NHL free agency begins July 1 and Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic said the club will be “more aggressive” — which almost certainly means marquee names will be recruited.

A year ago, Sakic added secondary role players in forward Matt Calvert and defenseman Ian Cole. This year, expect Sakic to attempt to lure some of the top free-agent forwards — including my top-rated guy, Jeff Skinner.

Skinner, who turned 27 last month, is coming off a career-high 40-goal season for a bad team. The Canadian from Toronto produced 40 goals and career-tying-high 63 points for the Buffalo Sabres in 2018-19, after being traded from Carolina to Buffalo last August as a pending 2019 free agent.

The Sabres finished with 76 points, fourth fewest in the Eastern Conference, and have little or no chance to re-sign Skinner. So Skinner is on the move, and here are a handful of examples of why he’s bound to take a long look at Colorado:

— Skinner is a left-shooting winger, but feels as comfortable on the right side as the left. Colorado needs an elite second-line winger to play with natural young centers Alex Kerfoot, J.T. Compher and Tyson Jost, among others. If Skinner doesn’t like that idea, sell him on playing with superstars Nathan MacKinnon or Mikko Rantanen on the first line (all-star left wing Gabe Landeskog, the team captain, would gladly give up his spot in this situation).

— Skinner, who had a relatively modest $5.75 million cap hit the past six seasons, will command a long-term salary of $8 million or more, and the Avs are in the position to pay. They are nearly $38 million under the projected 2019-20 salary cap of $83 million, although Rantanen and defenseman Nikita Zadorov are due big, long-term contracts and Kerfoot, Compher and defenseman Ryan Graves are among a large group of players coming off their entry-level contracts and in position for a sizeable raise. Bottom line: Colorado has the money.

— Skinner wants to win. The NHL’s 2011 rookie of the year hasn’t played in the postseason since 2010 with his junior team, the Kitchener Rangers (Skinner was selected No. 7 in the 2010 draft by Carolina). The Avalanche, coming off a second-round playoff run for the first time since 2008, is in the position to win and stocked with 20-somethings.

— Skinner is a high-character player who would fit in well with the superstars and the supporting cast. He’s not the kind of guy to demand a letter on his chest for his signature on his contract.

Geography could be the only thing holding back a relationship between Skinner and the Avs. He has never been based outside the Eastern time zone and, make no mistake, Western Conference travel is considerably more difficult.

Otherwise, expect the Avs to push hard for Skinner, who is bound to take significant interest in Colorado.

The following scoring forwards are also expected to explore the free-agent market July 1 and will be examined in this space in the coming days: Artemi Panarin, 27; Anders Lee, 28; Matt Duchene, 27; Jordan Eberle, 29; Kevin Hayes, 27; Wayne Simmonds, 30; Marcus Johansson, 27.