Acquired in a trade with the San Jose Sharks in the summer of 2014, extended before he ever played a game in burgundy and blue, it appears that the Brad Stuart experiment is nearing its end.
According to Colorado Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic (via the Denver Post), the team intends to buy out the final season of Stuart’s contract, bringing his disappointing tenure in the Mile High City to a close.
Limited to six games last season due to a back injury, the 36-year-old Stuart went pointless and had a minus-2 rating. During his two years with the Avalanche, he played in 71 games, scoring three goals, 13 points and registering a minus-6 rating.
Because his extension kicked in after he had turned 35, Stuart’s buyout will not save the Avalanche anything in terms of cap space (his $3.6 million hit will still be on the books). It will, however, save them $1.2 million in actual money).
The buyout of Stuart, coupled with the trade of Nick Holden over the weekend, will free up some room on the Avalanche blueline. That being said, they plan to give that ice time to some of their up-and-coming defenseman (i.e. Chris Bigras, Nikita Zadorov and Eric Gelinas), as opposed to some big-name free agent.
“We’re going to get our young guys on the ice more because these are the guys that, in a few years, are going to be our (main) guys,” said Sakic.
