Say goodbye to Pierre-Edouard Bellemare

He played for the Colorado Avalanche for two seasons. He did a really respectable job as the team’s fourth-line center for two winning seasons. But the time of Pierre-Edouard Bellemare with the Avs will officially end on July 28. The Avs will not attempt to re-sign him as an unrestricted free agent.

The Avs, who are still trying to sign at least two potential UFAs, Gabe Landeskog and Philipp Grubauer – plus some other restricted free agents including Cale Makar, Tyson Jost and Conor Timmins – just don’t have the money to give to a UFA like Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.

In his two years with the Avs, Bellemare, 36, played 122 regular-season games, with 18 goals and 15 assists. In 25 playoff games, he had two goals and four assists. He was an excellent faceoff guy for the Avs, winning 60.75% of his draws this past season, and he played regularly on the penalty-killing unit. Prior to signing a two-year, free-agent deal with the Avs Bellemare played for the Vegas Golden Knights.

It remains to be seen how the Avs attempt to fill his fourth-line center role. They could try to sign another free agent on the 28th, or promote from within with a player such as Shane Bowers or another prospect.

The Avs currently have about $23 million in cap space, but are trying to sign Landeskog and Grubauer as UFAs, and are uncertain if they might have more cap space after July 21, when the NHL’s expansion draft with the Seattle Kraken happens. The Avs will lose one regular roster player to Seattle.