Avalanche Notebook: Draft Wrap-up And Free-Agency Possibilities

My top-5 list of free-agent possibilities

The Avalanche got the lowest grade of any team in the Athletic’s summation of every NHL team’s draft picks over the weekend. While I think the Athletic is/was one of the most overrated sports media outlets of all time (they came and went in Denver like a saint’s whisper, and they lost a shit-ton of money before the New York Times gave them a golden parachute), I think the final iteration of the outlet is respectable and good enough.

And I think that Corey Pronman is the ultimate hockey draft nerd (affectionate term), so I always read his analysis and he gave the Avs the above grade. Lowest of any team.

So, I’m going to let you read his analysis instead of me trying to pretend I know/knew anything about these guys.

Let’s move on to free agency day, which is Tuesday.

Jonathan Drouin’s agent, Allan Walsh, tweeted today what we already knew: He’s leaving the Avs to go to market. I fully expect Ryan Lindgren and Joel Kiviranta to leave as well, along with Erik Johnson.

But the Avs have almost $9 million to spend under the cap for this coming season, which should mean they’ll get a nice free agent, maybe two.

Here is my list of who I think the Avs will target: