Jun. 4—GRAND FORKS — Brock Nelson was traded from the New York Islanders to the Colorado Avalanche at the NHL’s trading deadline this season.
He has decided to stay there.
Nelson signed a three-year, $22.5-million contract with the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday.
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Nelson was set to become an unrestricted free agent.
The former Warroad, Minn., and UND star played 19 regular-season games with the Avalanche at the end of the season, scoring six goals and 13 points. He had four assists in seven playoff games. The Avalanche were eliminated by the Dallas Stars.
Nelson was expected to be one of the top free agents this offseason.
The center has played 920 NHL regular-season games, tallying 301 goals and 587 points.
Nelson played his first 13 NHL seasons with the Islanders, who selected him at No. 30 overall in the 2010 NHL Draft.
He is on the verge of becoming the eighth UND player to suit up in more than 1,000 NHL regular-season games.
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The others are James Patrick, Craig Ludwig, Zach Parise, Jonathan Toews, Travis Zajac, Dave Christian and T.J. Oshie.
Nelson starred at Warroad for three seasons, putting up 39 goals and 73 points as a senior.
He then played two seasons at UND.
As a freshman, he scored eight goals and had 21 points. As a sophomore, his totals jumped to 28 goals and 47 points.
After his sophomore season, he signed with the Islanders.
Nelson is the third former UND player to re-sign with his NHL team this week.
Tyler Kleven re-signed
with the Ottawa Senators and
Derek Forbort re-signed
with the Vancouver Canucks.