Denver Post sports writer Adrian Dater posts his Avs Mailbag each Wednesday during the 2006-07 NHL season on DenverPost.com, which earned distinction for its online-exclusive series of Mailbags at this year’s Colorado AP Reporters and Editors Awards.
To drop a question into the Avs Mailbag or visit DenverPost.com’s .
Over the past two seasons, the Avs have reminded me of baseball’s Florida Marlins with their “firesale.” They’ve let so many good players leave. Is Stan Kroenke crazy enough to think that Joe Sakic and possibly Milan Hejduk can take them to the playoffs?
— Ray Kennedy, Shorewood, Ill.
Ray – Well, Sakic and Hejduk took them to the playoffs last year, so why not this time, too?
Listen, there’s no question the Avs have given away more prized possessions than Bill Gates and Warren Buffet lately. But this is the new NHL. The salary cap has leveled the playing field. I have my opinions about that. I mean, the cap has made a lot of GMs who couldn’t do diddly squat before its implementation look like geniuses since. But the inverse is true, too; a lot of GMs who could only do well in the no-cap era can’t seem to do as much in the new day, can they?
The Avs had to give Peter Forsberg, Rob Blake and Adam Foote away for nothing – and they have paid something of a price for that. But the team is still pretty competitive; they went further last year than Philadelphia, Columbus, Los Angeles, Calgary and 18 other NHL teams last year. Why did that happen? Because there still is enough competitive talent on hand, and there promises to be more when some of their prospects mature, and the team gets more salary-cap space.
So, take this from a New England-born, pessimistic-by-nature guy: This team still has a lot going for it. These are not the 1974 Washington Capitals here. It’s a team that can still beat any other on any given night. No, not like on most EVERY night like the past, but still good enough to win when they play well.
Hey, Adrian. So now that Alex Tanguay and Rob Blake are both gone, what does the Avalanche do with the salary money it is saving? Not to mention ‘s salary? It seems like, and I could be wrong, that the Avs have some extra money laying around to bring in someone.
— Ed Clark, Salida
Ed – Yes, the Avs have Konowalchuk’s $1.9 million salary now to spend, with his unfortunate retirement. What should they do? Good question.
You can argue they need a top-six power forward type, and you can argue they need a top-four defenseman, preferably somebody with some grit and toughness. Myself, I’d go after a D-man. From what I’ve seen of the early Avs, their defense looks a little soft in front of the net and in the corners, especially without Rob Blake.
I think they need to get a guy who can kick a little butt in front of Jose Theodore. I think they have three pretty good lines up front, but the defense is going to be the issue going forward. They have given up a lot of good chances so far. They are a little too easy to play against in their own zone. Maybe that will change with the personnel on hand, but I would be on the lookout for some help if I were .
So, as I look around the league this season, I see many former Avs are now captains of their respective teams (Chris Drury, Adam Foote, Peter Forsberg). I also remember many former captains being members of the Avs (Steve Konowalchuk and Ray Bourque). Am I missing anybody?
— Linnea, Lakewood
Linnea – Yes, actually, Mike Keane and Tom Fitzgerald were former captains before they came to the Avs. Dave Andreychuk also captained Tampa Bay, but after he left the Avs.
Of course, the Avs have let a lot of good players go over the years. The Drury trade was definitely a mistake, and I’ll always be on record saying they should have found a way to keep Forsberg at all costs. The Avs have just had a lot of very good players come through their doors over the years. That’s a credit to the organization most of all. You can’t keep everybody forever. That said, yes, there are a lot of very good ex-Avalanche players still out there.
Do you think the Avs can bounce back and become a Western Conference powerhouse again in the near future?
— Robert, Munich, Germany
Robert – I think so, provided their young kids (, Paul Stastny, John-Michael Liles, etc.) keep progressing, and they make some smart free-agent signings, starting next season. Like I said before, this is a team that was in the final four of the Western Conference last year. Let’s not forget what the team still on hand has accomplished and can still.
What are the chances the Avalanche will retire Steve Konowalchuk’s jersey?
— Adam, Farmington, N.M.
Adam – I’d say zero. He wore No. 22, and while his retirement came under tough circumstances, I don’t think it falls into the category of “tragic” circumstances. Some teams have retired numbers of guys who died suddenly, but Konowalchuk didn’t die and should live a normal rest of his life.
He had a hereditary heart condition, and that’s just life sometimes. But retiring his number probably comes under the heading of “too dramatic” a gesture on his behalf. Knowing him as I do, I think Konowalchuk would be a bit embarrassed by
such a gesture, too.
Hi, Adrian. We have lost so many great players in the last two years. Do you think too much pressure will be on the young Paul Stastny, Wojtek Wolski and Marek Svatos? It seems they will be relied upon more than in previous seasons.
— Sandie, Edmonton, Alberta
Sandie – Yes, they will be relied upon a lot. But, they’re big boys. They can take it. And I think they’d welcome that kind of responsibility. They are three guys who really want to succeed in their careers, so the more you put on their shoulders, I think the better they could be.
Ten years ago, we were all putting a lot of pressure on youngsters named Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Adam Deadmarsh, Adam Foote and Chris Drury. Look how they all did. These guys might not have their talent, but they might get there if given the chance.
Today, I woke up at 4 a.m. after only four hours of sleep to watch live, and I have to go to work in less than two hours (the third period just started). Can I still consider myself sane?
— Radovan Grezo, Bratislava, Slovakia
Radovan – Pour yourself a Stoli for me and call yourself a true hockey guy. That’s some real dedication there. It reminds me of when I was a kid, and the NBA Finals were on tape-delay. I mean, here it was the FINALS, between my Celtics and Houston Rockets, and CBS wasn’t coming on the air until 11:30 p.m.!!!! And, the game had already been played!!!!!
But I would plug my ears from 7-11, not looking at anything that might give the score away. Then, on would come Brent Musburger and Rick Barry, and I’d watch in suspense until 2 a.m. to see God, otherwise known as Larry Bird, dance on the Summit floor victorious. (I remember the NBA’s only TV sponsor for the 1981 Finals was an aftershave lotion called Blue Stratos. I can still hear the theme song from the ads).
Of course, in my youth, there was no ESPN ticker, no CNN Headline News ticker and no Internet to check. You couldn’t get a score if you tried, and there were many times as a kid I would call fruitlessly to numerous radio and TV stations trying to get a Celtics-West Coast score from the night before. Now, you can get a high school football score in Hopkinton, N.H., or Avon, Colo., in seconds on any NUMBER of websites, from anywhere in the world.
So, over the last however-many years, I have been frequently upset over a few moves the Avs have made. First, trading Adam Deadmarsh, then trading Chris Drury, now Alex Tanguay. So I came up with a conspiracy theory: Don’t wear No. 18 for the Avs and become a fan favorite! They will trade you! What do you think about that?
— Jamie Somerville, Palisade
Jamie – A worthy conspiracy theory. Right up there with gas prices going down right before the mid-terms, two shooters in Dallas and the Red Sox trading Sparky Lyle to the Yankees for Danny Cater.
Speaking of Dallas, 1963, I believe Oswald acted alone. Are you telling me some other shooter fired and nobody ever gave him up in 43 years of magnifying-glass research? I mean, CSI would have solved that crime in an hour, and we can’t get the definitive proof Oswald had a conspirator in 43 years? Sorry, I don’t buy it.
I saw a show recently on some cable channel that showed how Oswald’s “magic bullet” shot was perfectly plausible. The magic bullet that was ridiculed for being “pristine” came out pristine on several subsequent ballistics tests using the same angles
as the one that bad day in Dealey Plaza.
I used to live in Hyannis, Mass., and I became a huge Kennedy buff. And I read numerous books on the assassination, and none of them has convinced me that the conspiracy theories are nothing more than a bunch of balloons that can’t hold water. I’ll tell you this, though: You can’t go to Dallas – as I have many times – and not be drawn to the grassy knoll and the book depository building, and not sit there and stare at the whole scene and not come away shaking your head.
Adrian Dater has covered the Colorado Avalanche since the team moved to Denver in 1995. To drop a question into his Avs Mailbag or visit DenverPost.com’s .
