In the Avalanche’s 5-4 exhibition shootout victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Monday night at the Pepsi Center, Colorado’s Ken Klee played in a defensive pairing with Ossi Vaananen. Klee also still was getting used to the pleasant reality that he was within driving distance of his longtime home in Morrison.
In early 1998, when the NHL shut down for its Olympic break and Klee was in his fourth season with the Washington Capitals, he and his wife took a scouting trip to Evergreen.
“We knew we wanted to live in the mountains, and Denver is a great city,” Klee recalled. “It’s a dry climate, with all the mountain biking, hiking, fishing – all of that. To me, it seemed a great place to raise a family, and we were just starting a family then.”
Klee bought a home in Morrison later that year, and it remained the offseason base for the family through the rest of his nine seasons with the Capitals, one season and part of a second with Toronto, and then the end of last season with New Jersey.
Finally, at age 35, the former Bowling Green defenseman is “home” after signing a one-year, $700,000 contract with the Avalanche in the offseason. That makes him the sixth-highest paid Colorado defenseman, behind Patrice Brisebois ($3 million), Karlis Skrastins ($2.4 million), Brett Clark ($1.5 million), John-Michael Liles ($1.25 million) and Vaananen ($997,500), and it seems to represent a mutual acknowledgment of a hometown discount involving a veteran winding down his career. Klee made $1.9 million in 2005-06.
The signing also gave the Avalanche a corner on Indiana-born NHL defensemen, since the only other one – Liles – is entering his third season with Colorado.
After Klee went from the Capitals to the Maple Leafs, he sometimes played along with the notion that he was the hockey equivalent of a hermit, ensconced deep in the mountains and far from civilization in the offseason, albeit with his Tim McGraw and Garth Brooks music, plus his dogs and family.
After his signing, skating with Avalanche players who live in Denver year-round, which he had done for several years, took on new meaning.
“I thought it would be pretty good to come here,” Klee said, “because I’ve known (Avalanche winger) Steve Konowalchuk and we roomed together at Washington. I know Joe (Sakic), I know ‘Lappy’ (Ian Laperriere), so I knew there were several guys I would get along with. Besides, being home, it was a good fit for me.”
Footnotes
Paul Stastny, Brad Richardson, Johnny Boychuk and Brett McLean scored for Colorado in regulation. … Jose Theodore went the distance in the net for the Avs, allowing four goals on 27 shots. … The shootout went to four shooters. Stastny, McLean and Wojtek Wolski beat Detroit’s Chris Osgood, and Theodore’s save on Mikael Samuelsson ended the game. … Sakic, who suffered a minor hip injury against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday, didn’t suit up Monday. “Joe’s fine,” Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville said. … Wolski was hit in the leg by a shot and was limping after the game. He had precautionary X-rays, but the injury wasn’t believed to be significant.
Detroit 1 1 2 0 – 4
Colorado 0 1 3 0 – 4
(Colorado won shootout 3-2)
First period – 1, Detroit, Williams 2 (Kopecky), 15:26. Second period – 2, Detroit, Kronvall 1 (Zetterberg, Williams), 16:28 (pp). 3, Colorado, Stastny 1 (Clark, Liles), 17:32 (pp). Third period – 4, Colorado, Richardson 1 (Laperriere, Wolski), 1:24 (pp). 5, Colorado, Boychuk 1 (Richardson), 1:39. 6, Detroit, Hussey 1 (Bootland, McGrath), 2:57. 7, Detroit, Kindl 2 (Kopecky, Filppula), 8:24. 8, Colorado, McLean 2 (Laperriere, Boychuk), 19:32.
Overtime – None. Shootout – Detroit 2 (Hudler G, Zetterberg NG, Williams G, Samuelsson NG); Colorado 3 (Hejduk NG, Stastny G, McLean G, Wolski G).
Shots on goal – Detroit 6-10-9-2-27. Colorado 7-13-15-1-36. Goalies – Detroit, Osgood; Colorado, Theodore.
Terry Frei can be reached at 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
