Joe Sakic - Record as Colorado Avalanche GM - Part III (Updates in First Post)

Foppa2118 · Jul 2, 2019

Joe Sakic promoted to Vice President of Hockey Operations on May 10th, 2013

Organizational Structure (Originally)

Sakic will be in charge of all hockey operations.
They will make decisions as a group with Craig Billington, Greg Sherman, and Brad Smtih on the pro side, but Sakic will make the final decision.
Greg Sherman retains title of GM, and will handle the day to day duties.
PL steps down as President, and assumes role of Advisor.
Josh Kroenke assumes role as President. Sakic and Sherman will both report to him.
Roy added as VP. He will work with the hockey Ops group, handle trade talks with GM's, and speak to free agents in the summer.

A new era has begun with the Avalanche leaving the old one a distant memory. This new era shall henceforth be referred to as After Pierre Lacroix (APL).

Organizational Structure (current)

Management Group Titles

Josh Kroenke - President & Governor
Joe Sakic - Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations, General Manager, and Alternate Governor
Chris MacFarland - Assistant General Manager
Craig Billington - Assistant General Manager
Charlotte Grahame - Vice President of Hockey Administration

Pro Scouting Staff

Brad Smith - Director of Pro Scouting
Garth Joy - Sr Pro Scout
Cody Bass - Pro Scout
Dan Laperriere - Pro Scout
Curtis Leschyshyn - Pro Scout
Terry Martin - Pro Scout
Miro Zalesak - Pro Scout (Europe)

Amateur Scouting Staff

Wade Klippenstein - Director of Amateur Scouting - Based in Western Canada
Joni Lehto - Head, European Scouting - Europe - Based in Finland
Alexei Gusarov - Scout - Europe
Henrik Gradin - Scout - Europe
Jamie Porter - Scout - Western Canada
Jerome Mesonero - Scout - Quebec - QMJHL
Don Paarup - Scout - Western Canada - WHL, BCHL
Norm Robert - Scout - Ontario Canada - OHL
Scott Halpenny - Scout - Ontario Canada - OHL
Neil Shea - Scout - Northeastern US - Based in Boston - NCAA, High School
John Funk - Scout - Midwestern US - Based in Minnesota - NCAA, High School
Lyle Wingert - Scout - Western Canada - WHL, BCHL

Player Development Staff

Brett Clark - Development Consultant
Steven Reinprecht - Development Consultant
Brian Willsie - Development Consultant

Coaching Staff

Jared Bednar - Head Coach
Nolan Pratt - Assistant Coach (Defense & PK)
Ray Bennett - Assistant Coach (Forwards & PP)
Jussi Parkkila - Goaltending Coach
Brett Heimlich - Video Coordinator

Analytics Staff

Arik Parnass - Hockey Analyst
Dawson Sprigings - Hockey Analyst
David Wood - Hockey Analyst
Mike Battaglia - Director of Video Scouting
Mitch Sakic - Assistant Video Scout

2013 NHL Draft

Picks

1st Round (#1) - Nathan MacKinnon - C - Right - 6'0" 190 lbs - Halifax (QMJHL)
2nd Round (#32) - Chris Bigras - D - Left - 6'1" 189 lbs - Owen Sound (OHL)
3rd Round (#63) - Spencer Martin - G - 6'2" 198 lbs - Mississauga (OHL)
4th Round (#93) - Mason Geertsen - D - Left - 6'3" 199 lbs - Vancouver (WHL)
5th Round (#123) - Will Butcher - D - Left - 5'9" 175 lbs - US Nat Dev Team USHL
6th Round (#153) - Ben Storm - D - Left - 6'6" 216 lbs - Muskegon (USHL)
7th Round (#183) - Wilhelm Westlund - D - 6'0" 185 lbs - Farjestad Jr (SWE-Jr)

Notable Prospects (at the time) Left Onboard

1st - Nathan MacKinnon over Sasha Barkov (2nd) Jonathan Drouin (3rd) and Seth Jones (4th)
2nd - Chris Bigras over Adam Erne (33rd) Jacob De La Rose (34th) Zach Fucale (36th) Valentin Zychov (37)

Trades

None

Rumors

Florida offers Kulikov +#2 for #1 overall. Avs turn it down.
Avs ask for Huberdeau and Gudbranson for #1, and Florida keeps their #2. FLA turns it down.

Notes

June 18th - Joe Sakic announces to the Denver Post 12 days before the draft that they will not be picking highly touted defenseman Seth Jones 1st overal. Says they will be picking one of the three forwards, MacKinnon, Drouin, or Barkov. Later says this was done to let the fans know. Jones had been viewed as the likely pick of the Avs by many due to the player he was, and their needs at defense.
Avalanche to pass on Seth Jones to take forward, Joe Sakic says – The Denver Post
June 25th - Sakic announces on Ch 4 that they are leaning toward MacKinnon at this time, and that if the draft were held today, that's who they'd pick.
June 25th - Patrick Roy says the same thing to Craig Custance for an article in ESPN the Magazine, and also outlines their top three draft order as 1)MacKinnon 2)Drouin 3)Barkov
Roy says Avs like MacKinnon with overall pick
June 25th - New assistant coach Andre Tourigny re-iterates the same message that Joe and Patrick have been saying in regards to Jones and MacKinnon.
June 26th - Director of Amateur Scouting has a conference call re-iterating that they will not be taking Jones 1st, and that MacKinnon is their number one at the time.
Rick Pracey Previews The 2013 NHL Draft
Does not use #32 pick in trade for a defenseman. Buffalo traded Andrej Sekera to Carolina for #35 and Jamie McBain.

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1454331
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1457545
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1458107
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1457551

2013 Offseason

Organizational Structure

May 14th - Kirk McLean steps down as part time goalie coach.
May 23rd - Patrick Roy hired as Head Coach and Vice President of Hockey Operations.
May 29th - Hires Andr Tourigny as assistant coach, formerly head coach of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the QMJHL.
June 4th - Hires Francois Allaire as part time goalie coach.
June 19th - Hires Adam Foote as part time D-Coach
June 24th - Tim Army will stay as second Assistant Coach
June 24th - Hires Mario Duhamel as Video Coach
June 24th - Promotes former VP of Player Development Craig Billington to Assistant General Manager

RFA, Pending UFA, and Prospect Signings

June 4th - Re-signs pending UFA Patrick Bordeleau to a three year, $3M contract. $1M cap hit.
June 26th - Re-signs pending UFA David Van Der Gulik to a one year (two way) $600k deal.
July 5th - Signs LW David Van Der Gulik (who briefly became a UFA) to a one year (two-way) $600k deal.
July 5th - Signs prospect C Colin Smith to a three year (two-way) ELC with a $628,333 cap hit.
July 9th - Signs prospect Nathan MacKinnon to a three year (two-way) ELC with a $3.775 M cap hit.
July 17th - Re-signs RFA Brad Malone to a one year (two-way) $735k deal.
July 18th - Re-signs Matt Duchene, who was set to be an RFA in one year, to a five year $30M deal, with a $6M cap hit.
Aug 15th - Re-signs Gabe Landeskog, who was set to be an RFA in one year, to a seven year, $39M deal, with a $5,571,429 cap hit.
Sep 17th - Signs prospect Chris Bigras to a three year ELC, with a $874,167 cap hit.

UFA Signings

July 5th - Signs D Andre Benoit to a one year (one-way) $900k deal.
July 5th - Signs D Nate Guenin to a one year (two-way) $600k deal.
July 5th - Signs RW Guillaume Desbiens to a one year (two-way) $600k deal.
July 5th - Signs RW J.T. Wyman to a one year (two-way) $750k deal.
July 6th - Signs D Nick Holden to a two year (two-way) deal with a $600k cap hit.

Trades

June 27th - Trades David Jones and Shane O'Brien to Calgary for Alex Tanguay and Cory Sarich

Buyouts

July 4th - Greg Zanon - Has one year remaining on contract at $2.25M. Buyout will be 2/3 the remaining amount, spread out over 2x the remaining years. Buyout cap hit will be $750k for two years.

UFA Departures

Milan Hejduk - Not offered contract/Retired
Chuck Kobasew - Invited to training camp tryout by Pittsburgh
Greg Zanon - Bought out with non-compliance buyout.
Aaron Palushaj - Rights not qualified
Thomas Vincour - Signed one year deal with Ak Bars Kazan of the KHL - Rights not qualified
Luke Walker - Signs with KHL - Rights not qualified

2013-14 Season

Transactions

Sep 22nd - Claims C/W Marc-Andre Cliche from the LA Kings off waivers. Cliche has one year remaining on a one way deal with a $537,500 cap hit.
Sep 24th - Waives Mark Olver to send down to LEM
Sep 29th - Waives Guillaume Desbiens
Oct 31st - Trades pending UFA Steve Downie to Philadelphia for Max Talbot
Jan 7th - Re-signs pending UFA Nate Guenin to a two year $1.6M deal. $800k cap hit.
Jan 30th - Re-signs pending RFA Semyon Varlamov to a five year $29.5M deal. $5.9M cap hit.
Feb 27th - Re-signs pending UFA Marc-Andre Cliche to a two year (one-way) $1.4M deal. $700k cap hit.
Mar 5th - Signs undrafted defenseman Cody Corbett out of the WHL to a three year ELC. Two way deal with a $616,667 cap hit.
Mar 5th - Trades 2014 2nd round pick to Calgary for pending UFA G Reto Berra
Mar 13th - Re-signs newly acquired, pending UFA Reto Berra to a three year $4.35M deal, with a $1.45M cap hit.
Mar 14th - Re-signs pending UFA John Mitchell to a three year $5.4M deal, with a $1.8M cap hit.
Apr 2nd - Trades Cameron Gaunce to Dallas for Thomas Vincour

Suspensions and Fines

Oct 3rd - Patrick Roy fined $10,000 for altercation with Bruce Boudreau
Oct 17th - Cody McLeod suspended five games for hitting Niklas Kronwall.
Feb 8th - Erik Johnson suspended two games for slashing Frans Nielsen.

Rumors

Oct - Avs and Philly rumored to have been working on a "larger deal" but then settled on 1 for 1 with Downie and Talbot.
Dec - Elliotte Friedman reports Kulikov was scratched because FLA had a deal but it fell apart. Mentions he can't place the other team, but there were definitely talks with Colorado, so there's some suspicion it was them. This was right around the time Avs learned Tanguay would be out all year, so possibly couldn't trade PAP/McGinn. Dale Tallon later denies this saying they scratched Kulikov because of his play to give him a refresher.
Jan - Avs offered PA Parenteau to Montreal for Rene Bourque and prospect Sven Andrighetto but Marc Bergevin turned it down.
Mar - Colorado one of teams that inquired into Christian Ehrhoff when he became available at the deadline.

2014 NHL Draft

Picks

1st Round (#23) - Conner Bleackley - RC - 6'0" 192 lbs - Red Deer Rebels (WHL)
3rd Round (#84) - Kyle Wood - RD - 6'5" 229 lbs - North Bay Battalion (OHL)
4th Round (#93) - Nicholas Maygar - RW - 6'1" 194 lbs - Kitchener Rangers (OHL)
4th Round (#114) - Alexis Pepin - LW - 6'2" 218 lbs - Gatineau Olympiques (QMJHL)
5th Round (#144) - Anton Lindholm - LD - 6'0 191 lbs - Skelleftea (SWE JR)
6th Round (#174) - Maximilian Pajpach - G - 6'1" 207 lbs - Slovakia (U18)
7th Round (#204) - Julien Nantel - C/LW - 6'0" 193 lbs - Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (QMJHL)

Notable Prospects (at the time) Left Onboard

1st - Conner Bleackley over Nikita Scherbak, Roland McKeown, Adrian Kempe, Ivan Barbashev, and Brenden Lemieux.
3rd - Kyle Wood over Anton Karlsson

Trades

None

Rumors

Avs offered PA Parenteau and a "high pick" (1st they didn't have a 2nd?) for James Neal but were turned down.
Tim Murray (BUF GM) says they tried to get another 1st, and could have moved up two spots, but decided not to. Two spots would have been the Kings pick at #29, who were seen talking to Joe Sakic right before their pick. Brenden Lemieux, Ivan Barbashev, and Roland McKeown were still on board.
Preds draft video shows Poille (Preds GM) saying Rutherford (Pens GM) told him he could get #23 (Avs 1st) to add to his #22 in a deal for Neal. Avs deal wouldn't have been for Neal since that's the deal the Preds and Pens were working on.

Notes

2014 Offseason

Organizational Structure

Hires Jerome Mesonero as amateur scout. Previously GM of the Victoriaville Tigres in the QMJHL.
Hires amateur scout Norm Robert.
Became affiliates with the Fort Wayne Komets of the ECHL
Joe Sakic's title changes to General Manager and Executive Vce President of Hockey Operations
Greg Sherman's title changes from General Manager to Assistant General Manager, along with Craig Billington.
Rick Pracey is let go from organization as Director of Amateur Scouting late in the offseason/early in regular season. Hard to know the timing.
Alan Hepple is promoted to Director of Amateur Scouting

RFA, Pending UFA, and Prospect Signings

May 29th - Signs prospect Troy Bourke to a three year ELC. Two way deal with a $60k AHL salary, and a $631,667 cap hit.
July 1st - Re-signs Nick Holden (pending UFA in one year) to a three year $4.95M deal. One way deal with a $1.65M cap hit.
July 16th - Re-signs Karl Stollery to his one year qualifying offer of $605k. Two way deal with a $100k AHL salary, and $605k cap hit
July 16th - Re-signs Stefan Elliott to his one year qualifying offer of $850,500. Two way deal with a $67,500 AHL salary, and $850,500 cap hit.
July 16th - Re-signs Paul Carey to his one year qualifying offer of $715k. Two way deal with a $65k AHL salary, and $715k cap hit.
July 19th - Re-signs Joey Hishon to his one year qualifying offer of $850k. Two way deal with an $850k cap hit, and $850k cap hit.
July 23rd - Re-signs RFA Ryan O'Reilly to a two year $12M deal. Avoided team elected arbitration on day of hearing. One way with a $6M cap hit.

UFA Signings

April 16th - Signs undrafted 22 year old UFA prospect Dennis Everberg to a two year ELC, out of Rogle BK in Sweden's 2nd tier league. Two way with a $60k AHL salary, and $612,500 cap hit. Part time Avs scout Anders Carlsson is Rogle's GM.
April 28th - Signs undrafted 20 year old UFA prospect Samuel Henley to a three year ELC, out of Val d'Or in the QMJHL. Two way deal with a $55-60k AHL salary, and a $586,667 cap hit.
May 15th - Signs undrafted 22 year old goalie Roman Will, out of Czech league to a two year ELC. Had previously played one season for Moncton in the Q. Two way deal with a $50-55k AHL salary, and a $572,500 cap hit.
May 20th - Signs undrafted 22 year old Borna Rendulic out of HPK in Finland to a two year ELC. Two way deal with a $60k AHL salary, and a $622,500 cap hit.

July 1st - Signs Jesse Winchester to a two year $1.8M deal. One way deal with a $900k cap hit.
July 1st - Signs Bruno Gervais to a one year $650k deal. Two way deal with a $200k AHL salary, and $650k cap hit.
July 1st - Signs Jarome Iginla to a three year $16M deal. One way deal with a $5.333M cap hit.
July 1st - Signs Zach Redmond to a two year $1.5M deal. One way deal with a $750k cap hit.
July 1st - Signs Ben Street to a two year $1.3M deal. Two way deal with a $250k AHL salary, and $650k cap hit.
July 7th - Signs Maxim Noreau to a two year $1.25M deal. One way deal with a $625k cap hit.
Aug 29th - Signs former Av prospect Thomas Vincour to a one year $600k deal. Two way with a $125k AHL salary, and $600k cap hit.

Trades

June 30th - Trades PA Parenteau (with two years left at $4M) and a 5th round pick in 2015, to Montreal for Danny Briere (one year left at $4M).
July 1st - Trades 2016 2nd round pick and 2017 6th rounder to San Jose for Brad Stuart.

Rumors

UFA interest in D men Brooks Orpik, Anton Stralman, Matt Niskanen, and Christian Ehrhoff.
Sakic confirms offers to Orpik and Stralman.
Joe Sakic talks about Avalanche's free-agent moves
Orpik confirms on radio that Avs offer was same as Washington - 5 years, $5.5M AAV

UFA Departures

Michael Clarke - Rights not qualified
Joesph Blandisi - Rights not qualified
Kent Patterson - Rights not qualified
Kieran Millan - Rights not qualified
Mark Olver - Rights not qualified
Brad Malone - Group 6 UFA after not playing enough NHL games - Signs two year $1.3M deal with Carolina. One way at $650k per.
Paul Stastny - Group 3 UFA - Signs four year $28M deal. One way at $7M per.
Andre Benoit - Signs one year deal with Buffalo. One way with $800k cap hit.
Cory Sarich - Retired

2014-15 Season

Transactions

Sep 29th - Re-signs Brad Stuart to a two year, $7.2M deal. One way with the same $3.6M cap hit.
Sep 29th - Re-signs Cody McLeod to a three year, $4M deal. One way with a $1,333,333 cap hit.
Mar 2nd - Trades D Karl Stollery to San Jose for C Freddie Hamilton.
Mar 2nd - Trades C Michael Sgarbossa to Anaheim for D D Mat Clark.
Mar 2nd - Trades Max Talbot with 50% salary withheld ($875k one year remaining) and Paul Carey to Boston for Jordan Caron and a 2016 6th rounder.
Mar 24 - Signs Mason Geertsen to a three year ELC.

Suspensions and Fines

Mar 3rd - Cody McLeod fined $3,091.40 for " entering the game on a legal line change for the purpose of starting an altercation with 8.1 seconds remaining in regulation."
Mar 3rd - Gabriel Landeskog fined $5,000 for throwing a punch at Mikko Koivu from the bench.

Rumors

Multiple rumors of interest in Tyler Myers
Perennial rumors of interest in Keith Yandle
Multiple rumors of interest in pending UFA Antoinne Vermette
One rumor of interest in Cam Atkinson
Adrian Dater said the Avs were "highly interested in (Zach) Bogosian" after he was traded to Buffalo.

2015 NHL Draft

Picks

1st Round (#10) - Mikko Rantanen - RW - Left - 6'4" 212 lbs - TPS (Finland)
2nd Round (#39) - A.J. Greer - LW - Left - 6'2" 205 lbs - Boston University (NCAA)
2nd Round (#40) - Nicolas Meloche - D - Right - 6'3" 205 lbs - Baie-Comeau (QMJHL)
3rd Round (#71) - Jean-Christophe Beaudin - C - Right - 6'1" 181 lbs - Rouyn-Noranda (QMJHL)
4th Round (#101) - Andrei Mironov - D - Left - 6'2" 194 lbs - Dynamo (KHL)
6th Round (#161) - Sergei Boikov - D - Left - 6'2" 195 lbs - Drummondville (QMJHL)
7th Round (#191) - Gustav Olhaver - C - Left - 6'6" 214 lbs - Rgle (SEL)

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1916467
http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showthread.php?t=1917511

Notable Prospects (at the time) Left Onboard

1st - Mikko Rantanen (10) over Lawson Crouse (11), Mathew Barzal (16), and Kyle Conner (17).
2nd - AJ Greer (39) and Nicolas Meloche (40) over Jeremy Roy (31 - Avs traded pick), Daniel Sprong (46) , Jansen Harkins (47), Rasmus Andersson (53), and Oliver Kylington (60).
3rd - Jean-Christophe Beaudin (71) over Alexander Dergachyov (74).

Picks Traded

Traded 2015 2nd (#31) to SJ for their 2015 2nd (#39) and the Avs original 2016 2nd and 2017 6th previously dealt in Brad Stuart trade.

2015 Offseason

Organizational Structure

AHL affiliate moves from Lake Erie Monsters to San Antonio Rampage.
Former Columbus assistant GM Chris MacFarland hired as Avs assistant GM. Will be Sakic's "right hand man" and focus on pro scouting.
Andre Tourigny leaves position as assistant coach.
Mario Duhamel leaves position as video coach.
Hires Dave Farrish as Assistant Coach.
Hires Brett Heimlich as Video Coach.
Brett Clark added as Development Consultant.
Brian Willsie added as Development Consultant.
Adam Foote's official title changed from Defensive Development Consultant to Development Consultant.

RFA, Pending UFA, and Prospect Signings

June 26th - Signs newly acquired pending UFA Carl Soderberg to a five year deal with a $4.75 M cap hit. Includes full no trade clause in first two years, and limited no trade in the final three years of the deal. (Day of Draft)
July 13th - Signs 1st round pick Mikko Rantanen to a three year ELC. Two way with a $925k NHL salary and $1,658,333 AAV after bonuses.
July 16th - Signs newly acquired RFA Mikhail Grigorenko to a one year, one-way $675k deal.
July 16th - Signs RFA Andrew Agozzino (who had filed for arbitration) to a one year, two-way $600k deal. $150k in the AHL.
July 16th - Signs RFA Mat Clark (who had filed for arbitration) to a two year, two-way $600k deal. $125k/$175k in the AHL.
July 27th - Signs RFA Joey Hishon to a one year, two way $890k deal. $70k in the AHL.
Aug 6th - Signs RFA Calvin Pickard to his QO. One year, two way $850k deal.
Sep 22nd - Signs UFA to be (next summer) Eric Johnson to a seven year deal with a $6M AAV.

UFA Signings

May 15th - Signs Andreas Martinsen from the German Liga to a one year ELC at $742,500. Will be RFA after.
July 1st - Signs Francois Beauchemin to a three year deal with a $4.5M AAV. Includes no move clause.
July 1st - Signs Blake Comeau to a three year deal with a $2.4M AAV.
Oct 6th - Signs Jack Skille (previously on PTO) to a two way deal. One year $675k with $250k guaranteed salary.

Trades

June 25th - Trades 2016 6th round pick (previously acquired from Boston in Talbot trade) back to Boston for pending UFA Carl Soderberg. (Day prior to Draft)
June 27th (Draft) - Trades Ryan O'Reilly and Jamie McGinn (both UFA's in one year) to Buffalo for Nikita Zadorov, Mikhail Grigorenko, JT Compher and Buffalo's 2nd round pick (31st overall) in 2015.
Sep 9th - Trades unsigned RFA Stefan Elliott to Arizona for Brandon Gormley. Both players are waiver eligible entering the season.
Oct 4th - Trades Freddie Hamilton to Calgary for a conditional 7th round pick in 2016.

Tryouts

Signs Jack Skille to PTO (signed)
Signs Andrei Meszaros to PTO (released)
Signs Curtis Glencross to PTO (released)

Rumors

Agent for Alex Radulov says Patrick Roy contacted Alex about coming to the Avs.
Rumors of Sakic and Roy talking to Radulov and investigating his KHL contract.
Alex Radulov says he would like to return to NHL in one year after his KHL contract expires.
Radulov admits he spoke with Patrick Roy on the phone.
Ryan O'Reilly rumored to have asked for $8M x 8 year contract prior to being traded.
Rumored UFA interest in D men Andrei Sekera, Johnny Oduya, and Cody Franson.
Sekera confirmed he considered offers from Avs and Sharks.

UFA Departures

Jordan Caron - Rights not qualified.
Jan Hejda - PTO with Chicago (not picked up)
Daniel Briere - Retired
Ryan Wilson - Signs with Ak Bars Kazan of KHL

Additional Notes

2015-16 Season

Transactions

Nov 15th - Claims center Chris Wagner off waivers from Anaheim.
Jan 5th - Claims defenseman Andrew Bodnarchuk off waivers from Columbus. (Puts them at 50 contracts limit)
Jan 7th - Waives defenseman Brandon Gormley (clears)
Jan 13th - Waives defenseman Nate Guenin (clears)
Feb 21st - Trades Colin Smith and 2016 4th round pick to Toronto for pending UFA Shawn Matthias
Feb 24th - Waives center Chris Wagner (re-calimed by Anaheim)
Feb 28th - Waives goaltender Reto Berra
Feb 29th - Trades pending UFA Alex Tanguay, and prospects Conner Bleackley and Kyle Wood to Arizona for pending UFA Mikael Boedker
Feb 29th - Trades 2017 3rd round pick to New Jersey for Eric Gelinas
Feb 29th - Trades Marc Andre Cliche to New York Islanders for Taylor Beck

RFA, Pending UFA, and Prospect Signings

Mar 8th - Signs prospect Julien Nantel to three year ELC.

Suspensions and Fines

Oct 16th - Tyson Barrie suspended three games for hit on Simon Despres
http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=849437&catid=60
Nov 12th - Gabe Landeskog suspended two games for hit on Brad Marchand
http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=873151&catid=60
Mar 10th - Gabe Landeskog suspended three games for hit on Simon Despres

Rumors

Adrian Dater reports Duchene and Varlamov could be in play.

Adrian Dater on Twitter
Adrian Dater on Twitter
Sakic tells Dater he's always listening and looking to make deals, when asked if anyone is an untouchable besides MacKinnon
Are Big Changes on the Horizon for the Colorado Avalanche?
Darren Dreger reports Avs and Sens talked about Duchene
Dreger Report: More on Duchene trade rumours - Article - TSN
Bob McKenzie, Pierre Lebrun, and Darren Dregor weigh in on Duchene rumors
NHL Videos - Highlights and Analysis from the National Hockey League
Adrian Dater reports trade talks on John Mitchell, and he could be moved at the deadline.
Adrian Dater on Twitter
After deadline deals, Sakic says they weren't planning on signing Bleackley or Wood
Joe Sakic - Feb. 29

2016 NHL Draft

Picks

1st Round (#10) - Tyson Jost - C - Left - 5'11" 190 lbs - Penticton Vees (BCHL)
2nd Round (#40)- Cameron Morrison - LW - Left - 6'2" 209 lbs - Youngstown Phantoms (USHL)
3rd Round (#71) - Josh Anderson - D - Left - 6'2" 228 lbs - Prince George Cougars (WHL)
5th Round (#131) - Adam Werner - G - Left - 6'5" 198 lbs - Farejestad (SEL Jr.)
6th Round (#161) - Nathan Clurman - D - Right - 6'2" 190 lbs - Culver Military Academy Prep (USHS)
7th Round (#191) - Travis Barron - LW - Left - 6'1" 195 lbs - Ottawa 67's (OHL)

Notable Prospects (at the time) Left Onboard

1st - Tyson Jost C (#10) over Logan Brown C (#11) Michael McLeod C (#12) Jake Bean D (#13) Charles McAvoy D (#14) Jakob Chychrun D (#16)
2nd - Cameron Morrison F (#40) over Nathan Bastian RW ((#41) Janne Kuokkanen F (#43) Chad Krys D ((#45) Kale Clague (D) (#51) Markus Niemelainen D (#63)
3rd - Josh Anderson D (#71) over Frederic Allard D (#78) Luke Green D (#79) Sean Day D (#81)

Picks Traded

None

Additional Notes

Alan Hepple says they had two guys targeted in the second round, but one of them went two spots ahead (Adam Mascherin)
Post-Draft: Alan Hepple

2016 Offseason

Organizational Structure

Fires Dean Chynoweth as Head Coach of San Antonio in the AHL
Parts ways with VP Greg Sherman
Parts ways with Amateur Scout Rick Lanz
Hires Amateur Scout John Funk
Hires Amateur Scout Lyle Wingert
Hires European Pro Scout Miro Zalesak (KHL, Sweden, Finland and Czech Republic)
Hires ric Veilleux from the QMJHL as Head Coach of San Antonio in the AHL
Hires Nolan Pratt as Assistant Coach in Colorado
Hires Wade Klippenstein as Amateur Scout. Previously Head Scout with Brandon in WHL.
Patrick Roy parts ways with Avalanche as Head Coach and VP of Hockey Ops.
Hires Jared Bednar as Avalanche Head Coach. Previously with Lake Erie in AHL.
Hires Arik Parnass as Full Time "Hockey Analyst."

RFA, Pending UFA, and Prospect Signings

Apr 25th - Signs prospect JT Compher (had one year remaining in college) to a three year ELC. $925k base salary and $1M AAV after performance bonuses.
May 24th - Signs prospect Anton Lindholm to a three year ELC. $717,500 base cap hit, and $925k AAV after performance bonuses.
May 27th - Signs prospect Sergei Boikov to a three year ELC. $681,667 AAV and cap hit. No performance bonuses.
Jun 24th - Re-signs RFA Andreas Martinsen to a one year, one way $640k deal.
Jul 1st - Signs prospect A.J. Greer to a three year, two way ELC. $92,500 signing bonus each year, no performance bonuses. $925k AAV and cap hit.
Jul 5th - Signs RFA Calvin Pickard to a two year, one way deal. $925k the first year, and $1.075M the second. $1.0M AAV and cap hit.
Jul 8th - Signs RFA Nathan MacKinnon to a seven year deal. Modified NTC (19 teams) starting 2020-21. $6.3M AAV and cap hit.
Jul 15th - Signs RFA Duncan Siemens to his Qualifying Offer. One year, two way deal. $70k in AHL. $874,125 in NHL.
Jul 20th - Signs RFA Mikhail Grigorenko to a one year, one way deal. $1.3M salary and cap hit. (Two days prior to arbitration)
Jul 31st - Signs RFA Tyson Barrie to a four year deal. $5.5M AAV and cap hit. (Following arbitration hearing and just after 48 hour ruling deadline passed)

UFA Signings - One Way

Jul 1st - Signs Patrick Wiercioch to a one year, one way $800k deal.
Jul 1st - Signs Joe Colborne to a two year deal. One way with a $2.5M AAV.
Jul 1st - Signs Fedor Tyutin to a one year, one way $2M deal.
Oct 10th - Signs Gabriel Bourque to a one year, two way deal. $800k in NHL, and $200k in AHL, with $800k AAV.
Oct 10th - Signs Rene Bourque to a one year deal. One way deal with a $650k AAV.

UFA Signings - Two Way

Jul 1st - Signs Reid Petryk to a two-year deal. $925k AAV and salary in NHL w/$92,500 signing bonus each year. $70k AHL each year.
Jul 1st - Signs Trent Vogelhuber to a two-year deal. $612.5k NHL AAV. $575k/$125k year 1 and $650k/$150k year 2 in NHL/AHL.
Jul 1st - Signs Joe Whitney to a one-year deal. $600k NHL and $325k AHL.
Jul 1st - Signs Mike Sislo to a one-year deal. $600k NHL and $300k AHL.
Jul 1st - Signs Ryan Stanton to a one-year deal. $575k NHL and $250k AHL.
Jul 1st - Signs Jeremy Smith to a one-year deal. $600k NHL and $200k AHL.
Jul 1st - Signs Jim O'Brien to a one-year deal. $600k NHL and $285k AHL.
Jul 1st - Signs Turner Elson to a one-year deal. $575k NHL and $100k AHL.
Aug 16th - Signs Ben Smith to a one-year deal. $675k NHL and $150k AHL.

Trades

June 23rd - Trades Reto Berro to Florida for Rocco Grimaldi. (Day prior to Draft)
June 25th - Trades Nick Holden to NYR for their 2017 4th round pick. (Second day of Draft)

Buyouts

Jun 27th - Brad Stuart - Has one year remaining on contract. Since he was 35+ when he signed his contract, his buyout cap hit will be the full $3.6M, but only be for the duration of his deal, instead of 2/3 the remaining salary spread out 2x the length.

Tryouts

Invites 19 year old Shawn Ouellette-St-Amant from Val-d'Or in the QMJHL (After being passed over in draft)
Invites 19 year old Jeffrey Truchon-Viel from Acadie-Bathurst in the QMJHL (After being passed over in draft)
Invites 20 year old goalie Chase Marchand from Rouyn-Noranda in the QMJHL (After being passed over in draft)
Invites 18 year old (soon to be 19) Brogan O'Brien from Prince George of the WHL.
Invites 21 year old Jackson Houck from Calgary of the WHL.
Invites 20 year old Filip Karlsson from Rogle of the SHL.
Invites 18 year old Griffin Luce from the USHL/USDP.
Invites Rene Bourque with PTO.
Invites Gabriel Bourque with PTO.
Invites Jiri Tlusty with PTO. (Did not pass physical)

Rumors

Adrian Dater, Darren Dreger, and Bob McKenzie all think the Avs will trade Tyson Barrie
Rumors of the Avs inquiring about Jacob Trouba
Bob McKenzie says the Avalanche inquired about PK Subban
Bob McKenzie on Twitter

UFA Departures

Mikkel Boedker - Signs with San Jose - 4 years at $4M per.
Shawn Matthias - Signs with Winnipeg - 2 years at $2.125M per.
Zach Redmond - Signed with Montreal - 2 years at $612.5k per.
Dennis Everberg - Signs with Vxj Lakers HC of the SHL (didn't want to re-sign)
Borna Rendulic - Signs with Vancouver (didn't want to re-sign)
Ben Street - Signs with Detroit.
Maxim Noreau - Signs with SC Bern of the Swiss League
Brandon Gormley - Signs with New Jersey - 1 year, two way $650k deal. (Rights not qualified)
Gabriel Beaupre - Rights not qualified. Signs ECHL deal with Ft Wayne.
Trevor Cheek - Rights not qualified. Signs ECHL deal with Ft Wayne.
Garret Meurs - Rights not qualified. Signs ECHL deal with Wheeling.
Roman Will - Rights not qualified. Signs with Bili Tygri Liberec in the Czech league.

Additional Notes

Tyson Barrie and Mikhail Grigorenko file for Salary Arbitration
Bednar says Pratt will run the D and PK, while Farrish will be in more of a support role.
Prior to Arik Parnass, Avs only used analytics guys part time.
Waives Duncan Siemens (clears) at the end of pre-season.

2016-17 Season

Trades

Nov 28th - Trades Ryan Stanton to Columbus for Cody Goloubef.
Jan 13th - Trades Cody McLeod (40% retained) to Nashville for Felix Girard.
Mar 1st - Trades Joe Whitney to Arizona for Brendan Ranford.
Mar 1st - Trades Cody Corbett to Washington for Joe Cannata.
Mar 1st - Trades Jarome Iginla to LA for a Conditional 4th round pick in 2018. Conditional upon LA making the playoffs AND re-signing Iginla.
Mar 1st - Trades Andreas Martinsen to Montreal for Sven Andrighetto.

RFA, Pending UFA, and Prospect Signings

Mar 6th - Signs JC Beaudin to a three three year ELC with a $683k cap hit. $245k signing bonus.
Mar 6th - Sign Nicholas Meloche to a three year ELC with a $761k cap hit. $277k signing bonus.

Waivers (notable)

Oct 10th - Waives Gabriel Bourque after signing him to two way deal (clears)
Oct 23rd - Waives Ben Smith (claimed by TOR)
Nov 4th - Waives John Mitchell (clears)
Dec 1st - Waives Eric Gelinas (clears)
Jan 5th - Claims Matt Nieto from San Jose
Feb 2nd - Claims Mark Barberio from Montreal
Feb 2nd - Waives Eric Gelinas a 2nd time (clears)

Suspensions and Fines

None

Rumors

2017 NHL Draft

Picks

1st Round (#4) - Cale Makar - D - Right - 5' 11.25" 187 lbs - Brooks Bandits (AJHL)
2nd Round (#32) - Conor Timmins - D - Right - 6' 1.5" 184 lbs - Sault Ste. Marie (OHL)
4th Round (#94) - Nick Henry - RW - Right - 5'11" 190 lbs - Regina (WHL)
4th Round (#114) - Peter Kvaca - G - Left - 6'1" 174 lbs - Ã„Œesk BudÃ„›jovice (Czech2)
5th Round (#125) - Igor Shvyryov - C - Left - 6'0" 205 lbs - Metallurg (KHL)
6th Round (#156) - Dennis Smirnov - LW - Left - 5'10" 185 lbs - Penn State (NCAA)
7th Round (#187) - Nicky Leivermann - D - Left - 5'10" 194 lbs - Eden Prairie (USHS)

Notable Prospects (at the time) Left Onboard

1st Round - Elias Petterson (#5) Cody Glass (#6) Casey Mittelstadt (#8) Owen Tippett (#10) Gave Vilardi (#11) Martin Necas (#12) Nick Suzuki (#13)
2nd Round - Kole Lind (#33) Nic Hague (#34) Issac Ratcliffe (#35) Jason Robertson (#39)
3rd Round - Michael DiPietro (#64) went one pick after Avs 3rd rounder that went to NJ in Gelinas trade.

Picks Traded

None

Additional Notes

Alan Hepple on Heiskanen. "Offensive has been one of the discussions this week, does he have offense, and things like that, so that's been a bit of a discussion."
Scouting Report: Heiskanen
Alan Hepple compares Heiskanan vs Makar. "They're a bit of different player, came from different backgrounds a little bit. Cale Makar played Alberta junior level this year and Heiskanen played with the men, pro. He didn't get the points, he didn't get the offensive numbers that we thought he would but very good skater, very good puck mover. Cale Makar, probably a little lesser league but again great skater, put up great numbers and a very good puck mover."
http://avalanche.nhl.com/v2/ext/podcasts/2017-18/170619-alan-hepple-pre-draft-conference-call.mp3
Alan Hepple implies they may not take Jake Oettenger who's slotted to go in the late 1st to early 2nd when he says "we're always looking for goalies as far as when do you take them, are they in the right spot. European goalies seem to be the big thing now because you get a little more development time. If there's one there, if there's one available at the right time, just like last year like we did with Adam Werner (5th rd) right time in the draft, then we'll do it.
http://avalanche.nhl.com/v2/ext/podcasts/2017-18/170619-alan-hepple-pre-draft-conference-call.mp3
Adrian Dater says, "Talking more with hockey people tonight: Avs are praying Makar is available at No. 4."
https://twitter.com/adater/status/876977491977568256?ref_src=twsrc^tfw&ref_url=http://bsndenver.com/are-the-avs-zeroing-in-on-cale-makar/
Bob McKenzie reports that one team had Cale Makar 1st overall in his rankings.
Alan Hepple in talking about how they took the best player available with all their pics, that "we feel we got the best player in the draft at four."
Alan Hepple - June 26
Alan Hepple says "we really liked the Joseph kid that got picked. We were maybe thinking him at 32..." Referring to defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph who went 23rd.
Alan Hepple - June 26

2017 Offseason

Organizational Structure

May 23rd - Parts ways with Tim Army
May 23rd - Parts ways with Dave Farrish
May 23rd - Parts ways with Francois Allaire
July 7th - Hires goaltending coach Jussi Parkkila
July 7th - Hires assistant coach Ray Bennett
Aug 11th - Adam Foote leaves organization.
Oct 10 - Announces partnership with new AHL team, Colorado Eagles in Loveland, Colorado.
Oct 17 - Hires Dawson Sprigings as Hockey Analyst
Offseason - Adds Mike Battaglia as Pro Scout
Offseason - Adds Tracy Tutton as Skating Coach

RFA, Pending UFA, and Prospect Signings

May 12th - Signs prospect Andrei Mironov to a 2 year ELC. Two way with a $70k AHL salary, and $925k cap hit.
Jun 28th - Signs RFA Sven Andrighetto to a 2 year deal. One way with $1.25M first year, and $1.55M the second. $1.4M AAV.
Jul 1st - Re-signs Joe Cannata to a 1 year deal. Two way with $150k in AHL. $575k in NHL.
Jul 18th - Re-signs Duncan Siemens to a 1 year deal. Two way with $100k in AHL. $750k in NHL.
Jul 18th - Re-signs Gabriel Bourque to a 1 year deal. Two way with $225k in AHL. $750k in NHL.
Jul 18th - Re-signs Felix Girard to a 1 year deal. Two way with $80 in AHL. $650k in NHL.
Jul 25 - Re-signs Matt Nieto to a 1 year deal. One way. $1M in NHL.
Jul 25 - Re-signs Rocco Grimaldi to a 1 year deal. Two way with $170k in AHL. $750k in NHL.
Sep 15 - Re-signs Nikita Zadorov to a 2 year deal. One way with $2M first year, and $2.3M the second. $2.15M AAV.

UFA Signings - One Way

Jul 1st - Signs Jonathan Bernier to a 1 year deal at $2.75M.
Jul 4th - Signs Nail Yakupov to a 1 year deal at $875k.

UFA Signings - Two Way

Jul 1st - Signs Andrew Agozzino to a 2 year deal. Two way with $300k in AHL. $650k in NHL. $650k AAV
Jul 1st - Signs David Warsofsky to a 2 year deal. One way $650k in first year. Two way with $350k in AHL second year, $700k in NHL. $675k AAV.
Jul 25 - Signs Jesse Graham to a 1 year deal. Two way with $70k in AHL. $650k in NHL.
Aug 16 - Signs unsigned prospect (TOR) Dominic Toninato to a two year ELC. Two way with $70k in AHL. $925k NHL AAV.
Aug 23 - Signs unsigned prospect Alex Kerfoot to a two year ELC. Two way with $70k in AHL. $925k NHL AAV.
Oct 2 - Signs camp tryout Ty Lewis to a three year ELC.

Trades

Jul 1st - Trades 4th round pick in 2019 to Nashville for Colin Wilson.

Waivers

Sep 29 - Waives Duncan Siemens (clears)
Oct 3 - Claims Patrick Nemeth from Dallas
Oct 4 - Waives Joe Colborne (clears)

Buyouts

Jun 15th - Francois Beauchemin - Allows Avs to protect 7F 3D in expansion draft instead of 8 skaters option. Has one year remaining on contract. Since he was 35+ when he signed his contract, his buyout cap hit will be the full $4.5M, but only be for the duration of his deal, instead of 2/3 the remaining salary spread out 2x the length.

Tryouts

D - Jared Cowen (Released)
D - Gage Ausmus
D - Nolan De Jong
D - Tom Gregoire
C - Hugo Roy
LW - Ty Lewis

UFA Departures

Francois Beauchemin - Buyout - Signed 1 year deal with Anaheim. $1M AAV.
Rene Bourque - Left as UFA - Signs with Djurgarden of SHL
Fedor Tyutin - Left as UFA
John Mitchell - Left as UFA - Signed with Cleveland of AHL
Cody Goloubef - Left as UFA
Jeremy Smith - Left as UFA - Signed 1 year deal with Carolina. Two way with $225k in AHL. $750k in NHL.
Mikhail Grigorenko - Rights not qualified - Signed 3 year deal with CSKA Moscow of KHL.
Patrick Wiercioch - Rights not qualified - Signed 1 year deal with Vancouver. One way $800k.
Eric Gelinas - Rights not qualified - Signs PTO with Montreal
Troy Bourke - Rights not qualified - Signs with Syracuse of AHL
Turner Elson - Rights not qualified - Signed 1 year deal with Detroit. Two way with $130k in AHL, $575k in NHL
Mat Clark - Left as UFA - Signed with HC Bolzano (Italy) of the Austrian Hockey League (EBEL)
Jim O'Brien - Left as UFA - Signed with Belleville of AHL
Mike Sislo - Left as UFA - Signed 1 year deal with Arizona. Two way with $300k in AHL, $600k in NHL
Samuel Henley - Rights not qualified

Rumors

Michael Russo reports Dwayne Roloson met with Joe Sakic about goaltending coach position.
Elliotte Friedman reports the Avs received permission to speak with Kyle Dubas.
BSN reports Warren Rychel "had discussions with the Avs about joining the front office in an undetermined role."
Arthur Staple reports the Islanders offered Travis Hamonic and the Isles 2018 1st rounder for Matt Duchene, but the Avs turned it down.
Islanders trade Hamonic to Calgary for future picks
Adrian Dater says, "I'm hearing the Hamonic-1st for Duchene rumor is NOT true."
Adrian Dater on Twitter

2017-18 Season

Trades

Nov 5 - Trades Matt Duchene to Ottawa for Samuel Girard, Shane Bowers, Vladislav Kamenev, Andrew Hammond, Ottawa's top 10 protected 1st round pick in 2018, Ottawa's 3rd round pick in 2019, and Nashville's 2nd round pick in 2018.
Feb 26 - Trades Chris Bigras (eligible for waivers next year) to New York for Ryan Graves

RFA, Pending UFA, and Prospect Signings

Mar 29 - Signs prospect Josh Anderson to a 3 year ELC. $816,666 AAV in NHL, $70k salary in AHL.
Mar 29 - Signs prospect Travis Barron to a 3 year ELC. $741,666 AAV in NHL, $70k salary in AHL.
April 5 - Signs undrafted prospect Josh Dickinson to a 3 year ELC. $741,666 AAV in NHL, $70k salary in AHL.

Waivers (notable)

Feb 26 - Claims pending UFA Mark Alt from Philadelphia

Suspensions and Fines

Nov 27 - Gabe Landeskog suspended 4 games for cross check to head of Matt Tkachuk - Landeskog suspended four games
Dec 17 - Erik Johnson suspended 2 games for boarding.

Rumors

2018 NHL Draft

Picks

1st Round (#16) - Martin Kaut - RW - Right - 6'2" 187 lbs - HC Pardubice (Czech)
3rd Round (#64) - Justus Annunen - G - Left - 6'4" 216 lbs - Karpat (Fin)
3rd Round (#78) - Sampo Ranta - LW - Left - 6'2 198 lbs - Sioux City (USHL)
4th Round (#109) - Tyler Weiss - LW/C - Left - 5'11" 150 lbs - U.S. National U18 Team
5th Round (#140) - Brandon Saigeon - C - Left - 6'2" 194 lbs - Hamilton (OHL)
5th Round (#146) - Danila Zhuravlyov - D - Left - 6'0" 163 lbs - Irbis Kazan (MHL)
6th Round (#171) - Nikolai Kovalenko - RW - Left - 5'10" 174 lbs - Loko Yaroslavl (MHL)
7th Round (#202) - Shamil Shmakov - G - Left - 6'6" 192 lbs - Sibirskie Snaipery Novosibirsk (MHL)

Notable Prospects (at the time) Left Onboard

Ty Smith (#17) Ryan Merkley (#21) Dominic Bokk (#25) Joe Veleno (#30) Bode Wilde (#41)

Picks Traded

Jun 22 - Trades 2018 2nd round pick (#47) to Washington for Philipp Grubauer and Brooks Orpik.
Jun 23 - Trades Nashville's 2nd round pick acquired in Duchene trade (#58) to Pittsburgh for Ottawa's 3rd round pick (#64) (Justus Annunen) and Pittsburgh's 5th round pick (#146) (Danila Zhuravlyov).

2018 Offseason

Organizational Structure

June 25 - Announces ECHL partnership with Utah Grizzlies.
July 12 - Names Greg Cronin head coach of AHL Colorado Eagles.
July 12 - Names former ECHL Eagles head coach Aaron Schneekloth, assistant coach of AHL Eagles.
July 12 - Names former ECHL Eagles assistant coach Ryan Tobler, assistant coach of AHL Eagles.
Parts ways with part time Swedish amateur scout Anders Carlsson
Parts ways with Swedish amateur scout Anton Edlund
Adds Alexei Gusarov as amateur scout
Adds Henrik Gradin as amateur scout
Adds Shawn Allard as skills/development coach
David Oliver leaves as Dir of Player Development to be Assistant Coach for NYR

RFA, Pending UFA, and Prospect Signings

May 10 - Re-signs pending UFA Mark Alt to a two year deal. $650k in NHL and $125k in the AHL.
May 15 - Re-signs pending UFA Mark Barberio to a two year deal. One way with a $1.45M AAV.
July 06 - Re-signs RFA Matt Nieto to a two year deal. One way with a $1.975M AAV.

July 13 - Re-signs RFA Mason Geertsen to a one year, two way deal. $650k in NHL, $85k in AHL.
July 16 - Re-signs RFA Ryan Graves to a one year, two way deal. $650k in NHL, $85k in AHL.
July 16 - Re-signs RFA Spencer Martin to a one year, two way deal. $650k in NHL, $85k in AHL.
Aug 02 - Re-signs RFA Patrik Nemeth to a one year deal. One way with a $2.5M AAV.

UFA Signings - One Way

May 2 - Signs goaltender Pavel Francouz out of Traktor Chelyabinsk of the KHL to a one year $690k deal.
July 1st - Signs Matt Calvert to a three year deal. $2.8M AAV.
July 1st - Signs Ian Cole to a three year deal. $4.25M AAV

UFA Signings - Two Way

July 2nd - Signs Joe Cannata to a one year deal. $665k in the NHL, and $80k in AHL, with a $15k signing bonus.
July 2nd - Signs Scott Kosmachuk to a one year deal. $650k in NHL, and $250k in AHL.
July 2nd - Signs Sheldon Dries to a one year deal. $925k in NHL, $70k in NHL, with a $92.5k signing bonus.
July 23 - Signs Logan O'Connor to a two year ELC. $925k AAV in NHL, $70k in NHL, with a $92.5k signing bonus.

Trades

Jun 22 - Trades 2018 2nd round pick (#47) to Washington for Philipp Grubauer and Brooks Orpik.

Arbitration

Matt Nieto files for arbitration (re-signed prior)
Patrik Nemeth files for arbitration

Waivers

None

Buyouts

Buys out Brooks Orpik. Will have a $2.5M cap hit in 2018-19, and $1.5M in 2019-20.

Camp Tryouts

Alex Breton
Matthew Boucher
Robbie Holmes
Sean Strange
Cole Reinhardt

2018-19 Season

Trades

Feb 6 - Trades Prospect JC Beaudin to Ottawa for prospect Max McCormick.
Feb 25 - Trades 2020 3rd round pick for Derick Brassard and a conditional 2020 6th (if Brassard walks as UFA).

RFA, Pending UFA, and Prospect Signings

Apr 14 - Signs prospect Cale Makar to a three year ELC. $92,500 signing bonus. $25k bonus for 5 games played. $107,500 bonus for 10 games played. $787,500 bonus for Conn Smythe. $2,854,166 AAV.

Waivers (notable)

Oct 15 - Claims Marko Dano from Winnipeg

Suspensions and Fines

2019 NHL Draft

Picks

1st Round (#4) - Bowen Byram - D - Left - 6'1" 195 lbs - Vancouver (WHL)
1st Round (#16) - Alex Newhook - C - 5'10" 192 lbs - Victoria (BCHL)
2nd Round (#47) - Drew Helleson - D - 6'3" 194 lbs - USA (NTDP)
3rd Round (#63) - Matthew Stienburg - C - 6'1" 182 lbs - St. Andrews College (CAHS)
3rd Round (#78) - Alex Beaucage - RW - 6'2" 192 lbs - Rouyn-Norande (QMJHL)
5th Round (#140) - Sasha Mutala - RW - 6'0" 200 lbs - Tri-City (WHL)
6th Round (#171) - Luka Burzan - C/RW - 6'0" 184 lbs - Brandon (WHL)
7th Round (#202) - Trent Miner - G - 6'1" 187 lbs - Vancouver (WHL)

Info

Adrian Dater mentions that media eyewitnesses said, "Joe Sakic and Jim Benning, Vancouver GM, were talking on the draft floor last night. Then, Sakic tossed up his hands as if to suggest "we're done here" and they soon parted. Adrian Dater on Twitter
Alan Hepple mentions multiple times to the media that they got beat up the board a bit on draft day, having other teams take prospects they wanted. Also mentioned one or more was taken the pick before. Players taken the pick before the Avs were Cole Caufield (1st) Jayden Struble (2nd) Nikita Alexandrov (2nd) Gianni Fairbrother (3rd) Yegor Spiridonov (4th) Marcus Kallionkieli (5th) Arsen Khisamutdinov (6th) Rafael Harvey-Pinard (7th).

2019 Offseason

Organizational Structure

Nov 15 - Cody Bass hired as pro scout

RFA, Pending UFA, and Prospect Signings

May 02 - Signs draft pick Adam Werner to a 2 year deal. Two way deal with $70k in the AHL both years, $725k in the first NHL year, and $775k in the second. $92.5k signing bonus both years, $107.5k performance bonus first year, and $57.5k in the second. $925k AAV.
Jul 01 - Re-signs Colin Wilson to a 1 year deal with a $2.6M AAV
Jul 08 - Re-signs Ryan Graves to a 1 year deal. $735k in NHL and $350k in AHL. Avoids arbitration.
Jul 15 - Re-signs Andrei Burakovsky to his qualifying offer. One year at $3.25M.
Jul 17 - Re-signs JT Compher to a four year deal with a $3.5M AAV. Avoids arbitration.
Jul 25 - Re-signs Sheldon Dries to a 1 year deal. $735k in NHL and $395k in AHL. Avoids arbitration.
Jul 30 - Re-signs Vladislav Kamenev to a one year, one way deal with a $750k AAV.
Jul 31 - Re-signs Sam Girard to a seven year deal with a $5M AAV, a year away from RFA.
Aug 01 - Re-signs AJ Greer to a one year deal. $735k in the NHL and $90k in the AHL.
Sep 28 - Re-signs Mikko Rantanen to 6 year deal with a 9 team NTC in final two years. $9.25M AAV.

UFA Signings - One Way

Jul 01 - Signs Joonas Donskoi to a 4 year deal with a $3.9M AAV
Jul 01 - Signs Pierre Edouard Bellemare to a 2 year deal with a $1.8M AAV
Aug 19 - Signs Valeri Nichuskin to a one year $885k deal. Will be an RFA when deal expires.

UFA Signings - Two Way

Jul 2nd - Signs Daniel Renouf to a 2 year deal. $700k in NHL both years, $275k in first AHL year, and $350k in the second
Jul 2nd - Signs Jayson Megna to a 1 year deal. $700k in NHL and $350k in AHL
Jul 2nd - Signs TJ Tynan to a 1 year deal. $700k in NHL and $425k in AHL

Trades

Jun 25th - Trades Carl Soderberg to Arizona for Kevin Connauton and a 2020 3rd round pick
Jun 28th - Trades Avalanche 2020 2nd round pick, Arizona's 2020 3rd round pick, and Scott Kosmachuk to Washington for Andre Burakovsky
Jun 29th - Trades Dominic Toninato to Florida for Jacob MacDonald
Jul 1st - Trades Tyson Barrie, Alex Kerfoot, and 2020 6th round pick to Toronto for Nazem Kadri, Calle Rosen, and a 2020 3rd round pick. Avs retain 50% of Barrie's salary in 2019-20 ($2.75M)

Arbitration

J.T. Compher - Signs prior to arbitration to a 4 year deal with a $3.5M AAV
Ryan Graves - Signs prior to arbitration to a 1 year deal. $735k in NHL and $350k in AHL.
Sheldon Dries - Signs prior to arbitration to a 1 year deal. $735k in NHL and $395k in AHL.

Buyouts

None

UFA Departures

Semyon Varlamov - UFA - Signs 4 year deal with NYI. $5M AAV with $2M signing bonus. NTC first two years and modified NTC the last two.
Patrik Nemeth - UFA - Signs 2 year deal with Detroit. $3M AAV.
Gabriel Bourque - UFA
Derick Brassard - UFA
Andrew Agozzino - UFA - Signs 2 year deal with Pittsburgh. $700k in NHL and $400k in AHL both years.
David Warsofsky - UFA - Signs 2 year deal with Pittsburgh. $700k in NHL and $400k in AHL both years.
Max McCormick - UFA - Signs 1 year deal with Carolina. $700k in NHL and $100k in AHL.
Joe Cannata - UFA - Signs with IF Björklöven of Allsv in Sweeden.
Grayson Downing - UFA - Signs with Esbjerg Energy in Denmark.

Sven Andrighetto - RFA Not Qualified - Signs with Avangard Omsk of KHL
Spencer Martin - RFA Not Qualified - Signs 1 year deal with Tampa Bay. $700k in NHL and $100k in AHL
Mason Geertsen - RFA Not Qualified -
Julien Nantel - RFA Not Qualified - Signs 1 year deal with Colorado Eagles of AHL

2019-20 Season

Trades

Sep 27 - Trades Nicholas Meloche to San Jose for Antoine Bibeau
Feb 24 - Trades Calle Rosen back to Toronto for pending UFA Michael Hutchinson
Feb 24 - Trades 2021 4th round pick to Ottawa for pending UFA Vlad Namestnikov

RFA, Pending UFA, and Prospect Signings

Feb 10 - Signs free agent goalie Hunter Miska to a one year deal. $700k in NHL and $75k in AHL. Went unqualified by Arizona in off season.
Feb 21 - Re-signs Pavel Francouz to a two year deal with a $2M AAV
Mar 26 - Re-signs TJ Tynan to a one year deal. Two way with $800k in NHL and $500k in AHL
Mar 27 - Re-signs Jacob MacDonald to a two year deal. $725k AAV in NHL. $350k first year and $375k second year in AHL

Waivers (notable)

Suspensions and Fines

2020 NHL Draft

Picks

1st Round (#25) - Justin Barron - D - Right - 6'2" 198 lbs - Halifax (QMJHL)
3rd Round (#75) - Jean-Luc Foudy - C - Right - 6'0" 176 lbs - Windsor (OHL)
4th Round (#118) - Colby Ambrosio - C - Right - 5'9" 170 lbs - Tri-City (USHL)
5th Round (#139) - Ryder Rolston - RW - Right - 6'1" 174 lbs - Waterloo (USHL)
6th Round (#167) - Nils Åman - C - Left - 6'2" 179 lbs - Leksands (SHL)

Trades

Trades 5th (#149) and 7th (#211) round picks to Pittsburgh for their 5th (#139)

2020 Offseason

Organizational Structure

Adds David Wood as Hockey Analyst
Adds Mitch Sakic as Assistant Video Scout
Parts ways with Tracy Tutton as Skating Coach

RFA, Pending UFA, and Prospect Signings

Sep 18 - Re-signs Logan O'Connor to a two year deal. $700k in NHL and $200k in AHL the first year. $750k in NHL the second year. $725k AAV.
Oct 9 - Re-signs Sheldon Dries to a one year deal. $771,750 in the NHL and $395k in the AHL.
Oct 10 - Re-signs Jayson Megna to a one year deal. $700k in NHL and $360k in AHL.
Oct 10 - Re-signs Andre Burakovsky to a two year deal. $4.4M in year 1 and $5.4M in year 2. $4.9M AAV.
Oct 10 - Re-signs Valerie Nichuskin to a two year deal. Same salary in both years. $2.5M AAV.
Oct 12 - Re-signs Ryan Graves to a three year deal with a $3.16 AAV.
Oct 18 - Re-signs Tyson Jost to qualifying offer of one year at $874,125.
Oct 18 - Re-signs Hunter Miska to two way, two year deal. $700k+$750k in NHL and $100k+$120k in AHL. $725k AAV.
Oct 27 - Re-signs Devon Toews to a four year deal with a $4.1M AAV.
Oct 30 - Re-signs Kyle Burroughs to a one year deal. $150k in AHL and $700k in NHL.

UFA Signings - One Way

UFA Signings - Two Way

Oct 9 - Signs Mikko Salomaki to a one year deal. $700k in the NHL and $350k in the AHL.
Oct 9 - Signs Kiefer Sherwood to a one year deal. $750k in the NHL and $250k in the AHL.
Oct 9 - Signs Michael Vecchione to a one year deal. $700k in NHL and $290k in AHL.

Trades

Oct 10 - Trades Nikita Zadorov and Anton Lindholm to Chicago for Brandon Saad and Dennis Gilbert. Chicago retains $1M on Saad giving him one year left at $5M.
Oct 11 - Trades A.J. Greer to New York Islanders for Kyle Burroughs
Oct 12 - Trades two 2nd round picks (2021+2022) to New York Islanders for Devon Toews

UFA Departures

2020-21 Season

Trades

Jan 19 - Trades Ian Cole ($800k retained) to Minnesota for Greg Pateryn
Mar 20 - Trades 2021 6th round pick to Buffalo for Jonas Johansson
Apr 09 - Trades 2022 4th round pick to Detroit for Patrik Nemeth with 50% retained ($1.5M)
Apr 10 - Trades 2021 5th round pick to San Jose for Devyn Dubnyk
Apr 12 - Trades Josh Dickinson and Ryder Rolston to Chicago for Carl Soderberg

UFA, RFA, Pending UFA, and Prospect Signings

Jan 21 - Signs Peyton Jones to two way deal. $700k in NHL and $65k in AHL
Mar 30 - Signs Liam O'Brien who had been with the Colorado Eagles to a one year, two way deal. $700k in NHL and $160k in AHL.
Mar 30 - Sings Keaton Middleton who had been with the Colorado Eagles to a two year, two way deal. $70k in AHL. $700k in first year and $750k in second year in the NHL, with a $35k signing bonus the second year. $742,500 AAV.
Mar 31 - Signs Alex Newhook to three year ELC. $70k in AHL each year. NHL base salary is $782,500/$832,500/$832,500. Signing bonus is $92,500 in each year. $50k games played bonus in year 1. Performance bonus is $850k in years 2 and 3. Player is limited to $1.3M max in player A performance bonus over course of contract. $1,491,667 AAV.
Apr 03 - Sings Sampo Ranta to a three year ELC. $70k in AHL. $925k in NHL including a $92,500 signing bonus each year.
Apr 05 - Signs Nate Clurman to a two year ELC. $70k in AHL. $842,500 including $85,500 signing bonus each year in the NHL.
April 27 - Signs Justin Barron to a 3 year ELC. $212.5k in performance bonus and $92.5k signing bonus each year. $80k in AHL. $1,158,333 AAV in NHL
May 26 - Signs Alex Beaucage to a 3 year ELC. $70k in AHL. $82.5k/$57.5k/$0 in performance bonus and $92.5k in signing bonus each year. $925k AAV in NHL.
May 27 - Signs Trent Miner to a 3 year ELC. $70k in AHL. $70k in signing bonus each year. $828,333 AAV in NHL.
Jun 3 - Signs Andreas Wingerli out of the Sweden to a one year ELC with a $925k AAV.

Waivers (notable)

Suspensions and Fines

2021 NHL Draft

Picks

1st Round (#28) - Oskar Olausson - W - Left - 6'2" 181 lbs - HV71 (Sweden)
2nd Round (#61) - Sean Behrens - D - Left - 5'10" 176 lbs - USDP
3rd Round (#92) - Andrei Buyalsky - C - Left - 6'3" 174 lbs - Kazakhstan/USHL
7th Round (#220) - Taylor Makar - C/LW - Left - 6'3" 190 lbs - Brooks (AJHL)

2021 Off Season

Organizational Structure

May 27 - Parts ways with Director of Amateur Scouting Alan Hepple
May 27 - Promotes scout Wade Klippenstein to Director of Amateur Scouting
Jul 15 - Hires former Director of Scouting for Edmonton and Swift Current in the WHL Jamie Porter as amateur scout.
Jul 15 - Hires former Erie Director of Scouting, Scott Halpenny as amateur scout (OHL)
Aug 08 - Hires Joakim Eriksson as amateur scout

RFA, Pending UFA, and Prospect Signings

Jun 30 - Re-signs Jonas Johansson to a one year two way deal. $750k in NHL and $300k in AHL.
July 22 - Re-signs Kiefer Sherwood to a one year two way deal. $750k in NHL and $335k in AHL.
July 24 - Re-signs Cale Makar to a six year deal with a $9M AAV.
July 30 - Re-signs Tyson Jost to a two year deal with a $2M AAV
Aug 6 - Signs recent first round pick Oskar Olausson to a three year ELC with a $92,500 signing bonus. $925k AAV.
Aug 16 - Avoids arbitration and re-signs Dennis Gilbert to a one year, two way deal. $160k in AHL. $750k in NHL.

UFA Signings - One Way

July 29 - Signs Darren Helm to a one year deal with a $1M AAV
Aug 02 - Signs Ryan Murray to a one year deal with a $2M AAV

UFA Signings - Two Way

July 28 - Signs Roland McKeown to a one year, two way deal. $200k in AHL and $750k in NHL
July 29 - Signs Dylan Sikura to a one year, two way deal. $450k in AHL and $800k in NHL
July 29 - Signs Stefan Mateau to a one year, two way deal. $225k in AHL and $750k in NHL
July 31 - Signs Jordan Gross to a one year, two way deal. $200k in AHL and $750k in NHL

Trades

July 27 - Trades 2023 4th round pick to Seattle for Kurtis MacDermid
July 28 - Trades 2022 1st round pick (unprotected) 2024 3rd round pick (conditional upon Avs winning Stanley Cup and Kuemper playing 50% of playoffs games) and Conor Timmins to Arizona for Darcy Kuemper.

UFA Departures

Philip Grubauer signs with Seattle for $5.9M x 6

2021-22 Season

Trades

Mar 14 - Trades Drew Helleson and 2023 2nd round pick to Anaheim for Josh Manson with 50% retained ($2.05M)
Mar 15 - Trades Tyson Jost to Minnesota for Nico Sturm
Mar 21 - Trades Justin Barron and 2024 2nd to Montreal for Artturi Lehkonen
Mar 21 - Trades 2024 5th round pick to San Jose for Andrew Cogliano

UFA, RFA, Pending UFA, and Prospect Signings

Dec 17 - Signs Cal Burke who had been with the Colorado Eagles in the AHL to one year, two way deal. $750k in NHL and $75k in AHL with a $75k signing bonus. $861,940 AAV/cap hit because the deal was signed after the start of the season.
Mar 12 - Re-signs pending UFA Pavel Francouz to a 2 year deal with a $2M AAV
Apr 05 - Re-signs pending UFA Kurtis MacDermid to a 2 year deal with a $987,500 AAV
Apr 12 - Signs NCAA UFA prospect Wyatt Aamodt to a 1 year deal. RFA at end of deal. $80k in AHL with $92.5k signing bonus. $832,500 in NHL
Apr 13 - Signs NCAA UFA prospect Ben Meyers to a 2 year deal. RFA at end of deal. $80k in AHL with $92.5k signing bonus. Performance bonus $25k in first year $212,500 in second. $1,031,250 AAV in NHL.
May 02 - Signs prospect Danila Zhuravlyov to ELC
Jun 14 - Signs UFA Lukas Sedlak to a one year, two way deal. $800k in NHL. $500k in AHL.

Waivers (notable)

Nov 13 - Claims Nicolas Aube-Kubel - Philadelphia
Dec 14 - Waives Jonas Johansson - claimed by Florida

Suspensions and Fines

Oct 14 - Gabe Landeskog suspended for boarding Kirby Dach

June 06 2022 - Colorado Avalanche Win Their Third Stanley Cup :avs

2022 NHL Draft

Picks

6th Round (#193) - Christopher Romaine - D - Right - 6'0" 194 lbs - Milton Academy (USHS)
7th Round (#225) - Ivan Zhigalov - G - Right - 6'3" 168 lbs - MHK Dynamo Moskva (MHL)

Trades

Trades two 3rd round picks (2022 and 2023) and a 5th round pick (2022) for Alexander Georgiev

2022 Off Season

RFA, Pending UFA, and Prospect Signings

July 05 - Re-signs pending UFA Andrew Cogliano to a 1 year $1.25M deal
July 10 - Re-signs RFA Alexandar Georgiev to a three year deal with a #3.4M AAV
July 10 - Re-signs pending UFA Jacob MacDonald to a two year two way deal. $450k in AHL and $762,500 AAV in NHL

Organizational Structure

July 11 - Chris MacFarland promoted to Avalanche GM
July 11 - Joe Sakic promoted to President of Hockey Operations

Links to Past Threads

Foppa2118 · Jul 2, 2019

New thread, last one was over 1k posts.

Hat tip to @Bubba Thudd for suggesting a poll to rate the job Sakic is doing. Poll can be edited based on how you feel he is doing to date.

McMetal · Jul 2, 2019

The team is extremely well constructed, IMO. We have balance up front and on D, have talented youth throughout the roster, and are well set up in the coming years with regards to the salary cap. I think this team without any more major moves can compete for a cup before MacK's contract ends.

It took a while, and there were bumps along the road, but the patience paid off.

Mac2Rants · Jul 2, 2019

He's done a great job IMO, I kinda forgot that when Sakic Became a GM so did Roy, Look at what he's done after Roy left. Extremely Impressive.

flyfysher · Jul 2, 2019

McMetal said:
The team is extremely well constructed, IMO. We have balance up front and on D, have talented youth throughout the roster, and are well set up in the coming years with regards to the salary cap. I think this team without any more major moves can compete for a cup before MacK's contract ends.

It took a while, and there were bumps along the road, but the patience paid off.

Our players also have PO & SC experience.

Pokecheque · Jul 2, 2019

I voted 4. For the most part, good. I don't love everything he's done, and he still shares the blame for the Season We Do Not Talk About.

This will, of course, go up if indeed this team becomes a legit contender.

I will say I like the fact he's balancing aggressiveness with sensibility. That's an increasingly rare trait amongst front office executives in today's NHL. He could've gone for broke and just said "Yeah we'll worry about the cap later" like most teams, but he's playing the long game. I get that one can be TOO conservative, but I think he's proven that he can be aggressive when need be.

flyfysher · Jul 2, 2019

Pokecheque said:
I voted 4. For the most part, good. I don't love everything he's done, and he still shares the blame for the Season We Do Not Talk About.

This will, of course, go up if indeed this team becomes a legit contender.

I will say I like the fact he's balancing aggressiveness with sensibility. That's an increasingly rare trait amongst front office executives in today's NHL. He could've gone for broke and just said "Yeah we'll worry about the cap later" like most teams, but he's playing the long game. I get that one can be TOO conservative, but I think he's proven that he can be aggressive when need be.

I grant the question asked to date but what I hate about that season (which I have very right to talk about since I had partial season tickets and the vast majority of the games I attended did not have a positive outcome) is that in evaluating his career, it becomes outsized.

The more important issues for me are has he learned, does he have a clear plan with defined realistically achievable goals, has he been successfully executing that plan and where is the team at both short and long term in terms of competitiveness on ice, organizational development and depth, managing contracts and the cap? That's why I gave him a 5. The entire direction changed once it was his own bailiwick.

Pokecheque · Jul 3, 2019

flyfysher said:
I grant the question asked to date but what I hate about that season (which I have very right to talk about since I had partial season tickets and the vast majority of the games I attended did not have a positive outcome) is that in evaluating his career, it becomes outsized.

The more important issues for me are has he learned, does he have a clear plan with defined realistically achievable goals, has he been successfully executing that plan and where is the team at both short and long term in terms of competitiveness on ice, organizational development and depth, managing contracts and the cap? That's why I gave him a 5. The entire direction changed once it was his own bailiwick.

Yep, if you watched those games IN PERSON then you are made of sterner stuff than I. I finally had to turn it off I think near the deadline or so, maybe sooner...it was just too painful to watch.

I agree with you though--the fact that he's publicly admitted to some of his mistakes and appears to have learned from them puts him ahead of a whole slew of NHL GMs like Jim Benning, who just keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results.

I graded him a bit lower than "amazing" but I freely acknowledge part of that is my own pessimism and superstition whispering in my ear. Overall I'm really, really excited with the trajectory he has this organization on.

flyfysher · Jul 3, 2019

Pokecheque said:
Yep, if you watched those games IN PERSON then you are made of sterner stuff than I. I finally had to turn it off I think near the deadline or so, maybe sooner...it was just too painful to watch.

I agree with you though--the fact that he's publicly admitted to some of his mistakes and appears to have learned from them puts him ahead of a whole slew of NHL GMs like Jim Benning, who just keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results.

I graded him a bit lower than "amazing" but I freely acknowledge part of that is my own pessimism and superstition whispering in my ear. Overall I'm really, really excited with the trajectory he has this organization on.

I'm going to go a bit off topic but it relates to Sakic's approach. Roy wanted instant competitiveness as well as vet leadership. Sakic was willing to make the acquisitions to make that happen based on reputation but we all saw how a lack of due diligence cost them (thanks for Brad Stuart SJS, glad we took Donkey). By the end though, Sakic could see the writing on the wall that the game had evolved where big and slow wasn't going to cut it. So he changed course and decided to come up with an entirely different long term strategy how to rebuild the entire organization. It was certainly going to cost the organization dearly in the short term. The 48 point season. How many of the old core remain? Johnson, Landeskog and MacKinnon. But he's articulated a very clear, disciplined vision. Be free of running afoul of the cap which in turn means managing salaries and especially term on player contracts, avoid big FA acquisitions until the moment is opportune to maximize value and finally this year, to fill a position of need in recognizing the team is officially in its SC window. Emphasize youth, speed, skill, and hockey IQ. Use FA to fill in the bottom 6. Only swing the big trades when you must. When we didn't have draft picks he kept scouting the waiver wire. He has brought in the right coaches and management team. Heck, he even learned from letting Stastny walk without compensation (although I'd argue that was a unique situation with the Blues last minute entry but he learned from it nonetheless). He has brought in vet experience.

I also think he's done a fantastic job of putting together a great AHL team and developmental pipeline with the ECHL affiliate. Their AHL affiliate, the Eagles made the POs in their inaugural season.

Philosophically, I think Sakic has been extremely smart in positioning the Avs and IMO they have a larger SC window than say the Stars who are going for it with Pavelski and Perry. The problem with vets known as a PO performers is expecting them to continue to perform at that level with their best years behind them. I don't know. It could work out. But Sakic wants to keep the option of having to avoid that position of acquiring these players to try for the SC for as long as possible. It leaves the organization with a lot more long term flexibility.

I could go on. So career wise, yeah I see your point. But damn, he has been pretty darn impressive overall as a GM.

Raucherhusten · Jul 3, 2019

In only 2 years he was able to turn the ship around - from the (by far) worst team in the league to a legit contender. What is even more impressive is that our cap structure is fiiiine - and it should be fine for years to come even if Nate doubles his salary 2023.

4/5 stars - because we haven't won the cup yet. I'll upgrade when we do so

AllAboutAvs · Jul 3, 2019

I voted 4 because I don't think a GM should be called amazing without winning a Cup. With that said I think 4 is low. I wish there would a choice in between because "good" is not strong enough to qualify how he has done as a GM. I would give him a 4.4 so far. There is no denial that he has done a great job since Roy left. I'm just using Roy as a timeline here. I am not accusing Roy of doing all the bad calls. Joe was the one approving Roy's moves. Sakic made his own mistakes before Roy left and he has made smaller ones as well since that time so he is certainly not perfect. What I love about Sakic is he seems to learn from his mistakes and tries to avoid making the same ones over again. His patience can be frustrating sometimes but so far I'd say it has paid off.

Great job so far. Now let's go win ourselves a Cup damn it.

cgf · Jul 3, 2019

flyfysher said:
I grant the question asked to date but what I hate about that season (which I have very right to talk about since I had partial season tickets and the vast majority of the games I attended did not have a positive outcome) is that in evaluating his career, it becomes outsized.

The more important issues for me are has he learned, does he have a clear plan with defined realistically achievable goals, has he been successfully executing that plan and where is the team at both short and long term in terms of competitiveness on ice, organizational development and depth, managing contracts and the cap? That's why I gave him a 5. The entire direction changed once it was his own bailiwick.

Pinning this to remind myself to respond when the season begins since I promised not to judge Joe until after this offseason...and to avoid the temptation of writing an essay now :laugh:

flyfysher · Jul 3, 2019

cgf said:
Pinning this to remind myself to respond when the season begins since I promised not to judge Joe until after this offseason...and to avoid the temptation of writing an essay now

By all means cgf, write a tome here and now. You're a very good writer!

Seriously though cgf, if the metric is a 5 only if you win the SC then I think that's nuts. And for better or worse, you want a GM that tries to work with his or her HC and that has the fortitude to stand up and make the final decision even if that goes against what the HC wants when they see things going astray. Leadership means willing to change course when circumstances dictate doing so.

cgf · Jul 3, 2019

flyfysher said:
By all means cgf, write a tome here and now. You're a very good writer!

Seriously though cgf, if the metric is a 5 only if you win the SC then I think that's nuts. And for better or worse, you want a GM that tries to work with his or her HC and that has the fortitude to stand up and make the final decision even if that goes against what the HC wants when they see things going astray. Leadership means willing to change course when circumstances dictate doing so.

I don't think that's the metric, but I also don't think it's accurate to just look at this offseason alone...since the justification that we heard so often for not acting previously was that we were just waiting until this offseason. That's why the "look at all of these bad deals Joe's not giving out" or "I'm so glad Joe wasn't aggressive enough to give player X that deal" posts ring so incredibly hollow to me. Joe's options simply were not that binary and it's misleading to pretend like they were.*

So I don't like giving him an A just because he did the best he could with what was available when he finally acted...which isn't to say that I think he f***ed up royally or doesn't deserve an A. All in all; Joe did some things that I liked, but there are some things that I think he still needs to (and has the ammunition to) address, which is why I'm going to wait until the end of August like I said I would.

...plus that way I'll be done with my summer classes & so not feel as guilty about devoting 30-45 minutes to vomiting out an un-edited novella just to vent about something I pay attention to for entertainment :laugh:

EDIT:
*like with Hayes: People have used the deal he got from Philly this summer to justify not having acquired him...after having used his free agency this summer to justify not having acquired him last summer; when he was available & was willing to sign a much more reasonable contract.

So the actual alternative Joe could have had if he had gotten started last summer -- like we wanted -- wasn't Hayes on a 7x7 with crazy clauses, but Hayes acquired a year before on a shorter deal that maxed out around Landy-money, with 0 trade or movement clauses.

...and whether those actually-proactive alternatives would've been better than where we did land, is just not the discussion that is being had. That, however, is the discussion I think it would be interesting to engage in whenever I do dive into this; so for next ~two months, I'mma gunna try to let folks enjoy themselves in here.

klozge · Jul 3, 2019

I give him an A because he's had a plan in the post-Roy years and has stuck to it. Luck has played a role, of course, but he has built a core of excellent players which is slowly growing and has found mostly the right guys each season to surround and support this core. He helped making the Eagles an AHL team, has improved our amateur and pro scouting, has built a promising prospect pool and has turned a broken mess of a team (which he had helped to create, of course) into a true contender (at least on paper). Most of all I love how he always keeps a good balance between present and future.

Iceberg · Jul 3, 2019

Yeah, what we needed a year ago was a younger Carl Soderberg to solve our 2nd line problems.

avsfan09 · Jul 3, 2019

The only big gripe or decision I disagree with was that year when Sakic put that hit out on Simon Depres.

Northern Avs Fan · Jul 3, 2019

I’m really happy with what Sakic has done in constructing this team. I’m not sure there is a roster in the NHL I would want over what we have going on in Colorado. Maybe Tampa? Yeah, Tampa’s pretty good haha

We have so many star, or budding star young players. The Avs are going to be good for a long, long tine.

Like everyone wanted to see, Sakic ramped up his aggression this offseason with the pursuit of Panarin/Aho, and a flurry of trades.

Joe is also learning from his mistakes. He let Stastny walk in free agency, then this year moved Barrie, knowing he wasn’t going to sign him to a long term contract. Also, he elected not to sign aging free agents like in the past. He got Donskoi at a reasonable contract at 27-years-old and traded for a cost controlled young RFA in Burakovsky.

Lastly, I don’t know if it’s because of his experience as a player, but I think Joe understands what wins in the playoffs. He moved out guys he didn’t believe would help us win in the post-season, Barrie excluded. He’s made a concerted effort to improve the overall depth of the roster and bring in players who can help us in the faceoff circle. Kadri addresses so many areas of weakness on this team. Faceoffs, physicality, depth goal scoring, and a sense of nastiness.

I admit to a little bias, because even though I played goal growing up Sakic was always my favourite player.

I still think it trends to the 2020-2021 season being when we really take off, but I definitely like where the team is at.

AllAboutAvs · Jul 3, 2019

flyfysher said:
By all means cgf, write a tome here and now. You're a very good writer!

Seriously though cgf, if the metric is a 5 only if you win the SC then I think that's nuts. And for better or worse, you want a GM that tries to work with his or her HC and that has the fortitude to stand up and make the final decision even if that goes against what the HC wants when they see things going astray. Leadership means willing to change course when circumstances dictate doing so.

I absolutely believe 5 should be only if you win the Cup. That's what your ultimate goal is and therefore if you don't attain that goal then you shouldn't get a 5. That's why I have problems with the poll choices. There aren't in-betweens. You are ok, good or you are amazing.

My 2 cents.

Pokecheque · Jul 3, 2019

There are a few things I believe:
1. A majority of NHL GMs are quite bad at their jobs.
2. Even the good ones are capable of making horrid decisions.
3. Sometimes bad GMs and bad coaches can win championships by fortuitous circumstance (and taking advantage of other bad GMs).
4. Most bad GMs stay in power because of bad owners with bad ideas on what makes a winner.

I'm glad the Avs decided not to enter the dumb money sweepstakes and settle for big bucks for either marginal talent (Hayes) or future buyouts (Zuccarello). They're focusing the vast majority of their cap space in retaining the talent they have, have obviously reinvested in building through the draft and making their affiliates more successful and competitive. Also, Sakic was open to analytics in ways Roy was not. Although I think it's fairly obvious that KSE-owned franchises were going to make that shift whether the management teams were on board with it or not.

I get that it's hard to say a GM or player is excellent if he hasn't won the Big Prize, but I don't think that should be the bellwether because, like I said, bad GMs can win it all too if they luck into the right players and the right circumstances. I am still not convinced Doug Armstrong is a good GM, let alone a great one, but he's apparently a lot better than I gave him credit for.

flyfysher · Jul 3, 2019

AllAboutAvs said:
I absolutely believe 5 should be only if you win the Cup. That's what your ultimate goal is and therefore if you don't attain that goal then you shouldn't get a 5. That's why I have problems with the poll choices. There aren't in-betweens. You are ok, good or you are amazing.

My 2 cents.

You and I both know there's a factor of random luck and having things break your way in order to win the SC. The management can only put the players in that position to win. Sakic has absolutely done that well. He can't put the puck in the net for the players.

AllAboutAvs · Jul 3, 2019

Pokecheque said:
There are a few things I believe:
1. A majority of NHL GMs are quite bad at their jobs.
2. Even the good ones are capable of making horrid decisions.
3. Sometimes bad GMs and bad coaches can win championships by fortuitous circumstance (and taking advantage of other bad GMs).
4. Most bad GMs stay in power because of bad owners with bad ideas on what makes a winner.

I'm glad the Avs decided not to enter the dumb money sweepstakes and settle for big bucks for either marginal talent (Hayes) or future buyouts (Zuccarello). They're focusing the vast majority of their cap space in retaining the talent they have, have obviously reinvested in building through the draft and making their affiliates more successful and competitive. Also, Sakic was open to analytics in ways Roy was not. Although I think it's fairly obvious that KSE-owned franchises were going to make that shift whether the management teams were on board with it or not.

I get that it's hard to say a GM or player is excellent if he hasn't won the Big Prize, but I don't think that should be the bellwether because, like I said, bad GMs can win it all too if they luck into the right players and the right circumstances. I am still not convinced Doug Armstrong is a good GM, let alone a great one, but he's apparently a lot better than I gave him credit for.

flyfysher said:
You and I both know there's a factor of random luck and having things break your way in order to win the SC. The management can only put the players in that position to win. Sakic has absolutely done that well. He can't put the puck in the net for the players.

Although I agree with both of you I still believe that a perfect score should only go to those that wins it all. With that said, a GM or a coach that wins a SC doesn't necessarily gets a perfect score from because as you guys said a bad GM can still win it all sometimes for example having a hot goalie in the playoffs, etc. But if you did everything right and still didn't win it that's when I would go to 4.9 rating. To me the SC is the ultimate prize and until you do that I can't go to 5. I don't know. I might be too harsh but that's just me.

flyfysher · Jul 3, 2019

AllAboutAvs said:
Although I agree with both of you I still believe that a perfect score should only go to those that wins it all. With that said, a GM or a coach that wins a SC doesn't necessarily gets a perfect score from because as you guys said a bad GM can still win it all sometimes for example having a hot goalie in the playoffs, etc. But if you did everything right and still didn't win it that's when I would go to 4.9 rating. To me the SC is the ultimate prize and until you do that I can't go to 5. I don't know. I might be too harsh but that's just me.

I understand your point but to me, that just points out the ambiguity of the standard at best and lack of validity at worst. McPhee doesn't win the SC but he deserves a 4? More like a 4.9999999999999999999999...

Pokecheque · Jul 3, 2019

McPhee is by far the hardest GM to definitively evaluate. He's managed to take three separate squads from virtually (and in one case, literally) nothing and get them to the Stanley Cup Final. But of course he also ran one of them into the ground, which necessitated a rebuild that he shepherded (and hey, they finally won it all not long after he was fired). It's like, dude can most definitely draft, develop, and acquire talent en route to the promised land, but once his team hits legit contender status, he starts making some inexplicably bad decisions that undermine all the work he's put in.

And we'll never see anything like the Golden Knights ever again. Teams and their dumb GMs practically gifted them talent (and an ace head coach) and all of those players somehow all hit ridiculous career highs at the same time, including one center who has never posted impressive numbers at any level of his career previously. McPhee definitely deserves some credit for extracting insane prices just so some teams could hold onto worthless grinder-types, but luck has played a huge role.

BTW, Sakic has one more big test remaining. How well will he be able to maneuver under the cap when the Avs eventually don't have a lot of it to spare? We haven't quite seen that yet, not with this current stable of talent.

flyfysher · Jul 3, 2019

Pokecheque said:
McPhee is by far the hardest GM to definitively evaluate. He's managed to take three separate squads from virtually (and in one case, literally) nothing and get them to the Stanley Cup Final. But of course he also ran one of them into the ground, which necessitated a rebuild that he shepherded (and hey, they finally won it all not long after he was fired). It's like, dude can most definitely draft, develop, and acquire talent en route to the promised land, but once his team hits legit contender status, he starts making some inexplicably bad decisions that undermine all the work he's put in.

And we'll never see anything like the Golden Knights ever again. Teams and their dumb GMs practically gifted them talent (and an ace head coach) and all of those players somehow all hit ridiculous career highs at the same time, including one center who has never posted impressive numbers at any level of his career previously. McPhee definitely deserves some credit for extracting insane prices just so some teams could hold onto worthless grinder-types, but luck has played a huge role.

BTW, Sakic has one more big test remaining. How well will he be able to maneuver under the cap when the Avs eventually don't have a lot of it to spare? We haven't quite seen that yet, not with this current stable of talent.

Again, the question asked to date although your point is fair.

Joe Sakic - Record as Colorado Avalanche GM - Part III (Updates in First Post)

How would you rate the job Joe Sakic has done to date as Avalanche GM? (editable)

5 - He’s done an amazing job. The team is in great shape and I have no real complaints.

4 - He’s done a good job. I like most of the decisions he’s made.

3 - He’s done an ok job. Some good decisions, some bad decisions.

2 - He hasn’t done a good job. I dislike most of the decisions he’s made. The team should be better.

1 - He’s done a terrible job and should be fired.

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