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The Colorado Avalanche are keeping one of their more important defensemen around for a couple more seasons after re-signing Josh Manson to a two-year, $7.9 million contract extension on Thursday, the team announced.
“Josh has been an important member of our blue line since joining the team during the 2022 stretch run,” general manager Chris MacFarland said in the release. “He is a steady and tough defender who chips in on the offensive side at key times. He is also a veteran leader in our dressing room, and we are excited to have him under contract for another three seasons.”
It's a bit of a pay decrease for the veteran rearguard, who is set to make $4.5 million in 2024-25. The new deal will commence in 2025-26, paying Manson $3.95 million for each of the two campaigns. He's now set to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2027.
The 33-year-old played 48 games with the Avalanche last season, scoring 15 points and adding 28 penalty minutes. The 6-foot-3 blue liner is more known for his physicality, and has been a key part of the defensive unit since joining the team in 2022.
Manson, originally selected 160th overall by the Anaheim Ducks in the 2011 NHL Draft, spent nearly a decade in California before being traded to Denver in March of 2022.
It was a perfect scenario for the Hinsdale, Illinois native; the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup for the third time in franchise history in June of 2022, with Manson adding eight points in 20 Stanley Cup Playoff games en route to the title.
The veteran has struggled with injury troubles ever since; he played just 27 regular season games in 2022-23, and after staying healthy and suiting up 76 times the next season, he missed another 34 in 2024-25. He was healthy for the playoffs, though, appearing in seven games and chipping in three points as the Avalanche were beaten in Game 7 by the Dallas Stars in Round 1.
Overall, Manson has produced 170 points across a 626-game, 11-year career split between the Ducks and Avalanche, including 21 points in 65 playoff contests.
Josh Manson not oldest defender on Avalanche
Assuming that 37-year-old Erik Johnson is not re-signed — he's currently a UFA — Manson would have been the oldest defenseman on the roster before Brent Burns was signed to a one-year deal last week.
Manson should see less than the 18:02 he averaged last season with Burns in the fold to bolster the right side of the blue line. Assuming no one is traded between now and training camp, Manson should play on the second pairing alongside Samuel Girard, while the 40-year-old Burns will handle third-pairing minutes along with Sam Malinski.
After spending the last three seasons in Carolina, Burns joins an Avalanche team that is looking to capture a second Stanley Cup in five years in 2025-26. He and Manson will be key pieces in stabilizing the defensive unit when Cale Makar and Devon Toews aren't on the ice.
Along with Manson, Burns, Girard, Makar, Toews and Malinski, Colorado also has Keaton Middleton under contract, with Johnson and Tucker Poolman currently UFAs.
