Ever since the Avalanche came to Denver, fans have been accustomed to seeing the Avs preparing for the playoffs in the first week of April. This year though, after several weeks of tremendous play, a loss Saturday night sealed the Avs fate of spending the playoffs season at home and on the golf course. At the beginning of the year, most analysts and experts were predicting the Avs to miss the playoffs, mainly because of a lack of scoring, lack of depth at the blueline, and question marks in goal. The Avs were able to make a great run at the end of the year, but fell just short. One god damn point. The Avs finished 4th in the Northwest Division with a record 44-31-7, with 22 wins both at home and on the road, giving them 95 points. The difference between this team from October 8th to April 8th is night and day. For the first 63 games of the year, the Avs played to the level of their opponents. They threw away a lot of points to teams that they were better than. It’s because of this that they won’t be partying in the playoffs. As bad as things looked early in the year, the end of the year was a real treat. The Avs finished 15-2-2, going 5-2 at home and 10-0-2 on the road. It leaves you wondering what could have been, and what could this team that is playing better than every other team in the league have done in the playoffs. Below is a position by position breakdown of the 2006-2007 Avalanche.
Goalies
After trading for Jose Theodore at the deadline last year, and a run in the playoffs that included the upset of Dallas, Theodore was tabbed as the starting goalie to begin the year. Unfortunately for Avs management, Theodore was unable to resort back to the form that won him the Hart trophy in 2001-2002. Peter Budaj played sparingly in the first part of the season, but played well. As Theodore continued to struggle, Budaj began to get more and more playing time. By the end of December, Budaj was the man between the pipes. Honestly, he played a lot better than his numbers indicate. There were a number of games that the guys in front of him let him down. For the first 75% of the season, the Avs team defense as a whole was brutal and gave the opposition numerous and excellent scoring chances game in and game out. It wasn’t until the last 20 games of the season, when the Avs really started focusing on playing a better all around game that Budaj was able to shine. His record of 10-0-2 in March earned him the NHLs #1 star of the month and helped the Avs make their charge towards the possible 8th seed in the conference. A lot of people are saying that the Avs need to try and bring in an upper echelon goalie if they buy out Theodore next year. The question is whether or not there is going to be one available, and how much more of an improvement can you get from what Budaj showed over the last quarter of the season? If the Avs decide to retain Theodore next year, there is no reason to believe that he will remain in a backup role to Budaj. Budaj just showed a lot more ability and confidence than Theodore and also showed that he can be a guy that can steal a game when the offense isn’t there.
Defense
During the off-season, the Avs once again traded a fan favorite. Alex Tanguay was sent to Calgary for Jordan Leopold. The Avs were counting on Leopold to bolster the defensive corps, but he was never able to get his season on track. After a hernia issue in camp, Leopold missed the first 15 or so games of the season, came back for 5 games, and then developed groin problems that forced him out for another chunk of games. When he returned from that, Leopold looked to be fitting into the team well and was able to put up more and more minutes each game and be a dependable defender. However, he was once again bit by the injury bug, this time a broken wrist that sidelined him for the remainder of the season. Leopold wasn’t the only defenseman who was bit by the injury bug during the year. John Michael Liles missed 4+ weeks of action after breaking a bone in his foot blocking a shot halfway through the year, and he was never really the same when he came back. His minutes were dropped, but he remained the lone point man on the first power play unit and led Avs defensemen in points. Patrice Brisebois suffered a back injury 33 games into the season and was done for the year. Karlis Skrastins , after breaking Tim Horton’s 486 consecutive games played streak by a defenseman, suffered a knee injury and missed ten games. As players were in and out due to injury, there were several guys who stepped up and played well. Kurt Sauer was probably the biggest surprise. He stepped in when Skrastins went down and combined with Brett Clark to form the Avs top defensive pair and played a strong, tough D. Clark was probably the Avs most consistent defenseman and his work continues to go unsung. He led the Avs in minutes played per game. Ossi Vaananen played pretty well, but was the odd man out when everyone else got healthy. Ken Klee played well, led the Avs in plus/minus at +18, but who knows where he fits in to the Avs future plans. Jeff Finger looked good at the end of the season, and though he’s not the kind of guy that will give you a lot of points, he is a solid defenseman. Another guy that played in several games for the Avs in the early and middle portion of the season that we will be seeing more of in the future is 20 year old Kyle Cumiskey. He’s a lot like Liles, handles the puck well, and should be up full time in the near future.
Forwards
Once again, the Avs forwards were led by Joe Sakic. Even at 37, he still has it. He finished the season with 100 points on 36 goals and 64 assists and was clearly the best player and leader of this team. It doesn’t seem like he has lost a step, and his release is still among the best in the league. As the games got bigger and tougher for the Avs, he was able to step it up even more. Even though a lot of people thought this team would have trouble scoring goals, they finished 1st in the West, and 4th in the NHL in goals scored. For the most part, coach Quenneville is not a guy who keeps lines together for many games in a row, or for that matter, many shifts in a row. At the end of the season, the lines, for the most part, looked like this.
Brunette – Sakic – Wolski
Hejduk – Stastny – McLean
Richardson – Arnason – Laperriere
Rycroft – Guite – Svatos/Parker
Andrew Brunette had a career year, scoring 83. He played extremely well all year on the first line with Sakic and whoever Quenneville put on the other wing. For the most part, that guy was Wojtek Wolski. In his first full season, Wolski had 50 points, but there is still a lot of room for improvement in his game. He needs to make better use of his 6-3 frame. The best and biggest surprise of the year had to be Paul Stastny. He finished the year with 28 goals, 50 assists and 78 points. Paul finished second in the league among rookies in points scored to Evgeni Malkin, and was the catalyst on the second line that the Avs desperately needed. It was playing alongside of Stastny that led to the reemergence of Milan Hejduk. After being bothered by injuries last year, Hejduk found his legs, his hands and his scoring touch, scoring over 30 goals. Brett McLean also performed well on that second line and provided the grit that a line with Stastny and Hejduk needs. The third and fourth lines also played well, and often times, especially games in Alberta, Tyler Arnason’s line was the best line of the game. Marek Svatos spent a lot of time on the 4th line, and because of this, his numbers were nowhere near where they were last year. He didn’t quite have the nose for the net as he had a year ago, and often times looked skittish in the corners and along the boards. The fact that Svatos’ lasat two seasons were cut short due to shoulder injuries probably had a lot to do with this.
All in all, the Avs were very well rounded up front, but there is still room for improvement. The development of the young guys and solid prospects could lead to even more offensive firepower in the near future.
Outlook
Even though the Avs missed the playoffs for the first time in 10 years, the last two months of the season gave the Avs a lot to look forward to for next year. The biggest unrestricted free agent is Joe Sakic, but the main reason for that is his desire to sign only one-year contracts for the remainder of his career so he can annually evaluate his playing level. But if this year is any indication, he still has a few good years left in him. The Avs are going to have money to spend this summer, and it will be interesting to see how they use it. The last few years, payroll allocation has been a serious issue for this franchise. Whether it be trading for a $6 million backup goalie or giving over $4 million combined to players well past their prime in Brisebois and Turgeon, something needs to change. On the topic of Theodore, do the Avs hang on to him, or do they buy out the remainder of his contract? No matter what happens, the last 20 games of the season were a blast to watch, and it’s disappointing that they couldn’t start playing this way earlier in the year. The most amazing part of that run was that only 6 of those games were at home. Just one point short. Just one of those third period blown leads, and the Avs would be facing Detroit in the first round. But that’s hockey, and that’s how it goes sometimes. Nevertheless, next year is definitely a year to look forward to.
End of Season Grades
Offense – A
They were the highest scoring offense in the conference, what more do you want?
Defense – C-
For the year as a whole, there were a lot of weak spots, and injuries didn’t help.
Goalies – C
By himself, Peter Budaj gets a B/B+
Power Play – A
The Avs found it halfway through the year, and finished 4th in the NHL at 21.1%
Penalty Kill – D
They got a little better later in the year, but the first half was ugly. Ranked 25th of 30 teams
Coaching – C
4,345 different line combinations this year, 5 months to find something that worked
Management – D
Numerous decisions led to the Avs being crippled by the cap. The best move was doing nothing at the trade deadline. Hopefully this summer they can put some of that cap space to players that will actually help this team.. Although, the way things have been going, they will trade Paul Stastny and Milan Hejduk for a used bus, a puck bag and a 54 year old defenseman.
2007 Avalanche Free Agents
Unrestricted Free Agents
Joe Sakic, Pierre Turgeon, Tyler Arnason, Brett McLean, Antti Laaksonen, Patrice Brisebois, Ken Klee
Restricted Free Agents
Marek Svatos, Jordan Leopold, Ossi Vaananen, Kurt Sauer
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