The Avalanche went into free agency with some glaring holes. Noteably a top pair of defensement, and two thirds of a second line. After an insanely active FA period, that involved some trades, the team filled those needs, and then some.

The Aves kicked FA off with signing Zdeno Chara to a 1 year 6m deal. Chara quickly filled one of the open spots on the top d pair, and was a sign of good things to come.

Then the trading started. With the team unhappy with how the RW market was shaping up, the Aves packages Philip Danault and Alex Petrovic up to the Coyotes for Patric Hornqvist. Getting Hornqvist game the team 4 wingers (Aho, Maroon, Sheary) with 80+ scoring to match up with McDavid, and allowed the team to shift it's focus entirely to down the middle, and boy howdy did they.

Ryan Kesler and Jeff Carter were signed to big money 1 year deals. That gives the Aves the best center trio in the league to build the offense around. It's expected that lines 2 & 3 will see similar icetime as they really try to keep everyone fresh. When you factor in the trade that shipped Antoine Roussel out of town for Richard Panik, and the acquisition of Colin Wilson and Andrew Copp during FA, the Avalanche forward lines appear to be set, with a clear top 12 and some good depth behind them in the farm. The team is expected to open camp with Sheary and Maroon flanking McDavid, Aho and Panik along with Kesler, and Carter centering Hornqvist and Colin Wilson. The fourth line looks to be Radek Faksa in between Dennis Rasmussen and Andrew Copp.

News broke this morning that the Aves had indeed signed their internal #1 target of free agency as Eric Johnson signed on for 3 years @ 8.5 million. EJ and Chara will be the teams top D pairing, while Nick Leddy and Jack Johnson man the second unit, and Ian Cole and Martin Marincin (both of excellent rates) man the third unit. Brendan Dillon and Markus Nuutivaara are expected to start with the big club as well and be the spares for the squad.

In net, it's the status quo, Mike Smith is the starter and Philip Grubauer the backup. With the belief that Smith is good enough, especially in the West, to help the Aves be an elite team, management feels he's going to have a huge NHL year, and be one of the top goalies next year. While net certainly isn't a strength this season, compared to other western squads, it certainly isn't a weakness.

The offseason that started with the landscape changing McDavid trade has likely come to a close, with the roster set and spirits high, the Avalanche feel like they could be the best team in the Western conference, a far cry from where this organization was 13 months ago, when Grubauer was the only player on the roster.