30 Teams In 30 Days: Duchene Time In Denver

When many of us think about the Colorado Avalanche one name comes to mind, British Columbia's own Joe Sakic. Never the dance after a goal kind of player, but a stern and confident leader on the ice who led by example. Sakic, the Av's only captain in their 13 season history in Denver, left the NHL this off-season and opted to retire. His departure is just one of many changes for the Colorado Avalanche heading into 2009-10.

Since their arrival to Colorado, the Avalanche have become a staple of success in the Western Conference. Prior to the 2008-09 season, the Avalanche averaged 100 points a season throughout their history and were coming off three consecutive 95 point seasons. To say that those results didn't repeat in 2008-09 would be putting it lightly.

Following a sweep out of the 2008 Western Conference Semifinals by their arch-rivaled Detroit Red Wings, the future of the Avalanche was uncertain. Peter Forsberg was seemingly out of the equation for good, starting goaltender Jose Theodore was a free agent and Sakic simply wasn't getting younger.

On July 1st, 2008 the now fired Avalanche GM Francois Giguere let veterans and key components of the 2007-08 club walk when Jose Theodore, Jeff Finger, Kurt Sauer, Andrew Brunette and Peter Forsberg all left Denver for other clubs and/or hit the open market uncontested. Rather than finding valuable replacements that could bring the same production, Giguere opted to bring in Toronto tough guy Darcy Tucker and former Bruin and Calder Trophy winner Andrew Raycroft.

The youth movement in Colorado seemed to be officially in motion. With the reins of the starting job seemingly handed down to Peter Budaj, the Av's were set for their 2008-09 club roster. The results? Absolutely horrendous.

Budaj seemingly fell flat on his face in 2008-09, a letdown from his previous three seasons where he went a combined 61-37-16 with a .902 save percentage. The struggles of Budaj let to a battle for the starting job between him and Andrew Raycroft where the Avalanche weren't seeking the best goaltender as much as they were simply seeking the lesser of two evils. Budaj finished with a career worst 20-29-5 record along with a save percentage under .900 for the first time in his career.

When Raycroft left the Av's after just one season to go back up Roberto Luongo for league minimum, the Av's went out and grabbed Craig Anderson to back-up and possibly take over for Budaj if his struggles are to continue. Anderson went 15-7-5 for the Florida Panthers in 2008-09 and is without question an upgrade to the Colorado goaltending core.

At the conclusion of what was a disastrous season where Colorado finished with just 66 points, a remodeling was needed and they did just that. Francois Giguere was sent packing after just three years with the organization as General Manager, which was followed up by the firing of coach Tony Granato. As Joe Sacco will take over behind the bench for the Av's in 2009, the rosters will surely have a different feel to them.

The biggest addition is certainly the Avalanche's first round draft choice and third overall, Matt Duchene. The 18-year old, who grew up an Avalanche fan is coming off another successful season with Brampton of the Ontario Hockey League. His 79 points in 57 games and 26 points in 21 playoff games in 2008-09 show the Avalanche that he's a clutch performer ready to take it to the next level.

Although he may be lacking in size at 5'11, Duchene has the skill set to be a phenomenal center with offensive capabilities and a sound defensive touch for many years to come.

Besides Duchene, the biggest name heard in Denver regarding the Avalanche was the moving of Ryan Smyth to the Los Angeles Kings. The 33 year old winger is coming off a 59 point season and was moved to L.A for defensemen Kyle Quincey in a seemingly obvious cap dump considering Smyth's contract puts him at a 6.25 million dollar salary cap hit for the next three seasons.

As the Avalanche begin to look towards the 2009-10 season, the goal is simple and that is to keep the rebuilding going. A playoff spot for Colorado seems near impossible, but isn't that what we said for the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2008?

The Avalanche opening night line-up should go as follows.

Wojtek Wolski - Paul Stastny - Milan Hejduk

Darcy Tucker - Matt Duchene - Marek Svatos
Cody McLeod - T.J Hensick - Chris Stewart

David Koci - Philippe Dupuis - David Jones

John-Michael Liles - Adam Foote

Kyle Quincey - Scott Hannah

Brett Clark - Ruslan Salei

Peter Budaj

Craig Anderson

Although the offense is there, the defense in front of Budaj or Anderson is just plain awful. Expect more of the same from this year's Avalanche, lots of goals against and not enough offensive firepower to combat. However, it'll certainly be fun to witness how the Duchene Era will begin now that the Sakic Era is officially done in the Rockies.

Prediction: 5th in Northwest Division, 14th in Western Conference.

Free Agent Frenzy: 10 Best Centers

Nearing the end of the Free Agency Frenzy pieces, we now move to the center position. The center can be the anchor of the offense, the captain of the penalty kill and provide the edge needed for a goal with a decisive face-off win. This year's crop of centers is filled with players who've donned the 'C' on their jersey during their careers and for others, their penalty killing abilities have gotten them to where they are in their career today.

10) Joe Sakic - Someone needs to relay the message to Joe that it's over. He's won a couple Cups, has numbers that'll surely get him into the hockey hall of fame and there's simply no reason to return to the rebuilding Colorado Avalanche for a 21st NHL season. Sakic has just played in 59 games since the start of the 2007-08 season, but his production has still been there. His 52 points in those 59 games and role as one of the best captains in the NHL is still there, when he's healthy. Sakic can still compete at a high level, but can his body truly hold up for another season? Another reason as to why he's ranked at #10 on this list is because he's basically a lock to remain in Colorado and mentor centers such as Matthew Duchene and Paul Stastny, taking the fun out of him being a free agent out of him.

9) Rob Niedermayer - Being the brother of the Ducks captain Scott Niedermayer, it's unlikely we'll see Rob leave for anywhere else, but the option is still there. Rob Niedermayer is coming off a year of highs and lows. His 14 goals were his highest total since the 2005-06 campaign, but he also had a career-worst -17 in 79 games. Fact remains that Niedermayer's presence in a locker room and playoff experience of 104 career playoff games where he's registered 39 points will be gladly taken by any contending team.

8) Jason Williams - When the Atlanta Thrashers signed center Jason Williams over the summer of 2008 to a one-year 2.2 million dollar deal, the move was regarded as a signing that could prove to be a sleeper. Even though Williams had missed the final 35 games of the Blackhawks 2007-08 season with a sports hernia his numbers proved to be impressive as he posted 36 points (13 goals) in 43 games for Chicago. In Atlanta, the Thrashers found themselves in the basement once again due in large part to an anemic powerplay and the inconsistent play of their goaltenders and Williams was traded to Columbus. In Columbus, Williams took great advantage of the familiar division as he played with the Red Wings along with the Blackhawks in the Central throughout his career. His presence in Columbus gave the Jackets a solidified secondary scoring center to skate alongside Antoine Vermette and to largely take the pressure off Rick Nash to carry the team. In his 39 games with the Blue Jackets, Williams' 29 points and +5 made him an added weapon to their offensive arsenal. At 28 years old, the number of teams in the market for a center like Williams should be quite high.

7) Steve Sullivan - The journey of Predators forward Steve Sullivan has undoubtedly been a trying one. After missing the final 20 games of the Predators 2006-07 regular season and all 5 of their playoff games against the Sharks with a back injury, the Preds looked towards next year and the returning health of Steve Sullivan. However, his 'back spasms' led to the Ontario native missed all of the 2007-08 campaign where he required major surgery on his back. The surgery's rehabilitation almost forced Sullivan to miss the first 40 games of the Predators 2008-09 season. Upon his return, nobody could have expected that he'd return so loudly, where he tallied 32 points in 41 games for the Nashville Predators and eventually winning the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. Although he's played primarily as a left-winger during his tenure in Nashville, Sullivan is an experienced center, but his capability to play both positions only makes him more valuable.

6) Robert Lang - When the Montreal Canadiens acquired veteran center and 87-playoff game veteran center Robert Lang, the feeling among the Northeast Division was something along the lines of "Oh, (expletive).". Lang's addition into the already stacked Montreal offense seemed to push the Habs over the top. As most of the Montreal Canadiens roster either didn't live up to expectations or didn't stay healthy, Robert Lang became the biggest offensive threat on the Habs offense. In 50 games, Lang scored 18 goals and tallied 21 assists, finishing with a +6. His 17 points on the powerplay proved to be just what Montreal needed when centers such as Saku Koivu and Tomas Plekanec failed to produce numbers that made the 2007-08 Habs so effective. Despite Lang's season being ended by a torn achilles tendon injury, the 38 year old still has the skills to be a great supporting center to any contending club.

5) Saku Koivu - The oft wrongly criticized (my opinion) Montreal captain Saku Koivu appears to be leaving Montreal. After a rumored deal was put on the table for Alex Kovalev to take off as full-time captain, it's hard to imagine a scenario where Koivu returns to Montreal willing to resign as captain. At 35, Koivu still has the endurance and stamina to compete at a high level. He was ranked 3rd for Montreal's time on ice among forwards, and Koivu's exceptional two-way play found the Finland gaining great time on the penalty kill and powerplay. In my opinion, he'll end up in Minnesota to provide some veteran leadership on a young club and play along side his little brother Mikko.

4) Nik Antropov - The Kazakh winger and center truly had a career year. He set a new career high in points with 59 for the Rangers and Maple Leafs, and also had a career low -14 in 81 games. The 6'6 center, who is also able to play on the wing scored a total of 28 goals, a new career high. It's beginning to appear as if Antropov's reaching his potential and entering the prime of his career as he's scoring more goals than the season before since the lockout. The 1oth overall pick in 1998's NHL draft scored 3 points in the Rangers 7-game series loss against the Washington Capitals and was often the only player looking to actually care out there by the end of it. His late season efforts with the Rangers certainly increased his stock and with the cap space freed up by Naslund's retirement in New York, Antropov has a decent chance of staying in red, white and blue and in Manhattan.

3) Mats Sundin - At this time last season, all the talk was about free agent center Mats Sundin and where he was going. Montreal was the favorite, then Detroit was, then New York was and by the end of it, Vancouver left as in the winner...in December. The Mats Sundin saga was similar to that of Brett Favre's which by the end of it got progressively more annoying and by the end of it, we had had enough. Regardless of the story, Sundin provided to be the extra edge the Canucks needed to win the division. Sundin instantly became a captain of the Canucks powerplay where he scored 14 of his 28 total points in 48 regular season games. In the Canucks chase for their first Stanley Cup ever, Sundin's presence and poise helped the Canucks effort. His 8 points in 8 playoff games and shooting percentage of 20 showed that the 38 year old's still got it. Approaching 39 and still without a Stanley Cup championship on his resume, the Swedish native will more than likely end up signing with a Stanley Cup favorite for one final go round.

2) Michael Cammalleri - The Calgary Flames forward absolutely tore goaltenders apart this season. Following a 2007-08 season hindered by a rib injury, the 27 year old lefty went on a torrid powerplay pace through 2008-09 and becoming the Flames best offensive weapon. His 19 goals and 14 assists on the powerplay were tops among Calgary players and his 3.5 million dollar a year salary is sure to go up. Poising the question, does Calgary have the cap space to retain the Ontario native? Following the trading for the rights to Jay Bouwmeester, the Flames have less than 24 hours to re-sign the defensemen before he becomes a free agent. In all likelihood, if Cammalleri is bound to return to the Saddledome, it'll be if Jay Bouwmeester is not in Calgary.

1) Henrik Sedin - One half of perhaps the most expensive prize of this off-season, Henrik Sedin and his twin brother Daniel are both free agents at the stroke of midnight on July 1st. The rumored asking price in total for the twins comes out to about 126 million dollars over the next 12 years and to be honest, they're worth it. Henrik is coming off another strong season in British Columbia where he posted 82 points with 22 goals in 82 games. The Sedin's also create a supreme threat on the powerplay, Henrik especially with his 22 assists on the powerplay. Another reason why he's touted as the best free agent center by me is because of his durability. In his entire 8-year NHL career, he's missed just 10 games and has become more effective every season.