Avalanche Sign RFAs Siemens, Girard and Bourque

The Avalanche announced today that they have signed RFAs Duncan Siemens, Felix Girard and Gabriel Bourque to 1-year deals.

Siemens played a trio of games for the Avs at the end of the year but mainly anchored the defense in San Antonio and became the de facto captain after the trade deadline. This will be Duncan’s 7th year in the org after getting drafted in 2011, his 5th as a pro.

Girard arrived mid-season from the Predators org in exchange for Cody McLeod. He had 7G/13A for the Rampage in 38 games in a solid 2-way centerman role.

Bourque made the Avs out of training camp on a try-out and played 6 games before heading to San Antonio. The gritty winger had 10G/23A in 61 games for the Rampage.

Per CapFriendly:

Siemens - 1-year, 2-way $750k/$100k. Nice raise in the AHL, bit of a haircut in the NHL

Bourque - 1-year, 2-way $750k/$225k. Small raise in the AHL, -50k in the NHL

Girard - 1-year, 2-way $650k/$80k. Small raises coming off his ELC

Basically this is what you would expect from guys that spent all or most of the year in the minors. Bourque is being paid like a guy they wanted to keep as an AHL vet. It’s a second show-me contract for Duncan and even though they probably had a good idea what Girard is (plus Eric Veilleux was a big fan) this gives the club a whole season plus camps to see his potential.

As of right now, Rocco Grimaldi, Matt Nieto and Nikita Zadorov are RFAs that are still looking for contracts next season. Nieto has elected arbitration and has a hearing on the 31st.