It'll be an
interesting year in Colorado, where fans will for the first time have to cheer
for a team that isn't the choice of too many to win the Stanley Cup, almost
certainly won't win the division, and may even have to battle for their playoff
lives. And the fans of the teams the Avs have steamrolled over the years will
have to try very hard not to gloat.
These
previews will now appear five a day (hopefully), or one division on each of
Monday (Central), Tuesday (Northwest), and Wednesday (Pacific) until the season
starts on October 5th. They will be put on-site by division, roughly in
order of predicted finish. Note that the rookies listed are only those
most likely to make the team, not necessarily ones who have already sewn up a
spot, and surprises always occur in training camp, though with camps out at
this point the guesses are more solid than they were two weeks ago. The
In/Out portion represents significant players added and lost since the end of
the 2003-04 season. And now, on with the show...
In: Pierre Turgeon, Patrice Brisebois,
Antti Laaksonen, Ian Laperriere, Andrew Brunette, Brad May
Out: Peter Forsberg, Matthew Barnaby,
Adam Foote, Chris Gratton, Darby Hendrickson, Andrei Nikolishin, Philippe
Sauve, Teemu Selanne, Paul Kariya, Tommy Salo, Peter Worrell, Steve Moore
Rookies: Marek Svatos, Peter Budaj,
Wojtek Wolski
It’s a whole new era in Colorado. That’s
not necessarily a good thing. This is a franchise that has won two Stanley Cups
and eight division titles in the last nine NHL seasons and has undoubtedly been
among the league’s elite. However, the new league economic system hit the team
hard, as they were forced to say goodbye to star players Peter Forsberg, Adam
Foote, Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne, and a number of other veterans. With Joe
Sakic, Rob Blake, Milan Hejduk and Alex Tanguay still on the roster this isn’t
a team that’s going to fall off the map overnight, but with the Avalanche’s
formerly overflowing well of prospects running dry and Blake and Sakic near the
end of their careers, Colorado may finally be looking at a long, possibly
painful rebuilding in the near future and even a struggle for the playoffs this
season.
Strengths: 1. If Sakic, Hejduk and
Tanguay play on the same line, they give the Avs one of the best offensive trios
in hockey, much like the Morrison-Naslund-Bertuzzi line in Vancouver, the
Thornton-Samsonov-Murray line in Boston or the Langkow-Iginla-Amonte line in
Calgary. Sakic is 36, but is still a great skater and playmaker, Hejduk is an
elite-level scorer, and Tanguay is a great young talent. They likely won’t
spend all season together as the Avs try to spread their offense around, but
they’ll probably see a lot of power play time and be together late in games.
2. The Avalanche are overflowing with
good, character veterans, which is particularly important for a team that could
be seeing a great deal of young talent come through the lineup in the near
future. Aside from Sakic, the team’s captain, gritty forwards Steve
Konowalchuk, Ian Laperrierre, Antti Laaksonen, Brad May and Dan Hinote are all
able to show youngsters a thing or two about dedication and tenacity. Ditto on
defense, where aside from Blake, the team has Bob Boughner, a great dressing
room presence and leader, and Karlis Skrastins, who is quietly steady every
night.
Weaknesses: 1. Offensive depth, once the
Avs biggest strength, is now a big concern. Beyond Sakic, Tanguay and Hejduk,
the Avs next best realiable scorers are now Turgeon and Brunette, both of whom
were added via free agency. Turgeon is now 36 and his career has been trending
downwards the last three seasons, each of which were spent with Dallas, who
spent way too much to bring him there and were really let down. Brunette was
cut loose after three years of faithful service in Minnesota; he averaged 55
points a season there, mostly in assists, but has always been slow and might
not be able to keep up in today’s NHL. Likely to join the second line is rookie
Marek Svatos, who was great in the 2004 playoffs but has only four regular
season games to his credit. Svatos played in the AHL last year, where some say
he took a step backwards in his progress and also developed a bad attitude. If
that’s true it’s bad news for Colorado, who won’t be able to count on a lot of
offense from third and fourth lines that will be full of grinders and rookie
Wojtek Wolski. Beyond that, there’s a real issue with a lack of depth at
center, where behind Sakic and Turgeon there’s…well, literally nothing. Brett
McLean was penciled in as the team’s third line center, but he was placed on
waivers a couple of days ago and didn’t even make the Avs. Ditto Cody
McCormick, who was sent to the minors, and Riku Hahl, who didn’t even come to
camp. Tanguay, Konowalchuk and Laperriere have all played center before, but
not for a good long time, and Sakic’s too old to be double-shifted every game.
2. Colorado’s feeder system was once the
envy of the league. However, since 1994 players such as Robyn Regehr, Marc
Denis, Mark Parrish, Chris Drury, Sami Pahlsson, Martin Skoula, Scott Parker,
Branko Radivojevic, Radim Vrbata, Vaclav Nederost and Jared Aulin have all been
in and out of this franchise’s hands, drafted and usually dealt for veterans.
Fans would say it’s been worth it, and that’s tough to argue considering the
team’s success since then. That said, years of dealing prospects and low draft
picks because of that success have caught up to Colorado. It may not come to
bear this season, not with Sakic, Blake, Aebischer, Hejduk and Tanguay still
around, but Sakic is 36, Blake turns 36 in December, Tanguay and Aebischer are
two seasons from unrestricted free agency, and there just isn’t much left in
the system to complement them now, let alone replace them in the future. Very
soon Colorado will have to rebuild; whether they choose to jump-start that
rebuilding process now by dealing as many vets for draft picks as they can or
choose to hang around as a lower-ranked playoff team for a few seasons will go
a long way towards deciding whether that rebuilding is fairly swift or long and
painful.
Don’t be Surprised If: Rumors about
friction in the coaching staff persist throughout much of the season. It was a
bit of an odd move when Colorado not only named Joel Quenneville head coach in
the summer of 2004 and demoted former head man Tony Granato to assistant. Many
think it wasn’t a good idea, and that there may be clashes between the two of
them during the season. Considering what professionals both men are, that seems
unlikely; still, people will be watching for it, and at the first hint of conflict
media reports will abound. Quenneville and Granato will have to ensure that
doesn’t happen, or at least will have to keep it from becoming a distraction
for the team.
Outlook: Don’t bank on Colorado still
being an upper-echelon team in the West anymore. The Avalanche are depending
far too much on broken down veterans like Turgeon and Brisebois for them to get
too far. Colorado will probably make the playoffs, but won’t have home ice, and
if things go really wrong they could miss the post-season altogether.
Centres: 1. Joe Sakic 2. Pierre Turgeon
Wingers:
1. Milan Hejduk 2. Alex Tanguay 3. Andrew
Brunette 4. Steve Konowalchuk 5. Antti Laaksonen 6.
Marek
Svatos 7. Dan Hinote 8. Brad May 9. Ian
Laperriere 10. Wojtek Wolski
Defensemen:
1. Rob Blake 2. Karlis Skrastins 3. John-Michael Liles 4.
Patrice Brisebois 5. Ossi Vaananen 6. Bob
Boughner 7. Kurt Sauer 8.Brett Clark
Goalies:
1. David Aebischer 2. Peter Budaj
Restricted
Free Agents: Riku Hahl (C)