The Colorado Avalanche added a batch of minor league signings to bolster organizational depth after using most of their available salary cap space on July 1 for Jaden Schwartz and Noah Juulsen.
Those moves matter most for the Colorado Eagles, who lost a significant chunk of their 2025-26 roster. The new contracts should help rebuild a veteran base and give the Avalanche a few more tweener options to evaluate.
A pair of forwards with Minnesota Wild ties are now in the mix. Vinnie Hinostroza signed a two-year, two-way contract after most recently being part of the Florida Panthers organization, where he landed following a trade deadline deal.
The right-shot center was originally a sixth-round pick by the Chicago Blackhawks in 2012 and has bounced around several teams over the course of his career, including time in the AHL. He’s expected to provide depth for both Colorado and Colorado Springs.
Adam Beckman is another forward with Wild roots, though he came into the league as Minnesota’s third-round pick in 2019. Over the last two seasons, the left wing played for the Bridgeport Islanders and last appeared in the NHL in the 2023-24 season. With Alex Barre-Boulet leaving for the San Jose Sharks in free agency, the Eagles are getting a 30-goal scorer back into the fold to help their offense.
On the blue line, Colorado added left-shot defenseman Domenick Fensore, a younger option with some pro seasoning. The Carolina Hurricanes picked him in the third round in 2019, but he has only three NHL games on his résumé.
At 5-foot-9, he was never handed much runway in Carolina, yet he has been productive for the Chicago Wolves over the last three seasons. After losing Jack Ahcan and Jacob MacDonald in free agency, the Eagles needed a new quarterback for the power play.
The Avalanche also signed Christian Wolanin to reinforce the back end. Another left-shot defenseman, Wolanin brings more size at 6-foot-2 and was drafted by the Ottawa Senators in the fifth round in 2015.
He most recently played on an AHL contract with the Providence Bruins, but his résumé includes winning the Calder Cup with the Abbotsford Canucks and piling up 124 points over three seasons there. Wolanin is also the son of former Avalanche and Stanley Cup champion Craig Wolanin.
In Other News...
Avalanche Risk Repeating A Brutal Problem If They Get This Wrong
The Avalanche have mostly set their roster for the coming season, with only a few jobs still open on the fourth line and the bottom of the defense. Colorado also brought in depth help to round things out, adding Fyodor Svechkov, Zachary LHeureux, Vinnie Hinostroza and Noah Juulsen as the group behind the core starts to take shape.
For a team that wants to stay fresh over the long haul, the real challenge now is how the coaching staff handles those last spots once the games begin. If the veterans get too much of the burden and the younger players are left without meaningful NHL minutes, Colorado could end up repeating the same kind of wear-and-tear problems that have hurt them before, with the blue line and forward depth both needing to hold up when the season gets heavy. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Suddenly Face A Cap Squeeze They May Not Escape
Colorados cap picture is getting tighter in a hurry, and the next season on the books already comes with a built-in drag. The Avalanche are set to carry roughly $2.3 million in dead cap space into 2026-27, a hit that stems from bonus overages and will sit there before the roster is even finalized. With the clubs current structure leaving only about $404,000 in room once those overages are factored in, there is not much margin for error.
Brent Burns contract is the reason the accounting has turned so awkward, and the timing makes the squeeze even more uncomfortable for Colorado. The bonus overage mechanism pushed part of last seasons payments onto this years cap, and the new waiver rules only make roster management less flexible, since paper transactions are no longer the easy escape hatch they once were. If the Avalanche need to create space, the choices may not be pleasant. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Prospects Are Running Out Of Time To Truly Stick
The Avalanches prospect pipeline has reached a point where upside alone is no longer enough. Nikita Prishchepov, Sean Behrens and Gavin Brindley are all at different stages of the same test, with each trying to turn flashes in the AHL or brief looks in Denver into something more permanent as the organization continues sorting out who can actually help at the NHL level.
Prishchepov and Behrens both have had their development interrupted by injuries, which has made every healthy stretch matter a little more. Brindley is in a different spot, with NHL experience already on his rsum and a path that could open further down the road, but the Avalanche still need to see more consistency before any of these three can be viewed as true fixtures rather than names with potential. [Read more 🡒]