I am definitely well aware of the fact that I am late on starting this, but that is not a problem. I must also apologize for not writing in quite a while. My wife and I have been quite busy moving. I got a new job up in Colorado, HOME STATE BABY!, and we have been quite busy packing and such. So that is why I have taken quite a while in updating this. So again, my apologies.
Now, I'm going to focus my attention on my hometown boys, the Colorado Avalanche, for the vast majority of this. Now, Greg Sherman, Avalanche GM, has made it abundantly clear that they are committed to a "build from within" style of management. Looking to "not take any shortcuts through trades or free agency." In general, I'm a fan of this idea, but there are some negatives. The good about it being that you are going to put your faith in your players, and allow them to prove themselves. You keep a core of guys together that you know work, and that ensures some great chemistry, and a pretty low payroll. We saw that promoting Joe Sacco was a great success for the Avs, as were many of the players that he brought up with him from Lake Eerie, the Avs AHL affiliate. The problem with this being that they are absolutely refusing to even consider making any signings out of free agency.
Don't get me wrong here, I understand the concept of not really wanting to shell out insane amounts of dollars to players that don't really deserve the contract, and I understand that the Avs have been guilty of that before (i.e. Ryan Smyth, Scott Hannan), but there were/are 2 players that I desperately wish the Avs had pursued during this time period. First, and most obviously, Ilya Kovalchuk. The Avs have slightly more than 30 million dollars worth of cap space this offseason, and could totally use a legit, all-star, sniper left wing that everybody has to pay attention to. Yes, his contract demands (10 million per year for 10-12 years) are pretty ridiculous, but the Avs are one of the teams out there that could actually afford this and still have some space left. I'd be happier with the whole 8 million a year for 8 years, but Kovy, and apparently the Avs, seem to have different plans. The other guy I really wanted, and is a totally moot point so I won't go too deep into it, was Anton Volchenkov. Just a beast of a shot blocking defensemen who is far more physical than any of the D-men we currently have on our roster. Oh well, I suppose that even though both of these guys are good LONG TERM options who are still quite young, Sherman believes that this is shortcutting, and would hurt the team in the long run. I call BS on that.
So far, 3 days into free agency, I'm most surprised at how crazily busy the Vancouver Cannucks have been. They have signed all kinds of folks, including coveted d-man Dan Hamhuis. This is a team that has won the NW division the last 2 seasons, and 3 out of the last 4 years. The NW is usually one of the most competitive in the NHL, and the Cannucks are showing that they realize this. I honestly think that they are the most likely to win it again, and have shown their fans that they are committed to getting better. What are the Avs showing? I'm not entirely certain yet. I'll let the year play out before I decide that this build from within strategy is bogus or not. But I can't imagine that the exact same guys are going to be THAT much better from one year to the next. Especially since we gave up so many shots last year, and Andy can't be as amazing as he was all the time. Eventually, he'll get tired of being peppered every single night.
So far, I give the Avs a D- for their performance during free agency.
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