Todays Thoughts...

Colorado Avalanche

I keep hearing everyone say that the current Colorado Avalanche are a flash in the pan team. I have even stated in previous blogs that I thought they would eventually fall down in the standings. However, am I really surprised that they're doing that well? The answer, if you pay attention to the NHL as a whole is NO! And the answer is fairly obvious. Does no one remember last year when Stastny missed time with an injury and Joe Sakic's farewell tour was shortened around Christmas from a snow blowing accident? Before last year everyone was raving about the young up and comers such as Wojtek Wolski, Marek Svatos, and Paul Stastny. In fact, I remember thinking to myself, could Colorado have somehow out maneuvered the pendulum that swings, which allow teams to be really good until their great players are due to retire, then rebuild until they're competitive, and then they compete at a high level again, and then the cycle restarts. Sakic was nearing retirement, Patrick Roy retired, Peter Forsberg was battling injuries, Blake appeared to be at the end of a solid career (since has had a great resurgence in San Jose), David Aebischer didn't appear to be the goalie of the future they had hoped (I for one never thought he would be anything more than an average backup), and Foote was traded, which I believed was due to the fact that management realized that the pendulum had swung in the direction of a rebuild.

Before last years awful season, where they accumulated a disappointing 69 points, they had 3 straight, post lockout seasons of 95 points. Definitely the losses of Sakic and Stastny for extended periods had an affect on this, in addition to poor starting goaltending in the name of Peter Budaj. Now fast forward to today, where the defence, including such solid shutdown defensemen as Adam Foote and Scott Hannan both returning to the players, which they can be, Paul Stastny healthy and playing like the front line centre many thought he would be and the signing of a solid number one goaltender named Craig Anderson, Colorado looks poised to return to their play in recent years where the playoffs were a certainty. In addition, the Avalanche continue to have solid depth with the likes of Milan Hejduk, John Michael-Liles on defense and Budaj as a backup, which appears to be a much more comfortable position for him. And from that one poor season they now have the likes of both Matt Duchene and Ryan O'Reilly. With those two up and comers adding to the already young mix of players, including breakout players Chris Stewart and Kyle Quincey, I am not buying into the flash in the flash in the pan theory. Not too say that the Avalanche have completely dodged the pendulum swinging the other way, perhaps they simply were able to skip the rebuilding mode and are remaining competitive, although not yet challenging for a Championship. Although I must say, with the strong play of Matt Duchene this year as a rookie and Wolski finally hitting his long awaited stride, that time may not be that far away.