Avs Split Ways With Crawford

It was no shock that a somber Kirklan Lycar opened up his yearly pre season press conference with this statement.

“We as an organization would like to thank Mark Giordano for his contributions to not only the Avalanche organization, but the city of Denver as a whole. You showed everyone what it meant to be a true pro, and the cup we won this past July wouldn’t have happened without this exceptional man. It is a shame you now have to take orders from a GM like Kevin Lacey.”

It is rumoured that the Hurricanes will be implementing a Lou Lamiorello type regime this season, no facial hair and no high numbers.  Newly signed Wayne Simmonds was caught on camera in an uber with this to say, “It’s kind of a fucking joke, I mean… Have you seen the facial hair on Lacey?”

In what was a very busy free agency period for the entire EHE the Avs certainly dipped their toes into the treacherous waters of “silly season”

“While we tried not to be too aggressive, you certainly need to have a concise plan and stick with it. We were willing to spend some money but obviously as you know we didn’t go into this with a ton of cap space. Essentially our plan was to sign two top 6 forwards and two top 4 d men.” The Avs also had to be conscious about a few players set for big pay days come two off seasons from now. “With Scheif (Mark Scheifele) and Nuge (Ryan Nugent-Hopkins) signed to two year bridge contracts, we knew we couldn’t go off and give 3 or 4 year deals to players. With the Marleau signing we did have to pay him a substantial amount up front but ultimately it was worth it, when you look at the state of most of the current contracts in our organization.”

With that lets dive into the Avs free agent signings, with quotes from the GM.

Patrick Marleau: Signs with the Avs on the heels of his best season in the EHE, registering 33 goals to go along with 84 points in 82 games. “We expect Patty to come in here and add to our leadership group, we feel we needed a little more veteran presence after losing a guy like Gio” (Marc Giordano) Lycar would go on to say “Patrick brings a presence and a pedigree with him, the guys in the room will look up to him. We are ecstatic to add him to our already deep group.”

Zach Parise: The veteran forward who spent the latter part of last season with Chicago after a mid season trade with the Canucks, jumps from one central division powerhouse to the next. “Once again we’re bringing in an individual that will bring experience, leadership and skill to our locker room.” Leonard Finske of the Beausejour Herald (a sister newspaper of the Denver Post) has reported that Parise has come into camp quite a bit leaner than he has looked up to this point in his career. The veteran forward is looking to rejuvenate his career.

Dion Phaneuf: While this may not have been one of the sexiest signings, the Avs brass was credited amongst hockey circles for this deal, bringing the veteran rear guard in at 4.5 mil for 2 seasons. “I feel like a broken record here but we felt like, with this signing we were bringing in some leadership and some more veteran presence, we learnt in last season’s playoff run, you certainly can’t have enough of that.” Chimed Lycar

Deryk Engelland: “A big bodied d man that is the ultimate competitor, he pushes people to be better and we are looking forward to having another guy like that in our locker room.”

The Avalanche also brought in veteran forwards Chris Kunitz and Ryan Reaves.

In what was some of the most stunning news since the Lycar tenure in Denver began, just hours before EHE training camps were set to open, the Colorado Avalanche announced that they had mutually parted ways with veteran head coach Marc Crawford. The move comes as a shock to some, given that GM Lycar had always spoken glowingly of his bench boss, as well the fact he just brought Denver their first EHE Stanley Cup. When it came down to it, Marc understood where the organization was heading. “With Jared Bednar waiting in the wings, we felt the time was right to promote him.” The Denver Post is reporting that Crawford has been offered an advisory role within the organization; time will tell if he accepts or moves on to greener pastures. Meanwhile the Avalanche announce that their AHL affiliate has signed Rocky Thompson to be the team’s new head coach.

Lastly, the Avs are still yet to name a captain, it seems inevitable that John Tavares will wear the “C” however it is reported that they are waiting till the end of training camp to make anything official.

Tavares dodged most questions about the captaincy and had this to say when asked about it “We’re excited to defend our championship, we know everyone is coming for us now. We can’t sneak past anyone anymore here or take any nights off. Whoever does wear the C for us, knows this and knows how important it will be to get everyone on the same page as soon as camp opens.”

While the Avs may look a little different this year, the core remains the same. With the likes of Scheifele, Tavares, Burns, Gardiner amongst other returning players, the hunger to repeat remains the same. For guys like Marleau and Parise the clock is ticking to win their first EHE Stanley Cup. “This group is still hungry as ever. We can’t wait to get started” quipped GM Lycar when asked if their would be a cup hangover. While the Avs haven’t been active on the trade front (something GM Lycar made a name for) he does maintain that they are always looking to improve. “I said it my first day here and I’ll say it again, prospects are cool but parades are cooler. We’ve had one parade, time to get to work so we can have a second.”

Based on line rushes during the first day of camp the Avalanche are set to line up on opening night looking something like this:

Nugent Hopkins – Tavares – Labanc

Marleau – Scheifele- Nash

Parise – Eller – Hartman

Kunitz – Sissons – Reaves

Calvert

Dumoulin – Burns

Gardiner – Myers

Phaneuf – Engelland

Allen

Hutton