Denver Post sports writer Adrian Dater posts his Avs Mailbag every Monday during the 2008-09 NHL season on DenverPost.com. The next installment is slated for Jan. 12.
To drop an Avalanche- or NHL-related question into the Avs Mailbag or visit DenverPost.com’s .
Hey, Adrian. With , is it really worth it to trade a spare part for some other team’s spare part? Last I checked, the Avs are still sitting in 10th place in the West, and it would be a struggle to make the playoffs even if Stastny were healthy. The team is not one, or two, or even three players away from a Cup. I would rather see them miss the playoffs with a clear plan for rebuilding than see them lose in the first or second round again. Thanks.
— Bob, Philadelphia
Bob – No, it’s not worth it. I’m now of the firm belief that the Avs should not trade any of their “promising” younger players for some older, bigger-name guy in the hopes he’s going to lead them to the Promised Ice this year.
If Peter Forsberg wants to come back and play for the Avs this year (and I think he definitely will play somewhere this year
now) then that’s great. But what the Avs should not do is deal away a top draft pick or some promising kid in their system for, say, a Doug Weight-type of pickup in the wake of Stastny’s and Joe Sakic’s extended absences.
Past Avs teams could afford to make splashy deals involving draft picks or quality younger players, because most of the time they were just one player away from winning a Stanley Cup. I think these Avs are more than one player away, and the worst thing you can do as a team is panic and trade away young “assets” in a distress sale. Keep guys like John-Michael Liles, Marek Svatos, Wojtek Wolski and David Jones around. If you can get something attractive for, say, a Brett Clark, then OK. But this team’s stockpile of young “assets” is slowly starting to get back to a decent level — and blowing that up for a short-term deal would not be the way to go. And, I don’t think Francois Giguere will do that.
One thing I just can’t understand is why the NHL has its teams wear dark/away sweaters for home games and the light/home sweaters for away games. Whose idea was this and is there any indication of going back to the traditional way?
— Steven, Denver
Steven – This issue has come up before in the Avs Mailbag, so in a nutshell: NHL teams (which used to have home teams wear dark colors in the 1960s and early ’70s) went back to that a couple years ago. The reason this time has more to do with “third” jerseys, most of which involve darker colors. Therefore, to save time and money on equipment, road teams go on the road knowing they only need to pack light-colored jerseys.
Occasionally, teams wear white colors at home, as the Avs did a couple weeks ago against Chicago. The reason for that was, Chicago asked the Avs if it would be OK for them to wear their own third jerseys that night at the Pepsi Center, and asked the Avs if they wouldn’t mind wearing their home whites. The Avs said no problem. Why the Blackhawks wanted to wear their third jerseys on the road, I’m still not sure of. I’ll have to ask Joel Quenneville next time I see him.
Third jerseys almost always are worn at home. The Avs, by the way, are not wearing their all-Burgundy third jerseys this season. They will do so again starting next year.
Hello, Adrian. Why does the Avalanche continually have trouble skating into the offensive zone? When they are threatened at the blue line, they dump the puck in. Is this Tony Granato’s form of hockey or is the Avalanche short of skaters/puck handlers?
— AJ Deckert, Westminster
AJ – While I think you might be a little dramatic here, I know there are too many times when the Avs look a little stuck in neutral coming into the offensive zone. It would be nice to see Wolski or Tyler Arnason go to the net more with the puck.
I think the answer to many of hockey’s woes is simple: just go to the net. With or without the puck, drive hard to the net and see what happens. Too much dipsy-doodling, east-west hockey gets you in trouble. The Avs have done a better job
of late getting ugly goals, and without Sakic and Stastny for a while, keeping that up is a must.
Is the Avs’ farm system improving? I know that some media members in this town believe Pierre Lacroix did not distinguish himself in his last few drafts. It appears that Wojtek Wolski and Marek Svatos may never develop into consistent first-line players. Is there help coming or does this team’s trend toward mediocrity continue?
— John, Highlands Ranch
John – There is no hope. We’re all doomed. Doomed, I say.
Relax, the Avs are going to be OK. First off, I think Wolski and Svatos are playing well and have been, overall, credits to the organization so far. Let’s not forget, Svatos was a middle-round pick, not a first-rounder. So, that was a success in the draft department. Yeah, Wolski is a little too inconsistent still, but is that guy money in a shootout, or what? His stepback, pullback move is unreal. I mean, he makes NHL goalies look absolutely helpless in shootouts.
Let’s also be fair to Pierre Lacroix here — and people know I’ve criticized his moves when I thought it was warranted. Lacroix hasn’t been a GM in a few years now, and many of the draft picks he traded away helped bring two Stanley Cups to Denver. Yeah, there were some first-round duds under his watch (Vaclav Nedorost, Mikhail Kuleshov, Kevin Grimes, Jonas Johansson), but that’s happened to every single team in the league. If the Avs don’t make the playoffs this year, they’ll get a good draft pick. There would be hope, therefore.
Do the Avs have anyone anywhere in the system who could be a true No. 1 goalie?
— Gregg, Lakewood
Gregg – Forecasting the careers of goalies is always a dicey business. Many guys who were supposed to be sure things as netminders are probably now selling insurance. Many guys who weren’t supposed to amount to anything are now stars in the league (Tim Thomas in Boston is a good example).
The Avs have some goalie prospects, obviously, but whether they’ll develop into NHL-caliber players seems questionable right now. One prospect is Billy Sauer, a senior at Michigan, but he lost his starting job recently to sophomore Bryan Hogan. Peter Delmas was taken 61st overall in 2008 by Colorado, but is having a poor season with Lewiston of the QMJHL. His saves percentage, at last check, was .849, with a 4.53 GAA and 6-19-0 record.
I would say Trevor Cann, taken 49th overall in 2007, is the Avs’ best goalie prospect right now. He’s having a pretty good season with the London Knights of the OHL right now (.919 saves percentage, 2.41 GAA), and he’s got some Canadian junior team experience. Cann is only 19, though, and probably a couple years away from getting any realistic shot with the Avs.
Hey, Adrian. What’s it like in the press box? I would like to work in there some day. Is it all business in there? Thanks.
— Mike, Denver
Mike – What’s it like in a press box? Lots of coffee, lots of soda cans, lots of “who shot that, what just happened, is my car going to start after the game in this cold?”
Most press boxes today are long, multi-layered strips along the tops of arenas, with team management and NHL personnel offices built in. It used to be that the press box was just that, a little box above the ice, and we hockey writers desperately miss them. The old ones were much closer to the action, and I can’t tell you how much better and how much different it is seeing a game up close as opposed to in the rafters up top. Some of the Canadian buildings still have press boxes with excellent views (Edmonton, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal), but most of the rest are way up there.
If you want to be a sports writer and make a living at it, you have to just really want it and stick with it and hope for a break. I always tell people who want to do it: there’s no magic path. Just persevere and something will happen if you want it bad enough.
Hey, Adrian. How good would Ilya Kovalchuk look in an Avs sweater? Gritty forward who is an UFA after ’09-10 and probably playing for a contract. Tell me what you’ve heard! Good work.
— Aaron M., Ann Arbor, Mich.
Aaron – Yes, he would be one heck of an addition. But that’s still a ways off, and Atlanta would have to be absolutely desperate or going under as a team (which could happen) to let a guy like him go for nothing, especially in a salary-cap era.
Most likely, the only way Kovalchuk will end up on another team is by trade, or if he just flat refuses to sign a new deal with the Thrashers. He’s a great goal-scorer, with what I believe are the fastest hands in the league. If he were available, I’m sure the Avs and 28 other teams would be offering him big money to sign. But again, that’s a ways off.
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 .
