Salary Cap: Qualifying Offers (deadline July 11 @ 5 PM EST)

[RoyIsALegend]

With the draft concluded, we move onto the next phase of the offseason.

Qualifying offers from teams to their Restricted Free Agents(RFAs) are due by 5 PM Eastern on Monday, July 11.

A qualifying offer must be made in order to retain the player’s rights. If no offer is made, the player becomes an Unrestricted Free Agent(UFA) two days later on July 13.

Players who receive a qualifying offer have between July 13 - July 22 to accept their qualifying offer, otherwise it expires and the club retains the rights.

Players who are arbitration-eligible can simply ignore their qualifying offer and opt for player-elected arbitration by July 17. If a player opts for arbitration, the hearings would occur between July 27 - August 11.

So, here are the Avalanche RFAs with their qualifying offer amounts.

Arbitration eligible:

G Alexandar Georgiev - $2,650,000
F Arrturi Lehkonen - $2,300,000
F Nicolas Aube-Kubel - $1,225,000
F Callahan Burke - $750,000
F Mikhail Maltsev - $750,000
F Andreas Wingerli - $750,000
D Keaton Middleton - $750,000

Not arbitration eligible:

F Shane Bowers - $832,500
F Nick Henry - $750,000

Who do we think we will keep or just let walk away?

I would hope Georgiev and Lehkonen deals are signed well before arbitration either way.

Click to read more...

 

[Tommy Shelby]

Lehky, Georgie, Maltsy for sure stay, NAK is a wild card.

 

[henchman21]

Henry and Middleton shouldn’t get a QO. I tend to lean on Bowers too, but with contract space I’d maybe qualify. Wingerli depends on him wanting to stay in NA or not… either way could be qualified, but going back to Sweden, I’d just let him go.

NAK is a risk… arbitration can likely give him a raise. So knowing a budget or signing before would be crucial.

Rest easy qualifies.

 

[John Mandalorian]

Lehkonen, Georgiev, and Maltsev.

Maybe one other 750k guy.

 

[forsbergavs32]

Lehkonen, Georgiev, and Maltsev.

Maybe one other 750k guy.

Probably this. NAK had a solid season so someone will likely overpay for him and he’s going to be wanting a raise.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Lehky, George, Maltsev are easy qualifies.


I think Burke Wingerli and Bowers as well. Burke reminds me a little of LOC. Bowers I'd give 1 more chance to.


Henry and Middleton let go.


NAK is the interesting one. If the plan is to run Meyers at 4C, I'd qualify NAK. But he's tricky because I don't really see a roster spot for him and he's at risk of getting a raise in arbitration.


I'd probably try and sign him before July 11th and if not, let him walk tbh.

 

[Bender]

I'll be surprised if the Avs qualify NAK. He's not necessarily bad but I think there will be players available that will accept a 1 year deal for $750K - $800K later on in free agency that can provide the same kind of depth.

The Avs could and should try to save some $$$ where they can and $500k is nothing to sneeze at.

Besides, there is something to be said for changing the mix in the bottom-6 and get new different guys that are hungry to win.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

We should have traded nak's rights. I think he has some value.

 

[RampoSanta]

NAK is the wild card for me. Let him go if the feeling is Kaut/Bower/Ranta is ready to play.

Its win now mode so unless there are other 4L depth signings, I lean towards keeping NAK. His knock was stupid penalties and he seemed to keep them under control for the most part

 

[UncleRisto]

His knock was stupid penalties and he seemed to keep them under control for the most part

He had a NAK for stupid penalties.

 

[JoeSakic13]

Qualify NAK if he pays for the repairs for the cup

 

[Richard88]

The fact that NAK has arb rights definitely makes it tricky to bring him back. If he doesn't sign before UFA it's probably best to just let him walk, or to trade him for a pick if he has value to some GM despite having arb rights.

Roster-wise though I do think there's potentially a spot open for him at 3RW depending on how the Avs see Meyers role this year:

Newhook - Compher - xxxxx
Cogliano - Meyers - O'Connor

Newhook - Meyers - Compher
Cogliano - xxxxx - O'Connor

With Helm and Sturm apparently not being re-signed I'd probably let lean towards letting NAK go (either UFA or trade) and getting another defensively-strong forward who can PK and play either center and wing. Who the target would be would depend on what sort of money is available after other contracts -it might have to be someone in the ~$1m range, but money allowing someone like Janmark would be a nice fit and he's someone who the Avs have been linked to a few times.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

The fact that NAK has arb rights definitely makes it tricky to bring him back. If he doesn't sign before UFA it's probably best to just let him walk, or to trade him for a pick if he has value to some GM despite having arb rights.

Roster-wise though I do think there's potentially a spot open for him at 3RW depending on how the Avs see Meyers role this year:

Newhook - Compher - xxxxx
Cogliano - Meyers - O'Connor

Newhook - Meyers - Compher
Cogliano - xxxxx - O'Connor

With Helm and Sturm apparently not being re-signed I'd probably let lean towards letting NAK go (either UFA or trade) and getting another defensively-strong forward who can PK and play either center and wing. Who the target would be would depend on what sort of money is available after other contracts -it might have to be someone in the ~$1m range, but money allowing someone like Janmark would be a nice fit and he's someone who the Avs have been linked to a few times.

Are you forgetting Sedlak (who is listed as LW, C, RW on capfriendly but I'm pretty sure he was playing C in the KHL) or do you think he's AHL bound? I kinda figured he was brought in to fight Maltsev for the 4th line center.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Are you forgetting Sedlak (who is listed as LW, C, RW on capfriendly but I'm pretty sure he was playing C in the KHL) or do you think he's AHL bound? I kinda figured he was brought in to fight Maltsev for the 4th line center.

AHL bound or 13th forward. He'll get a chance for sure and it could work out. But I dont see a scenario where he plays on October 12th, not unless we're already down 1-2 injuries at forward.

 

[LOFIN]

F Arrturi Lehkonen - $2,300,000

I know Finnish names are hard but c'mon, now that the guy is with the team it would be a good time to check the spelling.

As for NAK, I'm willing to keep him but it has come cheaper than his QO. If he wants to go elsewhere to get more then go ahead, but we really can't spend too much extra on 4th liners and extra forwards, we aready gave Cogliano a bit of extra and that's fine by me but can't give raises to all of 'em. Sakic can go to NAK and say we are not going to qualify you, but if you want to come back for identical salary we might be able to do it.

 

[Richard88]

Are you forgetting Sedlak (who is listed as LW, C, RW on capfriendly but I'm pretty sure he was playing C in the KHL) or do you think he's AHL bound? I kinda figured he was brought in to fight Maltsev for the 4th line center.

Bednar knows him well already and the Avs wouldn't have signed him if he wasn't liked by Bednar, so there's every chance he sticks as the 13/14th forward.

The fact that he got a 2-way contract with a high AHL salary of $500k also suggests that he's in line to take the Sherwood/Sikura role as a vet and first callup on the Eagles.

Even if he sticks as 13/14F he'll probably be called up and sent down quite frequently since MacDermid can cover both forward or D, and since the Avs will probably want to roll with a 21 or 22 man roster whenever they can for cap purposes.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

I know Finnish names are hard but c'mon, now that the guy is with the team it would be a good time to check the spelling.

I put two Rs instead of two Ts. I made a mistake with one letter and it wasn’t intentional.

I get the Finnish pride and all, but seriously?

 

[cccoltsicehockey]

If we can't bring Helm back I would love to try and keep NAK. For budget reasons I would actually rather bring Helm back but we have not heard any news on that front.

With Cogs coming back so quick I wonder if it means he isn't coming back and retiring or treating the market.

 

[Richard88]

If we can't bring Helm back I would love to try and keep NAK. For budget reasons I would actually rather bring Helm back but we have not heard any news on that front.

With Cogs coming back so quick I wonder if it means he isn't coming back and retiring or treating the market.

Fwiw, on a DNVR podcast last week that Jesse Montano did with their old show host (don't know his name) that former host said that he'd met Helm's wife and she said they liked it in Denver and didn't want to go back to Detroit. Not exactly surprising or news worthy, but there you go.

 

[UncleRisto]

I put two Rs instead of two Ts. I made a mistake with one letter and it wasn’t intentional.

I get the Finnish pride and all, but seriously?

Finnish is a very transparent language, so geminate and vowel length mistakes look very juvenile to us. Our bad. We can't pronounce English.

 

[LOFIN]

If we can't bring Helm back I would love to try and keep NAK. For budget reasons I would actually rather bring Helm back but we have not heard any news on that front.

With Cogs coming back so quick I wonder if it means he isn't coming back and retiring or treating the market.

I like NAK, would bring him back because if for nothing else than his performance at the parade. But we don't need to qualify him. No need to tie our hands before everything else is sorted out. If he wants to somewhere else, then good for him.

 

[RampoSanta]

Are you forgetting Sedlak (who is listed as LW, C, RW on capfriendly but I'm pretty sure he was playing C in the KHL) or do you think he's AHL bound? I kinda figured he was brought in to fight Maltsev for the 4th line center.

He is a call up / 14F type which is the same place as MacD. I would think we see Dermy before Sedlak. I would expect the true 13F will be someone who is more of a season NHLer, akin to Sturm.

But over the course of a season, we probably see him at some point just due to injuries. Reminds me of Sekura last year several takes he would play a part.

If we can't bring Helm back I would love to try and keep NAK. For budget reasons I would actually rather bring Helm back but we have not heard any news on that front.

With Cogs coming back so quick I wonder if it means he isn't coming back and retiring or treating the market.

That is a good point Helm. Seems like 100% radio silence at this stage. Does that mean he is most likely retiring?

 

[Richard88]

He is a call up / 14F type which is the same place as MacD. I would think we see Dermy before Sedlak. I would expect the true 13F will be someone who is more of a season NHLer, akin to Sturm.

But over the course of a season, we probably see him at some point just due to injuries. Reminds me of Sekura last year several takes he would play a part.


That is a good point Helm. Seems like 100% radio silence at this stage. Does that mean he is most likely retiring?

Helm not being signed yet could be an indication that the Avs aren't bringing him back.

Alternatively it might just mean that they're waiting to complete other more important signings first to have some clarity on the cap before making anymore depth signings, especially if Helm is asking for a raise of some sort.

He's probably in no rush to retire but might just see what offers are there before making his decision.

 

[cinchronicity]

Finnish is a very transparent language, so geminate and vowel length mistakes look very juvenile to us. Our bad. We can't pronounce English.

Neither can a significant chunk of Americans!!

 

[tigervixxxen]

I’d like to bring NAK back. He brings a little different element plus they know how he fits. Sure you could get league minimum or 1M guys to show up instead but they already worked with him to get him to make improvements. Can’t start at square 1 with everyone. Btw Helm it sounded like was up to him to decide (per Sakic’s presser video) and Sturm is gone.

The two way guys are easy to qualify but not sure they all will. Wingerli kept slipping the depth chart in Loveland, not sure why he’d be interested in another year of that. Maltsev was a good Eagle but why would he come back for the AHL. Bowers is waiver eligible, not that I think he’ll get taken but what’s the point? Burke they just signed and already has arb rights which is hilarious but I guess if they liked him enough 6 months ago he could get qualified.

I expect Lehkonen to file arbitration but it’s not the end of the world, just gives them a contract deadline. Georgiev should be done well before then.