Elliotte Friedman said during Tuesday’s 31 Thoughts podcast that he thinks the Colorado Avalanche are going to take one more run at trying to re-sign forward Gabriel Landeskog. A lot of insiders believe a deal will eventually get done, but Jeff Marek and Friedman talked about how Avs fans are panicking because there’s a lot of uncertainty around Landeskog’s future with the organization.
Landeskog can officially sign with the Seattle Kraken now. The NHL’s newest team has a limited window in which to talk with pending UFAs and if they sign, that becomes the selection from that NHL franchise. Because of the potential that Landeskog and Seattle could come to terms on something, that has ramped things up a little bit when it comes to the Avalanche and Landeskog needing to get a deal done. The challenge here is that the latest reports are that the two sides are miles apart on an extension. Friedman notes that it’s unlikely Seattle signs Landeskog and a patient Joe Sakic is going to take one more shot.
Friedman said, for arguments sake, if the ask from Landeskog is $60 million, he doesn’t think a deal gets done in Colorado. Marek says he thinks there’s a $60 million deal out there for Landeskog and agrees it’s probably not a deal coming from the Avalanche camp. Friedman believes Sakic has set a line and a number and isn’t prepared to go beyond it.
So where does this all go?
Landeskog is going to need to decide how badly he’d like to stay in Colorado versus hit a home run in free agency. The latest speculation is that a $40-$44 million deal was offered by the Avalanche over eight seasons. Apparently Landeskog’s camp was taken aback by how low the offer was. And, if the forward is looking for $60 million, it’s not surprising he would balk at leaving upwards of $20 million on the table.
How High Will Colorado Go?
Can the Avs comes up to $50 million? That would equate to about $6.25 million per season over eight years. It’s a lot to pay for a 28-year-old who will be 36 when that deal comes to a close. The Avalanche also have a ton of other business to take care of that might make this number unrealistic.
With Cale Makar looking at $9-$10 million on a long-term deal and Nathan MacKinnon looking at least $8 million per season, the Avalanche also need to secure their goaltending. Is $6.25- $6.5 million fair for Landeskog. Probably. Will the Avalanche offer that? Hard to say at this point.
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