The Colorado Avalanche have done a long-term contract extension with last season’s leading scoring, signing Matt Duchene to a 5-year, $30 million dollar contract extension. The deal will begin in the 2014-15 season and carries with it a cap hit of $6 million per season, second highest on the Avalanche, behind only Paul Stastny. The Avs and Duchene had agreed on a 2-year, $7 million deal last summer, and he was scheduled to be a restricted free agent at the end of the 2013-14 season.
“Matt already is and will be a big part of our team’s nucleus for the long term,” Avs vice president Joe Sakic said in a statement. “We all felt that it was important for us to secure his rights for several seasons.
“With his great skills, speed and character, he represents the identity we want the Avalanche to be.”
Last season the 22-year-old led the Avalanche in scoring with 17 goals and 26 assists for 43 points in 47 games. The 3rd overall pick in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, Duchene has put up 193 career points in 266 career games, all with Colorado.
“In 2009, I was thrilled to have been selected by the Avalanche, my favorite team,” Duchene told the Avs website. “I have worn this uniform with pride in my first four professional seasons in Denver, and I appreciate the organization believing in me for the long-term future.”
Duchene will be hoping that his personal success can translate better into on-ice team success for Colorado, as he tries to lead the team out of the Western Conference basement. He won’t be alone though, as the Avs are full of good young forwards, including 2012 Rookie of the Year, Gabriel Landeskog, and 2013 First Overall Pick, Nathan MacKinnon.
The Avalanche also have Ryan O’Reilly who will make $6.5 million this season in the second year of the two year contract he received after signing an offer sheet with the Calgary Flames. O’Reilly could be a restricted free agent again in the summer, but only if the Avalanche give him a qualifying offer of a further one year deal at $6.5 million first.
Playing under new coach Patrick Roy, it will be up to this group of talented forwards to lead the team out of the NHL’s basement and back to the playoffs. That may not happen until the Avalanche shore up their goaltending and defence situation, however.
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