, it’s not surprising to see Jost settle for a one-year deal, even with it being at a pretty low price tag.  Without arbitration rights and the qualifier expiring today, there’s a chance that his contract could have checked in lower had Colorado tried to play hardball.  Instead, Jost will get another opportunity to try to play himself into a bigger role for his next trip through restricted free agency where he will have eligibility for salary arbitration.

With the signing, Colorado has nearly $6MM in cap space at their disposal, per CapFriendly.  However, a big chunk of that is likely heading for offseason acquisition Devon Toews.  The arbitration hearing for the defenseman is scheduled for October 31st.

Central Notes: Dumba, Honka, Colorado

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The Minnesota Wild have been quite aggressive in re-shaping their roster this season, which includes adding Marcus Johansson, Nick Bonino, Nick Bjugstadt and Cam Talbot, while also re-signing a number of key free agents and eliminating significant cap space. However, one move that hasn’t happened yet was the expected trade of defenseman Matt Dumba.

The Athletic’s Michael Russo (subscription required) writes that it might be a while before a trade for the blueliner is found. This is not the best time to find a trade partner with few teams ready to give Minnesota a significant return and a number of previously interested teams have already filled their need on defense. Russo suggests that one team that might still be interested is the Florida Panthers, who still need help on defense and have the prospects to make a deal happen.

Russo adds that he heard that Minnesota tried to pry Florida’s first-round pick from this year’s draft, who the Panthers used to select Anton Lundell, as part of a package for Dumba, which Florida rejected, but mainly because they wanted Lundell. Regardless, the Wild need to stay patient and hope it can find a match with Florida or any other team ready to get into the running.

  • The Athletic’s Sean Shapiro (subscription required) writes that Dallas Stars first-round pick Julius Honka, who didn’t sign as a restricted free-agent last summer and spent the season playing in Finland, is interested in returning to Dallas next season. The 24-year-old Honka’s rights are owned by the Stars until he turns 27, but despite demanding a trade last summer, he was forced to play in the Liiga and wasn’t necessarily a standout player there. Honka has played 87 career NHL games, but never was able to establish himself into the Stars’ defensive lineup. If he does opt to sign what would likely be a mininum-salaried deal, Honka would have to beat out a number of blueliners to get into the lineup, including Mark Pysyk, Taylor Fedun, Thomas Harley, Joel Hanley and Stephen Johns (assuming he returns to the team).
  • Colorado Hockey Now’s Adrian Dater (subscription required) writes that if the NHL is required to set up divisional bubbles next season as it is starting to look more and more likely that getting fans in the stands is looking less and less likely, then Colorado could be a likely candidate to host teams. In fact, Dater writes that he’s heard that the Pepsi Center, the Avalanche’s arena, is a leading candidate to be a host-city if the NHL opts to go that route, although it’s too soon to make a decision.

Avs Working On Bridge Deal For Tyson Jost

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  • Colorado is working on a two-year bridge deal for RFA center Tyson Jost, relays Adrian Dater of Colorado Hockey Now (via Twitter). The Avalanche drafted the 22-year-old tenth overall in 2016 but he has yet to become a productive player in the NHL.  Jost had eight goals and 15 assists in 67 games last season and has been between 22 and 26 points in each of his three full NHL campaigns.  Between that and Colorado’s pending stars needing new deals, a short-term pact to keep the AAV low makes a lot of sense.

Avalanche Begin Extension Talks With Gabriel Landeskog

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The Colorado Avalanche made a pair of big trades, acquiring Brandon Saad for Nikita Zadorov and adding Devon Toews, but have yet to make a meaningful addition from the free agent market this off-season. With nearly $7MM in cap space and only Toews and Tyson Jost in need of an extension before next season, the Avs have the room to make a move on the open market.

However, the team may already be looking ahead to next season and saving up cap space for some key players in need of new deals. Specifically, Ryan Clark of The Athletic reports that the Avalanche have already had preliminary talks with captain Gabriel Landeskog about an extension. Landeskog, still only 27, is entering his tenth season with Avalanche and the two sides are both hoping it won’t be the last. While he has been a reliable scorer throughout his career, Landeskog has scored at the highest clip of his career over the past two seasons and does not look to be slowing down. Forming an elite line with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen and as the respected leader of the entire locker room, Landeskog has an undeniable fit in Colorado moving forward.

The question now is what the value of an extension will be and what the opinions are on both side. GM Joe Sakic himself stated to Clark that “everyone is just figuring out where the landscape is going to be”, alluding to the uncertainty of the salary cap and the free agent market moving forward. Beyond that, there are also injury concerns to worry about with Landeskog, which certainly won’t go away as he reaches the wrong side of 30. All signs point to Landeskog and the Avalanche figuring out a deal, and a long-term pact is likely, but there is work to be done to figure out a fair value given some questions about the future.

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