Just because the Avs have signed crap depth players in the past doesn't mean they should go overboard with term or price now. There's an in between, after all. Matthias hasn't had a contract longer than 2 years since his ELC (3 diff contracts), and has been inconsistent throughout his career. No reason to go longer than a year or two.
I agree they shouldn't go overboard, but I don't think three years at a reasonable price for someone like Matthias is in that category. His game is well rounded enough to contribute in some fashion, even if his play slips. Obviously fight for two years, but at a certain point you have to concede on something to get the right players.
I think they would be fine in this case if they didn't sign him, because they have Soda and Comeau as good 3rd liners, but personally I never liked that unwillingness to spend or sign anything other than a great deal for the bottom six, the Avs had. It was part of PL's "recipe" that trickled down to EL.
It worked when they had multiple HOFers at the top of every position pre cap era when there was less parity, but especially once the cap came into play they used absolute crap for far too long in the bottom six.
Same with their approach to the blueline, they refused to spend in dollar or trade to fix the problem because they undervalued it's importance, but that's another issue.