The majority of the questions posed to Avalanche GM Joe Sakic and coach Patrick Roy during Thursday’s national conference call are addressed at the mothership. Please click to get Sakic and Roy’s thoughts on next week’s NHL draft, the Ryan O’Reilly contract/trade situation, the rumored recruitment of Alexander Radulov, adding two new assistant coaches (defensive bench coach, video coach), future contract extensions for Erik Johnson, Tyson Barrie and Nathan MacKinnon, who each require new deals after next season, and cloudy injury updates on forwards Jamie McGinn, Patrick Bordeleau and Jesse Winchester.
As for improving the defensive corps when free agency opens July 1, it’s looking like the Avs will focus on left-shooting D to play on the first or second pairing. Colorado’s top two D are righties Erik Johnson and Tyson Barrie, and Roy said he prefers a lefty plays with at least one of them.
“As a coach, yes, we’d like to have somebody to play with EJ (inaudible) and Tyson. Obviously, we have (Nick) Holden and (Brad) Stuart, who are left shots, but we’d like to add a defenseman in the top four,” Roy said. “I think it will help our team tremendously.”
Right-shooting D Nate Guenin and Zach Redmond are also under contract for the Avs next season.
Righties Mike Green and Cody Franson are two of the top pending unrestricted free agent D, but as we previously speculated, the Avs will likely focus their recruitment on lefties Andrej Sekera, Christian Ehrhoff, Matt Irwin, Johnny Oduya and Paul Martin — among others. Sekera, 29, seems like the top lefty, and Irwin, 27, is my darkhorse — a guy who could triple his salary ($1 million last season) for a team willing to give him an opportunity.
Colorado will have approximately $10-$11 million in cap space if it does not resign UFA defensemen Jan Hejda and Ryan Wilson — both lefties — and UFA forward Daniel Briere (that figure goes to nearly $13 million if restricted free-agent forwards Joey Hishon, Freddie Hamilton and Jordan Caron are not resigned). If the Avs don’t get what they want in the free-agent market, there’s a chance Hejda comes back on a short-term, pay-cut deal.
About free agency, Sakic said: “It’s definitely and exciting time for everybody — stressful as well. We’ve got guys that we’re looking to see what we can do about adding to our lineup and see if something fits. It’s a two-way street. You can like somebody but they have to … players pick where they want to go. We have guys in mind that we’d like to come on board and help us win … We’re working and things keep coming up.”
Sakic and his staff will have to balance their free-agent offers with the anticipated hefty 2016-17 and beyond pay raises for Johnson, Barrie and forward Nathan MacKinnon. Johnson will be a pending UFA next summer; Barrie and MacKinnon RFAs.
“We have room (now), but we also have to look down the line as well — and we do have four guys (including pending UFA Jamie McGinn) that are going to have probably pretty healthy raises the following year,” Sakic said. “So it is a time you have to be careful as well and make sure you get the right fit and it has to make sense financially.”
Off a question from Cheryl Bradley, Sakic also touched on newly hired assistant GM . MacFarland will help the Avs develop their .
“I think everybody is going down that line, and it’s important,” Sakic said of advanced statistics. “Chris will be very valuable to all of us, really helping with trades — evaluating trades — and get out there for the scouting for us. We’re excited to have Chris.”
