Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland finds “sweet spot” to keep Jonathan Drouin, raise club’s ceiling amid wild start to NHL free agency

Nathan MacKinnon might be the MVP of the 2024 offseason, too.

The Colorado Avalanche made several signings Monday on the first day of free agency. None were more important to the club’s ability to compete for the Stanley Cup in 2025 than finding a way to bring Jonathan Drouin back — and there’s no way that happens without MacKinnon.

Drouin signed a one-year, $2.5 million contract to run it back with the Avs after he had a breakout season with Colorado. His connection to MacKinnon was one of the reasons he chose Denver as his next destination a year ago.

“I think (his agent) Allan Walsh and Jonathan deserve a heck of a lot of credit,” MacFarland said. “The first thing is the player has to want to be here, and I think Jonathan has been committed to our group.

“It wasn’t easy … but we were able to find a sweet spot this morning and very happy that it is done.”

Drouin was one of the best stories in the NHL, proving that he can be a dynamic, two-way player with better defensive acumen than expected. He produced for the Avs both next to and away from MacKinnon, to the tune of 19 goals and a career-high 56 points.

Compare Drouin’s contract to those also signed Monday and ones from recent NHL seasons, and his $2.5 million cap hit is a bargain. Twice that number, if not more, would have been fair.

Even if it was one of the best team-friendly deals on a wild day in NHL history — the first that included more than $1 billion in contracts signed — keeping Drouin and staying below the $88 million ceiling could involve some salary cap gymnastics.

If everyone is healthy and available at some point this season, after Gabe Landeskog returns from injury and Valeri Nichushkin is reinstated from suspension, the Avs will have more than $88 million in contracts, barring one of the current projected regulars being removed.

That doesn’t mean the Avs will have to trade someone. The salary cap is calculated on a daily basis. Nichushkin’s contract will not count every day he is suspended, which could allow Colorado to effectively bank enough space to cover the daily overages when he returns.

There could be other ways to manipulate the daily cap figure to create enough space over the course of the season, as well.

“In the summer you get the 10 percent (cushion), and obviously we still don’t know about Gabe and Val’s situations,” MacFarland said. “Talking about the opening-day roster in light of LTIR decisions and things of that sort, a lot of those things have to still be worked out.”

The Avs have now retained Drouin and Casey Mittelstadt, who signed a three-year, $17.25 million contract last week, for a combined $8 million against the cap next season. That’s at least 30 percent less than what it could have been, which also would have meant one of them was not returning.

Given the uncertainty with Landeskog and Nichushkin, keeping Drouin should help the Avalanche remain a good team early in the season and improve the chances of it being a great one later in the year.

How great will still depend on what Colorado gets from Landeskog and Nichushkin, or what they can do if one or both is not on the active roster by the trade deadline. But keeping Drouin elevates both the floor and ceiling for this club in 2024-25.

The Avs also found a handful of depth players Monday, the most of important of which is defenseman Calvin de Haan. He looks like the replacement for Jack Johnson on the club’s third pairing.

A defense-first veteran, de Haan should be an upgrade over Johnson on the ice. If Johnson doesn’t return, the Avs will be short another veteran leader, but Landeskog’s return and another year of experience/maturity from the club’s core could mitigate that.

De Haan is a veteran of more than 600 NHL games, and could be a mentor for Sam Malinski in his first full season.

“He’s a left-shot defender with penalty kill in his toolbox,” MacFarland said. “We liked the contract. We felt it was good bang for our buck on a guy who’s played a lot of games.”

The other signings were all about giving the Avs much-needed depth. Defensemen Calle Rosen and Jacob MacDonald look set to compete for the No. 7 role.

Parker Kelly, Joel Kiviranta and T.J. Tynan all join a cluster of forwards who will battle for spots on the fourth line, or become key figures for the Colorado Eagles in the AHL. All of the signings besides Drouin are for less than $1.15 million, which means no cost against the cap if they are sent to the Eagles.

MacFarland said the Avs will keep looking, but beyond a contract that starts in 2025-26 for Mikko Rantanen, Alexandar Georgiev or Logan O’Connor, any further additions are also likely to be from the bargain bin.

Just finding a way to retain Drouin, while also adding a solid third-pairing defenseman, made this first day of free agency a big success for the Avs.

“I think we’re pretty happy with how the day went,” MacFarland said. “I think these signings as a whole kind of solidified our group.”

The Avs’ busy day

Even with limited cap space, the Colorado Avalanche still found a way to make a fair amount of moves on the opening day of free agency in the NHL. Here’s a look at who’s coming and who’s going:

(Can’t see chart in mobile? Click here.)

Who’s in

Who’s out

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