Anderson Out Indefinitely But No Surgery Required

Terry Frei fed us the news earlier today that Craig Anderson is out indefinitely but will not require surgery. He's headed back to (or likely is back in) Denver while John Grahame has been called in to back up Peter Budaj.

If no surgery is needed then there is no full tear, which is great. Hopefully the Avalanche release full details of the injury (I know, I know) to the fans and media. Better to let the facts out than to have baseless speculation running rampant.

It would seem that now might be time to get restart the "I Believe in Budaj" campaign as he's now the #1 again. Those were good times, weren't they?

It's not like Anderson was playing lights out to this point nor was Budaj playing badly. However Anderson has shown the ability to deliver consistently stellar results while Budaj has shown the opposite.

But I tell ya, there's strength in his new hairdo. I'm not worried.

The Purse Strings Open; Chris Stewart Signs Two-year Deal

The Avalanche offseason news has been fairly lackluster and coupled with radio silence on contract negotations, hand wringing commenced over unsigned RFAs Peter Mueller and Chris Stewart which bled into rumor and speculation.

The primary contender was that Stan Kroenke was cheaping out on us all to focus on his soccer, NBA and NFL holdings. The Avalanche were the redheaded step child so to speak. This ignored the fact that the Avalanche still needed - and do still need - to hit the salary cap floor of $43.whatever million.

Well, now that the team is in his son's hands, the Stewart signing gets done. Coincidence? I think so. But don't let that stop you from feeling otherwise.

It's a two-year deal worth $6M which is some decent scratch. I think Stewart can consider his rookie season a success now, eh? I like the guy and I have no expectation of him regressing over the next couple seasons so I'm happy.

And since I'm happy, aren't you all happy? And if so, maybe we should all do a little dance.

Mueller? Mueller?

The gloves are coming off

David Staples over at The Cult of Hockey just threw down with Adrian Dater, bashing the Avalanche along the way.

AD twitted - from a sick bed, not from the press box - the following:
"Can't win 'em all at home. A shame the Avs had to finally lose to a dog team like Edmonton at home, though."

To say Edmonton is a dog team is a little harsh. The Avalanche didn't play horrible but they were certainly beat by the better team last night. If they lost to Minnesota, then yes that would be losing to a dog team. But nonetheless, Staples took offense as if Dater had fired a "Yo momma" shot across the bow.

Amidst a flury of knocks against the Avs and their fans, he decided to take a shot at the city itself:
"Denver is a great city. It's America's version of Calgary."

A guy from Edmonton knocking on Calgary? Seriously?

Thanks to Kukla as usual for digging this stuff up.

Anderson Set to Make 15th Straight Start

Wow. Craig Anderson will make his 15th straight start tomorrow against the Vancouver Canucks.

I can only presume that the coaching staff believe the hype behind the wheels coming off for this team and have decided to ride Neo while he is hot. Once our youngsters hit the wall and the losses start piling up, Peter Budaj should see some playing time.

Darcy Tucker likely out 10 days

Darren Dreger just sent a tweet that Darcy Tucker received 40 stitches after hitting his head on the ice and will likely be out for 10 days.

That's a lot of stitches but it's good that he is already out of the hospital after being patched up.

10 days of time would mean he could be back for the Nov 4th game against the Avalanche. There are 5 games between that time, including tonight's tilt against the Red Wings (Hey Ozzy, make sure to be in Coyotes form again tonight, eh)

Puck Daddy has a post up asking if the suspension to Ruutu was enough. So far, most people are saying it sounds about right. I would have preferred a stiffer sentence but it's better than just sitting out a token game.

Tuomo Ruutu Suspended Three Games for Hit on Darcy Tucker; Willsie Recalled

Tuomo Ruutu has received a three-game suspension for his hit on Darcy Tucker last night. Good. I don't know if I have to add anything more beyond my rant last night, but hopefully Ruutu never does this again to another player.

Tucker is out of the hospital and Brian Willsie has been recalled from Lake Erie. I think we'll see T.J. Hensick in the lineup tonight as opposed to Willsie but I think everyone is more curious if Craig Anderson will get the back-to-back starts.

A few folks felt Tyler Weiman should have got the call last night against the Hurricanes, saving Anderson for tonights game against the Wings. But maybe Budaj is feeling better today and Joe Sacco wants to toss him into the deep end.

EDIT: AD got the question answered right after practice. Anderson gets the call again tonight.

I don't mind that decision. It's still early in the season and there will be plenty of time for Budaj to give Anderson some rest. I do like Weiman but I'm not sure I want to see him put up against the Wings, even if they are struggling right now.

Matt Duchene Staying with the Avalanche

I don't think anyone will be surprised by the news that Matt Duchene is with the Colorado Avalanche for the season.

And I'm not even surprised that Jori scooped everybody on this one and had the news up on her site before any other Avs related coverage did.

She also found an article hinting that O'Reilly is staying with the team for the season. That would have been surprising at the start of the season, not so much after seeing his play through 8 games.

So two 18-year olds, one 21-year old and one 23-year old will patrol the middle for the Avs. Youth, enthusiasm and skill. I'm loving this season so far.

Here comes the MSM

Pierre Lebrun and the rest of the media have started to notice the Avalanche.

You can't blame them as the Avs sit atop the Western conference, but this attention is not good karma. Let's hope the Avs can fight past some upcoming media hype

Craig Anderson Named NHL's Second Star of the Week

Craig Anderson has been named the second star of the week by the NHL, bested only by Alexander Ovechkin and his 6 points in 2 games.

Mr. Anderson has started his Avalanche career with a 2-0-0 record, a 1.00 GAA and .973 save percentage. All that for the low, low price of $1.5M for the year.

Well done, Mr. Anderson and well done Greg Sherman for snagging this guy.

Why stop there?

The city of Denver renamed 19th street to Joe Sakic Way, for the next 19 days. Cute but why stop there?

Make it permanent, Denver. Joe deserves it.

Milan Hejduk Signs Extension with Avalanche

Adrian Dater reported via Twitter that Milan Hejduk has signed a one-year contract extension with the Avalanche.

Smells like a sign & trade. Right? Right?

Frack

He's retiring.

Joe Sakic to Announce Decision on Thursday

Joe Sakic will announce his decision this Thursday at 1:00pm MT.

I still believe.

Colorado Avalanche Roster Updates

The Avalanche announced a slew of signings over the weekend. David Jones, Darren Haydar, Chris Durno, Matt Hendricks, Brian Willsie and Saskatoon native Tyler Weiman are all back with the franchise.

AD has scooped us up the contract numbers for David Jones. The rest should be minimal value and are likely headed to Lake Erie anyways.

I've updated the Google Spreadsheet with Jones' contract - which wasn't far off from my estimate - and I also removed Sakic's contract but left his name in. Why? Because he's not part of the team (yet), his numbers shouldn't be counted.

Duchene is still on the squad as people seem adamant to keep putting him in there. However, I'm going to keep his cap hit at the maximum salary an entry-level player can sign. He will have a bonus-laden contract for sure, but those bonuses don't need to count against the cap this year. The reason last season's values counted against the cap was because the NHLPA had the option of not renewing the CBA for this season. But they did renew so again, the cap hit for bonuses can be deferred to next season.

I left seven D on the squad but it's looking like one or more of them are moving out by the end of the week. I hope we don't see Hannan tossed out simply because he has the highest salary among the D.

As always, feel free to correct any errors or omissions in the sheet, open it up and make the change.*



*But as mentioned, Duchene should stay at an entry level salary. It's already a compromise to leave him on the sheet, which is a bit premature in itself :)

Colorado Avalanche Trade Ryan Smyth

I'm in shock. I didn't want to believe the rumors. In fact, during the trade deadline I was quite emphatic that it was all bunk. Turns out, I was wrong.

The Avalanche have traded Ryan Smyth to the Los Angeles Kings. I haven't yet heard what we're getting in return but I'd guess Doughty is not an option.

This frees up $3M in cap space which should help with Kroenke's goal of driving away fans...I mean trimming payroll. It would also create some extra space to allow both Sakic and Duchene to fit on the squad. So maybe I'm not wrong on Sakic...

UPDATE 1: AD has the early scoop on the details: Tom Preissing, Kyle Quincey and a 5th-round pick next year. Without researching more on those players, it's a "meh" from me. And dangerously close to a "WTF?".

UPDATE 2: Tom Preissing was looking like a stud early in his career but he completely tanked in LA and ended up spending time in the AHL. I remember him now from his time with the Ottawa Senators during their run in '07 and he looked like a blossoming defenceman so I'm not sure what happened but based on his last two seasons, he's not worth $2.75M. But I suppose if you want someone to take a big contract off your hands, you've got to take back an unwanted one in return.

Kyle Quincey actually had a solid season with the Kings and could be an excellent pickup. He spent time in the Detroit organization and there are definitely worse places to be trained. The Wings did waive him this season, leading to his LA picup He scored 38 points in 72 games with the Kings and feels a bit like John-Michael Liles' doppleganger. There are worse things to be, especially with a 500K price tag.

The 5th-round pick should have been a 2nd or 3rd-round pick since those later rounds are basically throw-aways. Yeah, yeah, Datsyuk, Zetterberg, blah blah blah.

The end result leaves me going "WTF?!". Note the extra exclamation point. It's not the loss of Smyth, it's the lack of return. I know Smyth had a large contract for what some viewed as limited point production, but Smyth did so much more than just put up points. This leaves room for young guys to step up which I'm actually excited for, but I still feel Smyth was worth more than this. It's probably the 5th-round pick that's really sticking in my craw.

Logjam in the backend
This possibly squeezes out Kyle Cumiskey for another season since there is a bit of a logjam on defence now. To be honest, I'm not that sold on Cumiskey and Quincey looks to be a better version. Of course, I say that without having had enough time to really watch Quincey.

Surely you would think there's another d-man on the move. That's a lot of salary on the backend for a squad of that calibre and there's a lot of offensive d-men, and not many shutdown guys. But when you're in cost-cutting mode, I'm guessing filling roles is a secondary priority.

Youth Movement
So it's officially time for the youth movement (come on, let's spin it a bit). There's now room on the squad for T.J. Galiardi, who should make the team based on his play last year, as well as Matt Duchene.

But just because you're going younger doesn't mean you trade the vets for nothing. I'll say this, Duchene better be as good as we all hope he is and Stastny better stop blocking shots with bare body parts. And for the love of Pete, let's hope Hejduk stays healthy. And that Wolski picks up his game. And that Svatos decides to score 30+ again. And that...oh hell, let's just call next season a full-on rebuild season and get it over with.

Leadership
This leaves a lot of leadership room that needs to be picked up by guys like Milan Hejduk, Scott Hannan and Adam Foote. Especially if I'm wrong on Sakic coming back. Smyth, Sakic and Ian Laperriere contained a lot of leadership. Losing all three at once would be a big hit.

Avalanche Sign Craig Anderson

Greg Sherman starts off his tenure with a solid pickup, signing goaltender Craig Anderson to a 2-year deal, rumored at $1.8M/year. Anderson was one of the top-3 goaltenders available and likely the best bang for the buck, though we've yet to see what Nikolai Khabibulin and Martin Biron sign for.

Anderson played very well for the Florida Panthers in his limited playing time, posting 15 wins, 7 losses, a 2.71 GAA and .924 save percentage. On a non-lethal Panthers team, those are very good numbers.

Anderson and Peter Budaj will jockey for the #1 position in training camp, but it's quite possible this is another 1a/1b situation. Anderson is not the Avs goaltending savior, but Anderson/Budaj is more solid than Budaj/Raycroft.

Nice scoop, AD!

Sakic Has Made Up His Mind - (I Think) He's Coming Back

Our intrepid reporter, Adrian Dater, was on the beat in Montreal and got a hold of this gem from GM Greg Sherman: Joe Sakic has made up his mind. But before anyone is told that decision, Sakic is going on vacation.

All I'm going to say is this...you don't go on vacation before you retire. You go on vacation after you retire.

Glad to have you back, Super Joe.

Post-Draft Thoughts - Avalanche Look to Major Junior

Once the smoke had cleared, the Avalanche got their guy - Matt Duchene - and added an additional forward, three defencemen and two goalies.

Round 1 (3) - Matt Duchene (C, Brampton Battalion)
Round 2 (33) - Ryan O'Reilly (F, Erie Otters)
Round 2 (49) - Stefan Elliot (D, Saskatoon Blades)
Round 3 (64) - Tyson Barrie (D, Kelowna Rockets)
Round 5 (124) - Kieran Millan (G, Boston U)
Round 6 (154) - Brandon Maxwell (G, US National Team)
Round 7 (184) - Gus Young (D, Noble)

In the first three rounds, the Avs strayed from US college hockey and went to Canada's major junior leagues in the CHL, grabbing two forwards from the OHL and two defencemen from the WHL. High-fives all around for those choices. Nobody likes to stereotype but gun to my head, I'd say it's the O that pumps out snipers, the W that pumps out D and the Q that gives us our lovable Francophone goaltenders.

Round-by-round Compustrike numbers
Round 1 was a no-brainer. A chimp could have got up and eeked out something sounding like "uchie" and everyone would assume he meant Duchene. But still, high-fives for not f'n it up!

In Round 2, the Avalanche made two excellent choices. I've watched Stefan Elliot and think he will grow into a solid top-four defenceman who can play on the #1 PP unit. In fact, some have labelled him as a Brian Rafalski-type player. He's got a shot at being on Team Canada for the 2010 World Junior tournament here in Saskatoon, which may be the first time an Avs prospect has played for Team Canada at the U20's. I've never seen Ryan O'Reilly play but I like the sounds of the scouting reports. Sure, he's not going to step on the ice this year and tear it up, but it sounds like he could mature into a top-six forward.

In Round 3, the Avalanche decided to go with Len Barrie's - yes, he of Lightning ownership fame - son, Tyson Barrie. He was partnered with Luke Schenn in Kelowna which gets my seal of approval. He put up some solid numbers in the Rockets run to the Memorial Cup and I'll be sure to be at the Blades-Rockets games to watch two Avs prospects duke it out on defence.

The Avs need more goaltending prospects and they looked to the late rounds to fill those up by grabbing Kieran Millan in Round 5 and Brandon Maxwell in Round 6. I could have sworn earlier today that Millan's stats were on hockeydb and showed a GAA of 1.67 in 28 games played this year, but I must have been off my rocker as . Maxwell would appear to be a longshot but there's something about Millan that has me slightly hopeful. EDIT: The Avs draft page say he posted a GAA of 1.94 while leading Boston to the NCAA championship.

And in Round 7, they grabbed another defenceman, Gus Young. I won't even attempt to say if this was a good choice or not. But he's got a good name, so I like him.

He won't know how successful this draft was overall for a few years, but on paper it looks pretty good. An argument could be made that we've got a lot of offensive defencemen waiting in the pipes and limited blue-chip goaltending prospects. But blue-chip goaltenders are tough to find and defensive defencemen often come out of nowhere to surprise you. I think the cubbard (intentional) is looking good.

Now we enter the free agency waiting zone where the Avs should be relatively quiet, unless they're able to offload some salary. And I wouldn't get my hopes up on that front if I were you.

Related Links
Avalanche.com Draft Wrap-up
Matt Duchene Post-Draft Interview (via MHH)
Duchene fist-pump knowing he was going to Colorado (via Jib)
5 Questions with Matt Duchene

Avalanche Management Shakeup

The shakeup has begun.

Head coach Tony Granato, assistant coaches Jacques Cloutier and Dave Barr along with goaltending coach Jeff Hackett are gone from the coaching staff while assistant GM Michel Goulet and video coordinator PJ Deluca are gone as well.

So that's the entire coaching staff, a Nordiques legend plus what appears to be someone caught in the crossfire (ie. "acceptable losses")

I'm surprised that Goulet is gone but damn am I glad to see the entire coaching staff removed. I was getting worried that the organization was just paying lip service to the need to clean house and get the organization back on track.

Lacroix is either close to naming a new GM or wanted to attract a few eyeballs in the GM world to prove things will be different.

UPDATE: Damn, AD has the scoop on the new structure and Greg Sherman is the new GM with Craig Billington as his assistant. I really have to get ready to go to work so more thoughts when I wake up (yes, I type in my sleep).

Dean Lombardi Speaks to Fans on Kings Website

Los Angeles Kings President and General Manager Dean Lombardi has an article up on the official LA Kings site.

It's well written and well reasoned. An impassioned plea for fans to stick by them through the rebuilding process while reiterating that he will not falter and go for a quick fix.

It was refreshing to read and it should be mandatory for every clubs GM to put up a post like this to the fans at least once a year.

Glove tap to Kukla's Korner.