Okay, can we finally put to bed the idiotic narrative that Joe is sleeping, lazy, sitting on his hands, etc..
It's clear last year was an evaluation year. He wanted to see what he had on this team - were Kerfoot, Jost and Compher going to be centers? Were they going to be top 6 players? Were guys like Nieto, Ghetto, Wilson and Bork actual NHL players or not? Was MacK's breakout year a 1 off or the new normal? Same for Mikko. What do we actually have in Girard? In Zadorov? Will Makar come, and is he legit?
It would have been so shortsighted to make any long-term decisions with so many questions unanswered. He wasn't doing nothing. He was watching, evaluating and planning.
Now that he has his answers, he hasn't hesistated to move. He decided Soderberg is not the answer at 2C. He decided Ghetto and Bork are not NHLers. He decided that our winger depth wasn't good enough. He decided that Kerfoot wasn't in the long-term plans of the team, and neither Jost nor Compher was ready to be a 2C. He decided the defense is good enough and is going to get even better. He decided Tyson Barrie is expendable.
As soon as these decisions were made, he acted decisively. He went hard after the only guy in free agency worth going hard after in Panarin. He didn't let the pursuit of Panarin prevent him from acting - trading Soderberg out, signing/trading for depth wingers, and finally trading for that much-needed 2C.
So please, can we for all time stop confusing Sakic's patience and deliberate intelligence for laziness or sitting on his hands?
And the best part is he might not be done. If a guy like Ferland or Dzingel is willing to take a short term deal they may yet find themselves in an Avalanche uniform. Thanks to Joe's "laziness" we have enough cap room to do whatever we want for the next few seasons.