Colorado Avalanche must rebuild their core
It has become painfully obvious the Colorado Avalanche need to rebuild if they want to contend anytime soon. Here’s how they should start.
After a 10-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, the plight of the Colorado Avalanche has never been more blatant. Perhaps it’s appropriate they found out this way. It was, after all, a blowout involving the Canadiens that led them to several Stanley Cups.
It appears the Avalanche have fallen far from their 2013-14 season. New head coach Patrick Roy led the team to the playoffs, where they nearly upset the Anaheim Ducks. However, maybe that playoff appearance was the worst thing that could have happened to them. The postseason appearance led to the Avalanche trying to add one last piece to their Stanley Cup puzzle. But Colorado was never close enough to need the last piece to begin with. They were significantly outshot in 2013-14. Only Semyon Varlamov’s heroics and a very high shooting percentage led them to the playoffs. Once its goaltender started regressing, Colorado crashed back to Earth.
Let’s not pretend the Avalanche need a full rebuild. They have plenty of young talent on their team. Though Varlamov has been terrible, Calvin Pickard appears to be next in line. It will be difficult, but far from impossible, to get rid of Varlamov thanks to the upcoming expansion draft. The Vegas Golden Knights could give Colorado a “get out of jail free” card by taking him. At the very least, Pickering costs far less than Varlamov.
Tyson Barrie, even though he’s struggling, is one of the NHL’s premier puck movers. He represents the future of their blue line. You don’t trade a guy like Barrie, you build your blue line around him. Nikita Zadorov is constantly improving and should be getting more than 17 minutes of playing time per game. Nathan MacKinnon is an outstanding young center who is signed to a team friendly extension. Mikko Ratanen has been a rare bright spot in an otherwise dark season. So there’s certainly talent in the Colorado Avalanche organization. But there’s not nearly enough of it.
Colorado has some assets they could trade. But they need to start now because there’s no worse place to be than a team stuck between rebuilding and contending. Just ask the Vancouver Canucks.
The first thing they must do is trade Jarome Iginla. His contract is up after the 2016-17 season. Though Iginla has a no movement clause, he will likely be willing to waive it to go to a Stanley Cup contender. It makes sense for him because the one thing he has never accomplished in his career is winning a Stanley Cup.
A title would be the perfect way for Iginla to ride off into the sunset and it would put an exclamation point on his legacy. However, due to his lack of speed, a trade to the Eastern Conference makes very little sense. A trade to the San Jose Sharks or Chicago Blackhawks, however, would benefit both sides.
It’s time for Francois Beauchemin to go as well. Much like Iginla, he was brought into be a complementary piece for the Colorado Avalanche back when they still believed they were contenders. However, also just like him, Beauchemin has a no movement clause. And unlike Iginla, the old defenseman has a year left on his contract after this season. They might not be able to get much for him, but all it takes is for one team to covet him or one team to lose a defenseman for them to be willing to take on that extra year.
Carl Soderberg could also be a trade candidate, though he still has three years left on his deal after the 2016-17 season. Perhaps if the Colorado Avalanche retain some salary, they can get a decent return for him. Soderberg isn’t worth his $4.75 million cap hit, but he’s still a very solid center.
The big question for the Colorado Avalanche is do they want to trade one (or both) of their crown jewels – captain Gabriel Landeskog and forward Matt Duchene? Trading one of them makes sense. While their core is talented, it’s simply not getting the job done. A shake up could work wonders if done properly. Of those two, Landeskog might be the most expendable. On the other hand, Duchene could fetch a king’s ransom. Trading either of the two would be the ultimate wave of the white flag on the current core of the Colorado Avalanche. But maybe that’s what they need.
Sure, rebuilding is painful and there’s no guarantee for success. However, there’s no guarantee for success for them now. The Avalanche are tumbling down the standings and not much is going to change that. There is hope for them. If they follow the guidelines set by recent rebuilds, the Colorado Avalanche could climb back up the standings relatively fast.
The Washington Capitals put all their eggs in one basket – Jaromir Jagr. However, they quickly found out they weren’t going to be Stanley Cup contenders. So they started a huge fire sale. The fire sale and tanking netted them Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Green, and Karl Alzner, among other players. While the Capitals have yet to win a Stanley Cup, they’ve been a consistently great team if you ignore the Dale Hunter and Adam Oates years.
Related Story: Each NHL Team's Biggest What If Moment
Colorado should also look at the Toronto Maple Leafs. That’s how you do a complete purging. While the Leafs still aren’t quite ready to be a playoff team, they’re quickly improving. Also, Toronto went from having a comically shallow prospect pool to arguably the deepest in the NHL in a span of roughly 18 months. Colorado could easily pull that off if they play their cards right.
A wise man once said “it’s always darkest before the dawn”. So cheer up, Colorado Avalanche fans. Their failures now could mean future success. But the rebuild must start now.