Ten veterans on the Avalanche’s playoff roster have expiring contracts and will be unrestricted free agents July 1 if the team doesn’t re-sign them.
Colorado general manager Greg Sherman wouldn’t talk this week specifically about whom the team will attempt to bring back, saying the Avalanche will have organizational evaluation meetings in the upcoming weeks.
“I can say this collectively about that group,” Sherman said. “I think we need to let this week or so go by and be in a more objective state of mind. It’s the ongoing evaluation we do at the end of every year. We’ll evaluate all facets of the organization, at the NHL level, at the AHL level, and we’ll come out of those meetings with a game plan.”
He did, however, point out that the Avs will continue to emphasize young talent. That might not bode well for some of the higher-priced veterans with expiring contracts, including defensemen Brett Clark and Ruslan Salei, plus wingers Marek Svatos and Darcy Tucker. Clark and Salei each suited up for only one playoff game, and Svatos got in three only after Colorado’s injury list lengthened.
Sherman was asked whether that emphasis on youth precludes supplementing the roster with a big-name free agent. The biggest star likely to hit the market July 1 is New Jersey winger Ilya Kovalchuk, who at 27 isn’t exactly a graybeard but who made $7.5 million this season.
“I think right now the philosophy is such that the goals are to continue to build from within and build around our young kids,” Sherman said. “After we have the meetings, I’ll take some steps back and make some decisions at that time.”
Speaking specifically of seeking to sign major free agents, he added, “But at this point, I don’t foresee that.”
Sherman did, however, comment about another of the Avalanche veterans with an expiring contract — defenseman Adam Foote, who inherited the captain’s job from Joe Sakic this season, played an average of 19 minutes a game and made $3.0 million.
“All the credit in the world goes to him,” Sherman said. “I can’t say enough about the way Adam carried himself not only on the ice, but off the ice. Part of our goals were to re-establish our culture and regain our identity. Adam Foote, to me, was the key person in those two goals. His ability to work with our coaching staff, as well as leading in that locker room, was important in re-installing those things.”
Sherman was elevated to GM last spring after the organization’s public courtship of Patrick Roy was rebuffed, and Sherman was the point man in promoting Lake Erie Monsters coach Joe Sacco — one of three finalists for NHL coach of the year honors — to the head coaching position.
“There is a tremendous amount of pride, organizationally, in Joe Sacco,” Sherman said. “And not just in Joe, but the coaching staff as a whole. That falls back into our culture and identity, and I think when you have Joe Sacco come in and surround him with (former Avs players) Sylvain Le-febvre, Adam Deadmarsh and Steve Konowalchuk, while they were in their first years at the NHL level, they certainly handled all the challenges that were presented to them throughout the season — and handled them very well.”
Terry Frei: 303-954-1895 or tfrei@denverpost.com
