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I think most of you that tomorrow is the big day - the day when teams can start their feeding frenzy for unrestricted free agency. But yesterday was kind of a big deal too. Teams had until 5pm eastern to tender a qualifying offer to their restricted free agents in order to retain their rights. Players that weren't tendered an offer become UFAs and are free to sign with any club starting Wednesday.
The Colorado Avalanche have a slew of restricted free agents and fans like us have been wondering who will be retained and who will be let go. Sadly, the Avalanche organization either feels that we should not have this information or perhaps they just couldn't be bothered to let anyone know. While there's never been an abundance of coverage on RFA QOs, a lot of teams have figured out that savvy fans want this information. San Jose, Minnesota, Montreal, Florida and Buffalo are among the handful of teams who recognize the importance of sharing this vital information with their fans. Colorado? Crickets.
Thanks to Adrian Dater and his sources, we know that David Jones has been tendered a qualifying offer (which he can't sign until July 1st) and that Cody McCormick has not been tendered. We also know that Peter Budaj has signed a 1-year extension with the Avalanche...all information that has yet to appear on the Avs' official site. We still do not know the fate of Jason Bacashihua, Philippe Dupuis, Michael Vernace, Kyle Cumiskey or Aaron MacKenzie.
Memo to the Avalanche: This may seem like minor clerical paperwork to you, but it's important to a lot of the people who follow your team...people who may still be on the fence about those season tickets you are desperately trying to move. Not all of your fan base is a bunch of blubbering morons complaining about Joe Sakic's career +/- numbers. I speak from experience when I say that you have a lot of intelligent, knowledgeable fans out there and they want to know about stuff like this. There is no competetive advantage to be gained to keeping this information under wraps. Look, I don't expect you to start Twittering at your management meetings, but would it kill you guys to open up just a little?