As teams sit now at the beginning of July, teams can carry a certain percentage over the projected 2024-2025 cap throughout the summer. While this is helpful, and there are a few teams that are in trouble, there may be no team in dire straits more so than the Colorado Avalanche.
Currently, as it sits today, the Avalanche have 11 forwards (with Landeskog and Nichushkin), 5 defensemen & 2 goalies under contract for the upcoming season. While it seems likely that Landeskog may go on LTIR which would free up $7,000,000 and the Valerie Nichushkin situation is up in the air with him being in the players assistance program and his status is up in the air before any finagling, the Avs have a whopping $300,000 in cap space available to them as it stands today.
Are the Avalanche in trouble? Theoretically, if the season started tomorrow they would be. Especially if they need to sign a couple more players at the very least to fill out their roster. But if general manager Chris MacFarland can work some magic and figure out what the status is with the above players, they would be in a better situation.
A trade may likely need to happen at some point before puck drop in the fall, but with roughly ninety days to worry about it, fans should breathe a sigh of relief and consider the Avalanche will likely look a lot different on opening night than it does today.
