NHL Free Agency 2019: 5 underrated early signings

5. Colin Wilson, Colorado Avalanche

Terms: One year, $2.6 million

The Colorado Avalanche were a busy team on July 1. They signed three players, the biggest name among them probably being Joonas Donskoi, who just missed the cut for this list. On top of that, the Avalanche traded for Nazem Kadri and Calle Rosen. They paid a steep price, as they’ll miss Alexander Kerfoot and Tyson Barrie. But the Avalanche are now a pretty darn complete team.

Their re-signing of forward Colin Wilson understandably didn’t get much attention. He has scored 20 goals only once and has only one season with more than 40 points. That said, Wilson still brings a lot of value to the Avalanche. I had him at about $3 million a year on the open market.

He fits in quite well in their top-nine. The Avalanche are a team who ride and die with their best players and their offense – Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Gabriel Landeskog. This makes Wilson’s consistently impressive defensive fortitude a bit underrated.

Wilson isn’t going to wow you on offense, but he’s a very solid penalty killer and he can be trusted with the game on the line. It’s hard to tell precisely what his role will be, but somewhere on the second line with Nazem Kadri or the third line with (insert third-line center here) should be work for him.