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.