Avs Sign Two 2011 1st Rounders

The Colorado Avalanche are hinting that some more youth will be infused into their roster come opening night of the 2012 season, scheduled for October. The Avalanche have signed both of their 1st round draft picks from June's entry draft, forward Gabriel Landeskog (2nd overall) and defenseman Duncan Siemens (11th overall), to their maximum 3-year entry-level deals on Thursday afternoon.

Landeskog, the more likely of the two to make the jump into the NHL, as he was touted as the most NHL-ready of all the forwards in the draft, bringing size and speed to the table.  Landeskog is as close to expected in the Avalanche line-up as one could be at the end of July, but with prospect camp and training camp to go through, you just never know where he could end up. The trick might be finding him some complimentary talent within the organization to help him flourish in a scoring role and if they can't find it right away, then another year down below certainly won't hurt him.

The Swedish forward will likely get the same deal that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins received, which will pay him a maximum salary of $925,000 and then will have performance bonuses, which would take his cap hit over the $3 million mark.

Siemens, one of the few mock draft picks I actually got right in June, was the perfect compliment to having already picked up an offensive forward in the draft... an offensive defenseman.  With the move of Kevin Shattenkirk to the Blues, the Avalanche were likely looking to replace him with someone of comparable talent.  The Avalanche didn't exactly rush Shattenkirk into an NHL jersey when he was coming through the system, so I don't suppose the team will rush to put Siemens through right away, the team does have some quality NHL depth on the blueline already, so I would expect him down in juniors before too long.

Being the 11th overall pick, Siemens bonuses won't likely be a staggering as Landeskog's, plus if he slides a year on his entry-level deal, his cap hit will take a slight hit as well.  Not a big deal in Colorado, cap space isn't quite an issue... yet.