Ryan Graves’ deal shows how times have changed on two-way NHL contracts

Good news for Avs fans today: Ryan Graves put pen to paper on a new contract with the Avalanche organ-i-zation. The terms:

Seven hundred and thirty five thousand dollars if he is on the Avalanche roster. If he’s on the roster of the Colorado Eagles? Graves will still be taking home a pretty good chunk of change – $350,000.

Jeez, I can remember when $350k a year was a BIG amount of money for NHL players. Or, any pro athlete. You know what the NHL’s minimum salary was in 2003-04? According to my half-assed Internet research, it was $180,000. In 2005-06, as part of the new collective bargaining agreement following the canceled season, it jumped to $450,000.

I still remember this stat: the minimum salary for Major League Baseball players in 1975 was $19,000 – and a lot of players only made that, including, if memory serves, 1975 American League MVP Fred Lynn. (Fred Lynn is one of my top-five all-time sports heroes).

It’s a one-year deal for Graves, who I thought really added a lot to the Avs in his spot duty for the team this past season. He probably wanted more term than that, but the Avs also probably said “You gotta still keep proving yourself, kid, before we invest more in you longer term.”

But there’s no question that this past season was a big step forward for Graves, a fourth-round pick in 2013 with the New York Rangers. I really liked what I saw from him. He’s big – 6-5, 225 – and he played a pretty responsible two-way game for the Avs in his 26 games for Colorado (three goals, two assists, +4). His puck-possession numbers were average (46.5 Corsi in all situations). But give the kid a break; most of the time he was thrown into the breach, playing as a fifth, sixth or seventh D-man. Not easy to dominate in puck-possession in those situations.

He scored goals in back-to-back games, Jan. 4 and 8, against the Rangers and at Winnipeg. He had one really bad moment – a turnover that directly led to a goal in a Feb. 9 game in Brooklyn against the Islanders, a game eventually lost in overtime – and a few other skittish moments. But overall, he played better than probably everyone expected.

After several years in the minors, Graves finally got the monkey off his back and showed he can play some in the NHL.

The Avs now have nine NHL defensemen who played last season signed to contracts – but two of them, Ian Cole and Erik Johnson, aren’t likely to start the season on time. Cole won’t return until December, the team said, while Joe Sakic said last week Johnson “has a chance” to start the season on time.

If Graves shows well in training camp, if the Avs don’t think Bo Byram is quite ready to make the jump yet and if Mark Barberio (entering the last year of his deal) loses out to Graves on the depth chart, then we could easily see Graves start for the Avs on opening night.

And if he is in Loveland instead? He’ll still be making some pretty good coin. Times have, indeed, changed.

From the Avs’ official release on the Graves signing:

Graves, 24, recorded five points (3g/2) and a +4 plus/minus rating in 26 games for the Avalanche this past season. The Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, native made his NHL debut on Dec. 27 at Vegas and registered his first NHL goal on Jan. 4 against the New York Rangers. He also suited up in 32 regular-season games for the American Hockey League’s Colorado Eagles, tallying nine points (2g/7a).

A fourth-round selection (110th overall) of the New York Rangers in the 2013 NHL Draft, Graves was acquired by the Avalanche in a trade on Feb. 26, 2018. He has totaled 77 points (24g/53a) in 260 career AHL games for the Hartford WolfPack, San Antonio Rampage and the Eagles. As a rookie in 2015-16, Graves led all Hartford defensemen with nine goals and added 12 assists for 21 points, earning a selection to the AHL All-Star Game.

Prior to turning pro, Graves played four seasons in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League from 2011-16, totaling 86 points (25g/61a) in 245 games with the Prince Edward Island Rocket, Charlottetown Islanders, Val-d’Or Foreurs and Quebec Remparts. The 6-foot-5, 226-pound blueliner served as an alternate captain with both the Islanders (2013-14) and the Remparts (2014-15), helping Val-d’Or capture the President’s Cup as league champions in 2014.

Graves competed in consecutive Memorial Cup tournaments in 2014 and 2015. At the 2015 tournament, he was tied for second in scoring among defensemen with five points (2g/3a) in five games to earn a spot on the Memorial Cup All-Star team.