Some interesting news broke this morning as the Colorado Avalanche shared they signed Gavin Brindley to a two-year contract extension through the 2027-28 season. After a weekend in which he scored three points with two goals including the overtime winner in Vancouver, the young right wing certainly is gaining momentum just 15 games into his NHL career.
A two-year extension this early into the final year of his Entry Level Contract is a nice gesture from the organization even if it’s not quite a commitment. The devil is always in the details and when those were revealed showing that the first year is two-way with only a $300K guarantee and the yearly $875K cap hit is fully buriable it really comes out to this is more of a minor league extension similar to the one current Colorado Eagles defenseman Keaton Middleton signed last spring.
This contract should age well if Brindley establishes himself as a NHL regular and certainly if he provides more than a fourth liner in role and production. As a fully buriable contract it’s no risk to the organization but a little bit of real dollars in the second year. If the Avalanche were ready to make a true commitment they need a bit more skin in the game. This contract is not anything close to what Logan O’Connor received as RFA ($1.05 x 3) with 43 NHL games under his belt and isn’t much more than Brindley would have got as a minimum offer as a Restricted Free Agent this summer, therefore he must be a little uncertain about his future as well to take this now. But it’s a step in the right direction on hopefully a path to becoming a NHL regular.
