Dallas – After its game against the Stars on Saturday, the Avalanche had 20 regular-season games remaining.
More to the point, Colorado general manager Pierre Lacroix is counting down the days and hours until Thursday’s trading deadline.
When asked about it, Lacroix smiled. “It’s been 11 years of the same answer,” he said.
But then he conceded that, yes, the situation is different now.
While Lacroix has been prone to make trades in the weeks and days approaching the deadline, and two years ago made several deals in the final minutes, the NHL’s new collective bargaining agreement literally has changed the rules of the game and figuratively redrawn the art of the deal.
The Avalanche is virtually up against the NHL’s $39 million salary cap, but could go over to add players to match the season salaries of two veterans who are injured and out for the season – winger Steve Konowalchuk ($1.9 million salary this season) and defenseman Ossi Vaananen ($950,000).
The Avalanche also could make deals by matching up salaries coming and going.
“A lot of teams don’t have cap room,” Lacroix said. “It’s a new era, a new landscape. So when you make a trade, you need to have both your hockey hat and your accountant hat, but that’s all right….If we could find someone to tango with who has about the same wares and same soup, we’ll have to, we’ll do it.”
Lacroix acknowledged that for “a long time” he has been seeking a veteran forward to fill the versatile Konowalchuk’s skates.
“Konowalchuk is the kind of player where you know there aren’t many like him,” Lacroix said. “Whoever has a similar type of player, they don’t want to trade him.”
Early in the season, when Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville was juggling goaltenders and showing little faith in David Aebischer and Peter Budaj, it seemed likely Lacroix would seek to make a deal for a goalie. But their play the past couple of months – including at the Olympics – has eliminated that urgency. A deal for a goaltender seems unlikely.
“We can’t complain for the last few months,” Lacroix said. “Our goaltending has been great.”
Matter of timing
While the trading deadline is on the same date as the NHL’s previous season – 2003-04 – it is much earlier in the schedule. Two years ago, when the Avalanche made last-second moves landing Matthew Barnaby, Vaananen and Chris Gratton, there were only 13 games remaining in Colorado’s regular season.
This season, with roughly a quarter of the season remaining, more teams still are in contention for a playoff berth and fire sales (or “building for the future”) would be harder to justify.
The list of teams likely to be unloading payroll will be smaller, and the number of teams able or willing to take on high-ticket contracts will be shorter.
“Thus far, there has not been a real sentiment to move players for draft picks,” Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Jay Feaster told the St. Petersburg Times. “People want bodies back.”
The unknown is whether impending free agency for marquee veterans, which in the past provided impetus for teams to unload players they didn’t think they could re-sign in order to get something, is going to be as much of a trade generator as before.
The out-of-the-playoff-hunt Florida Panthers have two coveted players who have turned down contract extensions and could be free agents this summer – center Olli Jokinen, their captain; and goaltender Roberto Luongo, who has made it clear he doesn’t want to stick around if there’s no hope of winning.
Jokinen has turned down the Panthers’ offer of $16 million over four years and is seeking $6 million a season. While few doubt whether he can help a contender, the issue is what to give up if he is going to be a short-term rental, or whether his new team would consider him worth the money he is seeking in a long-term deal.
The other team with a “Make Offer” sign out, the Chicago Blackhawks, have some high-profile veterans available after a disastrous foray into free agency last summer. They include goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, defensemen Adrian Aucoin, Todd Simpson and Jassen Cullimore, centers Jim Dowd and Curtis Brown, and wingers Barnaby and Martin Lapointe.
“It’s always sad to see somebody leave your organization, but yet you know it’s inevitable for us the way the season has gone,” Blackhawks coach Trent Yawney told reporters in Chicago. “You know there’s going to be all kinds of names being popped out there, but two-thirds of it is all scuttlebutt. Until it actually happens you’re going to hear all kinds of guys moving around.”
Commitment called for
But the same issue applies: Can the teams that could use those players fit them under the cap or find palatable the long-term contractual commitment?
To use the Blackhawks as an example, Aucoin could help a lot of teams, but he also has a contract that calls for him to make $16 million over four years. The same applies with Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar, but he is in the first season of a five-year, $25 million deal.
“Worth it” now means more than actual dollars; it includes the length of the commitment and the percentage of the salary cap a player represents. With Jokinen or anyone else, a long-term deal can turn into a paralyzing commitment if a player doesn’t live up to expectations. It isn’t like football, without guaranteed contracts, and now is more like the NBA, where mistakes in evaluation and financial commitment can be devastating to the ownership’s bottom line and the competitive fate of the team.
“If something is there and we might create a situation where we might block some dollars in the coming years, that’s all right as long as we’re doing it with the same vision we’ve always had,” Lacroix said. “We can’t mortgage the future for what’s happening this year.”
Terry Frei can be reached at 303-820-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
On the block
NHL reporter Terry Frei breaks down the players who might be (or are) available as the trading deadline approaches:
Goalies – Martin Biron, Buffalo; Curtis Joseph, Phoenix; Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Anaheim; Nikolai Khabibulin, Chicago; Roberto Luongo, Florida; Manny Fernandez and Dwayne Roloson, Minnesota; Jose Theodore, Montreal; Vesa Toskala, San Jose.
Defensemen – Jay McKee, Buffalo; Brendan Witt, Washington; Denis Gauthier and Derek Morris, Phoenix; Adrian Aucoin, Chicago; Brad Lukowich, N.Y. Islanders; Luke Richardson, Columbus; Eric Weinrich, St. Louis; Willie Mitchell and Filip Kuba, Minnesota; Tom Poti, New York Rangers.
Forwards – Olli Jokinen, Florida; Jeff Friesen, Washington; Dallas Drake and Keith Tkachuk, St. Louis; Todd Bertuzzi, Vancouver; Sergei Samsonov, Boston; Kyle Calder, Tyler Arnasonm and Matthew Barnaby, Chicago; Radek Bonk, Mike Ribeiro and Richard Zednik, Montreal; Mark Parrish, Oleg Kvasha and Miroslav Satan, N.Y. Islanders; Mark Recchi, Eric Boguniecki and John LeClair, Pitt.; Darcy Tucker and Nik Antropov, Toronto.
In the market
NHL reporter Terry Frei breaks down what some teams are seeking as Thursday’s trade deadline approaches:
Calgary Flames – A scorer. Florida center Olli Jokinen would have been at the top of the list here, as in a lot of places, but the numbers won’t work – on a lot of levels.
Carolina Hurricanes – After acquiring Doug Weight from St. Louis, the Eastern Conference’s top team still would like to add another veteran forward.
Colorado Avalanche – Replacements for the injured Steve Konowalchuk and Ossi Vaananen. In other words, a solid veteran forward or a big defenseman.
Detroit Red Wings – Manny Legace has been OK, and the Red Wings insist they are going with him. But they wouldn’t turn down a chance at the right veteran goalie, and it would come down to deciding whether those possibly available – including Roberto Luongo, Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Martin Biron – would be upgrades and/or worth the price.
Edmonton Oilers – With better goaltending, they might be leading the division. Though Mike Morrison has been OK in spots, the trio of Morrison, Jussi Markkanen and Ty Conklin entered the weekend with a save percentage of only .878. So they almost certainly will try to get a goalie, and a possibility is a return to Edmonton for Phoenix’s Curtis Joseph.
Los Angeles Kings, Nashville Predators, New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vancouver Canucks – A steady veteran defenseman. The Canucks need one because of a recent injury siege. The defending champion Lightning has a solid six, but believe it is tempting fate by not having an extra body.
Ottawa Senators – A veteran center to add some depth and versatility or perhaps a physical winger – even Todd Bertuzzi. If in the next few days something happens to make the Sens believe Dominik Hasek’s latest groin injury is going to be a major problem, they would make a run at a veteran goalie. Backup Ray Emery couldn’t cut it in the postseason.
