3 Avalanche Players Who Won’t Be Back Next Season

The Colorado Avalanche have loaded up at the trade deadline with a number of rentals and have other players on contract years as well. Not everyone is going to be able to stay after the team hopes to win the Stanley Cup. After their run, however long it may be, the Avalanche are going to have to move on from some players in the offseason.

Yakov Trenin

Yakov Trenin was picked up from the Nashville Predators at the deadline for some bottom-six toughness and scoring depth. Trenin is just one of many pending UFAs after the season and is currently playing on the third line. The Avalanche likely want to keep Jonathan Drouin after the season and there are only a limited number of top-nine spots, so Trenin will likely test free agency and look for more money and a better opportunity. He won't go from playing on the second line in Nashville, to the third line in Colorado this season, to the fourth line next season.

Sean Walker

The Avalanche made a big change on defense by bringing in Sean Walker in a career year. He will continue to line up on the third pairing for the remainder of the season so long as there's no injuries on the team. He has proven to be a top-four talent and will demand more money on his next contract than the Avalanche are able to pay, thus seeing him hit the open market and likely get that money elsewhere in a larger role.

Pavel Francouz

The Avalanche gave Pavel Francouz a lot of opportunity over the past number of years, but injuries just kept getting in the way. If this season has any impact on how much the team hurts without two proper goaltenders, the Avalanche will finally move on from the injury-prone UFA after the season and add someone more reliable. This isn't because Francouz hasn't shown he's a good goalie, but with his injury this season once again, the backup options behind Alexandre Georgiev, who's not having a great season and needs help, hasn't been great.