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

[Richard88]

I'm not sure I would say it is a blot or blight on Sakic's tenure yet. The Avs are still holding strong despite Grubs having to pick up the majority of the load. This might be just in fact what Grubs needs to solidify his starting role in the NHL. He's standing out and rising the ranks.

We might need better goaltending in the future, but at this point, it's not a pressing of a need as a solid third-line center. That being said, the last 3 or 4 games, has led me to believe that Jost is capable as a passable third line center. The guy flat out hustles and I haven't given him enough credit for that. Nichuskin was severly hampered with JT Compher as his center. He looks much more dangerous with Jost centering him. I think that's what we need form the third line center. One that is dangerous on their own, but knows how to get the most out of their wings. Compher has never been that type of center. Jost is. I can't believe I'm saying this, but Jost needs to be protected above Compher.

I think you'll find that protecting Jost over Compher is a pretty unanimous opinion on these boards. Not only has he played better, but he's also on a much cheaper contract so from a cap management perspective it makes sense to expose Compher instead of Jost to give the team a better chance at clearing a $3m+ contract this offseason.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

JT Compher is a lost cause. [MOD]

 

[GoNordiquesGo]

Long term, continuing to bet on Compher and Jost as the 2C and 3C of this team was a mistake. Obviously giving Compher that extension is quite possibly Sakic’s biggest blunder post-2017. I get why he did it, but this is one instance where he didn’t side with analytics and that was the wrong call in this case.

Short term, I get that there’s a flat cap and I don’t for a moment begrudge the two moves Joe did make, but there were three main concerns that were exposed following that Dallas series, and unfortunately he addressed none of them. He did not get a viable third goalie option, he did not get a third line center, and he did not fire Ray Bennett. I’m willing to bet he regrets his inaction on the first two, and he most certainly will on the third soon enough.

We can make all the excuses we want for him (and I did as well) but the difference between a good and a great GM is finding a way no matter what the circumstances. Sure hope he’s got an ace up his sleeve this year because this season feels like it’s hanging by a thread.

Such short memory. It is absolutely not true that after the Dallas defeat, there were three main concerns that were : 3rd goalie, 3rd line C and Ray Bennett. The main concerns that most posters were talking about were :
- A top six forward
- A 3rd line center
- A top 4 Dman
- A healthy #1 goalie

Now you assess how well he did in adressing the most glaring needs of the moment.
Of course, there will always be another most pressing need. There always will be. They will simply become less and less important.
A lot of teams have a 1C, or 1D, or 1G problem.
A lot of team have 1st line or top pair problems.
Most teams have top-6 or top 4 problems.
We have a 3G and 3C problem. Humm...

 

[flyfysher]

I think you'll find that protecting Jost over Compher is a pretty unanimous opinion on these boards. Not only has he played better, but he's also on a much cheaper contract so from a cap management perspective it makes sense to expose Compher instead of Jost to give the team a better chance at clearing a $3m+ contract this offseason.

If Jost ever really developed some offensive touch then the Avs base would go nuts over him. I finally gave up on Jost last year and then he rehabilitated his career. Good for him. He’s proven he’s a bona fide NHL’er.

 

[Richard88]

If Jost ever really developed some offensive touch then the Avs base would go nuts over him. I finally gave up on Jost last year and then he rehabilitated his career. Good for him. He’s proven he’s a bona fide NHL’er.

If Jost can get back to ~30 point production combined with elite PKing and improved faceoffs he'll resolve a pretty big problem for this roster, especially once we add Newhook and run Mackinnon-Kadri-Newhook-Jost down the middle.

 

[Murzu]

Changed my vote to 5. Toews was such a great addition that I had to up my vote from 4 to 5.

 

[PAZ]

Interesting to see how perception of Joe changes as the season goes on, and goes to show sometimes patience is the best option. Our fanbase would've traded Jost ages ago (was basically a net neutral on the ice for a long time) and we would've desperately still needed a #3C, but now it looks like we potentially have our #3C position solved long-term. Having Jost developing in our bottom 6 never hurt us, as frustrating as it was watching him at times. I'm not ready to label Jost as our permanent #3C yet, but he's earned a spot on this team.

 

[flyfysher]

Interesting to see how perception of Joe changes as the season goes on, and goes to show sometimes patience is the best option. Our fanbase would've traded Jost ages ago (was basically a net neutral on the ice for a long time) and we would've desperately still needed a #3C, but now it looks like we potentially have our #3C position solved long-term. Having Jost developing in our bottom 6 never hurt us, as frustrating as it was watching him at times. I'm not ready to label Jost as our permanent #3C yet, but he's earned a spot on this team.

Look at how hard Jost (or Nichushkin) has worked and how much he’s paid for his level of contribution this season compared to Compher.

(Yeah, I had a frown on my face too).

 

[Linds]

Still can't up my vote to 5 stars until after the trade deadline in a few days. I might actually decrease it depending if Joe has a lack of moves in which should be close to an all in year

 

[22FUTON9]

Considering how Sakic has brought in Nuke, Girard, Donskoi, Toews, Saad, Burakovsky, Kadri, Donskoi and Grubi without giving away a single first round pick deserves a 5 imo. This isn’t even getting into the Girard and Mikko contracts (this is when Matthews and Marner were getting over 10.5 for roughly the same term) honestly I don’t understand how you can look at what he’s done the past few years and give him a 3, but I guess that’s just me.
Just because of our 3C and backup situation I still understand giving a 4, but even that’s really stretching it.

 

[McMetal]

I feel like the team is so well constructed that only depth moves are necessary at the deadline. We just need some insurance at F, D, and G and we will have as good of a chance as anybody to win it all this year.

 

[PAZ]

Still can't up my vote to 5 stars until after the trade deadline in a few days. I might actually decrease it depending if Joe has a lack of moves in which should be close to an all in year

Sooo because Sakic has created such a well-constructed roster and made savvy offseason moves, he should get points taken away because he hasn't brazenly thrown away assets at the TDL like other GMs? Just curious, what moves do you want to make?

 

[S E P H]

I still have Sakic as a solid #4...

+ Toews makes it a five

- Trusting certain players beyond their ability (Jost, Compher, Miska to name a few)
- Not properly fixing the goaler situation, loses some points
- Weird segments during the draft, like Saigeon and trading up for Rolston also loses some points (by trusting some of the scouts)

 

[McMetal]

Sakic goes from a 5 to a 4 for making me root for Devan Dubnyk.

 

[jabubenice]

Sakic goes from a 5 to a 4 for making me root for Devan Dubnyk.

Nah, Dubnyk is making u root for dubnyk...lol

 

[expatriatedtexan]

This deadline...I'm satisfied with. Yeah, I'd like to see Sakic land a big fish but there just wasn't a big fish worth blowing the load on at the deadline. Such a weird freaking year, with the compressed schedule, expansion draft concerns, corono virus still rearing it's ugly head...I'm sure everyone will be glad to get back to what ever the new normal looks like in the the fall.

That being said, Joe basically told his team, I have faith in you. I'm buttressing the depth but you guys have got it.

PL didn't have to worry about a cap, so he was pretty much all in for what 10 years it seemed like? Joe can't keep his core together AND have that mentality to go out and snap up everything he can at the deadline.

He fixed the team in the off-season and then basically just plugged the holes that needed to be plugged by the deadline. With this team in 1st place, he really had no need to waste assets for much more than that. If there was a difference maker actually available he might've been willing to spend a bit more, but I don't think at the end of the year anyone is going to say Foligno, Palmieri, Zajac, Bennett or any of the others were a difference maker for the cup champs (that will belong to us) but seriously, I hope you know what I'm trying to say.

 

[nammerus]

This deadline...I'm satisfied with. Yeah, I'd like to see Sakic land a big fish but there just wasn't a big fish worth blowing the load on at the deadline. Such a weird freaking year, with the compressed schedule, expansion draft concerns, corono virus still rearing it's ugly head...I'm sure everyone will be glad to get back to what ever the new normal looks like in the the fall.

That being said, Joe basically told his team, I have faith in you. I'm buttressing the depth but you guys have got it.

PL didn't have to worry about a cap, so he was pretty much all in for what 10 years it seemed like? Joe can't keep his core together AND have that mentality to go out and snap up everything he can at the deadline.

He fixed the team in the off-season and then basically just plugged the holes that needed to be plugged by the deadline. With this team in 1st place, he really had no need to waste assets for much more than that. If there was a difference maker actually available he might've been willing to spend a bit more, but I don't think at the end of the year anyone is going to say Foligno, Palmieri, Zajac, Bennett or any of the others were a difference maker for the cup champs (that will belong to us) but seriously, I hope you know what I'm trying to say.

He didn’t fix the team in the offseason. He added Toews, who’s amazing, but ignored the biggest holes which killed us in the playoffs, 3C/Backup goaltending.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

He didn’t fix the team in the offseason. He added Toews, who’s amazing, but ignored the biggest holes which killed us in the playoffs, 3C/Backup goaltending.

I get what you are saying, but let me put it this way. What did he not do, that would change our place in the standings? I mean, we are #1 overall. He plugged the things he felt needed shoring up at the deadline and now we'll just have to see how the cards play out. If 3C/backup goaltending costs a series you will be ultimately right but it's hard for me to concede he should've done anything different while we riding in 1st place.

 

[PAZ]

I get what you are saying, but let me put it this way. What did he not do, that would change our place in the standings? I mean, we are #1 overall. He plugged the things he felt needed shoring up at the deadline and now we'll just have to see how the cards play out. If 3C/backup goaltending costs a series you will be ultimately right but it's hard for me to concede he should've done anything different while we riding in 1st place.

To add, he couldn't have predicted that Francouz recovery didn't go well and he would need to have another surgery. By all accounts Francouz recovery was on schedule, but it ended up not getting fixed and he ended up being out for the entire season. He did fail to address the #3 goalie position, but if we're nitpicking about that we're diving pretty deep.

The #3C is less of an issue to me. We had no money to sign another one after acquiring Saad + Toews, and we ended up acquiring Soderberg for peanuts anyways. If he was perfect he could've went after Verhaeghe, but in retrospect he's still the only UFA that would've been an upgrade. Jost got the opportunity and ended up developing into a low end #3C, high-end #4C - he probably wouldn't be the same player if he was playing behind Haula, Wennberg, etc. who are no better than Jost and would've only been on the team for a year.

Overall, he was able to shore up our depth at the TDL for basically nothing (especially considering our draft history).

 

[the_fan]

Great job in the offseason, poor job at the trade deadline is how I'll evaluate Sakic. He didn't really have to do anything upfront, but he should have traded for another top 4 d-man. We see now how much they gonna need one if Girard is out long term. Nemeth has been a useless pick up IMO

 

[S E P H]

Posting this here,

http://cms.nhl.bamgrid.com/images/assets/binary/324768978/binary-file/file.pdf

Tell if there have been any changes...

Pro Scouts
Director: Brad Smith
Senior: Garth Joy
Pro Scouts: Cody Bass, Mike Battaglia, Dan Laperriere, Curtis Leschyshyn, Terry Martin, and Miroslav Zalesak (Europe)

Amateur Scouts
Director: Alan Hepple
Head Scout Europe: Joni Lehto
Scouts: John Funk, Henrik Gradin (Europe), Alexei Gusarov (Europe), Wade Klippenstein, Jerome Mesonero, Don Paarup, Norm Robert, Neil Shea, and Lyle Wingert.

Analytics
Staff: Arik Parnass, Dawson Sprigings, and David Wood
Video Scouting: Mike Battaglia
Assist Video Scouting: Mitch Sakic

 

[Nihiliste]

Clearly don’t have enough euro scouts still
Really wish we could improve the quality of our NA scouting as well. Steal some guys from Ottawa and other strong drafting teams

 

[Pokecheque]

Is it really the number that's the problem, or the quality of said scouts, or is it the willingness of Hepple to listen to them?

 

[Hasbro]

Anyone have the roster from when Roy left?

 

[Foppa2118]

Anyone have the roster from when Roy left?

You don't want to see it. Especially the defense.

2015-16 Colorado Avalanche Roster and Statistics | Hockey-Reference.com