There could be other ways to manipulate the daily cap figure to create enough space over the course of the season, as well.

“In the summer you get the 10 percent (cushion), and obviously we still don’t know about Gabe and Val’s situations,” MacFarland said. “Talking about the opening-day roster in light of LTIR decisions and things of that sort, a lot of those things have to still be worked out.”

The Avs have now retained Drouin and Casey Mittelstadt, who signed a three-year, $17.25 million contract last week, for a combined $8 million against the cap next season. That’s at least 30 percent less than what it could have been, which also would have meant one of them was not returning.

Given the uncertainty with Landeskog and Nichushkin, keeping Drouin should help the Avalanche remain a good team early in the season and improve the chances of it being a great one later in the year.

How great will still depend on what Colorado gets from Landeskog and Nichushkin, or what they can do if one or both is not on the active roster by the trade deadline. But keeping Drouin elevates both the floor and ceiling for this club in 2024-25.

The Avs also found a handful of depth players Monday, the most of important of which is defenseman Calvin de Haan. He looks like the replacement for Jack Johnson on the club’s third pairing.

A defense-first veteran, de Haan should be an upgrade over Johnson on the ice. If Johnson doesn’t return, the Avs will be short another veteran leader, but Landeskog’s return and another year of experience/maturity from the club’s core could mitigate that.

De Haan is a veteran of more than 600 NHL games, and could be a mentor for Sam Malinski in his first full season.

“He’s a left-shot defender with penalty kill in his toolbox,” MacFarland said. “We liked the contract. We felt it was good bang for our buck on a guy who’s played a lot of games.”

The other signings were all about giving the Avs much-needed depth. Defensemen Calle Rosen and Jacob MacDonald look set to compete for the No. 7 role.

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