Where Does Lycar Go From Here?

It’s hard to know whether the Avalanche brass believe what they’re saying, or are deluding themselves.

But they do believe that this setback they’re enduring — this streak of three losses in a row — will not only end, but it will have made them stronger. It’s the adversity that all teams simply go through over the course of a season.

“You take what’s given to you, and right now we’re dealing with adversity and you have to grow from it,” said veteran forward Ryan Getzlaf. “Early in the season, late in the season, middle of the season, there’s going to be adversity. But the true test of a group is how you react to this type of adversity.

“Would we have liked to have had a better start and get off rolling? Yes, but we haven’t. And now if you make the most of what we have.”

What they have now is a team struggling to score, one left admiring how other teams beat them, one left shrugging when the opposition goalie bests them.

They bring up all the goalposts they’ve hit. They are an Avalanche team that is different from years past. They of course are much younger, but they look fragile, worried about making that mistake that will end up in their net, gripping the sticks too tightly, making one too-many passes.

“I think every team that goes through a culture shift with new players, younger players, there’s a fragile aspect to them,” said Getzlaf. “I know that word has been used by a lot of people, but I don’t think we’re a fragile group. We’re a group that’s still trying to find our consistency and find our way. We know what a good game feels like. We just haven’t been able to do it here recently.”

In fact, they look an awful lot like the team that lost that Game 7 to Chicago in the playoffs last year, the team that was on pace to win the Presidents Trophy before having the wheels fall off and lose 7 of their last 10 regular season matches. A downward trend that led GM Lycar to take stock and a long hard look not only at the current roster, but also in the mirror.

“When you look at how things went down, having such a promising 70 games of the season, being really happy with our core group, our leadership – To then fall off the way we did, it was disappointing.”

This demise of course led to the team parting ways with then prominent Avalanche center Mark Scheifele. “Mark was our captain, he led the team to a cup in 17/18 (winning the Conn Smythe trophy) but at the end of the day we since missed the playoffs and had two first round exits. We needed a culture shift.” Further, Lycar stressed a demand to get younger and insert more youth into the organization.

“We’ve obviously added the likes of Dylan Larkin, Carter Verhaeghe, Anthony Mantha, Brett Howden, Dylan Strome.” On the flip side the Avalanche have also added veterans Andy Greene, Ryan Getzlaf and Joe Thornton. So which direction are they headed? Being competitive, or rebuilding?

“Reloading” Lycar quipped. “We aren’t tanking, that isn’t the nature of this beast, and we also understand where we stand in terms of competing for a cup, right now we are looking at continually making the dynamic of our roster stronger from top to bottom, so that we can (again) be a perennial cup contender.”

Avs ownership clearly trusts the man that boasts the best winning percentage amongst active EHE General Managers. Though, how long will the fan base remain as patient? Time will tell.

Tommy Barr

Always interesting to see how the Avs stay competitive. Complete respect that your primary goal is winning the Stanley Cup! Sometimes, especially in sim leagues, we get too focused on acquiring the next big thing through the draft and not necessarily in winning it all!

Where Does Lycar Go From Here?
Are the Avs in the middle of being competitive or rebuilding? Which is it?

• 3 teams Like this  2 years

Kyle Phillips

Really enjoy these sort of articles. Plus a historical league stat right at the end! Love those!

Where Does Lycar Go From Here?
Are the Avs in the middle of being competitive or rebuilding? Which is it?

• 3 teams Like this  2 years