The first few hours of free agency were absolutely wild, but the Colorado Avalanche kept quiet, as they typically do.
That has changed now.
The Avalanche are signing winger Miles Wood from the New Jersey Devils to a whopping six-year contract. Yes, you read that right. SIX. Per Elliotte Friedman, the cap hit each year will be $2.5 million, making it a $15 million deal in total.
The 27 year old winger scored 13 goals in 76 games last year, and finished with 27 points. At 6’2″, he adds some size to a bottom six that was full of players 6′ and under last year.
One of the things Colorado clearly wanted to do this summer was change the make-up of their bottom six, and that continues with this signing. They’re adding a little “grit” to the forward core (like Sakic hinted at), and Wood can absolutely fly. He is, however, prone to some big mistakes, as he takes a decent amount of penalties. And six years is a lot of term to give any player.
I had heard this one might be coming down the pipeline a few days ago, as there was mutual interest on both sides, so I asked New Jersey Hockey Now’s James Nichols about what to expect from Wood.
“He’s very polarizing,” he told me. “He’s a perfectly fine depth player. Very fast, physical, can defend. Can pop in 15 goals, but can also take a boneheaded penalty. And those two things can happen seconds apart.”
I’ll give my thoughts on Wood in another piece, as I’m on the fence with this one, and I’ll include some of the metrics that go into detail with what he’s good at, and what he isn’t good at. But for now, the Avalanche have a new winger set to join their lineup.
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