The Avs finally acknowledged what any hockey team loathes to admit.
They’re soft.
A franchise that once defined success by hoisting the Stanley Cup has wasted too many recent years being pushed around by foes that no longer fear the Avalanche.
This is a team mired in nostalgia, haunted by Pierre Lacroix, who has become more a ghost of glory past than a hands-on architect of an Avs roster badly in need of an upgrade for the 21st century. From center ice to the front office, Colorado has gone soft, an organization better at pinching pennies than winning playoff games.
Is the team finally done goofing off? Don’t you think it’s about time the Avs are bored with resting in a La-Z-Boy recliner on their big, fat laurels?
Well, we can only hope a new era and the new attitude of Colorado hockey officially began in the past 48 hours, when the Avs took rugged forward Gabriel Landeskog with the second overall pick of the NHL draft.
But almost as important was the departure of veteran John-Michael Liles, shipped off to Toronto in the trade. Guess that means Liles, a thinking-man’s defenseman, won’t be the next captain of the Avs, will he?
The leader this club desperately needs now is somebody who will bloody the nose of anyone who gets in his way.
While the Avalanche don’t want to burden a teenager with undue pressure, after listening to Colorado chief scout Rick Pracey moments after completion of the opening round, I believe it’s a near-certainty Landeskog will jump off the bench wearing a burgundy and blue sweater when the team opens the regular season at home against Detroit in October.
The Avs drafted Landeskog in no small part because they need a player who is NHL-ready to give frustrated fans a new reason to cheer. Truth be known, Colorado needs Landeskog to evoke memories of Peter Forsberg.
The next Patrick Roy, however, is nowhere in sight. Sure, the Avs drafted a goalie in the second round a year ago and are pleased with 19-year-old Calvin Pickard’s development.
But don’t get too excited, because as Pracey warns: “A goaltender generally takes five to eight years from the day he’s drafted until he’s ready to play regularly in the NHL. It’s the longest route for a hockey player.”
While the NHL draft is history, the real serious work for Colorado has yet to begin. Free agency opens for business later this week. The Avalanche is so far below the league salary cap that Josh Kroenke could buy his own private island in the Caribbean if ownership wants to escape the winter doldrums at the Pepsi Center. Or the Avs could chase free agents such as Florida goalie Tomas Vokoun or Vancouver defenseman Christian Ehrhoff.
Whose vision will ultimately shape the renaissance of the Avs, after too many seasons of watching the team’s reputation slip?
Would it be wise to place the dreams of seeing the Cup return to Denver in the hands of Greg Sherman, a general manager whose hockey chops have been questioned by die-hards?
Have the Avs been turned into a family business that one day will be inherited by current director of hockey operations Eric Lacroix, when his father gives the word to ownership?
Joe Sakic recently returned to the organization as an executive advisor. It was a smart hire that rekindled good vibrations. He knows the game. He understands what it takes to win. But does Sakic have the personality to demand nothing less than a championship from everybody in the organization?
The leader that the local NHL franchise requires now can’t be afraid to bloody noses. Enough already with a team that has accepted being soft at the blue line, soft in attendance and soft on the wallet of ownership.
Somebody needs to put the fight back in the Avs.
Is that man in the building?
Mark Kiszla: 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com
