Welcome back to Puck Drop: NHL Preview 2013-14, where our hockey department gives you a detailed look at each team from around the NHL leading to the start of this hockey season. Check back often as new teams are added to our Puck Drop page. Today we take a look at the 2013-14 Colorado Avalanche.
The Colorado Avalanche are bristling with young stud talent, however, they are still going through an old school rebuilding to propel this franchise back to the greatness they experienced in the late 90s and early 2000s. They added some pieces through trade and improved themselves through draft, all without sacrificing their young core, whom they have locked up long term – for the most part. That said, the Avs are still not a playoff team. They need to stay the course and continue the rebuild if they are to return the Avalanche to future glory.
The Past:
Can’t say the Avalanche had much success last season, but their failure was truly legendary. The only good thing to come out of last season’s debacle was that they won the lottery and secured the first pick overall in the 2013 entry draft. Other than that, not much else that would have been considered a bright spot happened. Avs prospect and prodigal son Ryan O’Reilly returned from the KHL, but with his dad and Calgary GM Jay Feaster’s meddling, he forced the Avalanche management into paying him a lot more than he’s proven that he deserves. Veteran goaltender JS Gigueure had a minor public meltdown and called his young teammates out toward the end of the season when he felt that, instead of focusing on the next game, they were focused more on what they were doing with themselves after the complete failure came to a conclusion.
On this roster, that bristles with young talent, there was no reason for this team to only win 5 games within their division. They were 26th overall in goals per game, 27th in goals against, their power play was 24th in the league, and their penalty kill ranked 20th. PA Parenteau led the team in scoring, and turned out to be a nice surprise, but mostly it was ugly.
The Offseason:
So, in order to roll in a different direction, Avs President Josh Kroenke brought hall of famer Joe Sakic back into the fold as Vice President of Hockey Operations. Shortly thereafter, hall of famer Patrick Roy was named head coach. If there are two guys that were part of the history of the Avs that still have a burning passion to chase Lord Stanley’s chalice, it’s these two men. Roy has been coaching to the QMJHL, and has had some success with it. Although, it is always a gamble putting a legend behind the bench to coach kids (see Wayne Gretzky and Bryan Trottier), Roy has been successful in every stage of his career. This move will prove to be a better fit than anyone cares to admit right now.
During the draft, the Avs passed over future Norriss trophy winner Seth Jones, and took future Richard trophy winner Nathan MacKinnon. GM Greg Sherman was also busy on the trade market, bringing Cory Sarich and Alex Tanguay in from Calgary. Contracts for captain Gabriel Landeskog and Matt Duchene? Done and done. The contracts weren’t awful either. Of course, the Avs really could have used some defense, but what team couldn’t. Going into training camp, the Avs look to turn the ship around before it hits the iceberg and sinks.
What to Watch:
Anyone who thinks the Avs will make the playoffs this year is deluded. However, the biggest story to watch on the Avs is going to be the progress of the rebuild. That includes how adept rookie coach Patrick Roy will be at making adjustments in his lineup, and how tolerant he is of youthful boneheadedness that sometimes occurs on teams of prospects. The Avs future will be on display. How successful will they be? Will Sherman and Sakic be able to add more pieces through trade? Will Paul Stastny even be on the team when the season opens? There have been trade rumors swirling, and they have all involved Stastny.
Who to Watch:
Nathan MacKinnon’s rookie year will be an interesting one to watch. He will probably end up centering the 2nd line, behind Duchene. Our own Ben Kerr, in his Top Shelf Prospects player profile calls MacKinnon “Sid-lite“, referencing his pure goal scoring ability, his skating, and his playmaking ability. Coach Roy has given top end prospect his stamp of approval, saying after the Avs drafted him, that MacKinnon will make the team without question. Will MacKinnon turn into the NHL superstar that we all have projected him to be, or will he have trouble adjusting to the NHL game? MacKinnon will go through some growing pains, inevitably, but at the end of the day, this kid’s ceiling is somewhere in the stratosphere. We will not have to answer this question this again next fall, I suspect.
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Main photo credit: sarah_connors via photopin cc
