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Avalanche: 3 Stanley Cup champions who won’t be back next season

By Eric Treuden

DENVER, COLORADO - JUNE 30: Nico Sturm #78 of the Colorado Avalanche lifts the Stanley Cup on-stage during the Colorado Avalanche Victory Parade and Rally at Civic Center Park on June 30, 2022 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
DENVER, COLORADO - JUNE 30: Nico Sturm #78 of the Colorado Avalanche lifts the Stanley Cup on-stage during the Colorado Avalanche Victory Parade and Rally at Civic Center Park on June 30, 2022 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images)
(Photo by Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images) /

These three players for Stanley Cup champions Colorado Avalanche won’t be back next season.

The Colorado Avalanche have been 2022 Stanley Cup champions for just over a week now, but it’s time to turn the attention toward the upcoming free agents the Avs are set to lose.

There are a number of notable players up for free agency on this championship-winning team including Nazem Kadri, Darcy Kuemper, Josh Manson, Andre Burakovsky, and Valeri Nichushkin.

As things currently sit, the Avs are projected to have somewhere around $25MM in cap space for the upcoming season, enough to re-sign some, but certainly not all, of the upcoming free agents.

Colorado Avalanche: 3 players who won’t be returning next season

#3 – Goaltender Darcy Kuemper

32-year-old Darcy Kuemper, the second-highest-paid goaltender in the entire league last season, is set to become a free agent for the second time in his career.

Kuemper ranked sixth amongst goaltenders that are hitting free agency in save percentage with a .921 mark. While his performance was at times unreliable (he recorded the lowest save percentage of any Stanley Cup champion goalie since 1988) it is worth noting that he played a good chunk of the Stanley Cup Finals with an eye injury that he sustained earlier in the series.

Kuemper went 37-12 in the regular season with the Avs and then went 10-4 in the playoffs. He is a three-time All-Star with playoff experience (and success) and will find himself in line for a hefty payday this offseason. With the Avalanche needing to put a large portion of their available funds towards an extension for superstar Nate MacKinnon, Kuemper might have already played his last game in Colorado.

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