Advertisement

Gabriel Landeskog reportedly seeking astronomical amount in free agency

Pending UFA Gabriel Landeskog is reportedly seeking a massive payday and eyeing down several teams if he and the Avalanche can't get a deal done in the coming days. (Getty Images)
Pending UFA Gabriel Landeskog is reportedly seeking a massive payday and eyeing down several teams if he and the Avalanche can't get a deal done in the coming days. (Getty Images)

Movement SZN in the NHL is upon us, and rumors surrounding a core piece of the Colorado Avalanche's potent forward group looks to be very much in play.

And my man is reportedly looking to get paid with a capital P if he hits the open, as one should.

St. Louis-based NHL insider Andy Strickland reported on Friday that Gabriel Landeskog will reportedly be seeking somewhere in the $9-million-plus range if he is unable to come to terms on a new contract with the Avalanche over the next week or so.

Strickland added that it shouldn't take $9-$10M per season to keep Landeskog in Colorado as he's willing to take a little less to remain with the only organization he's ever known:

"He’s not asking for that. Saying price goes up if he hits the market," he tweeted, later adding that the Lightning (of course), Panthers, Golden Knights, Maple Leafs, Islanders and Blues would all be teams Landeskog would be interested in landing with if the organization's are able to make it work, which would definitely be hard to near-impossible to make work for squads like the Bolts, Leafs and Isles without them having to completely grenade their rosters.

This of course could be a case of "leaky agent throws a bunch of crazy numbers to some reporter he knows in order to drive up their client's market value," but even in the current flat-cap landscape plaguing the NHL, it's highly likely the former No. 2 overall pick fetches over $8-million per on a six-to-seven-year deal.

TSN's Darren Dreger also chimed in Friday, tweeting that the Avalanche-Landeskog contract talks have basically hit a wall.

Colorado's longtime captain set career highs in goals (34), assists (41) and points (75) during his last full season in 2018-19, and has tallied 46 goals and 96 points combined over two 54-game campaigns since.

The productive, physical, two-way force will be highly coveted if he does indeed hit the market, with the ability to instantly bolster any top-six he walks into.

More from Yahoo Sports