One down, one to go.

The Avalanche announced Wednesday that forward Mikhail Grigorenko has signed a one-year contract -- it's worth $1.3 million -- two days before his scheduled salary arbitration hearing. Grigorenko was a restricted free agent.

That leaves defenseman Tyson Barrie, also a restricted free agent, as the only unsigned Colorado player. His arbitration hearing is scheduled for July 29.

(I'll be away on vacation all next week, so I won't be posting about that situation until I get back. I'm working on a package of Avalanche stories to run Aug. 10 on NHL.com.)

Reportedly, the Avalanche were offering Grigorenko $950,000, while his representatives were asking for $1.65 million, so they compromised and basically split down the middle.

I doubt that will happen with Barrie, but you never know.

The 6-feet-3, 209-pound Grigorenko, 22, made $675,000 last season on a one-year deal he signed following his June 26, 2015 acquisition from Buffalo in the Ryan O'Reilly trade.

The Avalanche also received defenseman Nikita Zadorov, the rights to left wing J.T. Compher (since signed), and a 2015 second-round pick for O'Reilly and Jamie McGinn.

Colorado swapped that pick (No. 31) with San Jose for the 39th pick (left wing A.J. Greer, since signed), a 2016 second-rounder (forward Cameron Morrison, now at Notre Dame) and a sixth-rounder in 2017. The latter two picks were originally sent to the Sharks for defenseman Brad Stuart, who has been bought out.

Grigorenko set career highs last season for games (74), goals (six), assists (21) and points (27). He had eight penalty minutes and a plus-2 plus/minus rating.

He has 12 goals, 29 assists and 12 penalty minutes in 142 NHL games.

*****

The Avalanche have reached an affiliation agreement with the Loveland, Colo., based Colorado Eagles. The Eagles will replace the Fort Wayne Komets as the ECHL affiliate for any player assigned to the league by the AHL San Antonio Rampage.

Loveland, which is in northern Colorado, is about 45 miles from Denver.

“We are looking forward to the start of this new relationship with the Eagles," Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic said in a news release. "We feel this will be the right environment for some of our prospects to play."



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