In the summer of 2014, after playing with the Colorado Avalanche for eight seasons, Paul Stastny his free agency as one of the most sought-after centers on the market. coming off of a 60-point season, Stastny decided to move on from the city he had called home for the previous decade when he signed with the division rival St. Louis Blues.
Coming off of a season that saw Stastny traded to the Winnipeg Jets at the deadline, the 32-year old is now an unrestricted free agent once again. Stastny finished last season with 53 points in 82 games, but he came alive in the playoffs. As the Jets made a run to the Western Conference Final, Stastny was one of their best players finishing the playoffs with 6 goals and 15 points.
Now, four years and $28 million later, the former Denver Pioneer looks open to returning to the Mile High state.
Yesterday, Andy Strickland of Fox Sports Midwest sent out a tweet that indicated Stastny would like to return to either Winnipeg or Colorado.
Hearing Paul Stastny eventual destination starts with Winnipeg and Colorado at the top of the list (in no particular order) #NhLjets #Goavsgo
— Andy Strickland (@andystrickland) June 19, 2018
Would the interest be reciprocated?
There is no doubt that Stastny is still a high quality center that would help out the Avalanche in the faceoff circle while adding a talented veteran leader to the young team. That said, the Avalanche already have a glut of centermen -some of which have already been forced to play on the wing. Bringing him in - even on a short contract - would take away minutes from Tyson Jost, Alex Kerfoot, J.T. Compher and Vladislav Kamenev.
The only way a reunion with Stastny would make sense is if the Avs are able to move on from Carl Soderberg - either buying him out or finding a trade partner. Stastny would be an upgrade in Soderberg’s role as a veteran two-way center, but there definitely isn’t room for both of them in this Avalanche lineup.
He’s on the wrong side of his prime and would likely be expensive, so while they might have some interest, the Avalanche probably aren’t going to make much of an effort to sign Stastny.
It’s likely that nothing will come of it, but the fact that Stastny has interest in returning to the Avalanche is a great sign of how far the franchise has come in the past 12 months. The laughingstock of the league last summer, the Avs are now viewed as a very good young team that has a chance to contend in the very near future.
Not exclusive to these two teams. Told at the end of the day “Paul wants to sign with a team who has a chance to win” https://t.co/oxPQPEzxaL
— Andy Strickland (@andystrickland) June 19, 2018