Colorado Avalanche land former first round pick in free agency
The Colorado Avalanche have landed a former first round pick on the second day of the National Hockey League's free agency period.
According to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman, the Colorado Avalanche have agreed to terms on a one-year contract worth $900,000 with former Vegas Golden Knights first round pick Erik Brannstrom.
Brannstrom, 24, was traded from Vegas to Ottawa in early 2019 as part of the return in the Mark Stone deal. He never hit his full potential in Ottawa and after parts of six seasons in the organization, the Senators decided that they weren't going to issue him a qualifying offer, making him an unrestricted free agent on Monday.
The Eksjo, Sweden native set new career highs in goals, assists and points with the Senators last season and could be a solid depth piece for Colorado next year. In 76 games, Brannstrom had 20 points (three goals, 17 assists), 36 penalty minutes and was a plus-five.
It's going to be interesting to see how Colorado makes their salary cap situation work ahead of the 2024-25 season. On Monday, Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli pointed out that they only had $300,000 in cap space, but now after the Brannstrom signing, that's gone down to -$600,000.
11 forwards (with Landeskog and Nichushkin)
5 defensemen
2 goalies
And they have... (checks notes) ... $300k in cap space. 😳 Legit not sure where they go from here."
Brannstrom will likely play a third pairing role for the Avalanche to start the 2024-25 season, but this could work out to be a very solid signing for Colorado, if he's able to reach the heights he didn't in Ottawa.
| POLL | ||
Is this a good signing for Colorado? | ||
| Yes | 74 | 79.6 % |
| No | 19 | 20.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
