Colorado Avalanche: The Good and the Bad

Watch as Cale Makar is selected fourth overall by the Colorado Avalanche.

I went on a Twitter rant, which you should never do.

It was about the Colorado Avalanche and how bad they are. A lot of Avalanche fans didn’t like that, and why should they? I’m several months late to this party and the horse that I would have previously beaten is currently a crater in the ground.

So let’s actually look at the Avalanche with a clear head, some feedback from Avalanche fans, and a platform that allows for more than 140 characters at a time.

Allow me to argue with myself.

THE BAD: CONTRACTS

The Avalanche’s CapFriendly page is a mess. They only have 10 main-roster forwards currently under contract after signing Sven Andrighetto, three main-roster defenders and no established safety net behind Semyon Varlamov. As bad as they were last season, they already look like a shell of their already bad selves.

Colorado has $20.1-million to add or keep three or four forwards, four defenders and a backup goalie. Can they do it? Sure they can. Will they be good? I have my doubts.

THE GOOD: IT’S JUNE

No, the Avalanche don’t have a team right now. It’s also June, you crazy person. Let’s assume two RFAs (Matt Nieto and Nikita Zadorov) both re-sign. There, you’ve filled up a chunk of the open roster spots you had internally already. Not to mention the Avalanche have a dozen guys on Entry Level Contracts they could also use, which doesn’t even account for their UFA or RFA non-roster players.

As for Varlamov’s backup goalie, the market is totally flooded with those. The Leafs don’t have a backup right now either, Steve. Gonna cry about it?

THE BAD: THE DEADLINE

We can be certain of one thing: The Colorado Avalanche are rebuilding. You can’t be the worst team in the salary cap era and not be rebuilding. Every year, it is a long-standing tradition that rebuilding teams fleece desperate playoff-bound teams at the trade deadline. Bad teams trade their good players, almost always on expiring contracts, and teams hopeful of doing well in the playoffs give them prospects and picks in exchange.

I look at the Avalanche roster and … wow. Who do they even trade at next year’s deadline? They’ve got Joe Colborne making $2.5 million coming off an eight-point season, Blake Comeau at $2.4 million coming off a 20-point season and Mark Barberio who, I’m not going to lie, is a pretty good defender on a sweet $750,000 contract.

Are you going to get a great haul for those three? No.

THE GOOD: IT’S JUNE

Dummy, it’s June! Have you already forgotten the Leafs of two years ago? So what if they only have three players (arguably one) who you can trade at the deadline. That’s what the summer is for. That’s when you get one-year mercenaries whose sole purpose is to just keep the team afloat until the young guns arrive.

Remember Roman Polak, Nick Spaling, James Reimer and, ironically, Shawn Matthias, who went to Colorado? Those were all guys on expiring deals who the Leafs traded for future assets. Plus guys with term remaining like Daniel Winnik and Dion Phaneuf were dealt without even retaining salary. That’s right — you’re allowed to trade players who don’t have expiring contracts.

If the Avalanche are smart about targeting free agents they can sign to one-year deals who they can trade to contenders, they’ll have no problem stacking up future assets.

THE BAD: THE TEAM

I’ve already said it, but the Avalanche were legendarily bad last season and the worst team of the cap era. Nathan MacKinnon took a step back in points per game. Matt Duchene had his worst season since 2011-12. Tyson Barrie, fresh off a new deal, took a step back to his 2013-14 production, a season where he spent some time in the AHL. Even captain Gabriel Landeskog had arguably the worst season of his career.

The scary part is the guys I just mentioned are the best guys the Avalanche have.

THE GOOD: THE TEAM

One thing Avalanche fans should take comfort in is that last season was an outlier. You can be confident that MacKinnon, Duchene, Barrie and Landeskog will all have better seasons than last year because history shows that they’re better players than that.

As for other guys on the roster, this applies to some of them, too. We can yell and scream about Carl Soderberg’s contract but the guy had just 14 points in 80 games. In his previous three seasons, Soderberg had 51, 44 and 48 points. Soderberg might not be Wayne Gretzky, but he’s certainly not 14-points bad.

Soderberg isn’t the only player that applies to, plus there were injuries. Erik Johnson only playing in 46 games and Varlamov only playing 24 games obviously devastated an already hurting roster.

FINAL THOUGHTS

There are all kinds of rumours surrounding the Avalanche and what they might do. Most notably, Duchene might be on his way out. Obviously, the future is uncertain.

While the Avalanche’s future has a lot of question marks and the current roster isn’t a Stanley Cup contender, you have to believe that this is how it starts.

Is Joe Sakic a great GM? I don’t know that. Based on what I’ve seen so far, I don’t think he is. He’s also Joe freaking Sakic. Surely he knows a thing or two about making a good hockey team.

After three full seasons at the helm in Colorado, should it be Sakic who gets a chance to right the ship?

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