Avalanche sign Jamie McGinn to two-year deal

While they struggle to get top pending unrestricted free agent Paul Stastny and malcontent Ryan O'Reilly under contract, the Colorado Avalanche are taking care of other business ahead of the opening of free agency on July 1st. 

On Thursday, the club announced that they have come to an agreement on a two-year contract extension with burly scoring forward and pending restricted free agent Jamie McGinn. The deal will pay McGinn $5.9 million over two years per ESPN's Pierre LeBrun, and will carry an averaged annual salary (cap-hit) of $2.95 million. 

At even-strength, McGinn has solid offensive value and is a big body who is consistently willing to throw his weight around during games. Though he's capable of laying the body and surely isn't a defensive liability, McGinn's two-way play isn't a strength of his game at this point.

McGinn's real value is derived from his skills on the power-play, where he's an especially dynamic net-front forward. Over the past two seasons, McGinn has generated shots and goals at a top-40 rate among regular power-play forwards. 

"Jamie is coming off a very good season and played an important role for our team," Avalanche executive vice president of hockey operations Joe Sakic said in a prepared statement. "We’re excited to have him under contract for another two years."

McGinn tweeted to announce the deal and shared a photo of himself signing his new two-year deal while wearing all Blue Jays gear.