The Colorado Avalanche signed defenseman Francois Beauchemin and forward Blake Comeau on Wednesday to three-year contracts through the 2017-18 season.
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Beauchemin is a great veteran defensemen who is not just a fantastic defender but can make plays on offense as well. That player was Beauchemin. He added nine assists in 16 playoff games. But the $5.5 million cap hit was too much for the Avalanche and Sakic said he didn’t want to “handcuff” the team with long-term deals because he still needs to sign Johnson, Tyson Barrie and Nathan MacKinnon to new contracts, along with Mikhail Grigorenko and other restricted free agents with qualifying offers. The blue line was Colorado’s biggest problem in 2014-15, and the addition of Beauchemin fills a hole.
The 35-year-old Beauchemin averaged a team-best 22 minutes, 44 seconds of ice time per game for Anaheim last season. He had 21 points at 5-on-5, and 23 points overall in 64 games.
Murray, considering his salary cap situation and the fact that Beauchemin has required surgery on both knees, said he “couldn’t do that”. Putting Johnson alongside Barrie to start the year would not be a surprise either.
“The biggest thing is we were looking for somebody to play with [Johnson] for top minutes, play against the other team’s top lines”.
We also can not overlook Beauchemin’s postseason experience with a total of 97 post season games including a a 2007 post season campaign with eight points for Anaheim as they hoisted the Stanley Cup.
According to ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun, the San Jose Sharks and GM Doug Wilson have made defenseman Paul Martin their “No. 1 target,” though from the sounds of it they’ll have quite a bit of competition as LeBruin intimates there is “lots and lots of interest in him”. That’s not to say he’ll see that similar time in Colorado but he will certainly see ice on the man advantage.
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The Ducks could have been forced to overpay a free agent defencmen after losing Beauchemin, but Murray avoided that and was one step ahead of the game as he so often is.
