Landeskog Trending Toward Free Agency, Millions Apart from Avs Offer

A few sources have reported on Friday that negotiations between the Colorado Avalanche and captain Gabriel Landeskog are not going well. Darren Dreger writes, “Things can change with a phone call, but sources say there really hasn’t been any movement lately in the Landeskog negotiations.” That came around the same as a report from Andy Strickland who wrote there was a massive salary separation between the two sides.

Strickland tweeted:

Told Gabriel Landeskog could be asking for a salary that pays in the range of $9-$10M in the open market. He’s willing to give Colorado a hometown discount but the Avs will need to up from their last offer which came in in the $5-$6 range on a 8 yr term.

Told Gabriel Landeskog could be asking for a salary that pays in the range of $9-$10M in the open market. He’s willing to give Colorado a hometown discount but the Avs will need to up from their last offer which came in in the $5-$6 range on a 8 yr term.

— Andy Strickland (@andystrickland) July 16, 2021

This has been an interesting development and is kind of a “wow” situation from the eyes of many who are following the Landeskog negotiations. First, this is a key player for team, their captain and a fantastic two-way forward who shows up in playoffs. Oh, and the Avalanche are certainly a playoff team. They’re one of the favorites in the Western Conference to get the Stanley Cup Final.

Related: Colorado Avalanche Trade Ryan Graves to New Jersey Devils

Very few people would have believed Landeskog would ever make it to the open free agent market, but that looks almost exactly like where he’s headed. It’s not as though these two sides are $1 million apart. There’s a $3-$5 million difference here. That’s not exactly easy to overcome in a matter of a few days.

Immediate reaction from a lot of fans is that Landeskog is not worth $10 million per season. Even if the salary cap weren’t flat, their argument is that he’s not worth close to that. Others will argue that the Avs have lowballed their team captain and it might backfire.

Who Will Be Interested in Landeskog if He Hits Free Agency?

Strickland also wrote: Teams Gabriel Landeskog will have interest in signing with in the event he can’t come to terms with his current club, the #GoAvsGo. Fla, TB, Vegas, Toronto, NYI, St. Louis.” This doesn’t mean these teams will have interest, but that he might look to them to see if they’re open to a deal?

In the case of Toronto and Tampa Bay and Vegas, there’s no way they make the salary cap situation work out. If Landeskog wants $8-$10 million, these three teams can’t afford it. St. Louis would easily be the front runner here, especially if they were able to move Vladimir Tarasenko’s salary out. Elliotte Friedman suggested they would be the No. 1 contender to sign Landeskog if the Avs decide to let him walk. It was mentioned the player was tight with Ryan O’Reilly.

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