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Good morning all. For a dead week in the middle of summer, we had a fair amount of Avalanche news. Let's take a look back:
- Avs 1st round pick Mikko Rantanen was signed to an Entry Level Contract on Monday which gives the club the option of keeping him in North America this season if it seems prudent after training camp, and it should. If Mikko plays less than 9 NHL games, the contract will slide to next year regardless of where he plays the bulk of the season.
- Recently acquired RFA center Mikhail Grigorenko signed a sweetheart of a deal, one year at $675K 1-way, which has show-me written all over it. Grigorenko has been very positive so far since coming to the Avs and just made a big bet on himself. I love it, great contract for both sides and makes it even easier to root for Grig's success going forward.
- RFAs Andrew Agozzino and Mat Clark had filed for arbitration with the hearings scheduled for this coming week in Toronto. Both sides avoided the issue and got new contracts done on Thursday.
Agozzino signed a 1-year 2-way deal for $600k in the NHL but more importantly $150k in the AHL. This is a great reward for a guy that's led the Avs minor league system in scoring since he arrived on the scene.
Clark signed a 2-year 2-way deal also for $600k in the NHL and an escalating $125k/$175k in the AHL. The multi-year aspect says to me that the Avs want some leadership stability in San Antonio and that Clark is the early favorite to be the Rampage's next captain.
- Francois Allaire's Annual Swiss Goalie Camp took place this week including the Avs own Reto Berra and Calvin Pickard. The good folks at Eurolanche have an interview with Yogi up today, check it out. Meanwhile Picks had a long way to go to get back to Winnipeg after the European camp.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="ht" dir="ltr">GVA ✈ ️FRA ✈ ️YYZ ✈️ YWG <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/letsGO?src=hash">#letsGO</a></p>— Calvin Pickard (@cpickard1) <a href="https://twitter.com/cpickard1/status/622327551210471424">July 18, 2015</a></blockquote>
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- For those of you that are nuts about the Rampage like I am, our friends at Running With the Herd cover the team like no one else. Not only are they experienced fans, they are credentialed reporters with access to players that will make a big difference in what we learn out of our AHL squad this season. They also do a weekly radio show that you can listen to live or check out as a podcast. This week they did a Special Summer edition that talks about how things are shaping up for next year.
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That's all for now, I'll leave you with my main man Nick Magyar enjoying one of the finest sports Earth has to offer. Enjoy!
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">When <a href="https://twitter.com/Masonkohn17">@Masonkohn17</a> wipes out mountain biking but I still look good! <a href="http://t.co/jPsBbJS72E">pic.twitter.com/jPsBbJS72E</a></p>— Nick Magyar (@NickMagyar2) <a href="https://twitter.com/NickMagyar2/status/622540237366001664">July 18, 2015</a></blockquote>
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