Aarif Deen
We learned pretty quickly on Sunday why the Colorado Avalanche moved on from Jack Drury as quickly as they did. Drury, who was traded to the Nashville Predators on Wednesday, signed a five-year contract carrying a $4.5 million AAV and full no-trade protection in the second and third years of the deal.
All of this for a 26-year-old centerman who, over the past two seasons, has excelled most as a fourth-line center. Albeit a really good one.
Coming into the offseason, it was clear that the Avs might not have the cap space to keep him around. In the end, it wasn’t a few hundred thousand dollars of cap space that separated the two sides — it was likely over a million.
The Nic Roy acquisition, which sort of happened by accident in a way around the deadline, always served as center depth insurance in case Drury ended up on the move. The Avs also got Fedor Svechkov back in that deal, and if he does well enough to take the 4C role, it’ll keep Roy in the top nine permanently.
The Avs have Roy signed for one more year at $3 million. They also have three more seasons of Nazem Kadri at $5.6 million, two seasons of Brock Nelson at $7.5 million, and of course, Nathan MacKinnon making $12.6 million on the top line. Svechkov is under contract for two seasons and will make $1.25 million against the cap.
Meanwhile, Drury’s contract ended up at the $4.5 number — the same deal the Avalanche gave Brett Kulak — in a no-tax state. Former Avs GM Chris MacFarland was the one who gave him the deal. Had MacFarland remained with Colorado, he would’ve been the one to trade Drury because of the cap crunch.