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Colborne, Wiercioch, Tyutin in fold; Matthias, Boedker leave |
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Rick Sadowski
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The Avalanche were busy on the first day of NHL free agency Friday, signing center Joe Colborne and two defensemen, Patrick Wiercioch and Fedor Tyutin.
They also restocked the minor-league system by signing forwards Turner Elson, Jim O'Brien, Reid Petryk, Mike Sislo, Trent Vogelhuber and Joe Whitney, along with defenseman Ryan Stanton, and goalie Jeremy Smith.
Colborne and Wiercioch -- former University of Denver teammates -- were the Avalanche's two biggest signings on a day when general manager Joe Sakic elected not to go after any of the available high-priced free agents.
Sakic said previously that he wasn't looking to make a "splash," and would look to sign players to one- and two-year deals. That's exactly what he did.
But the Avalanche lost both of last year's rentals, left wing Shawn Matthias to Winnipeg and right wing Mikkel Boedker to San Jose.
Sakic wasn't available to comment on the day's outcome.
Colborne, 26, signed a two-year, $5 million contract. The 6-feet-5, 220-pounder had career highs for goals (19) and assists (25) in 73 games last season for Calgary, which curiously didn't tender him a qualifying offer.
Colborne was a first-round pick (No. 16) of Boston in 2008, but he never played for the Bruins. He played sparingly over parts of three seasons with Toronto and the past three with the Flames. He has 38 goals, 68 assists and 110 penalty minutes in 233 NHL games.
Colborne played at Denver from 2008-10 with Wiercioch, 25, who is 6-5, 202 pounds. Wiercioch signed a one-year, $800,000 contract.
Ottawa's second-round pick (No. 42) in 2008, Wiercioch didn't receive a qualifying offer from the Senators after last season. He played parts of five seasons with Ottawa and had 12-50-62 in 211 games, with 115 penalty minutes. He had five assists and 24 penalty minutes in 52 games last year, missing 18 because of injuries.
Tyutin, 32, signed a one-year, $2 million contract after being bought out by Columbus. He's 6-2, 221 pounds and had one goal, two assists and 28 penalty minutes in 61 games with the Blue Jackets. A second-round pick (No. 40) of the New York Rangers in 2001, Tyutin has 54-197-251 and 510 penalty minutes in 803 games. Tyutin spent four seasons with the Rangers and eight with the Blue Jackets.
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Matthias accepted a modest two-year, $4.25 million contract with Winnipeg, which is where he apparently wanted to play.
"It’s going to be awesome," Matthias told Winnipeg reporters. "I can’t wait to get started. It’s great to be back in Canada playing. I played with the Leafs. I played in Vancouver. The fans in Canada, how passionate they are, you just feed off that. Winnipeg’s a place I’ve played in and it’s so loud and the fans are going crazy. I just can’t wait to get started and hear how loud it is in that building and finally play for them and not against them."
Boedker signed a four-year, $16 million contract with San Jose, a deal that certainly could have made sense for Colorado.
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The Avalanche signed 2015 second-round pick (No. 39) A.J. Greer to a three-year, entry-level contract.
Greer, a 6-3, 204-pound left wing, had 16 goals and 11 assists in 33 games for Rouyn-Noranda in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League after posting 1-4-5 in 18 games at Boston University. He had 12-10-22 in 20 playoff games with Rouyn-Noranda.
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The minor-league signees:
Elson, 23, who is 6-0 and 195 pounds, had 14-16-30 with 59 penalty minutes in 63 games with AHL Stockton. He had one assist in one game with Calgary.
O'Brien, 27, is 6-3, 195. Ottawa's first-round pick (No. 29) in 2007, he had 19-19-38 in 56 games with Albany. O'Brien has 8-4-12 in 67 NHL games with the Senators and New Jersey.
Petryk, 23, is 6-1, 200. He had 15-22-37 in 72 games with San Antonio.
Sislo, 28, is 5-11, 195. He had 3-1-4 in 18 games with the Devils, along with 27-26-53 in 57 games with Albany.
Smith, 27, is 6-1, 170. He had an 18-9-4 record, 2.52 goals-against average and .921 save percentage in 43 combined games with Iowa and Providence.
Stanton, 26, is 6-2, 205. He had 4-12-16 with 69 penalty minutes in Hershey. In 118 games with Vancouver between 2013-14 and 2014-15 he had 4-23-27 with 67 penalty minutes.
Vogelhuber, 27, is 6-2, 195. He played four years at Miami (Ohio) University and parts of the past five seasons in the AHL. He had 11-16-27 with 65 penalty minutes in 70 games last year with Lake Erie.
Whitney, 28, is 5-6, 170. He had 14-19-33 in 36 games with Bridgeport before sustaining a season-ending injury in January.
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In other news, Russian forward Alexander Radulov signed a one-year, $5.75 million contract with Montreal. Former Avalanche defenseman Zach Redmond also signed with the Canadiens, landing a two-year, $1.225 million contract; it's a one-way contract.
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