Okay, so the Colorado Avalanche are not going to keep Brooks Orpik around to be a mentor to the young defensemen on the team, as the team has placed the veteran rearguard on waivers on Saturday for the purpose of buying out his contract. Orpik had one year left on his current deal, which was going to carry a cap hit of $5.5 million, but the Avalanche will absorb a $2.5 million cap hit this season and a $1.5 million hit in the 2020 season, while opening up a roster spot.The Avalanche have a lot of cap space still to use, before they even make it to the cap floor, as I'm showing $6.1 million to go and they have a 22-man projected roster at the moment. I'm sure they will fill a good deal of that with Philipp Grubauer's upcoming deal, but it likely won't be quite enough to do the trick.
