Tyutin adds to Russian contingent
There are worse ways to lose your job.
On June 29, the Columbus Blue Jackets — up against the salary cap after signing young defenseman Seth Jones to a six-year extension — bought out the final two years of defenseman Fedor Tyutin’s contract.
The veteran Russian was scheduled to make $4.75 million and $4 million those two seasons and, under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, the Blue Jackets still owe him $1.46 million a year for the next four years.
Two days later, the Avalanche signed Tyutin to a one-year, $2 million deal.
So Tyutin, 33, will be making $3.46 million this season.
After opening his NHL career with three-plus seasons with the Rangers that spanned the 2004-05 lockout and lost season, Tyutin joined the Blue Jackets in a July 2008 trade and in 2011 signed the six-year, $27 million extension Columbus eventually bought out. So he had eight seasons in Columbus.
“It was business,” Tyutin said Wednesday morning. “I have nothing but good things to say about the Blue Jackets organization.”
In the Avalanche’s 4-2 exhibition win over Dallas on Wednesday night, Tyutin played 22 minutes and was paired with fellow Russian Sergei Boikov, a 20-yearold who was Colorado’s sixthround draft choice in 2015 and spent three seasons with Drummondville of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League before playing four games at the end of the season with the Avalanche’s AHL affiliate, the San Antonio Rampage.
“I was happy for him,” Tyutin said. “It was his first exhibition game and he was so excited about it. It gave me a flashback to when I was in the same position as him.”
Tyutin’s presence also will give goalie Semyon Varlamov another Russian to speak his native language with in casual moments.
Colorado probably will have four Russians — Zadorov, Mikhail Grigorenko, Tyutin and Varlamov. Tyutin is a three-time Russian Olympian, playing for his homeland in 2006, 2010 and 2014, and Varlamov was his teammate in the last two Winter Games.
“It’ll be great,” Tyutin said of playing with Varlamov. “I had a Russian goalie in Columbus (Sergei Bobrovsky) and a goalie is a defenseman’s best friend. I have known Semyon for quite a bit and that will make it that much easier, more comfortable for me to join and play on this team.”
Footnotes. Trailing the Stars 2-1 after two periods, the Avalanche improved to 2-0 in the exhibition season after Francois Beauchemin and Ben Smith scored in the third. Smith broke the 2-2 tie at 15:44. He was one of only four Avs to play both at Minnesota on Tuesday and against the Stars, and he had a goal each night. Patrick Wiercioch added the last goal. with 34 seconds left. … Calvin Pickard played the first 40 minutes in the Colorado net, allowing two goals on 24 shots. Kent Simpson played the third period, stopping all seven Dallas shots. … Last season’s alternate captains, Jarome Iginla and Cody McLeod, again were wearing an “A” in their first exhibition action. Beauchemin had a third “A.” That’s all significant because new coach Jared Bednar has said that Gabe Landeskog will remain captain, but the alternate captain jobs are up for grabs.