DENVER—The Colorado Avalanche were bracing for life without Joe Sakic, fearing their longtime captain might skate away rather than return for a 20th season.
Then, in late summer, Sakic decided he had another season left in his 39-year-old legs, pushing back retirement for at least another year.
To his teammates, Sakic’s return was almost like a late, unexpected free agent pickup.
“Only one that’s a top player, a leader and one of the best of all time,” Paul Stastny cracked. “It’s lucky when you get all that coming back.”
Sakic simply didn’t want his illustrious career to end on last season’s performance.
Not after a hernia injury caused him to miss 38 games, the most trying year of his career. Not after watching the Avalanche get swept by the Detroit Red Wings in the conference semifinals.
That’s an experience he’d rather expunge. He thinks this revamped and retooled Avalanche squad can be a player in the perennially tough Western Conference, even if the Red Wings are poised to defend their Stanley Cup championship.
“We’re excited to see what we have here,” Sakic said.
Just like the rest of the Mile High City.
Colorado underwent dramatic changes in the offseason, losing Jeff Finger, Andrew Brunette, Kurt Sauer and Jose Theodore to free agency.
Gone as well is Peter Forsberg, a fan favorite who just couldn’t stay healthy in his late-season return to Colorado last February.
The team also parted ways with coach Joel Quenneville, electing to hire Tony Granato for a second stint in charge of the crew.
Granato has vowed to open up the offense this season, hoping to turn the Avalanche into more of a speed squad.
“We want to be a team that dictates the pace of the game with our quickness,” said Granato, who served as Quenneville’s assistant for three years before his promotion in May.
The up-tempo pace should benefit Sakic, who still had 40 points last season in just 44 games.
“He hasn’t lost a step,” Stastny said. “He’s the same player he’s been. He’s maintained his level of excellence.”
Sakic is marching up the all-time scoring lists, entering the ’08-09 campaign in 14th place in league history in goals (623), 11th in assists (1,006) and eighth in points (1,629).
Not that he’s keeping track.
“I just let it unfold,” the ever-modest Sakic said. “You just want to get off to a good start and play well and help your team win. I really like our team.”
The Avalanche added some toughness and tenacity in the offseason, bringing in grinders like Daniel Tjarnqvist and Darcy Tucker.
“You can have all the skill players in the world, but you still need those guys going into the corners to muck it up and grind it out,” defenseman John-Michael Liles said.
They already have that type of player in Ryan Smyth, Ian Laperriere, Cody McLeod and Stastny. Then again, a team can never have too much grit—just ask Laperriere.
“You just can’t expect to win games with just skill players,” Laperriere said.
Yet Detroit did last season.
“Everybody wants to be Detroit, but you can’t. You just can’t,” Laperriere said. “Everybody wants a (Henrik) Zetterberg and (Pavel) Datsyuk. Well, sorry, there’s two in the world and they’re in Detroit.”
The Avalanche boast an abundance of defenseman in Adam Foote, Scott Hannan, Jordan Leopold, Ruslan Salei, Brett Clark, Tjarnqvist and Liles. It could be the backbone of the team.
But only if Peter Budaj can step in and take over for the departed Theodore. The organization showed faith in Budaj by letting Theodore bolt for Washington.
Budaj’s eager to reward the trust.
“They gave me the chance, telling me I’m the guy,” Budaj said. “I’m going to work hard to keep my spot.”
So confident was Granato in Budaj, he awarded him the job before training camp, despite bringing in Andrew Raycroft, a former rookie of the year for the Boston Bruins.
“He knows we’ve been grooming him for this day when he was going to be our starter,” Granato said. “That day’s here.”
The Avalanche are hoping to avoid the injury bug that plagued them last season. They lost players like Marek Svatos (groin, knee), Smyth (neck, ankle, concussion), Clark (shoulder) and Stastny (appendectomy) for extended periods of time, not to mention Forsberg (groin) and Sakic.
Yet no one has had a rougher time with injuries than Leopold.
The 28-year-old dealt with a hip ailment and wrist surgery early last year, then a lacerated leg and a bout of pneumonia. Later in the season, he took a blow to the head from Dallas forward Steve Ott, forcing him to miss more time.
All told, Leopold was sidelined for 35 games.
“This is a new year,” Leopold said. “I’m way more positive this year. I feel like I have something to prove, something that I haven’t proved in the last couple of years.”
The Avalanche share that feeling. The team hasn’t escaped out of the conference semifinals since 2002.
This season, the prognosticators aren’t predicting much from the Avalanche.
That’s perfectly fine with Colorado.
“Everyone can think what they want,” Liles said. “We’re confident in our abilities and what this team can bring.”
Especially with their captain back on board.
