Avalanche UFA Board: Does Another Veteran Forward Addition Make Sense?
· Yahoo Sports
It feels like somewhere between 2024 and 2025, the Colorado Avalanche began shifting towards one of the oldest rosters in the NHL. Casey Mittelstadt was traded away and replaced by an older (and better) Brock Nelson, the Avs even added an older 3C in Charlie Coyle, who eventually was replaced a year later by Nazem Kadri.
On defense, Josh Manson signed an extension, Brent Burns is the oldest player in the NHL and heading towards a second season in Colorado, and a younger Samuel Girard was traded for Brett Kulak, who is also nearing his mid 30s.
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Also, Nathan MacKinnon will be 31 before next season begins. The team is still skilled, still one of the best in the NHL, and still will be a Stanley Cup contender. But it’s also aging really quickly.
All of that is why I speculated a month ago that Valeri Nichushkin’s days were numbered — if it was time to refresh someone in the top six to perhaps get a different kind of player in there, and preferably someone younger.
My first UFA Board from this past weekend touched on four players, with a 27-year-old Eeli Tolvanen leading the pack as the one who makes the most sense to fill that role. But what if there was room for another older veteran? What if the Avs can find a player on the market who has chemistry with Nelson, played with him in the past, and could provide a year — maybe two — of depth in the middle six?
It might not be the team’s first choice, but it just might work.
Anders Lee, LW, Age: 35If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m speaking about soon-to-be 36-year-old former New York Islanders captain Anders Lee.
The 6-foot-3, 234-pound left winger has only ever played for the Islanders. Like Nelson, he spent more than a decade with the club and was a key part of their 2020 and 2021 roster, the ones that went three rounds deep in the Eastern Conference. Unfortunately for Lee, he was injured in the 2021 postseason.
Lee has chemistry with Nelson, even if they weren’t regular teammates every season. Lee often played on the top line, with Nelson centering the second line. But Lee can do a few things that would help the Avs. He scores goals, and he does it consistently. He’s also very durable.
In the last four seasons, at ages 32-35, Lee has played all but one regular-season game. In that time, he has 96 goals (24 per season on average), while logging key minutes on the power play as a large, net-front presence.
Part of the reason why Nichushkin was traded away was that he struggled to score alongside Nelson. The defensive numbers were always outstanding, but the goals weren’t coming at the same rate as the Nichushkin we saw from 2022 to halfway through the 2025 season.
Nelson would likely set up Lee a lot more than he did Nichushkin. Lee isn’t the same defensive stalwart as Nichushkin, but he has solid analytical numbers in his own end.
So while Lee would be 36 next season and the Avalanche likely want to get younger, one year with this player may be the better route before searching for a younger fit. I’m sure they probably had the same thought when they landed on re-signing Burns for another season, right?
It would be an intriguing fit if the term is one or at most two years with a reasonable (lower than market value) cap hit. I’m just not sure if that’s something Lee would want to do.
Patrick Kane, RW, Age: 37Joe Sakic can go a completely different route with the type of veteran he’d be signing if he went with Patrick Kane.
Despite inching towards 40 years old, Kane has continued to produce since joining the Detroit Red Wings. Last season, he had 16 goals and 57 points in 67 games. In 2024-25, Kane registered 59 points in 72 games. And when he signed with Detroit in the middle of the 2023-24 campaign, he recorded 47 points in 50 games the rest of the way.
Let’s not forget, the Avs were in the running fo Kane three years ago when he chose Detroit. He would instantly be another offensive threat, a play-maker for the second line, or perhaps in limited reps with Nathan MacKinnon on the top line. He surprisingly had solid corsi numbers last season, too.
But he’s also as one-dimensional as they come. If you’re signing Kane, it’s for offense. It’s for his production at five-on-five, and the spark he’d bring to the power play — albeit as yet another right-shot threat.
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