Denver Post sports writers Terry Frei and Mike Chambers post the Avs Mailbag every other Tuesday during the regular season.
Pose an Avalanche- or NHL-related question for the Avs Mailbag.
Let’s face it: We stink this year, and I don’t think there’s a way to salvage this season. It’s obvious to me that we should be sellers at the deadline, so who might we send off?
— Marc, R., Golden
I don’t think anyone is untouchable. Forwards Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon likely aren’t going anywhere, but you never know. The trades could be subtle to significant. The Avs won’t move a core player for a good return. It will have to be a great return, otherwise the team will hang on to those guys and rebuild during the off-season — perhaps by rebuilding around the core. But I can’t see Colorado standing pat before the March 1 deadline. So who is most likely to be moved? Look at the pending unrestricted free agents first — Jarome Iginla, John Mitchell, Rene Bourque, Andreas Martinsen, Fedor Tyutin, Cody Goloubef — although nobody in that group will garner a big return. The best return would be for Matt Duchene, if you exclude MacKinnon, and the Avs could probably get a stud D prospect and first-round draft pick for No. 9, if not more.
When Patrick Roy left, did he see the writing on the wall for the Avalanche? There was speculation that he didn’t want to sign Tyson Barrie for a few more years or trade Duchene. Could this now happen? Or could Joe Sakic leave Duchene unprotected so Las Vegas could pick him up? I also heard Roy wasn’t to sold on Semyon Varlamov, but that Sakic was. What’s your sense?
— Marie Roberts, Aurora
I believe Roy did see the writing on the wall. In hindsight, he looks like a genius. Roy didn’t want to coach this team because he didn’t believe in the group and wasn’t being heard with player-personnel decisions as much as he wanted. As for Barrie and Duchene, we might never know the whole story about what Roy wanted to do there. As for Varlamov, the five-year, $29.5 million contract he signed in January 2014 looked like a good deal at the time. Who could argue?
The Avs are bad this year, but besides the stupid mistakes and turnovers, there are two things I don’t understand. On offense, they refuse to shoot the puck. They’ll pass and mess around until they lose it. If they do get a shot off, far too often it’s not on net.
On defense, specifically on the penalty kill, they don’t challenge the puck. They seem to think that waving their stick when skating near a guy with the puck is playing defense. On a rush, the defense just keeps backing up, and they let the guy shoot or make a play. It’s way too passive.
I was hopeful that with the coaching change there would be a change to a more aggressive style of play on both sides of the puck. But it’s not happening. I think the talent level is there, but they just won’t play as aggressive as is needed. Your thoughts?
— Herb Giefer, Evergreen
This mess is out of reach for the coaching staff. I’ve been to most practices, and the hockey IQ seems high. What you are seeing in the games goes beyond the coaching staff. The players simply don’t have chemistry and the roster lacks talent at key positions — particularly on the blue line. I believe head coach Jared Bednar will be back next year. He’s not the problem. He inherited one.
According to Mike Russo of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the Avs have become a league-wide laughingstock and have developed a “losing culture and have no chemistry since somehow winning the division in 2014.” He goes on to claim Barrie as the only Avs defenseman any other team would covet. Are these merely the ravings of a rival ink-stained wretch, or is it a spot-on assessment of the Colorado Avalanche at this point in time?
— Jack, Hooper
Michael Russo is a respected peer and friend — and he knows his stuff. Sounds like he’s done his homework on the Avalanche. I would say Erik Johnson is a top-four defenseman on most teams, but he’s not marketable because he’ll have a $6 million cap hit at age 35.
The real problem with the Avs is the awful drafting and lack of prospect development. Is Sakic doing anything to fix this? Any trade involving the core would probably require draft picks coming back. I have no faith the current regime would make good selections.
— Jay Nishikawa, Tampa, Fla.
The Avalanche’s development model is not what Sakic wants. Sure, you can develop a player in San Antonio, but Colorado’s owners nixed a plan to bring the AHL affiliate in Colorado. Most of the best teams own their AHL affiliate and that’s what Sakic desires. The past draft failures are surely catching up with this team.
It seems like the season began imploding when Bednar tried to motivate his team by using the amateurish tactic of calling up minor league players as a way to threaten those he felt were not playing hard enough. Rather than blowing up the core, instead is it time to finally bring in an accomplished coach? The great Avs era got away with the inexperienced Marc Crawford and Bob Hartley, but Joe Sacco, Roy and now Bednar just haven’t developed this group.
— Dave, Littleton
Bednar doesn’t make the call-up choices. He’s in the room, but it’s not his call. Roy had some say but usually, it’s the AHL coach or assistant GM with that team suggesting what player is most worthy of being called up. As I said earlier, I do think Bednar will be retained.
Instead of trying to keep signing players to fix the issues with this team, why isn’t more attention paid to the horrible drafts this team has had in the last few years. There is no organizational depth with this club. Who is to blame for this? Is it the front office, lack of developing picks they do make, or is it the scouts?
— Dan, Denver
It’s a combination of things. Scouts, coaches, team executives — they’re in it together. Perhaps the biggest blunder recently was the selection of Conner Bleackley 23rd overall in 2014. The kid didn’t work out and was traded to Arizona at the deadline last year, along with 2014 draft classmate Kyle Wood, for pending UFA Mikkel Boedker. Guess what? Boedker signed with San Jose and Arizona inherited the second-round draft pick for not signing Bleackley and Wood has become an AHL all-star for Arizona’s affiliate. It was a huge mistake.
What will it take to send Varlamov to the minors for the rest of his contract? I’m pretty sure no team would claim the guy, unfortunately. I’ve been paying $200 a year to watch the Avs on NHL live and have noticed the empty seats. Even when the Nordiques were awful, the Colisée was packed. Maybe the team should move back to where it belonged in the first place. We’re selling out preseason NHL games when presented in the Centre Videotron (Colisée’s replacement arena). Isn’t it a little shameful Denver can’t fill its arena?
— Charles, Quebec City, Canada
You can’t eat a $5.9 million cap hit in the minors for the next two seasons. As for the empty seats, the team stinks and the Broncos rule through the NFL season (actually, year-round).
With the expansion draft coming, how can the Avs leave Varlamov unprotected and get the Las Vegas Golden Knights to pick him? It seems like a win for the Avs. They can dump his salary and less than stellar performance. They could then protect more skaters. Do you think the Golden Knights play along with this?
— Richard Oelkers, Eagle River, Ark.
I’ll let the NHL answer this one: Clubs will have two options for players they wish to protect in the expansion draft:
- Seven forwards, three defensemen and one goaltender
- Eight skaters (forwards/defensemen) and one goaltender
All players who have currently effective and continuing “no movement” clauses at the time of the expansion draft (and who to decline to waive such clauses) must be protected (and will be counted toward their club’s applicable protection limits).
If this season continues to circle the drain like the last few seasons, when do the failures fall on Sakic?
I loved him as a player, but as an executive, it’s not looking so good. We change players, coaches and systems, but the results all look eerily similar to previous seasons. I am tired of hearing about the core. This is about the roster he assembled and the coach he hired. We’ve only seen poor results, ugly attendance at home games, and a team entirely irrelevant before the holidays.
— Mike, Castle Rock
Sakic is to blame, plain and simple. It might not be all his doing but the GM must take credit for building a team that rarely wins and plays with no chemistry.