Mile High Maniac
Fansided

Colorado Avalanche: A Primer

By Michael Longhofer

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 4
Next
11 Jun 1996: Joe Sakic, captain of the Colorado Avalanche carries the Stanley Cup trophy after defeating the Florida Panthers 1-0 in triple overtime of game four of the Stanley Cup Finals at Miami Arena in Miami, Florida. Sakic was awarded the Conn Smythe
11 Jun 1996: Joe Sakic, captain of the Colorado Avalanche carries the Stanley Cup trophy after defeating the Florida Panthers 1-0 in triple overtime of game four of the Stanley Cup Finals at Miami Arena in Miami, Florida. Sakic was awarded the Conn Smythe /

The Avalanche are headed to the playoffs for the first time since 2014 and I just realized I don’t know them very well.

When the Avs stormed into town in 1996, winning a Cup in their first year in Denver, I was all-in.  I was among the crowd downtown at the celebration for both the ’96 and ’01 Stanley Cup parades.  I have a Forsberg all-star Jersey from the Denver NHL all-star game.  I have a Sakic third jersey (the one with Colorado printed diagonally).  My first bit of Avalanche gear was a Kamensky road white.

I’ve played hockey for years, part of that weird and wonderful goalie sub-genre.  Those Avalanche teams were part of my heydey of hockey love.

Then, I got married, moved, got old and stopped playing.  Coincidentally, after the 2004-05 lockout season, the Avalanche got bad.  Forsberg and Foote immediately left via free-agency, the days of signing all the top free-agents (Kariya, Selanne) or making trades for final pieces of Cup teams (Bourque, Blake) were gone.

With them went my attention.

I’m still aware, I still always know who’s on the team and basically how they are doing.  I have not been immersed in day-to-day news of the team in some time, though.

I heard Patrick Roy stepped down as coach unexpectedly in August of 2016 and was replaced by Jared Bednar.

I think the #1 Goalie is Semyon Varlamov.  Know they’ve done well with high draft choices in Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon.  I know thy missed on one with Matt Duchene.  Know they paid a pretty high price for Erik Johnson in Chris Stewart.  I know that Johnson, when healthy, is worth that price.

I’m aware that last season was historically the worst that any team has had in NHL history.

I believe MacKinnon is or should be a Hart candidate.

I know that in the NHL if a guy gets on a roll, anything can happen.

That’s not much, what I know and it’s dated.  So I thought I’d look up things I don’t know and share them in case anyone is similarly willing but out-of-the-loop as an Avalanche fan:

Home/Colorado Avalanche