The Colorado Avalanche announced today that they have come to terms with RFA forward Phil Kessel on a new contract that will keep him in the Mile High City for the next two years.
"We are very pleased with how the negotiations went with Mr. Kessel and his agent. We found Perry Mason very pleasant to deal with and very fair" said GM Bill Kellett. Kessel apparently left money on the table to sign with Colorado specifically for the opportunity to play with Vinny Lecavalier and Marian Hossa.
"I am thrilled to have been able to get this done so quickly" said Kessel. "this is an organization that is moving in the right direction and only a fool would not want to be a part of that. We came down quite a bit in negotiations as it was never about the money, it was about the chance to suit up with a line that has the potential to be very explosive and i want to experience that"
Kessel signed earlier today a contract worth $6.75 million per season, a huge raise over the 4 million he made last year but with a bigger contract come bigger expectations and thos expectations are heightened by the fact that Kessel will be the focal point of a top line that can do some damage.
"Phil and his agent indicated to us that he wanted to play with Marian Hossa. He was thrilled when we acquired him and Phil understood that to keep this core in tact he would have to sacrifice financially and i give a lot of credit to him and his agent, they reduced their demands significantly to get this done. It is a big contract to commit to one player no question, but it could have been a lot worse."
Also signing on the dotted line is minor league defenceman Evan Oberg, also represented by Perry Mason. Oberg agreed to a similar 2 year deal but at much much less money. "We are very pleased to keep Evan Oberg in the fold. He is a great depth player and will get significant minutes for our farm club and we are not opposed to calling him up should injury arise. We like what Oberg brings and his negotiations went very smoothly"
Oberg will receive $700,000 for each oif the next two seasons.
It is also believed that the Avalanche are very close to inking Ryan SUter long term and Taylor Chorney, we may expect an announcement in the coming days. Dennis Wideman however remains a question mark as he is asking for the moon according to Gm Bill Kellett
"I can not comment at this time on any negotiations just that they are ongoing. We are very close we feel on certain guys and not so close on others, but the summer is young and we will continue to put together the best possible team for the coming season"
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