With the Florida Panthers successfully defending their 2024 Stanley Cup win with a 5-1 beat down in Game 6 of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final, all eyes turn to the off-ice portion of the 2024-25 season. The 2025 NHL Entry Draft is set to take place on June 27 and 28 after which the annual free agent period begins on July 1.
Like 30 other NHL teams, the Colorado Avalanche enter the offseason on the heels of disappointment. Despite owning the league’s third-best points percentage (PTS%) after Dec. 1 (when they rebuilt their goalie tandem), the team blew a 2-0 lead in the third period of Game 7 against the Dallas Stars and bowed out in Round 1 for the second time in three seasons. For a franchise with the fourth-best PTS% since the start of the 2017-18 season to have only advanced past the second round once in those eight seasons is underwhelming, even if they did win the Stanley Cup in 2022.
Related: Avalanche’s Nelson Signing Means More Trades Coming
While Colorado’s core group of forwards is set with Nathan MacKinnon, Artturi Lehkonen, Valeri Nichushkin, Martin Necas, Brock Nelson, and Gabriel Landeskog making up most, if not all of the top six, the bottom six remains in flux. While Jack Drury, Parker Kelly, and Logan O’Connor (once healthy) should keep their places, the trio of Charlie Coyle, Ross Colton, and Miles Wood are prime trade candidates because of their contracts. Assuming they are not immediately replaced as part of any potential deals, there will be gaps that need to be filled.
Let’s dive into three free agent forwards who could find a place in the Avalanche lineup in the 2025-26 season. All contract projections are courtesy of AFP Analytics.
Anthony Mantha, Calgary Flames
2024-25 Statistics: 13 Games Played (GP) – 4 Goals (G) – 3 Assists (A) – 7 Points (PTS)
The Avalanche’s first target is a familiar name looking to rejuvenate a stalled career. Veteran forward Anthony Mantha (he turns 31 in October) has three 20-goal seasons to his name, but has struggled with injuries and consistency for much of his career.
Mantha signed a one-year contract with the Calgary Flames last summer but only appeared in 13 games before suffering a season-ending knee injury early in the season. He’s only played in 70 or more games in a single season twice in his entire career, and will likely have to accept a one-year deal at league-minimum ($775,000) or a professional tryout (PTO) as a lifeline.
Mantha scored at a 25-goal, 44-point pace before his injury and could be extremely motivated to perform in what could be his last chance to extend his time in the NHL. He did score 23 goals in 74 games split between the Washington Capitals and the Vegas Golden Knights during the 2023-24 campaign, so there is recent evidence of his shooting talent.
The Avalanche should be wary (look at Jonathan Drouin’s time in Colorado), but a heavily bonus-laden contract that can be fully buried in the minors is a fair compromise for the two parties. Landeskog can be moved anywhere in the lineup, so letting Mantha sit in the top-six and essentially replace Drouin could be a low-risk gamble with a potentially decent payoff.
Anthony Beauvillier, Washington Capitals
2024-25 Statistics: 81 GP – 15 G – 10 A – 25 PTS
The next free agent forward target is 28-year-old winger Anthony Beauvillier, who has played for six teams over the past three seasons and has been unable to stick since spending parts of almost seven full seasons with the New York Islanders.
Beauvillier started the 2024-25 season with the Pittsburgh Penguins, where he scored 13 goals in 63 games before being sent to the Capitals at the trade deadline. He struggled to acclimate to his new team in the regular season, before surprisingly becoming one of Washington’s more impactful players by tallying six points in 10 playoff games this spring.
AFP projects a three-year contract carrying an average annual value (AAV) of $3.22 million for Beauvillier due to his relative youth, above-average offensive impact (six seasons of 15 goals or more), and playoff experience (two trips to the Eastern Conference Final with the Islanders).
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That number could be a tad rich for the Avalanche, but the veteran forward could be persuaded to take a shorter, cheaper deal with the hopes of boosting his numbers in a more offense-friendly environment. Beauvillier has experience playing in a top-nine role, but hasn’t been used very much on the penalty kill. There could be a match here, but Colorado might look for a cheaper option elsewhere.
Tomas Nosek, Florida Panthers
2024-25 Statistics: 59 GP – 1 G – 8 A – 9 PTS
The third and final target is 32-year-old forward Tomas Nosek, who is coming off of a successful run to the Stanley Cup with the Panthers and appeared in 16 playoff games this spring (three points) and was a useful utility player.
Nosek’s offensive contributions have waned in recent seasons (10 goals over his last 161 regular-season games), but he remains a versatile skater capable of playing in all three forward positions and is a reliable penalty-killing option. He averaged just over two minutes per game while shorthanded, ranking third among Florida’s forwards in the regular season.
The veteran winger is clearly a fourth-line option at this point in his career, and the Avalanche may be looking for someone with more of an offensive punch at five-on-five, but Nosek can assume O’Connor’s penalty-killing usage until he comes back and free up the other forwards to play more at even strength. For what it’s worth, the Panthers accounted for 53% of all shots and 59% of all scoring chances with Nosek on the ice at five-on-five.
Key to the Avalanche’s roster-building plans is the fact that he shouldn’t break the bank, either, as AFP projects his next contract to come in at one year with a $916,000 AAV. More salary might need to be allocated to rebuilding the blue line behind Cale Makar and Devon Toews, so positive value deals at not much more than league minimum are ideal this summer.
Avalanche Will Have to Look for Bargains in Free Agency
With Nelson re-signed and the defense corps in need of a re-shuffle, the Avalanche will be thin on cap space, barring several trades involving the aforementioned middle-six forwards. Even if those players are moved to create more breathing room, bargain-bin pieces will be crucial in building out the depth behind the team’s stars.
The Panthers received steady contributions on both sides of the puck from several skaters making league-minimum or slightly higher. Can the Avalanche successfully emulate the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions?
Data courtesy of Natural Stat Trick, the NHL and PuckPedia.
