Turning Point Client Cody McLeod Signs Three Year Extension With The Colorado Avalanche

Cody McLeod of the Colorado Avalanche has agreed to terms on a three year contract extension that will keep him with the club through the 2014-2015 season. McLeod, 27, just completed his fifth season with the Avalanche which was also his fifth in the National Hockey League.

McLeod is a great story about perseverance. A solid WHL player, McLeod was captain of the Portland Winterhawks for whom he played four seasons. Never drafted, McLeod started his professional career playing one game for the Adirondack Frostbite of the now defunct United Hockey League at the end of the 2004-05 season, which was then owned by ESPN Hockey Analyst and former LA Kings coach Barry Melrose. McLeod went on a tryout to the Boston Bruins in the fall of 2005 but was cut after three days at the Bruins camp. McLeod’s agent Carlos Sosa then contacted the Colorado Avalanche who welcomed McLeod to their training camp from which McLeod earned a “two-way” AHL contract- one salary in the AHL and a lower one in the ECHL. McLeod continued his winding trek playing 16 games with the San Diego Gulls of the ECHL and then being called up to the Lowell Lock Monsters of the AHL where he played 33 games scoring 4 goals and 5 assists.

In the 2006-07 season McLeod played for the Albany River Rats of the AHL the shared affiliate of the Avalanche following the signing of his first National Hockey League contract with the Colorado Avalanche. In the 2007-08 campaign McLeod was called up by the Avalanche right before Christmas and never looked back as he played 49 games that season scoring four goals and 9 points total along with 120 penalty minutes. McLeod’s tenacious and aggressive fore-check combined with his pugnacious style and penalty killing ability were ingredients that the Avalanche wanted incorporated into their lineup.

McLeod continued to produce by scoring 15 goals in 2008-09 which yielded a three year NHL contract and was followed by solid NHL seasons thereafter. His Major Junior, Minor League and NHL career totals are as follows:

Cody McLeod is also an Assistant Captain with the Avalanche, which follows his being Captain of the Portland Winterhawks his last season in the Western Hockey League. The 6’2, 210 pound left winger is a native of Binscarth, Manitoba and was a fourth round bantam draft pick of the Portland Winterhawks in 1998.

McLeod makes his home in the Denver, Colorado area, and has a summer home in his home province of Manitoba where he enjoys fishing and boating. Cody is married to his wife Jessy who is a native of Portland, Oregon, and they have a daughter Peyton who is almost two years old.

Turning Point wants to congratulate Cody on the three year contract extension, and wishes him an early happy 28th birthday (June 26) as he continues onwards and upwards in his NHL career. His extension is well earned, as everything else he has achieved in the ultra competitive business of professional sport.

 Colorado Avalanche Press Release