Dater: My Predictions Of Who Stays, Who Goes From Avalanche

Is EJ's time with the Avs over?

How we all doing? Yes, it’s still hard for me to believe the Avs lost another Game 7. That’s six in a row, by the way. Avs have not won a Game 7 since 2002. We went through some of the reasons why it just didn’t work out in these playoffs, with a look back.

Now let’s look forward a bit, with my predictions of which players will be gone from the current roster by the time the next season starts, or at least my predicted percentage chances of them leaving. I’m not going to go through every single player, as obviously all the core guys will be back. But there are still plenty of names who might be playing elsewhere next year. All the players named here are ones whose contracts are up:

J.T. Compher - He’s an unrestricted free agent come July 1, and I haven’t heard of any serious negotiations between the team and his agent. He had his best scoring season of his career, by a solid margin. He had 52 points (17 goals) and played all 82 games.

Then came the playoffs, and the numbers (one goal, one assist) weren’t great. He never quite showed that he could adequately fill a second-line center role. And, if the Avs are going to meet his likely salary desires (I would say at least $4.5 million is what he could expect on the open market) I would think they’d want more of a guarantee that he could be a reliable 2C for that kind of money.

That’s why I’m pessimistic he’ll be back. There is speculation he wants to go back home, as a kid who grew up near Chicago, and play for the Blackhawks.

Predicted chances of a return to Avs: 20%