These are not the good old days of the Avalanche, but they are the good-news days for the Avs.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and their Hole-in- the-Wall Gang are riding together again, some for the first time.
Nobody knows how the season will skate out, but the fun’s about to begin.
Get my swan costume ready. I feel the thrill.
The Red Wings (victimized in 1996, 1999, 2000), the Stars (2004), the Sharks (1999, 2002), the Coyotes (2000) and the Canucks (1996, 2001) all are shaking in their boots in the Wild West.
The Avs are back.
Certainly, this is no Taurean Green or Hal Gill deal.
Joe Sakic, who had been away almost three months, is reunited with Adam Foote, who had been away almost three years, and Peter Forsberg, who had been away almost four years. The playoffs for the Avs have been away almost two years.
As a trio, Sakic, Forsberg & Foote were as talented as Crosby, Stills & Nash. They won eight consecutive division titles as captain, wing man and defenseman. They won 17 postseason series. They gave up their bodies. One lost his spleen. And they won two Stanley Cups (1996 and 2001). Current Avs Milan Hejduk and Scott Parker joined them as members of the 2001 championship team.
The Joe Sack Five have done a lot of winning (accumulating as many as 118 points in 2000-01) and made a lot of friends in Denver.
The Avalanche can’t go back to the future.
Just give us that old-time religion.
Think what you will about the actions and transactions, but in the past two days the Avs went from also-rans to also-contenders.
I’ll take the good Foote and the bad foot over the left feet that were available at trade time.
Avalanche general manager Francois Giguere, the former numbers cruncher, did serious creative accounting to make the acquisitions happen. He added, not subtracted. Pierre Lacroix and Claude Lemieux will be proud.
So what if this is a Reunion Tour? Everybody wanted to see the Eagles in one more concert.
As I wrote months ago, Denver and Forsberg should be allowed to say a proper goodbye, and Foote belongs in a maroon sweater, not a blue jacket.
Lest the national naysayers forget, Ryan Smyth and Paul Stastny are recovered. And fresh veteran defenseman Ruslan Salei is solid and tough. If you can’t get behind these moves, you’ve got no pulse.
I’ll take my chances with Sakic, Smyth and Stastny, Forsberg, Foote and Hejduk — and Marek Svatos. Yes, the Avs need improved goaltending, and they’ll quickly have to develop cohesiveness. Forsberg will make plays; Foote will stop plays; and Smyth and Stastny will be helped greatly by their presence.
Where have you gone, Mike Ricci?
The Avs have become the Thirtysomethings — with Sakic (38), Foote (36), Forsberg (34), Ian Laperriere (34), Salei (33), Hejduk (32), Smyth (32), Jaroslav Hlinka (31), Jose Theodore (31) and Parker (30).
I’ll take age, wisdom and experience down the stretch of the regular season and in the playoffs.
With 18 games remaining after last night’s 3-2 victory in Calgary, the Avs have ice to make up. They play only three bottom feeders (Los Angeles, Atlanta and Edmonton twice), but they can catch up playing 12 games against teams with higher point totals in the Western Conference — and one game against the Eastern leader, at home, New Jersey. (Remember the Devils.)
Thirty-six points are there for the taking.
Last season the Avalanche finished one point shy of the playoffs with 95. At least 96 will be required this season, and the Avs have to consider passing three or four teams. The task is not easy.
After this brief Canadian trip, the Avs have four at home, games they must win against the Kings, the Canucks, the Ducks and the Stars, and six more in Denver. They need 16 or 17 points here, 10 or 11 away.
Presumably, with the return of Sakic, Forsberg and Foote, sellout crowds will return and The Can will return to reverberating like, well, an avalanche.
And just for old times’ sake, how about a playoff series against Detroit? It has been awhile, but the Avs and the Wings met five seasons in the postseason — 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2002. Three Stanley Cup champs came out of those series, and one of the sport’s greatest rivalries was born. The rivalry has died. The Wings won all four with the Avs this season. Too bad Sergei Fedorov was traded Tuesday to the Caps, not the Wings.
An Avs-Wings series would be a revival, and people might watch on that third-world cable channel.
The new look/old look Avalanche won’t be so pliable. I’ll take that look.
Welcome home, Peter, Adam, Joe and the Iceboys.
Woody Paige: 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com
