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NHL Preview 2005-06: Colorado Avalanche
By BRIAN PIKE, MOP Squad Sports Hockey Editor
Oct 5, 2005 - 12:01:00 AM

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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)


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