Avalanche draft pick Will Butcher, the University of Denver senior defenseman, team captain and 2017 Hobey Baker Award winner as national player of the year, is not interested in signing an entry-level contract with the Avalanche. Not now, perhaps never.

Butcher, who is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent Aug. 15 if he chooses to not sign with the Avs, said he met with Colorado general manager Joe Sakic on Tuesday and told him he’s not signing anytime soon.

“I told him I didn’t want an offer yet,” Butcher told The Denver Post. “I wanted to sit with him, talk with him about my year, what they’re thinking, what their philosophy is going to be. My parents are coming in this weekend for the banquet, and I want to talk to my parents before they offer me anything.”

Sakic told The Denver Post last weekend that he wanted to offer Butcher a contract right after Denver was done competing in the NCAA Tournament, which they won Saturday night with a 3-2 victory over Minnesota Duluth in Chicago.

“As soon as they’re done, he’ll have a contract offer,” Sakic said. “We hope to sign him. He’s had a tremendous year. Since the moment we drafted him, four years in college, he’s gotten better every year and he’s obviously hot, the Hobey Baker winner, and hopefully we can sign him and have him be part of the organization.”

Near the end of Butcher’s junior season a year ago, the Avalanche told Butcher’s “family adviser” the team was not interested in signing the 5-foot-10, 190-pound defenseman at any point. But that attitude toward Butcher was believed to have emanated from then-coach Patrick Roy, who was also the Avs’ vice president. Roy resigned in August, and the Avs had scouts or team executives at numerous DU home games this season. Assistant Avs general manager Chris MacFarland was at the Frozen Four in Chicago last weekend.

Butcher, 22, said he was doing his due diligence by meeting with Sakic on Tuesday.

“He came in and gave me his whole spiel about changes in the program, going younger and everything like that. I told him I’d get back in touch with him,” Butcher said. “I’m weighing all my options right now. I want to take my time. I don’t have anything to rush into right now. I’m not going to play anywhere right now. So I might as well take my time.”

Butcher could become the second consecutive Hobey Baker Award winner to play four years of college and decline to sign with the team that drafted him. A year ago, Harvard senior forward Jimmy Vesey spurned the Nashville Predators — who selected him in the 2012 draft — to sign as a free agent in August with the New York Rangers.

Butcher is among nine seniors on DU’s title team.