DETROIT — After emerging from a five-hour NHL general managers meeting Monday at the Marriott Renaissance Center, Avalanche GM Francois Giguere said he hadn’t spoken with Colorado captain Joe Sakic recently — and continues to nervously await Sakic’s decision on whether to return for another season.
Speaking of the July 1 opening of the unrestricted free agency period, Gigure said of Sakic’s choice: “I would like to know a little sooner, if possible. But I know that if I push Joe, nothing good would come out of it. I think if I push him, he’s going to be saying, ‘Then I won’t be playing.’ It’s not in my interest to push him.
“I’m sure, as soon as he can, he’ll get back to us. We’re getting to the point now where you’re getting a little more anxious than we were a month ago, but I think he’s earned the right to take his time, and I’m sure he’ll do right by us. I’m not worried about that.”
Giguere declined to be drawn into a player-by-player update on the Avalanche’s other potential unrestricted free agents. That list includes goaltender Jose Theodore; defensemen Adam Foote, John-Michael Liles, Kurt Sauer and Jeff Finger; plus forwards Peter Forsberg, Andrew Brunette and Scott Parker.
“There are some guys we’ve started the process of negotiating with, and I don’t really want to get into comments on which ones I’ve started and which one’s I haven’t,” Giguere said. “But each free agent will be contacted by me or (assistant GM) Greg Sherman. It might be to say that we won’t be signing them, but everyone’s going to be contacted.”
Asked about Theodore, Giguere said: “I think in a perfect world, if we could get the whole team back, we’d try to get the whole team back. I don’t know how realistic that is.”
Giguere did say that Forsberg, who finished out the season with a second tour of duty with the Avalanche, “to me is almost in the same category as Joe. Right now, the last time I talked to Peter, he’s at a point right now where he’s trying to figure out medically, ‘Can I play?’
“One of the things he’s kind of made clear is he wants to play if he thinks he can play a full season or close to a full season,” Giguere said. “If he thinks this can be half a season or something like that, I don’t think he’s going to want to do that. He’s gone back to Sweden, he’s going to see a doctor in Sweden, and then we’ll follow up with our doctors and monitor that. I expect that I’ll probably be talking to him again shortly.”
In the meeting Monday before Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals, Giguere and the other general managers discussed possible minor rules tweaks. If the board of governors approves the GMs recommendation, a power-play always would start with a faceoff in the offensive zone of the team with the manpower advantage, regardless of where the call is made. “They tried that in the American League, and we’re going to do that this year,” Giguere said.
The GMs also discussed how to stop short of implementing no-touch icing while still lessening the toll on defensemen susceptible to hits when chasing down the puck. Giguere said “everybody’s against” no-touch icing among the GMs, but added: “We’re going to try to discuss with the players and maybe penalize the players if their intent is to hit the guy instead of going for the puck.”
Also after the meeting Monday, Toronto interim general manager Cliff Fletcher said the Maple Leafs have settled on a leading coaching candidate. He wouldn’t identify him, but former San Jose coach Ron Wilson was on his way to Toronto to meet with team officials.
If Wilson’s hiring is imminent, that would leave four coaching jobs still open — Florida, Ottawa, San Jose, and Atlanta. Tampa Bay is expected to oust John Tortorella after the league approves the Lightning’s ownership change, but former Kings coach Barry Melrose — now with ESPN — is expected to fill that position.
