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The Colorado Avalanche and captain Gabriel Landeskog have agreed to an eight-year contract extension, removing the most coveted forward from the market on the eve of the creation of an NHL free agency.
The contract has an average annual value of $ 7 million. He has a full no-move clause in the first four seasons and then a modified no-trade clause in the last four years.
Landeskog and the Avalanche negotiated on the wire. They had until 11:59 p.m. ET Tuesday night to agree on a contract for up to eight years; otherwise, the maximum duration would have been seven years.
They also faced a countdown to the NHL free agent signing period, which officially begins on Wednesday. Expansion Seattle Kraken was among the teams that should bank on its services if it hits the market. The negotiation between Landeskog and the Avalanche was prolonged and intense, with many speculating that they would not find common ground on the length of the contract.
Instead, Landeskog remains with the only NHL team he’s played with. The 28-year-old left winger was drafted second in 2011 by the Avalanche. He played 687 games for them, with 218 goals and 294 assists. A frequent member of the team’s powerful top three with Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen, Landeskog had 20 goals and 32 assists in 54 games last season.
Landeskog is now the third highest-paid Avalanche player by salary cap behind Rantanen (AAV $ 9.25 million) and defenseman Cale Makar ($ 9 million), the 22-year-old defender who signed a six-year extension last week.
The contact puts the Avalanche $ 12.4 million below the salary cap, with just 16 players under contract for next season. Their attention now turns to their goalkeepers, where Vezina Trophy finalist Philipp Grubauer is an unrestricted free agent.
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