With free agency set to officially begin on Friday, the Colorado Avalanche turned their attention to their own to begin the week. The team has extended qualifying offers to forwards Nathan MacKinnon and Mikhail Grigorenko, defensemen Tyson Barrie and Duncan Siemens, as well as goaltender Calvin Pickard.
Unless they accept the qualifying offer (a possibility for Siemens), all of the players that received a tender will still need to be signed to a new contract. What the qualifying offer does is make them restricted free agents, ensuring that the Avalanche will not lose them for nothing, should they sign with someone else.
Last week, Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic extended a long-term contract offer to Barrie. If the two sides are unable to reach an accord, they are expected to go to arbitration. Sakic has also had initial conversations with MacKinnon’s camp, and is optimistic that they will get a deal done prior to training camp.
With the deadline to extend qualifying offers having come and gone, the Avalanche have also moved on from several players. Sami Aittokallio, Gabriel Beaupre, Taylor Beck, Trevor Cheek, Dennis Everberg, Joey Hishon, Brandon Gormley, Garrett Meurs, Borna Rendulic and Roman Will were not extended qualifying offers. Aittokallio (Karpat, Liiga), Everberg (Vaxjo, SHL), Hishon (Jokerit, KHL) and Will (Liberec, Extraliga) have already inked deals overseas in various European leagues. The remaining players are now unrestricted free agents.
