Confirmed with Link: Avs re-sign Ryan Graves 3-year deal - $3.16M AAV

[MarkT]

If he gets taken by Seattle only $2.5m of his $9.5m will get paid by the Avs as well. Could turn out to be a shrewd contract structure by Sakic.

Oh, and as for the contract, it's because of escrow. It's super high next year and declining each year after that. A lot of players are taking backloaded deals because of this. I'd love to give Sakic credit for some 4D chess maneuver involving Seattle, but it's just escrow.

 

[Ncit3]

If you trust analytics, not a great deal. He needs to play #6 minutes.