Colorado Avalanche keep captain Milan Hejduk for one-year, $2 million -NHL Update
Days after reports emerged about Milan Hejduk being a part of negotiations with the Colorado Avalanche for a contract extension, the veteran captain signed on to a one-year deal with his team of 13 seasons to a one-year deal on Friday, May 18, 2012.
The financial terms and conditions of the contract extension were not officially released by the club but sources reveal that it is worth a cool $2 million, making him an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2013.
Hejduk’s performance has significantly declined the past season from his usual 50 plus point season, which showed in his contract with a $600,000 slash from the previous $2.6 million contract he had.
Colorado Avalanche general manager and executive vice president, Greg Sherman, made the announcement.
"Over the years, Milan has been an instrumental part of our organization's success," Sherman said. "He has represented this franchise with class and will continue to complement the young nucleus of players we have been building this team around."
Staying in Denver, Colorado, was one of the major factors that kept Hejduk with the Avalanche as he has based basically his whole life here with family and friends. Leaving at the age of 36 and trying to start off fresh somewhere else would just have been
a hassle.
"My family and I are very excited to continue my career here in Denver," Hejduk said. "I believe in this organization and our young players and look forward to helping the team in any way that I can."
Being the most experienced player on a team with youngsters left and right was also another reason the Colorado Avalanche organisation believed that having Hejduk would be a crucial phase. The younger players need to develop and having an experienced player
like him would allow that grooming to happen.
Hejduk has 37 points (14 goals, 23 assists) this past 2011-2012 NHL regular season as Colorado Avalanche nearly made the playoffs but were ousted for the second straight year.
The team is ready to make a comeback next time around as they showed great potential this past season and could possibly be a major player when the 2012-2013 season comes.
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