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Stastny’s agent says ‘nothing imminent’ on new deal with Avs

Paul Stastny

One of the big potential free agent prizes of the summer doesn’t appear close to re-upping with his current club.

Paul Stastny, the U.S. Olympian that scored 60 points in 71 games for Colorado this season, has “nothing imminent” regarding a new deal with the Avs, agent Matt Keator told the Denver Post.

“I talked to Keator, and he said nothing is ‘imminent’ yet on this signing,” the Post’s Adrian Dater explained on his Hockey Talk podcast. “I think the Avalanche are interested in re-signing him, but I think it’s really touchy right now.”

Stastny, 28, just wrapped the last of a five-year, $33 million deal that carried a $6.6 million cap hit. He’s spent his entire seven-year career in Colorado and has been a pretty productive player -- 458 points in 538 games, including a career-high 79 points during the 2009-10 campaign -- and has twice represented the U.S. at the Olympics, including the silver medal-winning side at the ’10 Games in Vancouver.

On most teams, Stastny’s a top two center -- but the Avs have an abundance of young talent able to play the middle, most notably in Matt Duchene, Ryan O’Reilly and Nathan MacKinnon. The latter two have been moved to the wing on a number of occasion to balance things out (the Avs also have a pretty solid 3rd-line center in John Mitchell) but could easily make the move back to the middle, especially if Colorado wants to target some wingers in free agency -- rather than spend big on Stastny.

And big is the key word there. Stastny’s made quite a bit or money on his last deal and has done enough to at least warrant a similar payday this summer, and there are a number of teams looking to upgrade their offensive abilities at center. The St. Louis Blues and Anaheim Ducks have been rumored to want depth down the middle, and a team like Nashville -- which looks to be more offensively-inclined under new head coach Peter Laviolette -- could certainly use a playmaking center.