His defensive partner for part of his rookie season was Adam Foote. In his second season, it was Rob Blake.
Neither player will skate beside John-Michael Liles this season, but the Indiana native figures what he has learned from them will serve him and the Avalanche well this season.
“Not too bad to have those two guys to watch and learn from,” Liles said. “I was pretty fortunate.”
Liles symbolizes the new-look Avalanche defense. He’s young, fast and offensive-minded. But he’s not very big and not very physical. Fortunately, this is the new-look NHL, which favors players like Liles.
There is considerable angst among Avalanche fans over how the team will make up for the loss of Blake, who left as a free agent to Los Angeles this summer. The Avs did a nice job overcoming the free-agent loss of Foote last season, but asking the same without Blake may be a tougher chore. Liles admits as much.
“Blakey’s a guy that you’re not going to replace,” said Liles, who signed a two-year, $2.65 million contract in July. “That’s like losing a guy like Peter Forsberg; you’re never going to replace a guy like that. The best that you can do is all step up together and do your best to play as a unit. You can’t hang your head about it.”
Liles does not know who his defensive partner will be – coach Joel Quenneville has been mixing defensemen together in training camp – but figures to see increased ice time this season, especially with newly acquired Jordan Leopold expected to miss at least the first week of the regular season.
Quenneville believes his defense can be strong even without Blake, but it will take everybody – Liles, Karlis Skrastins and Brett Clark among them – to have as good or better years than last season. Quenneville said Skrastins and Clark will probably start the season as the No. 1 defensive pairing.
“We’ve got some guys who can play physical, guys like Ossi (Vaananen) and (Skrastins). You’re losing a strong player in Robbie, but we feel we’ve got the kinds of guys who can be good with the puck in their own end and jump into the play at the other end, too,” Quenneville said. “I think (Liles) exemplifies that kind of player.”
Liles said he probably learned more about the off-ice aspects of being a pro from Blake and Foote than on-ice matters. At 25, he still has more to learn, but is probably ahead of the curve for defensemen his age because of his former teammates.
“You learn to take care of yourself. Things like staying in the weight room and making sure you’re maintaining yourself,” said Liles, who had 14 goals and 49 points in 82 games last season. “On the ice, it’s not something that I could ever do, what Blakey or Footer did. But you learn to read (certain) plays and see the little things develop. It was a great two years playing with (them), that’s for sure.”
Liles, listed at 5-feet-10, 185 pounds, appears to have bulked up some in his upper body. The extra muscle could help him be stronger in the corners with the puck and with defenders in front of the net. Some of the bodybuilding tips he no doubt learned from Blake, who was a slave to the weight room.
Staff writer Adrian Dater can be reached at 303-954-1360 or adater@denverpost.com.
