Is this the start of a pattern or merely a one-season aberration?
That’s the major issue tied to the Avalanche’s failure to make the playoffs this spring, marking the first time there won’t be any postseason NHL games in Denver since the franchise arrived in Colorado for the 1995-96 season.
With the caveat that much depends on how the front office handles the offseason, it isn’t out of line to argue that there is hope for the future.
The evidence:
* The Avalanche’s 15-2-2 record down the stretch.
“I’ve always felt pretty confident about this group,” general manager Francois Giguere said Monday. “We were just wondering why we couldn’t get on a run where we’d put together five, six, seven games in a row. Now, by doing it, I think that was important. It gives our younger guys a chance to know what it takes to win. It would have been easy for the leaders of the team six weeks ago to pull the plug on the season. These games became playoff games, and experiencing that can only help our young people as we move forward.”
* Joe Sakic, who already has agreed to a new contract for next season, showed no sign of slowing down at age 37. Also during the stretch, Milan Hejduk reawakened, and Andrew Brunette continued to show why he is one of the most underrated players in the league.
* The play of rookie forwards Paul Stastny and Wojtek Wolski, who both probably will finish among the top five choices for the Calder Trophy. Stastny’s 20-game point streak is a league rookie record. His genes – he is the son of Hall of Famer Peter Stastny and the nephew of former Nordiques Anton and Marian Stastny – helped produce a headiness that enabled him to make a seamless transition from playing only two seasons of college hockey at the University of Denver before signing with Colorado.
“It was everything I hoped for and more,” Stastny said of his rookie season, which produced 28 goals and 50 assists. “It would have been more important to make the playoffs, but it was a good learning experience at a young age. Now I have to go from here and build on it.”
Goaltender Peter Budaj’s apparent emergence as a workhorse and stingy No. 1 goaltender who won the faith of Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville.
Veteran Jose Theodore’s continuing problems forced Quenneville’s hand, but Quenneville has shown signs in the past of quickly losing confidence in goalies, whether it be Roman Turek at St. Louis or David Aebischer in Colorado.
* The impending opening up of considerable salary cap room, thanks to expiring veterans’ contracts that almost certainly will lead to the departure of – at the very least – defenseman Patrice Brisebois and forward Pierre Turgeon. How the landscape will look July 1, when the free agency period begins, is far from definite, but the possibility looms of some big-name players being available, including either of the Buffalo Sabres’ co-captains – Daniel Briere or a blast from the Colorado past, Chris Drury. And former Avalanche center Peter Forsberg, now with Nashville, also might be available, if he decides to return to the NHL next season.
Also, the nearly $4.6 million in bonuses paid to Sakic and Rob Blake under the terms of their previous contracts counted against the Avs’ cap figure this season, That hit also will disappear in 2007-08.
Additionally, the Avalanche could clear more room by buying out the final year of Theodore’s contract. He is due to make $6 million next season, with a cap number of $5.3 million.
At least on Monday, Giguere sounded as if the organization is leaning toward bringing Theodore back, on the theory that while Budaj now is the No. 1, Theodore has been a good soldier as a backup, and if he isn’t disruptive, he is a better insurance policy than anyone else the Avalanche might sign.
“Peter has been great, but he’s still 24 years old, and I’m not sure we can be a team like New Jersey that has a backup that can play five or six games a year,” Giguere said.
None of the Avalanche’s other potential unrestricted free agents is indispensable. The flip side is they are unlikely to get offers from other teams that would knock the Avs out of the water. If they all are willing to stay in the same salary range, they could be back, depending on what else is available to Colorado over the summer. Giguere indicated the Avs are likely to pick up their option on veteran winger Ian Laperriere, who will make $1.04 million next season if they do.
“The next period is going to involve evaluating our team and the guys we feel are guys we need, moving forward,” Giguere said. “I can’t put a timeline on it, whether it’s a week-to-week thing, but our priority will be to get our guys done and then look to what might be done outside the organization.”
The final issue is whether the Avalanche ownership will continue to allow the front office – president Pierre Lacroix and Giguere – to push the payroll right up to the upper limits of the cap.
The Avalanche will not be getting playoff revenue this season, and thanks to the end of the longest officially recorded sellout streak in league history, attendance slipped. Still, the Avs’ official average attendance of 17,612 is only 395 short of a sellout.
The stretch run in that sense was a huge financial shot in the arm, perhaps forestalling a further deterioration in the season-ticket base. So it also seems unlikely that Colorado will back off being financially aggressive – or as aggressive as is possible under the salary cap system implemented in the wake of the lockout and the canceled 2004-05 season.
Terry Frei can be reached at 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com.
