Adrian Dater believes that both Adam Deadmarsh and Sylvain Lefebvre will be back behind the bench next year. Of course, we're talking about the PR inept Avalanche here, so this information had to be obtained by extrapolation from non-comments. Fucking ridiculous.

There were rumors that Lefebvre might leave to coach the new Sherbrooke team in the QMJHL this coming season, but when I asked if there were any changes to the Avs’ assistant coaching spots – Lefebvre’s in particular – I was met with silence. Which means, from what I gather from that, he’s coming back.

TSN's Scott Cullen has his annual offseason game plan up for the Avalanche. These are usually pretty well done, especially with regards to the Avs' needs. He also has some potential additions (Mikael Samuellson, Matt Carle and George Parros). Definitely worth the read, at least I can get off my ass and do one of my own.

That kind of financial flexibility could open up opportunities for the Avalanche to get active in the trade of free agent markets this summer. Ideally, a move to add a high-calibre defenceman would likely have the most immediate impact, but any additions of proven NHL talent can't be dismissed for a team with a core that is relatively unproven.

Since we all know the NHL awards are rigged, Travis Hughes put together an SB Nation Blogger awards, with voting by - you guessed it - SBN bloggers. Sandie and AJ were among the 15,000 bloggers to vote (it might have been closer to 40). Yesterday, the SBN Vezina was awarded to Jonathan Quick.

Be sure to check in with your favorite SB Nation hockey blogs to see how writers covering each team cast their ballots. Check back on Tuesday as we announce our winner of the James Norris Memorial Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL's top defenseman.

Sandie is playing hooky from hockey today and tomorrow, so you're stuck with me. Sorry.

The season is finally over for the Semyon Varlamov, who backstopped team Russia in the IHF World Championships to a gold medal victory with a 6-2 win over Slovakia. I'm too lazy to look for stats, but Varly had a 1.74 GAA and .940 save percentage going into the game. Fellow Avs Paul Stastny (USA), Ryan O'Reilly (Canada), Gabriel Landeskog (Sweden) and former-and-maybe-future Avalanche Jonas Holos (Norway) also played in the tournament.

It is Russia's fourth world championship and its third in the last five years, and it punctuates a perfect tournament for the Russians who finished 10-0. [Pavel] Datsyuk tied [Alexander] Semin with a game-high three points, while Russian goalie Semyon Varlamov finished with 29 saves.

There is still one player from the Avs' system still playing: the Shawinigan Cataractes are one of the four teams who made it to the 2012 Memorial Cup. Dillon Donnelly, whom the Avs drafted in the 7th round of the 2011 draft, is a forward for the Cataractes (as is former Avalanche Michael Bournival)

Between the four teams competing for the 2012 Memorial Cup are prospects representing 20 NHL teams. In all there will be nine first-round picks playing in the tournament, which starts Friday and runs through May 27.

Finally, former Nordique Dale Hunter has some advice for Patrick Roy should he decide to coach in the NHL:

"To coach in the NHL is a privilege," Hunter said Sunday at the Bionest Centre, where his London Knights are competing in the Mastercard Memorial Cup. "But Patrick has to do what’s best for him and his family.

"It’s a challenge, but it’s a lot of fun. It’s the top league in the world. It’s fun coaching elite players. If you’re ready to make the commitment, you should go."

Paul Stastny

#26 / Center / Colorado Avalanche

Height: 6-0

Weight: 205

Born: Dec 27, 1985

2011 Cap Hit: $6,600,000

2012 Status: 2 years left on the contract

To continue on the Milan Hejduk theme from yesterday, Paul Stastny had the most disappointing season of his NHL career. The problem is, Stastny is 10 years younger than Hejduk and really should be at his peak. Excluding his injury-shortened third season, Stastny had his lowest point output (53) of his career and is now two years removed from his last 70-point season. To put that in perspective, that's 4 more points than Tyler Arnason scored in his first season in Denver. Arnason was about the same age then as Stastny is now. One huge difference: Arnason didn't make $6.6 million per season.

And that's really the heart of the issue with Paul Stastny. Sure, he's great at faceoffs and all that, but he's here to score points. He should be the guy in Colorado, not just a part of the cluster fuck of middling numbers. By my count, 33 forwards made over $6 million last year, just a shade more than one per team. 28 of them had a higher point per game rate than Stastny. (Ironically, 2 of the lowest were Stastny and Ryan Smyth - both Francois Giguere contracts). Stastny is getting paid like a top-tier player, primarily because he used to put up numbers like a top-tier player. Used to. 53 points is nice for Ryan O'Reilly and Tyler Arnason. It should not be good enough for Paul Stastny

2012 Outlook: Barring trade or blossoming career as a commercial actor, Stastny will be the Avs #1 center next year.

DDC's Take: I mentioned money above even though we all know the Avalanche are not hurting for cap space. But Stastny's contract and past performance make him the 1A center that the Avs have built around. The team can't just bring in a pricey free agent center to upgrade the position without doing something with Stastny...but you aren't going anywhere as a franchise if your top center (sorry O'Reilly and Duchene) is barely breaking 50 points. Those 5 $6 million guys with the lowest PPG I mentioned above? They play for Colorado, Minnesota, Calgary, Edmonton and Montreal. I don't think I need to tell you what they have in common.

Steve's Take: Stastny was very average as the year began. Confirmation bias tells me he missed about eleventy billion open nets. However, as was probably mentioned above me, he also played with a veritable tossed salad of wingers. Hejduk? Duchene? Jones? Hlinka I mean Ledin wait no Holøs erm, Lindstrom? Kobasew? Winnik? Galiardi? Stastny's best chemistry has always been with Milan Hejduk, who was uhhhhhh not very good this year. So Pauly's 21 points in 37 games (11g10a) and eye-test phantomness in 2011 can at least be somewhat explained; however, that can't be accepted as good enough for your #1 C. Despite what I felt to be some really odd media about his "poor play" down the stretch, he turned it on to the tune of 32 points in 42 games in 2012, and he was actually driven by assists this time (10g22a). He was maybe a little unlucky (PDO-983, on-ice sh% around 7%) at times, and he led the team's centers with 55.4% at the dot (a stat he has just dominated at Worlds by the way). It's the right pattern for Stastny, slow in the fall and getting hot around the all star game, but it's just not the type of numbers we've come to expect from a guy who's had over 70 points 3 times (once in a season he only played 66 games) and it's not what we need from a #1 C. Maybe with some more consistency (and more talent on the wing:D??????????????) he can return to form next season.

Milan Hejduk

#23 / Right Wing / Colorado Avalanche

Height: 6-0

Weight: 190

Born: Feb 14, 1976

2011 Cap Hit: $3,000,000

2012 Status: UFA

It's probably safe to say that this was Milan Hejduk's worst season in his NHL career. His 37 points were a career low and he failed to score 20 goals for the just the 2nd time in 13 seasons. The Avs' captain was doing well, with 29 points in 51 games at the all-star break (46 point pace). But he fell hard after the All-Star break, with 8 points in the last 30 games. He also was demoted to the 4th line late in the season and averaged just 15 minutes per game after the break, compared to 18+ before. It is certainly possible that the Duke was just in a slump - he has had cold streaks before. But Hejduk is 36 and has a lot of miles on those knees of his; he broke in at 22 and has 1100 NHL games (postseason included) under his belt velcro hockey pants tie thingy.

Hejduk has never been much of a Selke guy, but there was a time that he could be counted on for some nice defensive coverage and even some sneaky toughness from time to time. That wasn't evident last year, even though he did spend the latter part of the year on the lower lines. That accurate sniper shot no longer seemed as accurate or sniper-like and the dazzling stickhandling moves weren't so dazzling.

All in all, he just didn't look like Milan Hejduk. The question, though, is why? Was it age? The pressure of being named captain? Or was it just an off year? Unfortunately, that's not an easy one to answer.

2012 Outlook: Hejduk is 4th on the franchise all-time scoring list and is just 9 regular season games from becoming just the 2nd player with 1,000 regular season games for the franchise. I don't think he's going to get that shot though. My gut take? I think the Avs would prefer to move on and I doubt either side is interested in an Yzerman-like 4th-line swan song.

DDC's Take: Personally, I thought Hejduk looked like a guy riding out the string last year. He just didn't seem to have that drive, which is easy for me to say while my fat ass is parked in this comfy leather chair. Then again, I remember thinking something similar about Teemu Selanne back in 2004 when he scored 32 measly points for the Avs. He went on to score 90 for the Ducks after the lockout. Sadly, I'm not predicting a similar resurgence here.

Cheryl's Take: Milan Hejduk has spent his entire career with the Avalanche. In an ideal world, he'd retire in an Avs sweater. There wasn't any question about that happening...until now. Hejduk had a season that was so bad it saw his ice time drop to under 10 min/night while playing on the fourth line. Whether it was due to his age catching up to him or just a bad season, we may never know as signs are pointing to the end of Hejduk's tenure in Colorado. Duke has said he wants to keep playing hockey, so it's up to the Avs to bring him back. It's not clear if they are going to do that or not. Personally, I hope they do. I think that Hejduk simply had a bad year, much like Duchene and, to a lesser extent, Stastny did. If he doesn't come back to Denver, expect Hejduk to be in another team's sweater next season. Sadly.

A couple of weeks ago, I kicked off a short series looking at how the core players on the Avalanche match up against the eight teams to make the playoffs in the Western Conference this year. This isn't exactly a thorough scientific study (more like little league anonymous blogger stuffs), but still fun and undeniably word-filling. In part 1, I concluded that the Avalanche aren't on par with the other playoff teams in terms of starting goaltending, but did find evidence that Semyon Varlamov could be on a playoff-caliber career trajectory.

Today, I'm moving on up about 10 feet or so to look at how the Avs defensemen stack up against the playoff teams. To do this, I grabbed the regular season stats for the six defensemen who made the most appearances for their respective teams in the first round of the playoffs. That's not a 100% perfect solution, but I think it's close enough to work for what I'm trying to do here. These stats can be found after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

...the "happens-in-threes" goaltending news is complete. The Avalanche today announced the signing of Sami Aittokallio that everyone figured was about to happen, as well as formally confirming the signings of Kent Patterson and Kieran Millan that everyone already knew about. In related news, I am almost at a point where I can spell "Aittokallio" without looking it up.

Brandon Yip

#18 / Winger / Nashville Predators

Height: 6-1

Weight: 195

Born: Apr 25, 1985

2011 Cap Hit: $725,000

2012 Status: UFA

Yip suffered a similar fate to Kevin Porter this year, appearing in just 10 games. Some early season injuries (arm, groin) limited his playing time...but those injuries may have just delayed the inevitable waiver move by the Avs. In his 10 games with Colorado this year, Yip had 12 shots, no points and 4 minor penalties. He did have a little more success in Nashville (7 points, including the requisite goal against Colorado), but not enough to make Avs' fan yearn for his return.

2012 Outlook: Yip was picked up on waivers by the Predators on January 19th. He'll be an unrestricted free agent this summer (and no, he's not coming back).

DDC's Take: Oh, what a career Brandon Yip was going to have in Colorado. The former 8th-round pick was going to become a prominent player on in Denver, starting as a 4th line tough guy and moving up over the years to a top-line power forward. In the end, Brandon Yip was...Brandon Yip. A decent player with a wicked shot and a little toughness, but maybe not enough motor to get it done on a regular basis. Yes, we might overvalue our prospects slightly. In the end, perhaps we should have used that 8th-round pick on this Pekka Rinne

(stick tap to niwotsblessing)

The Avalanche have reportedly signed BU goalie Kieran Millan to an entry level deal identical to the one signed by Kent Patterson. That gives the Avs 3 AHL-level goalies under contract in Millan, Patterson and Calvin Pickard. Additionally, the Avalanche have until June 1st to sign Finnish goalie Sami Aittokallio or they will lose his rights. As has been speculated previously, it is likely that neither Cedrick Desjardins or Trevor Cann will be back with Lake Erie next year. Both will be free agents this summer.

The Avalanche face a June 1st deadline for two other prospects, both defensemen from the 2010 draft. Troy Rutkowski was a 5th round pick who just finished his junior career with the Portland Winter Hawks. And Stephan Silas was a 4th rounder in 2010 who just closed out his final campaign with the Belleville Bulls.

The Avalanche today announced that they will be playing a preseason game in Kansas City, Missouri on October 6th against the Rangers. In case you feel it's a little early to be announcing this sort of thing, you should also know that tickets go on sale Friday. Yes, really. The Avalanche will play the Rangers, which will be a nice change of pace from the Stars, Blues, Kings cycle we've been in recently.

We also know that the Avalanche will return to Vegas for Frozen Fury, on September 29th. Expect the Avs to announce another pair of home games and away games later on this summer. Like, in August.

The date of the KC game was a bit interesting to me as the regular season usually is underway by the 6th. Why would the NHL be starting a week or two later than normal? Could someone be building in some padding in case there are hangups with the new CBA? That's a depressing thought.

Kevin Porter

#12 / Winger / Colorado Avalanche

Height: 6-0

Weight: 190

Born: Mar 12, 1986

2011 Cap Hit: $850,000

2012 Status: RFA

After a career year in 2010-2011, Kevin Porter had a tough season last year. New arrivals like Gabriel Landeskog and Chuck Kobasew squeezed Porter out the lineup for a significant chunk of the season. After appearing in 74 games two years ago, Porter got into just 35 games this year. When he did play, he was used sparingly (9:10). And he didn't do much with those limited minutes (just 7 points), creating a spiral of nachos that couldn't be broken.

2012 Outlook: It's unlikely the Avalanche tender Porter the required qualifying offer of $892,500. He could agree to a lower salary - something he did two years ago - but I think his run in Denver is probably over. But hey, at least he scored more goals since the trade than Wolski did.

DDC's Take: Like Cheryl is going to tell you below, I've really been pulling for Porter. He shows some flashes at times where you can really see why he was the Hoby Baker winner at Michigan. But they aren't frequent enough to get him significant time on one of the scoring lines and he just doesn't do "4th line stuff." Porter isn't considered a penalty killer, which puts him lower on the depth chart than guys like Kobasew. Unfortunately, "lower on the depth chart than Kobasew" is the press box.

Cheryl's Take: Sigh. I believed in Porter for so long, defending him with all my might. I just couldn't do it any longer this season. I had to accept that he just isn't really an NHL player. The guy will be fantastic in the AHL and maybe he'd do well on another team (i.e., in the Eastern Conference where his diminutive stature won't be such a liability). The thing that I really like about him, though, is how professional he was about his situation. He worked his ass off every practice, always being one of the last to leave the ice, and he kept a positive attitude despite spending more time in the press box than in games. That attitude might garner him a new contract for 2012-2013. I wouldn't be surprised to see another team take a run at him, either. Either way, I wish him well because I really do like the guy. I just wish he was better at playing hockey.

It's been almost three year's since Matt Duchene's fist pump signaled the beginning of an exciting new era for the Colorado Avalanche. Duchene was the 3rd overall pick in the draft - at the time the team's highest pick since the gigantic baby Eric Lindros had been drafted in 1991. Duchene was a talented prospect, and it would not have been all that shocking if he had gone first overall. He didn't, though. That honor went to Jon Tavares and with Tampa drafting defenseman Viktor Hedman, Duchene was ready to give the Avalanche a much-needed talent boost.

Three years later, the talent is still there. But are things progressing as we all were hoping? Duchene scored 55 points as a Jimmy Howard Award finalist in his rookie year and followed that up with a 67-point season as a sophomore. Last year was going to be a bust out year and that opinion was unanimous. 82% of Mile High voters felt that Duchene would score at least 70 points. Only 3 out of 406 people felt that Duchene would be under 50 points.

Those three were right. The season was, in a stick tap to the poll starter, an unmitigated disaster. Duchene finished with 28 points in 58 games. Yes, Duchene was injured and he wasn't exactly skating with Mike Bossy. But not everything can be chalked up to injuries or poor linemates. Duchene had a grand total of two multi-point games, both in the first 13 games of the year. (John Tavares, by comparison, had 22). He was held scoreless 34 times - 58% of his appearances. His PPG (point per game) ratio went from .68 his first year to .84 in year two before plummeting to .48 last year - a 39 point pace.

Overall, Duchene is #2 in career points among players drafted in the 2009 draft. But eight of his fellow-2009 draftees scored at least as many points as Duchene did last year, three of them being defensemen (Tavares, Evander Kane, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Dmitri Kulikov, Nick Leddy, Marcus Johansson, Ryan O'Reilly and Craig Smith). That's not fist-pump worthy...it's actually kind of cause-for-concern worthy.

The summer Duchene was drafted, I wrote an article looking at career trends for 2nd forwards taken in recent NHL drafts. I don't have the patience to fight with SBN's lousy search feature, so I can't find it. Instead, I'm taking a fresh look to see if Duchene is progressing at an acceptable pace

Continue reading this post »

David Van Der Gulik

#7 / Left Wing / Colorado Avalanche

Height: 5-10

Weight: 173

Born: Apr 20, 1983

2011 Cap Hit: $525,000

2012 Status: UFA

The former BU Terrier came into the season with just 12 career NHL games and managed to triple that with a 25-game stint with the big club this summer. There's not really a ton to say about van der Gulik - he averaged just over 8 minutes a game (only Cody McLeod and Even Brophy had less time per game), but did get about a minute per game of PK time. VDG was your basic hard-working, 4th line energy guy. In his limited time here, he had more hits per game than guys like David Jones, Chuck Kobasew and Kevin Porter.

There's one odd fact about van der Gulik. He now has two career NHL goals - one against Cory Schneider and one against Corey Crawford. It's too bad that Corey Hirsch and Corey Schwab aren't playing anymore, as that might be a big boost to his offensive numbers. (Hirsch, by the way, is apparently doing okay: he's the goalie coach in St Louis).

2012 Outlook: David is a free agent and certainly could be back with the Monsters next year with a potential callup to the Avs if needed. But he could just as easily take his veteran minor-league resume to one of the other 29 AHL teams (or perhaps even overseas). To date, he's played 300+ AHL games and less than 40 NHL games. He's a minor league guy, and those guys tend play year-to-year.

DDC's Take: He worked hard, has a great first name and a cool last name; there's really nothing to dislike about him. On the flip side, guys who can give you 10 minutes of work a night on the 4th line aren't exactly difficult to replace.

Cheryl's Take: I'm not going to lie. I love VDG. I think he's the quintessential tweener who can put up numbers in the AHL and fill in on the fourth line when injuries necessitate it. He certainly held his own in his time with the Avs this season, and I think if Kevin Porter wasn't subject to waivers, we would have seen VDG on the roster instead of him. It would have been a good call, in my opinion. VDG works hard night in and night out, he has a team-first mentality and he contributes at both ends of the ice. If Porter isn't signed for next season, VDG might just crack the line up.

Last week, Andi ran a series here at Mile High Hockey on the economics behind the Avs' rebuild. I'm also taking a look at the rebuild, but I'm approaching it from a different angle. By now, Avalanche fans should be familiar with the core foundation that the team has been building around - you know, the Holy Trinity of centers, Erik Johnson, Semyon Varlamov, etc etc. So, I decided to take the different components and compare them to the eight teams that made the playoffs this year in the Western Conference. I'm starting things off with goaltending and then will move to defense and forwards the next two Mondays (spoiler alert: I think today might be the high point).

For this study, I went to the ever-useful hockey-reference.com and grabbed the regular season stats for the primary goalies for the 7 legit playoff teams + San Jose (guffaw). I also included "backups" Brian Elliott and Cory Schneider as they played significant minutes this year (and, at least as I type this on April 22nd, are currently the playoff starter for their team). Below that are the numbers for Semyon Varlamov and J.S. Giguere (an amazing depth player for the Avalanche, but this piece isn't about depth players).

As you can see, Varlamov had a decent year for the Avalanche this year, but statistically, the only playoff goalie he was better than this year was Corey Crawford. His numbers don't quite measure up as playoff caliber...yet. That's a key word, because Varly was just 23 years old this year (he turned 24 on April 27th), younger than everyone else on the list. Here's the list again, but instead with NHL stats from when they were 23.

When they were 23, only Elliott, Quick, Halak and Luongo spent any significant time in the NHL. Varly's stats are fairly similar to all four and, of course, all four have improved significantly since then. The obvious extrapolation is that it's not a stretch to picture Varlamov putting up playoff-like numbers in a couple of years (I did an age-related Varly study a couple of months back which led me to similar conclusions). It's not a automatic - these goalies improved over time and Varlamov will need to do the same. For now, though, he appears to be on the necessary development track.

Bottom line: I'm very comfortable with Semyon Varlamov as a core foundation piece. Although he still has some developing to do (insert full-time-goalie-coach dig here), he's shown that he has a ton of talent. Based on that talent and this simple study, it's not hard to envision Varly as one of the dominant goalies in the Western Conference a couple of years from now. Wait...it's not hard to envision Varly as one of the dominant playoff goalies in the Western Conference a couple of years from now. Yeah, that sounds much better.

We're continuing with the grades today, but before we get to Erik Johnson here's a look (and link to) the grades so far. It looks like the Mile High teaming millions are a group of relatively easy grades. Greg Sherman, Semyon Varlamov, Ryan O'Byrne and Shane O'Brien all have received solid B's through the polls to date, with only coach Sacco and staff getting a C. Varlamov has the highest grades so far, with 92% of you feeling his season was worthy of a B or an A. In other news, do any of you teach anywhere because I'd totally like to sign up for your class if you do.

GM Greg Sherman & front office: 53% B, 21% C, 15% A, 7% D, 2% F

Coach Joe Sacco & staff: 51% C, 27% B, 12% D, 5% F, 2% A


G Semyon Varlamov: 76% B, 16% A, 6% C

D Ryan O'Byrne: 75% B, 13% A, 7% C, 1% D

D Shane O'Brien: 60% B, 27% C, 11%A, 1% D

Shane O`Brien

#5 / Defenseman / Colorado Avalanche

Height: 6-3

Weight: 230

Born: Aug 09, 1983

2011 Cap Hit: $1,100,000

2012 Status: UFA

Shane O'Brien was a somewhat unexpected signing by the Avalanche, coming almost two weeks after the Avs had acquired Jan Hejda, Semyon Varlamov and Chuck Kobasew. Also unexpected? SOB's play on the blueline. Traditionally known more as an enforcer, O'Brien was one of only four Colorado defensemen to crack 20 points last season, finishing just 6 behind Erik Johnson. Originally thought to be more of a depth signing, only Jan Hejda had more even strength ice time than O'Brien (17:03) and only Hejda and Erik Johnson had more total ice time (19:13).

O'Brien's game isn't terrifically complex. Standing at 6'3" and weighing in at 230, SOB ranked in the top 5 on the team in hits (138), blocked shots (86) and he was never hesitant to come to the defense of a teammate (although, surprisingly, just 3 major penalties all year). All that fire did have a cost: O'Brien also was top 5 in giveaways. He also was a penalty machine - his 35 minor penalties was tops on the team. That's no shock; O'Brien has led his team in minor penalties in 4 of the last 5 seasons. Overall, though, the hard-nosed play, the reportedly solid locker room presence and the occasional offensive pop usually outweighed the occasional defensive miscues, the penalties and the distracting good looks.

2012 Outlook: O'Brien took a $500,000 pay cut last summer in his first foray into unrestricted free agency. The presumption is that O'Brien didn't find the deal he was looking for and signed a 1-year deal with Colorado in hopes of having a solid year. That should pay off for O'Brien, as he will likely fair better than the $1.1 million deal he signed last July. And I think there's a solid chance that SOB will return to the Avs' blueline next year. He's not someone you'd build around, but he's a great addition for the supporting cast - an excellent 5th or 6th d-man.

DDC's Take: The Avalanche need more fiery guys like O'Brien, but maybe they should remove his favorite aromatherapy candles from the penalty box? Just an idea. I'd give O'Brien a solid B - an SOB, if you will.

Cheryl's Take: Oh, Shane. You truly were a tale of two cities. When O'Brien was on his game—tough, aggressive in the corners, talking smack and protecting the blue line—he was fantastic. It was when he decided he was the next coming of Bobby Orr that things went south. He'd put his clown shoes on and forget that he isn't a particularly good or fast skater, he wasn't that great of a stickhandler, and he didn't have too lethal of a shot. When he played HIS game, he was fantastic. I'd love to have him back if he can do that more often than the clown shoes. Given how much the organization likes what he brings off the ice and the good things he brings on it, I expect we'll see him back next season with a multi-year deal.

Summary: If evaluating Greg Sherman was hard, grading Joe Sacco and his staff - Adam Deadmarsh, Sylvain Lefebvre, Tim Army and goaltending consultant Kirk McLean - is even tougher. So much of what a coach does happens outside of the public eye and grading his X's and O's is beyond the skill set of a dullard like myself. But, I will give it the old BU try.

Sacco recently finished his 3rd season behind the bench, a season where the Avalanche improved by 20 points in the standings and were in playoff contention until the last week of the season. Scoring was down 10% from the previous year (2.7 goals per game to 2.43) but the Avs were much better defensively and between the pipes, with goals allowed dropping from an abysmal 3.5 per game to 2.66 (a 32% improvement). Special teams improved as well, with the PP finishing in the top 10 and the PK improving from 30th overall to 12th (honestly, was not aware of that). While Sacco was a grinder type as a player, the Avs finished middle of the pack in both hits (13th) and blocked shots (18th). However, the Avs had 173 more takeaways than giveaways, the third best ratio in the league (behind Chicago and...Columbus???).

I thought one of the real strengths of Sacco this year was his deft handling of his goalies, as both were coaxed to solid seasons. This is worth pointing out, as I feel this is an area Sacco hasn't always been as good at. Defense was another strong area, where the Avalanche were generally fairly successful at quickly getting pucks out of the zone (and up the ice). Offensively? Er...not really sure I quite get the offense yet. I know it starts with either a stretch pass from the D or a quick transition on a neutral zone turnover...but once they get into the offensive zone, if there was a plan it went right over my head.

One hallmark of Sacco's reign is the immediate spark he seems to provide to forwards new to the system (Peter Mueller, Tomas Fleischmann, Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog) and both Steve Downie and Jamie McGinn improved their point-per-game pace after being traded to Denver. It seems, though, that the bloom doesn't last forever. Ryan O'Reilly had a breakout year in his 3rd season under Sacco, but many other players - Stastny, Duchene, Hejduk, Jones, Mueller and Galiardi - all had disappointing seasons this year. Yes, injuries and age are factors here...but my fear is that players are quickly tuning out Sacco's message. Hopefully, that's not the case.

One other area of concern has been the Avs' inconsistency, especially when it came to big games. So many times this year, the Avs seemed to ride a little wave of success, but then came out flat in one of those "must-win" games we like to spout about. Losing 7 of their final 10 games while in a tight playoff race is one example of this. Another would be the Avs' dreadful record in their own division: 8-14-2. Only lowly Columbus had a worst record against their division - and they played in a division that sent 4 teams to the playoffs.

2012 Outlook: Having recently been extended by two more years by the Avalanche, Skipper Joe will be behind the bench next year; only 8 coaches have been with their current team longer (and 5 of those 8 have a Cup appearance). He may have at least one new assistant though, as Sylvain Lefebvre is reportedly in the running to be the head coach of a new QMJHL team in Quebec owned by former teammate Jocelyn Thibault.

DDC's Take: I think Sacco was a better coach this year and he's got his team playing pretty good hockey in the first 125' of the rink. Now, if he can just get that last 75' (read: offensive zone play) up to snuff and get his kids to stop choking in big games, this could be a very dangerous hockey team. C for the season, but I do believe Sacco is capable of taking this team to the next step. Hopefully soon, because I don't want to be doing these grades in April next year...

Sean's Take: I’m still not 100% convinced his system will get the most out of a few of the players, and I’m still not 100% convinced that having a young coach grow with a young team will yield the tallest of beanstalks. I am, however, 100% convinced that the Sacco haters better hold their tongues, at least for one more year – the man has improved each year and there is no reason to doubt he won’t improve again. His no-nonsense "play hard or eat nachos" system did a great job at separating the trees from the weeds.

Cheryl's Take (originally posted here): In his third year as head coach of the Avalanche, he improved with his line match ups, he learned how to successfully adjust his strategy mid-game, and he helped the team find ways to win more games than last season. Another reason is that Sacco is a straight-shooter. There is no guessing about what you will get with him. He expects you to play your best, give your fullest, and if you don't, you won't play. If you want to get ice time under Sacco's rule, you leave everything on the ice. A third positive of Sacco's performance this season was his decision for setting lines. A lot of people hated his decisions, like putting Matt Duchene on the wing. But at least Sacco tried it. People questioned his decision to put what seemed like third- and fourth-line grinders on the top two lines. However, look at what Jamie McGinn and Steve Downie accomplished on those lines. Finally, the team improved this season in areas that Sacco directly influenced. See #11. Love him or hate him, you should be honest and objective and recognize that Joe Sacco did some good in 2011-2012

Every year at Mile High Hockey, we spend the early part of the offseason compiling Final Grades for everyone who played for the Colorado Avalanche the previous year, plus the GM and coach. We're kicking off the 2012 grading season right at the top: Greg Sherman and the front office. These will run every weekday until we run out of players - June 8th, barring any unexpected setbacks.

Summary: In his 3rd year as Avalanche GM, Greg Sherman continued to make bold moves to improve the Avalanche. In this salary cap era where blockbuster trades are as elusive as the mythical yeti, Sherman has been willing to take big swings with his roster-shaping hammer, mostly to positive effect. The biggest - and most controversial - move came on July 1st, when Sherman sent a 1st and 2nd round pick to the Capitals for goalie Semyon Varlamov. It was a huge gamble, sending what could potentially be a lottery pick for a young goalie with some question marks (and one who could have been signed to an offer sheet). In the end, the Caps got the 11th pick and, while Varly had some struggles, he showed enough promise to make this trade at least a fair swap.

Where in the past Sherman moved key cogs like Chris Stewart and Kevin Shattenkirk, this season he did a nice job moving players who no longer seemed to factor in the Avs' future plans. Kyle Cumiskey was moved for a minor leaguer and a future 7th rounder. Kyle Quincey was traded for Steve Downie. T.J. Galiardi and Dan Winnik were moved for Jamie McGinn, Michael Sgarbossa and Mike Connolly. Oh, and John-Michael Liles was traded for a 2nd round pick. That one stung a bit both for the paltry return and the fact that Liles' 27 points with Toronto was still more than any Avalanche defenseman managed this year...but I have to reluctantly admit that the Avs' needed to move Liles to try a different blueline mix. Overall, I think this was Sherman's best year of trading by far, chock full of trades involving good additions and smart subtractions.

Of course, Sherman needs to make smart trades, because the Avalanche continue to operate near the cap floor. The reason for those financial shackles has been discussed frequently around here (and will be again, as early as this afternoon). Is Stan Kroenke focusing his money elsewhere? Are we really buying the "preserving cap space for the future" argument? Would the Avs spend more if they were bringing more revenue in? We simply don't know the answer (and it may be a combination of all three). Regardless, Sherman deserves credit for making smart moves with his money - the signings of Jan Hejda, J.S. Giguere and Shane O'Brien were all excellent bang-for-the-buck moves. Chuck Kobasew and Joaqim Lindstrom didn't pan out as well, but neither addition was a bank-breaker.

Solid drafting has also been a hallmark during Sherman's tenure, with Rich Pracey heading up the team's amateur scouting. This year, the Avs drafted Calder finalist Gabriel Landeskog...and I think we can pretty much stop there. Seriously, it can take a few years to really evaluate a draft. It is worth pointing out, though, that Landeskog is the 3rd player drafted during Sherman's tenure to immediately jump to the NHL

2012 Outlook: They don't have a Capgeek for GMs and coaches, but I believe Sherman's contract is up this summer. Not that it matters; Sherman will be the Avalanche GM next season. And Stan Kroenke still has 2 1/2 years before he has to give up majority stake in the team, so don't expect a change to the front office structure or environment soon.

DDC's Take: The bad news is that this is a tough one to grade, especially because of the provocative addition of the Avs' front office. The good news is, I don't actually have to assign a letter grade as we are leaving that solely to the highly scientific poll you see below. But, I'm doing it anyway: Sherman gets a solid B, front office gets a D for not spending...for an overall grade of C.

To the surprise of no one, Joe Sacco was given a two-year contract extension by the Colorado Avalanche yesterday. Adrian Dater broke this news two weeks ago...and really it wasn't much of a surprise even then. When Sacco survived a critical three-game losing streak against division rivals in early December, the vibe seemed to be that the Avalanche were comfortable with their man. An extension seemed inevitable. But is it the right move?

After the Avalanche play their opening game in October, only Bob Hartley will have coached more regular season games for the Avs (Marc Crawford did coach a 4th season for the Nordiques). Unfortunately, he'll also be dead last in a couple of important categories: winning percentage (.511) and playoff wins (two).

Of course, those "other" coaches had some fairly good talent to work with. Sacco has never had the luxury of of penciling in Joe Sakic or Patrick Roy or Ray Bourque onto his lineup card. Or a healthy Peter Forsberg or Chris Drury or...well, you get the idea. In the last Cup season, Bourque was 6th on the team in scoring with 59 points. Sacco has seen 3 players top that point total during his 3-year tenure: Stastny and Stewart 2 years ago and Duchene last year.

It is ironic that originally I was going to write a story today about Peter Mueller and how he might be ill-suited to a Top 6 role. I'm bumping that to next week, but it ties in nicely. Sacco's performance behind the bench is difficult to evaluate, in part because only ONE team has spent less money towards the cap than the Avalanche. One might argue that Sacco's .511 winning percentage with the roster he's been saddled with is a marvel. On the other hand, the Nashville Predators have spent just a shade more than the Avs, and they've been in the playoffs all three years.

I simply don't know how to evaluate Joe Sacco, and almost every facet of his coaching seems to be at odds with each other. The Avs improved by 20 and 26 points during two of his years, and dropped by 33 points in the other. His handling of the goalies this year was masterful...but did he burn out Craig Anderson 3 years ago? (And don't even get me started on the goaltending last year). The defense is greatly improved. The defense is inconsistent. The Avs work hard. The Avs don't show up for big games. The PP is great. The PK is terrible. The offense has gone from great to terrible. Is Sacco squeezing all he can out of a limited roster, or does he shoulder some blame for the inconsistency?

I don't have a clue, to be honest. But we know that Sacco will be behind the bench next year. I, for one, would love to see what he can do with a bonafide NHL roster. Until that happens, we really can't give Skipper Joe a fair evaluation. And no, I won't be holding my breath for that to happen.

Every year, I like to take a quick peek to see which Avalanche players set new career highs and lows. This year was not a stellar one for most players not named O'Reilly or Varlamov, but I'm a sucker for tradition. Enjoy the rainbow, folks!

Career Highs:

Ryan O'Reilly, of course, used his breakout season to set new highs in goals (18), assists (37) and points (55)

Semyon Varlamov set career highs in appearances (53), wins (26), losses (24) and shutouts (4). During the year, he played in his 100th NHL game and recorded his 50th NHL win.

Shane O'Brien tied his career best in assists (17) and PP goals (one). His 20 points was one off from his career top of 21.

Jan Hejda tied his previous best goal total with 5. His -17 +/- rating was a career low, however.

Ryan Wilson set a new career high in assists (20) and tied his previous high in points, with 21. Oddly, Wilson had a career low 31 penalty minutes - in part because he had just 7 after the all-star break.

Jamie McGinn set new high-water marks in goals (20), assists (17) and points (37). Interesting side note: McGinn has been a minus player in each of his 4 NHL seasons.

Speaking of +/-, Cody McLeod who set a new career high in +/- with...0.

Steve Downie set a new personal best for assists, with 27.

Career Lows:

Matt Duchene set new career low marks for goals (14), assists (14), points (28) and +/- (-11). Yes, he was injured. However, his .48 point per game would have him on pace for just 39 points over a full season. Barf.

Erik Johnson had a career low number of goals (4), points (26) and PP goals (1)

Paul Stastny's 32 assists, 53 points and -8 +/- were all the 2nd lowest totals of his career.

With 14 points Chuck Kobasew set a new low for points (excepting his 23-game rookie campaign)

The great Milan Hejduk matched a new low with 14 goals, after 12 straight 20-goal campaigns. He set a new low for assists (23) and points (37). After the 2008 season, Milan Hejduk had a career +/- of +156 and had never had a negative +/- on the year. Since then, he's been a -48 and has fallen from 2nd on the franchise +/- list to 5th.

Firsts:

Stefan Elliott scored his first NHL goal in his debut game, November 26th against Edmonton's Devan Dubnyk. The goal, assisted on by Ryan O'Reilly, would be the eventual game winner.

Tyson Barrie scored his first NHL point. Twice. And then had his first NHL point taken away by the scorekeeper. Twice (in consecutive games against Calgary and Columbus).

64 games after arriving in a trade, Matt Hunwick finally broke open the floodgates with his first goal in an Avalanche unipron on February 24th against Columbus. The pressure off, Hunwick would go on to score twice more in the next 12 games.

NHL Debuts:

Gabriel Landeskog: October 8th (Detroit)

Stefan Elliot: November 26th (Edmonton)

Brad Malone: December 9th (Edmonton)

Tyson Barrie: February 7th (Chicago)

Mike Connolly: March 4th (Minnesota)

So, let's have some fun with this one, okay?

The Avalanche close out their 2011-2012 campaign tonight at the Pepsi Center against the Nashville Predators. "Must-win" has been put on the shelf until next season and this game doesn't have serious implications for the Avs, whose overall record will move somewhere between 17th and 20th depending on the outcome of this and other exciting NHL games. The Preds are playing to lock up home-ice advantage for their 1st-round matchup against either Detroit or Chicago. Nashville was won 8 straight games against Colorado. I don't like it, I don't love it and I don't want no more of it.

Seriously, since this is the last Avalanche game for about 6 months, it sure would be nice to have an uplifting game to wash away the bitter memories of the last two weeks. The fact that this may be the final game in an Avalanche unipron for a few players, most notably the great Milan Hejduk, just ratchets up the "please, lets go out on a win" factor a bit more.

J.S. Giguere will get the start. It's his first start since March 15th and his first start at the Pepsi Center since March 3rd.

One last time...go Avs!

Not with a with a bang, but with a whimper, the Avs slim playoff hopes were finally ended last night. Colorado needed some help to get things done and, in the end, San Jose would have knocked Colorado out with their comeback win against the Kings. But the curtain was already closed on the season by then, because the Avs failed to finish their own work.

The Columbus Blue Jackets had already clinched the worst record in the league and had nothing to play for other than pride. To their credit, they showed up for work and played a solid game. The Colorado Avalanche had everything to play for...and, for the most part, played a sloppy and uninspiring game. What's wrong with that picture? At one point, Altidude Mike Haynes noted that the Blue Jackets were playing like it was game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. A bit of an exaggeration to be sure, but the takeaway here is that it should have been the Avs playing like a team possessed.

This is one of those "feel" things, but it sure seemed like the Avalanche had an alarming tendency to come out flat in big games this year. This is a talented young team with a lot of solid pieces in place for the future. But it also seems like a team that is still missing some key ingredients not only one the ice but off the ice as well. I don't know if it is coaching, or player personalities or the fact that only 15,000 people showed up for a critical home game. Whatever it is, it needs to be addressed because this team doesn't have enough talent to overcome laying an egg in a critical game like that. They needed to play good, hard, smart hockey last night to help themselves. They didn't.

Colorado was in 7th place back on March 21st, but then lost 5 of their next 6, scoring just 7 goals in those 5 losses. This would have been a tremendous opportunity for the young team to make a statement and show the hockey world that they were ready to take that next step. Clearly, they aren't ready yet.

The Avalanche are still alive, but need the Kings to win in regulation. This is the thread to cheer on the Kings!

So, anyone going to watch the game tonight? I've heard it's kind of a big one. /understatement

Just so we're all on the same page, Colorado MUST win in regulation or overtime (if the game reaches a shootout, the Avs are eliminated) and San Jose MUST lose to Los Angeles in regulation. Dallas losing is not required, but would be greatly appreciated. IF the Avs win tonight, we'll have a separate thread up to root for the Kings

Go Avalanche, go Kings and go Predators. Here's hoping we hit the lucky trifecta tonight.

No games of importance tonight, so go wash your hair or play with your kids or catch up on your Tivo backlog. Or stick around and cheer for the Red Wings to lose, just because. We'll expect you all back tomorrow, when games are played that we actually care about.

Tonight's rooting guide is brought to you by the NHL schedule maker. It is the night where Dallas, San Jose and Phoenix - the only 3 teams the Avs can catch - all are relieved of their "games in hand" on the Avalanche. Unfortunately, two of those teams are playing each other, tightening the noose a bit more. In lighter news, because either Dallas or San Jose will have 91 points after tonight, the Flames (max 90) can't make the postseason. I wouldn't laugh too hard about that, if I were you.

With the Kings win last night, they moved to 93 points and cannot be caught by the Avalanche.

San Jose and Dallas kick things off tonight at 8:30. 3 more points by either team this year puts them out of reach (Dallas has already clinched the ROW tiebreaker against Colorado). A regulation game is much-needed here (you pick your poison with regards to the winner).

At 10pm, Phoenix hosts Columbus. A win of any sort by the Coyotes would put them out of reach. Uh, go Blue Jackets.

Sad bottom line: two - and possible all three - of the teams the Avs are chasing will have a minimum of 91 points after tonight. The Avalanche will not be eliminated tonight...but there could be some more nails tapped into the coffin.

With the playoffs all but officially off the table for the Avalanche, the final two games this year take on a slightly different feel. Both home games, they are potentially the last time to see a few players in an Avalanche unipron (oh, those hideous unirprons).

Six players on the Avalanche roster now are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents this summer, three of whom have been an Av their entire career. Most notable, of course, is Milan Hejduk. The longtime veteran has said he might consider retiring this summer (warning - DP link, with annoying autoplay video). It would certainly not be a huge surprise for one of the Avs' all-time greats to hang them up, but I have a long-standing policy against lending any opinion of whether or not it is time for a player to retire. Hejduk is currently 11 games short of 1,000 in his career.

David Jones has scored 66 goals in a Colorado Avalanche uniform, 15th on the Avs' list, 2 goals behind John-Michael Liles. Jones is a goal shy of his second straight 20-goal season and four points shy of consecutive 40-point seasons. Perhaps more importantly, he's avoided serious injury for two years in a row, helping him shed that injury prone label he wore earlier in his career. We'll be discussing the Avs' offseason plan once we're officially in the offseason, but suffice to say there are potential question marks over Jones' return. He's always been one of my favorites, so hopefully these last two games are not the last time to see #54 on the ice for the Avs.

Only Adam Foote has spent more time in a penalty box wearing an Avalanche uniform than Cody McLeod (768). And yes, no one has a worse career +/- for the Avs than Cody Mac's -37. The Highlander has been a staple of the Avs' 4th line since 2007. As a UFA, could he and his endearing "toofless" grin be moving on this summer?

Jay McClement recently played in his 100th game with the Avalanche since coming over in the Erik Johnson trade. As a first-time UFA on a team with a lot of centers, there's a definite possibility that Silent Jay's short tenure with the Avs will be ending after this week's games.

The polarizing Matt Hunwick is a UFA this summer. Three months ago, he was a certain departure but a recent strong surge has perhaps put a dent in that certainty. I'm pretty sure he'll be moving on regardless, so Hunwick fans wanting a last chance to see him with the Avs' should take note. Fun fact: Hunwick's 3 goals matches the 3 scored by Colby Cohen in the AHL this year.

Finally, Shane O'Brien's 1-year deal expires this summer. I am pretty sure that SOB will be back, unless his solid play and veteran leadership have priced him out of the Avs' budget. You never know, though.

If you are the nostalgic type, you might want to make sure you're tuning in on Thursday and especially on Saturday to see what may be the final Avalanche game for at least some of the players on this list. Better yet, grab a ticket and see them in person (as always, MHH has a link on the front page bringing you some great ticket deals via TiqIQ). If these Avs are departing after this year, hopefully they can be sent off with a couple of wins...meaningless or not.

Last night was an unmitigated disaster for the Avs, with almost every game turning out the wrong way. The teams that need to be losing - like Phoenix and San Jose - are doing just the opposite.

Scorebored watchers can take the night off, however, as there are no games impacting the Avs' miniscule playoff hopes on the docket tonight. Actually, there's only one game of minor importance on Monday...but that's another show.

Can't hurt, right?

At 8 eastern, the Kings square off against Minnesota. 3 more points by the Kings and Colorado will not be able to catch them.

At 9pm, Phoenix plays against Anaheim. 4 more points by Phoenix and Colorado will not be able to catch them.

At 10pm. Calgary plays Vancouver. I believe Calgary needs at least a point to stay alive.

At 10:30, Dallas goes up against San Jose. 3 more points by Dallas and Colorado will not be able to catch them. 5 more points by San Jose and Colorado will not be able to catch them.

With these latest permutations, Avalanche fans should be focused on rooting against Phoenix and San Jose. Wins be either (or both) of those teams tonight would be disastrous.

Three games left. Technically, the Avalanche can lose tonight and still be mathematically alive. But even if they win, they will need two teams ahead of them to lose almost every remaining game just to have a chance. It won't happen, but it's still been fun to watch.

In other games, the Kings play Edmonton at 9:30 eastern and Dallas plays Vancouver at 10 eastern. Go Avs.