Colorado Avalanche – Pro Hockey Rumors

Free agency is just over a month away, and teams are looking forward to it opening. Even with the UFA crop thinned out in recent months, there will be a number of quality veterans hitting the open market in July, while many teams also have key restricted free agents to re-sign. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Avalanche.

Major restricted free agents

F Jack Drury – Drury has not only become a stabilizing force in Colorado’s bottom six, but he has also become one of the best bottom six forwards in the entire league. Drury posted career-highs of 10 goals and 27 points in 82 games while averaging 14:29 of ice time per game. Additionally, his 58.1% faceoff percentage is even more impressive considering Drury started 63.8% of his shifts in the defensive zone. Considering he’s just a year away from reaching unrestricted free agency, it’s unlikely Drury and the Avalanche will agree to a long-term deal this summer.

F Zakhar Bardakov – Despite averaging less than eight minutes of ice time per game, Bardakov remained on the NHL roster for much of the 2025-26 season. He had his moments but was overall unimpressive, finishing with one goal and 10 points in 60 games. He maintained relatively solid defensive stats and had 50 hits this year, but didn’t do enough to earn a consistent NHL role. Still, given his familiarity with the NHL now, Colorado will likely keep him around to serve as depth as it won’t be too expensive to keep him.

Other RFAs: F Sampo BeachF Daniel GushchinF Chase BradleyF Taylor MakarF Ivan IvanD Sergei Boikov

Key Unrestricted free agents

D Brent Burns – Burns is the prime suspect in the ‘Father Time’ murder investigation. Not only is he playing into his 40s, but he hasn’t missed a game in over a decade. He wasn’t a problem there either, as the former 2003 draftee recorded 12 goals and 35 points in 82 games, for an average of just under 19 minutes of ice time per game. The Avalanche could use all the defensive depth it can get its hands on, and if Burns plans to keep playing and is interested in signing a new bonus-laden deal, it should be a no-brainer for Colorado to keep him around.

D Brett Ear – Outside of those on Team Canada at the Olympics, Kulak is the only player he got to play with Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavidAnd Nathan Mackinnon during the regular season. During his time with the Avalanche, Kulak did what he did best: block shots and step up in the playoffs. During the postseason, the 32-year-old blueliner finished with one goal and five points in 13 games with 25 blocked shots, averaging 20:38 of ice time. Unfortunately, Colorado is unlikely to return this summer unless Colorado can free up significantly more cap space.

Other UFAs: F Joel KivirantaD Jack AhcanD Nick BlankenburgF TJ TynanF Alex Barre-BouletF Tye FelhaberF Matthew StienburgF Valtteri PuustinenF Jason PolinD Jacob McDonaldD Ronald Attard

Projected cap space

The salary cap in Colorado is ugly. Yes, the team has done a good job of retaining MacKinnon and Martin Necas and maneuvering around the cap to bring in additional talent, but within a year it will all come to a head. Heading into the summer, the Avalanche only have about $2.98 million in salary cap breathing room. This should be enough to keep Drury and Burns, albeit barely, but it will be completely insufficient to replenish the team’s depth at anything other than league minimum salaries. Plus, Colorado is just a year away from inking new deals for Cale Makar and Artturi Lehkonen, so they’ll have to be careful with every dollar spent this summer, and probably won’t want to lock themselves into anything beyond next season.

Photos courtesy of Dennis Lee (Drury) and Jeff Curry (Burns) of Imagn Images. Contract information courtesy of PuckPedia.