In a lot of ways, it's business as usual for the Colorado Avalanche this summer, insofar as they have a lot of decisions to make at the bottom of their lineup and some unfortunate mystery at the top of it.

The first part of that is, of course, by design. When you have the very top of your lineup locked in for big money and, mostly, long-term contracts that means you have to find wiggle room around the margins, and bargains in the free agent market year after year.

But again this year, all of that is kind of overshadowed by what's going on with some of the top names. While the team has just 12 players signed for next season at a total cap hit of $77.9 million or so — that leaves them under $9.8 million to sign 10 or so players — that goes without mentioning the questions around availability f