{"id":470053,"date":"2025-06-10T14:07:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-10T18:07:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=470053"},"modified":"2025-06-10T14:07:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T18:07:12","slug":"nhl-rumours-colorado-avalanche-salary-cap-crunch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/06\/10\/nhl-rumours-colorado-avalanche-salary-cap-crunch\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Rumours: Colorado Avalanche Salary Cap Crunch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s time for another round of NHL rumours. We&#8217;re three games deep into the Stanley Cup Final, but the teams that were eliminated are still being discussed. A number of teams have a plethora of expectations. However, some of those teams fell short and have to figure out what comes next. There have already been some signings in the run-up to July 1. However, this means general managers will have some touch choices to make.<\/p>\n<p>One team that may have to face some of those difficult decisions is the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/06\/06\/colorado-avalanche-winger-out-five-six-months\/\" target=\"_self\">Colorado Avalanche.<\/a> This edition of NHL rumours deals with what the team may do in the wake of a recent signing.<\/p>\n<p>All NHL rumours come from the original source and are subject to change.<\/p>\n<h2>NHL Rumours<\/h2>\n<h3>Colorado Avalanche Face Salary Cap Crunch This Summer<\/h3>\n<p><em>Rumour: Troy Renck of <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/06\/04\/brock-nelson-chris-macfarland-jared-bednar-on-notice\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Denver Post<\/a> noted that the Avalanche now face some tough roster choices <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/06\/04\/colorado-avalanche-lock-up-free-agent-center\/\" target=\"_self\">in the wake of<\/a> the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/n\/nelsobr01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-06-10_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brock Nelson<\/a> signing. Colorado signed Nelson to a three-year deal worth $7.5 million per season.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Analysis:<\/em> The Avalanche took a big roll of the dice by retaining Nelson at that big of a cap hit. Colorado needed a second-line centre, but the cap hit is a steep one to take. It&#8217;s also a bit of a risk that the Avalanche are going to run it back with the same roster. We saw general manager Chris MacFarland take some big swings at the deadline. However, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/05\/04\/dallas-stars-vs-colorado-avalanche-stanley-cup-playoff-series-has-wild-finish\/\" target=\"_self\">Colorado was eliminated<\/a> by the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/06\/06\/dallas-stars-make-head-coaching-change\/\" target=\"_self\">Dallas Stars<\/a> in the first round.<\/p>\n<p>Renck mentions that the Avalanche may have limited themselves when it comes to free agency. This is a pivotal point in Colorado&#8217;s championship timeline. The Avs feel they&#8217;re still a contender, but there needs to be some changes.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s a good group of players with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/makarca01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-06-10_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cale Makar<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/m\/mackina01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-06-10_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nathan MacKinnon<\/a> and others. However, there needs to be some work done in order to get the team deep into the post-season.<\/p>\n<h4>What It Means<\/h4>\n<p>Kyle Morton of <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyfaceoff.com\/news\/after-signing-brock-nelson-colorado-avalanche-big-roster-decisions-nhl-sam-girard-charlie-coyle-martin-necas\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Daily Faceoff<\/a> also took a dive into the situation regarding Colorado&#8217;s cap. The Avalanche currently have only $1.2 million in cap space and has 19 signed players going into the season. Colorado will have to do some work in order to fill the roster.<\/p>\n<p>We could see someone like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/g\/girarsa01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-06-10_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Samuel Girard<\/a> on the move this off-season. Girard has a $5 million cap hit and moving that number could give the team some flexibility. The 27-year-old is under contract until the end of the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n<p>Morton also mentions <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/c\/coylech01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-06-10_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Charlie Coyle<\/a> and his $5.25 million cap hit could be moved this off-season. He can be a good depth forward, but him as a second-line centre is a stopgap option. The Avs could move him to somewhere else in order to free up some more salary cap space.<\/p>\n<p>There could also be some chatter regarding <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/c\/coltoro01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-06-10_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ross Colton<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/w\/woodmi01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-06-10_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Miles Wood<\/a>. Colton showed some good signs, but he carries a $4 million cap hit for next season. Morton mentioned that Colton and Wood could become expendable.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s also the uncertainty surrounding <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hockey-reference.com\/players\/n\/necasma01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2025-06-10_hr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Martin Necas<\/a>, who came over from the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/05\/28\/florida-panthers-vs-carolina-hurricanes-series-recap\/\" target=\"_self\">Carolina Hurricanes<\/a>. Playing alongside MacKinnon could be fun, but one wonders if Necas wants to stay in Colorado.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main photo by: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s time for another round of NHL rumours. We&#8217;re three games deep into the Stanley Cup Final, but the teams that were eliminated are still being discussed. A number of teams have a plethora of expectations. However, some of those teams fell short and have to figure out what comes next. There have already been [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2352,"featured_media":451767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28,4547,34,4548,4321],"tags":[2701,1275,7080,7153,6824,2671],"class_list":["post-470053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avalanche","category-hockey","category-news","category-nhl","category-rumours","tag-brock-nelson","tag-charlie-coyle","tag-chris-macfarland","tag-colorado-avalanche-rumours","tag-ross-colton","tag-samuel-girard"],"modified_by":"Dan Mount, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2352"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470053"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":470057,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470053\/revisions\/470057"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}