First reactions to Devon Toews’ new contract in Colorado

The Colorado Avalanche made a big announcement on Friday morning — one that just so happened to coincide with the midway point of the "Daily Faceoff Live" show with Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk.

The Avs have agreed to terms on a new seven-year contract with top-pairing defenseman Devon Toews. The 29-year-old rearguard is Cale Makar’s primary partner and has put up 50 points in back-to-back seasons in Colorado.

Toews will be paid an average of $7.25M per year between the 2024–25 and 2030–31 seasons with the Avalanche. It’s a well-earned payday for a player who was a key cog of Colorado’s 2022 Stanley Cup championship.

Here’s a snippet of what Seravalli and Yaremchuk had to say as they reacted live on-air to the news of Toews’ contract extension.

Tyler Yaremchuk: We’ve got some breaking news heading into the weekend. The Colorado Avalanche just officially announced that they’ve agreed to terms with Devon Toews on a seven-year contract extension. Yes, Frank, you’ve got to get it out there, you’ve got to Tweet it! No word from the Avs on the AAV of this contract, but he was scheduled to be a free agent coming up here. That is a big, big to-do item checked off by Avalanche GM Chris MacFarland. Do you know anything about any of the numbers that were being discussed in all of this? Also, just talk a little bit about what a big, big check this is for MacFarland.

Frank Seravalli: Just checking on the AAV of that, I’ll see if I can get that for you shortly. I wouldn’t even really want to hazard a guess because this guy’s really good, and seven years of Devon Toews, of all UFA money, is gonna be really expensive. 50-point seasons, the yin to Cale Makar’s yang, he’s got it all. It’s $7.25M times seven [years], sources say, so there you go.

Yaremchuk: You mentioned “the yin to Cale Makar’s yang” — if we ever get back to best-on-best hockey, that’s a pairing for Team Canada right there, right? Like, you just put them in pen, right at the top of the lineup. He is that good, and I think for some casual fans, he gets overshadowed a little bit by all the star power in Colorado.

Seravalli: I still can’t believe the Islanders traded him. Like, you look at what that team’s missing, and I know [Noah] Dobson came in and really added some production for them on the back end, but the cap crunch was there and they got rid of the wrong guy.

Yaremchuk: And all they got was a couple of second-round picks. It’s not like they were able to fish out a top-15 draft pick for this guy or anything like that.

Seravalli: Some of Joe Sakic’s best work, a huge part of their Cup win, and just — that Avs team is locked and loaded. They’ve got MacKinnon locked up and they’ve got Makar locked up. They’re not going anywhere anytime soon.

Watch the full episode here: