Avalanche winger Marek Svatos had gone 10 games without a goal before he scored against Phoenix on Wednesday. His season numbers — three goals and one assist — going into tonight’s home game against Chicago aren’t impressive.
But even before Svatos’ flashy goal against the Coyotes, Colorado coach Joe Sacco had noticed recent improvement in Svatos’ game and effort.
“His compete level (Wednesday) was very high,” Sacco said after the Avalanche’s Thursday practice. “He was first to a lot of loose pucks, that’s what I noticed. He was quick on the forecheck. He had a lot of jump, and he did a lot of the things we’ve been asking him to do.
“I think over the course of the last few games, I haven’t had a problem with Marek’s work ethic. He hasn’t been getting the results we wanted, or he wanted, but he’s been working hard.”
“I scored a goal finally in the last game,” Svatos said Thursday. “I think we created some chances, and hopefully things are starting to go good for me. I felt really good that game, and I hope it stays that way. I’m trying not to be frustrated and be positive every game.”
Svatos, 27, is in the final season of a two-year, $4.1 million contract and can be an unrestricted free agent on July 1. He has been one of the Avalanche’s more enigmatic players in recent years. He had 32 goals in 2005-06 despite suffering a season-ending shoulder injury on March 6, and 26 in 2007-08 despite missing the final 16 games with a knee injury. But he also has figuratively disappeared at times — even when he’s healthy.
He is likely to play in a second consecutive Olympics for Slovakia in February in Vancouver, where he could join as many as four Colorado teammates in one of the featured competitions of the Winter Games.
He’s also a young father, sporting a tattoo the length of his right forearm spelling out the name of his son, Marek David, in Korean lettering. That’s because his wife, Diana, whom he met in Denver, is of Korean heritage.
“I feel good now,” Svatos said. “I had the knee surgery a couple of years ago, and this summer, I tried to prepare as best as I could. I stayed here all summer and worked with our strength and conditioning coach and did everything I could to get in better shape.”
Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com
