EDMONTON, ALBERTA - AUGUST 31: Miro Heiskanen #4 of the Dallas Stars defends Valeri Nichushkin #13 of the Colorado Avalanche during the first period of Game Five of the Western Conference Second Round during the 2020 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Rogers Place on August 31, 2020 in Edmonton, Alberta.

Avalanche re-up Nichushkin with reported 2-year, $5M contract

Josh Wegman
6 years ago
Andy Devlin / National Hockey League / Getty

The Colorado Avalanche have re-signed restricted free-agent forward Valeri Nichushkin, the team announced Saturday.

The contract is a two-year deal carrying an annual cap hit of $2.5 million, a source told The Athletic's Ryan Clark.

Nichushkin registered only 13 goals and 14 helpers in 65 games with the Avs last season. But he posted some elite defensive metrics, according to HockeyViz (zero is league average, anything under that is considered good):

hockeyviz.com

He received some down-ballot Selke Trophy votes, too, finishing eighth for the award given to the league's top defensive forward.

Even after re-signing Andre Burakovsky earlier Saturday, the Avs still hold nearly $15 million in cap space and could make a splash. However, fellow RFAs Tyson Jost, Vladislav Kamenev, Ryan Graves, and Nikita Zadorov still need new deals.

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