Colorado Avalanche Fire Head Coach Joe Sacco
By Josh Hill
With just two Ottawa and Boston left to play this regular season, it’s time for teams that didn’t make the postseason to reflect and reassess their futures. For the Colorado Avalanche, that means firing their head Joe Sacco, as the team announced Sunday morning that’s exactly what has happened.
"The Avalanche has announced that head coach Joe Sacco has been relieved of his duties. — Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) April 28, 2013"
Sacco took over as the Av’s head coach back in 2009 and went to the Western Conference playoffs with the team that year. But after getting bounced by the San Jose Sharks in first-round, Sacco’s Avalanche haven’t been back to the playoffs and the 16-25-7 season that Colorado turned in this season, it was clearly time to pull the plug on the current regime.
“The organization believes a change of leadership behind the bench is needed going forward,” Avalanche general manager Greg Sherman said in a statement. “Joe has worked for this franchise for eight seasons and he is a dedicated and hard-working coach. We appreciate all he has done and wish him the best in the future.”
As of now, there is no word on who will be replacing Sacco as the next head coach of the Avalanche. Typically, the job has been one that hasn’t seen a ton of turnover, as Sacco took over in 2009 after Colorado fired Tony Granato and since 2002 only Granato and Joel Quinneville have been head coaches for the organization.
But the Avalanche have some time to find a new head coach, as they will be sitting around trying to right the ship until the puck drops on the 2013-14 season in October. For now, Colorado is focused on where they will end u in the NHL Draft, which holds it’s lottery this week.