Avalanche News

"Wait. I was only kidding when I suggested Patrick Roy for the coach of the Avalanche. So, I take no credit or blame if Roy gets to stand under his own jersey hanging up there in the Pepsi Center rafters, along with those two Stanley Cup banners he helped win. My suggestion was in keeping with the Avs' fondness for leafing backward through their old scrapbooks. Oh, look. There's Ray Bourque. Why not him? Or how about Adam Deadmarsh, great name. Chris Drury, old Captain Clutch, still playing, could be a player-coach. No, it is Roy, the only name that gets the blood up, causes conversation. At least someone is talking about the next Avs coach, and will as long as Roy is bobbing through the rumor mill."

"Patrick Roy has discovered there is indeed life after hanging up his skates. Retiring the mask he wore while winning more than 500 games as an NHL goalie, St. Patrick has found his passion on the bench. And now he would like to be considered as the next coach of the Avalanche. "I realize this is what I want to do: coach," Roy said Saturday, during a telephone interview with The Denver Post. "I realize this is where I'm most comfortable in the game: by the ice." Although professing shock at Colorado's decision to severe ties with Joel Quenneville after three seasons, Roy has definite interest in rejoining a franchise he twice led to the Stanley Cup as a player. "

"Of the two most frequently mentioned Avalanche coaching candidates so far, about the only thing Patrick Roy and Pat Burns have in common is their first name. Well, not quite. Both were on the same team in Montreal from 1988-91, with Burns as the coach and Roy as the goalie. But after that, there are vast discrepancies in their coaching resumes and overall careers in hockey. Roy, who told The Denver Post on Saturday he is interested in the Avs' vacant coaching position, has no NHL coaching experience but is generally considered the greatest goalie of all time. Burns has 1,019 games of NHL head-coaching experience, with three Jack Adams awards and one Stanley Cup — but no experience as a player. Whether Avalanche general manager Francois Giguere has any interest in either candidate, he isn't saying. "

"Avalanche captain Joe Sakic and forward Peter Forsberg still are pondering whether to return for the 2008-09 season. Both are eligible for unrestricted free agency July 1. "In the last week, I haven't talked to any of those guys," general manager Francois Giguere said Friday. "I would imagine they're still in their mode of reflection. I have to respect them."

"An offseason that began with plenty of uncertainties for the Avalanche has one certainty today: Joel Quenneville will not be back as the head coach. The team announced Friday afternoon that Quenneville, 49, will not be offered a new contract when his expires June 30. He will be free to talk with other teams."

"Citing a difference in hockey philosophy, Avalanche general manager Francois Giguere today outlined the reasons why his team and coach Joel Quenneville are parting company. Quenneville, who posted a 131-92-23 record in three seasons, was let go in what the team termed a mutual parting. Giguere said the decision was reached after meeting with Quenneville this week, and philosophical differences in playing styles emerged. "

"Could former Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy succeed Joel Quenneville as the Avs' next head coach? With the Avs, anything is possible. Roy today told the French-Canadian television network RDS that he was surprised the Avs suddenly had a coaching vacancy, and reacted to speculation he could return to Colorado to begin an NHL coaching career. Roy, who retired in 2003 with the Avs, has coached the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League since then. Speculation has begun that he might be ready to return to the NHL with the Avs behind the bench."

"Well, I picked the Wings in 7 before the series. Then, on the day of the game, when Forsberg was scratched, I blogged about it and picked the Wings in 4 or 5. I definitely don't think it would have been a sweep with a full Colorado lineup. Now that it's over and I witnessed how good the Wings are playing right now, I'm not sure it would have gone 7 either. But there's no question that any team losing five of the top seven forwards is going to be in trouble. That's what happened to the Avs, and it would have happened to Detroit if the situation were reversed. "

"Intrigue continues to swirl around the Avalanche's head coaching situation. Joel Quenneville's contract with the Avalanche runs out June 30 and general manager Francois Giguere has yet to give him an extension or disavow speculation he might be thinking of a change. Meanwhile, the coaching job with the Toronto Maple Leafs became vacant Wednesday. That is the team Quenneville grew up idolizing in Windsor, Ontario. It was the first team he played for in the NHL and the organization he got his coaching start with in 1991. The man who hired Quenneville as an assistant with the St. John's Maple Leafs, is current Toronto general manager Cliff Fletcher...Avalanche general manager Francois Giguere said he won't discuss specifics regarding Quenneville's status."

"With his team broomed from the NHL playoffs, his contract with the Avalanche rapidly approaching its expiration date and no firm commitment from his boss, coach Joel Quenneville is sitting here in limbo. Is Coach Q done in Denver? Although Quenneville remains employed with the Avs through the end of June, general manager Francois Giguere steadfastly refuses to make a commitment on the team's coach for next season, with a coyness that keeps everybody guessing. "

"Adrian - Do you think the Avs would have had a chance with a healthy lineup? My opinion is they would have lost in 7. I realize the players remain stoic to the press when there are injury questions. But seriously, if the Avs players could say what they really feel, they'd bring the injuries up every time. -- Mac Hendrickson, Burleigh Heads, Australia Mac - Well, I picked the Wings in 7 before the series. Then, on the day of the game, when Forsberg was scratched, I blogged about it and picked the Wings in 4 or 5. "

"Who is Fabian Brunnstrom and why are so many NHL teams - including the Canadiens - interested in him? Brunnstrom is back home in Sweden trying to decide where he would like to play after a whirlwind North American tour. He spent two days in Montreal, visited Detroit and Denver, and talked to people in Dallas and Toronto. He has been hailed as the best hockey player not under contract to an NHL team and has attracted a lot of attention as a 23-year-old free agent. Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey said yesterday he felt Brunnstrom has the talent to play in the NHL, but a quick look at the Swede's résumé suggests this guy poses more questions than Alex Trebek."

"Avalanche defenseman Jordan Leopold has been selected to play for Team USA in the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships, a Team USA official confirmed. Leopold, hurt much of his first two seasons with the Avs, is a Minnesota native who won the Hobey Baker Award with the University of Minnesota. "

"It was mind-boggling the number of injuries the Colorado Avalanche suffered against the Red Wings in the Western Conference semifinal series. The fact that the injuries were to Colorado's front-line stars left the Avalanche no chance to upend the Wings. In some ways, it was difficult to watch. You felt bad for the Avalanche, a team that battled relentlessly all regular season to get into the playoffs, despite numerous injuries. But this is professional sports. Injuries are part of the game. Now, Avalanche general manager Francois Giguere has some difficult decisions to make because the injuries exposed serious flaws and brittle bodies. None more brittle, of course, than Peter Forsberg...Then there's Joe Sakic, who looked like a shell of his former self."

"And now for one of the most common questions I get from frustrated fans in the Rocky Mountain region: Why don't you call for more coaches to be fired? The answer is simple. Because the owners who employ those coaches wouldn't listen to me if I did. Or maybe you haven't noticed the local landscape, the only dot on the pro sports map where coaches aren't hired to be fired. Denver has become the exception to the rule in pro sports. For whatever reason, local coaches are immune from the pressure felt by their contemporaries in other markets. They say they're under pressure to win, but are they?"

"When Peter Forsberg did his about-face and decided to play this season in Colorado instead of Philadelphia, the reporters who cover the Flyers breathed a sigh of relief. The Peter Forsberg who played for the Flyers was not the Forsberg we all would like to remember from the past. He was damaged goods. That's not to say he wasn't a joy to watch on the ice. He was. Many of us often wondered what it would have been like to have covered him in his prime. His skill level was remarkable. The problem was that he was out of the Flyers' lineup injured more often than he was in it...That is what happened in Philadelphia and is what happened when he returned to Colorado late this season. Forsberg's health - not his skill - was the story."

"How bad was the Avalanche's injury situation by the end of the season Thursday night? So bad that two players who were on the ice in the season finale at the Pepsi Center against the Detroit Red Wings were playing on broken feet. Avs vice president Jean Martineau on Friday disclosed that defenseman Scott Hannan and forward Ian Laperriere played with broken bones in their feet. "

"Avalanche general manager Francois Giguere saw his team's season end Thursday night against the Detroit Red Wings, one week after the playoff series began. Giguere, in his second year at the helm, has a busy summer ahead, with 13 potential unrestricted free agents and a coach, Joel Quenneville, who has no contract for next season. On Friday, Giguere took some time out with Post hockey reporter Adrian Dater to discuss the season and what lies ahead. Q: What can you tell us about the status of Joel Quenneville's job going forward? A: Well, I won't discuss anything specific about the coaching position or player personnel moves right now."

"On the eve of his squad's final, lopsided loss to Detroit in the playoffs, Quenneville was happy to chat about everything from weird injuries suffered by his players to a dance recital for a family member. As soon as the conversation turned to his expiring contract with the Avs, however, Quenneville abruptly clammed up. Given every opportunity to say he definitely wanted to return to the Colorado bench next season, the coach politely but firmly refused. "I don't want to talk about it," Quenneville said Wednesday, as we walked behind the glass at the team's practice rink. The silence that followed was awkward. "

"If his teammates have any say in the matter, Joe Sakic will be back with the Avalanche for his 20th NHL season. Sakic turns 39 on July 7, six days after he would be eligible for unrestricted free agency. Not that the longtime captain is interested in playing anywhere else; he’ll either sign another one-year deal with the Avalanche or retire. "

"Given the circumstances, Avalanche general manager Francois Giguere said Friday, his team delivered as much as he could have expected this season despite the four-game playoff sweep at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings. "I think so," he said. "I would have really liked to see how our guys would have competed if we were healthy. Going into the series, I really felt good about how we were playing and I liked our chances against them. It came pretty quick that we lost some important pieces, and it was tough to compete against them.""

"How bad was the Avalanche's injury situation by the end of the season Thursday night? So bad that two players who were on the ice in the season finale at the Pepsi Center against the Detroit Red Wings were playing on broken feet. Avs vice president Jean Martineau today disclosed that defenseman Scott Hannan and forward Ian Laperriere played with broken bones in their feet. "

"Rivalry? What rivalry? A merciless four-game series sweep applied the finishing shovels of dirt over the fond memories of what Wings vs. Colorado once meant. It’s finally time to let those delicious images rest in peace because they’re not getting a second life. The Wings roll on. The Avalanche simply rolled over. "

"Avs goaltender Jose Theodore was praised for his play against the Minnesota Wild. Against Detroit, he was pulled for his play. Theodore was outstanding in a first-round win over the Wild, finishing with a 1.88 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage. But it was a different story against the Red Wings. Theodore's save percentage against the Wings was .826, and he had a 6.92 goals-against average. He was pulled in three of the four losses, including Thursday after giving up three first-period goals in the Wings' 8-2 win..."

"Hard to believe it was less than two weeks ago Jose Theodore could convince himself, with a certain level of confidence, he was squarely playing his way into the Avalanche's future plans. After a monumental four-game flameout against the Red Wings, Theodore's future with the franchise is every bit as unclear as the overall status of the Avalanche's goaltender situation."

"Captain Joe Sakic, goalie Jose Theodore and forward Andrew Brunette are among the 13 Avalanche players who will be unrestricted free agents this summer. Also in that group are defenseman Adam Foote and forward Peter Forsberg - two of the most popular players in franchise history - and homegrown defenseman John-Michael Liles. After a second-round sweep at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings, Avalanche general manager Francois Giguere will have several decisions to make as he works with at least $21 million in salary-cap space."

"When Peter Forsberg returned to the NHL on Feb. 25, his carry-on luggage from Sweden came with a Buyer Beware tag. The Avalanche management and coaching staff accepted the risks and hoped the $1.2 million investment would pay surprising dividends. Consider it a break-even deal."

"Going younger is an approach the Avs have haltingly tried to adopt, and if any optimism can come out of it, the play of rookies David Jones, T.J. Hensick and Cody McLeod has been encouraging. But real success will not come from late season patch and putty with the likes of Forsberg and Foote and Ruslan Salei. What the Avs need is more forethought and insight. And maybe better scouts, certainly in Europe, from where now most of the hockey ranks are filled."

"This hardly was how the Avalanche envisioned ending the postseason. Getting swept by the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference semifinals was bad enough - this really isn't much of a rivalry anymore - but Thursday night's 8-2 shellacking at the Pepsi Center was a humiliating way to head into the offseason."

"Peter Forsberg did not retire Thursday night. But unless the Avalanche star can figure out what keeps ailing his 34-year-old body, he hinted after the Avs' season ended that his brilliant but injury-plagued career will be over."

"The Detroit Red Wings' ability to forge early leads against the Avalanche went from impressive to awesome. In the first three games of the series, the Red Wings had four on the board by the second period. In Thursday's Game 4 at the Pepsi Center, Detroit led 7-1 going into the third period — and Red Wings forward Johan Franzen had the same number of goals in the series (nine) as the Avs (nine). "

"Nicklas Lidstrom, long the NHL's best defenseman, is one of the few players who has experienced the Colorado-Detroit rivalry from the start, dating to when the Nordiques arrived in Denver in 1995. That includes that night in 2002 when the Red Wings closed out the Avalanche with a 7-0 romp in Game 7 at Joe Louis Arena in the Western Conference finals — a rout that was even more embarrassing for Colorado than was Detroit's 8-2, series- closing victory Thursday night at the Pepsi Center. "

"Oh ye of little notes. Bumper sticker waiting to happen: "Red Wings Sweep". And it will happen. Or maybe you didn't hear the crowd during Thursday night's Catastrophe at The Can. We're talking Hockeytown West. The loss for the Avs marked their second playoff 0-fer since moving to Denver for the 1995-96 season. Their previous sweep came at the hands of the Ducks in the 2006 conference semis. They were outscored in that series 18-4. This time? Try 21-9. Not that the Avs didn't manage to pull out a moral victory in the series. They tied Johan Franzen 9-9. "

"Goodbye is the one word Avalanche center Peter Forsberg has never learned in any language. But it's time now. It's time he listens to what his aching body says. And that body, which once performed magic on the ice that other hockey players could not even dream about, is screaming at him to quit. "Maybe it's time to realize my body has taken too much abuse," Forsberg said Thursday, after the Avalanche was swept away by the Detroit Red Wings in the NHL playoffs, ending with a humiliating 8-2 loss. "

"The curtain didn't close on the Avs of 2007-08 Thursday night, it crashed. The Avs allowed their highest goal total in playoff history in an 8-2 loss at the Pepsi Center. In the end, there was never a prayer against these Wings."

"This time there was no Patrick Roy in net and it was Denver rather than Joe Louis Arena. This wasn't a Game 7, either, but a rather anticlimactic Game 4. But the Red Wings hammered the Colorado Avalanche in a series-clinching game again, this time 8-2, to sweep the Western Conference semifinal series in four games. And it was every bit the rout the final score would indicate."

"The Red Wings are challenging enough to deal with man-to-man. But when an opponent is shorthanded, they can be flat-out ferocious. The Wings have scored on 26.3% of their power plays through three games of the Western Conference semifinals against Colorado. And as the Avs attempt to avoid elimination tonight in Game 4, they are putting a great deal of emphasis on discipline."

"The cast of injured Avalanche players were being "checked out" by doctors today, coach Joel Quenneville said after practice. But it appears center Paul Stastny and forward Ryan Smyth will not play Thursday in Game 4 of the Avs' Western Conference semifinal series with the Detroit Red Wings. Colorado trails 3-0 in the best-of-seven series. Stastny, who has an injured knee, "is unlikely to play tomorrow," said Quenneville, who listed Smith (foot) as being doubtful."

"The Avalanche could ice a couple of formidable line combinations with the players who were being treated for injuries or being examined by doctors Wednesday. The team's season is on the brink of ending, but there is no guarantee forwards Peter Forsberg, Ryan Smyth or Paul Stastny will be in uniform tonight when the Avalanche, down 3-0 to the Detroit Red Wings in the Western Conference semifinals, faces elimination at the Pepsi Center. Wojtek Wolski was lost for the remainder of the series in Game 1 and Marek Svatos has been recovering from knee surgery for nearly two months."

"Assuming the Avalanche can't pull off a near-miracle comeback in the Western Conference semifinals, the organization's offseason evaluation, decision-making and maneuvering will begin the second the clock hits all zeroes in Detroit's fourth victory. Whenever that is. It could come as soon as tonight, when the Red Wings go for the sweep in Game 4 at the Pepsi Center. "

"Should Joe stay? Or should he go? Sure, there's no crying in hockey, even when the game hurts as badly as losing a tooth or getting swept in the NHL playoffs. But, as Avalanche captain Joe Sakic takes the ice facing elimination against those hated Detroit Red Wings, any man, woman or child who loves one of the classiest players in Colorado sports history will dab at misty eyes. Only the memories last forever. How did Sakic get to be 38 years old? He wants us to remember him as Super Joe, rather than feel sorry for an Average Joe hanging on to the glory days. "

"The Avalanche aren't surrendering, but they're running out of forces in this fight. For the third straight game, Colorado lost a key player to injury. Now, facing a 3-0 deficit to the Red Wings in the Western Conference semifinals, the Avalanche will try to stay alive without Paul Stastny, their leading scorer in the regular season. Stastny suffered a knee injury in the first period of Game 3 and is doubtful for today's Game 4 and beyond. "He's probably unlikely in this series," Avalanche coach Joel Quenneville said. "

"This is not a hole as much as it is a crater, sheer-sided and slippery. This is how it is: Only two teams in Stanley Cup history have ever come back from 0-3, and the last time the Avs had a chance to do so, they surrendered Game 4 with one foot out the door."

"So, for now, the Avalanche will just try to keep the postseason going with a win Thursday night at the Pepsi Center instead of thinking about the prospect of joining the 1975 New York Islanders and 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs as the only teams in Stanley Cup playoff history to claim a series after dropping the first three games. "We have to win one game," captain Joe Sakic said Tuesday night after the Avalanche's 4-3 loss."

"But the Avs lost another key player Tuesday night in Game 3 when center Paul Stastny suffered a knee injury in the first period and didn't return. Stastny, the team's leading regular-season scorer, will be further evaluated today."

"The creative and quick-striking Red Wings, who prevailed 4-3 on Tuesday in Game 3 at the Pepsi Center, have produced at least that allotment in each game of the series — and haven't needed a third-period goal to do so."

"Forsberg, who missed the first two games of the series with a groin injury, was called for a second-period high stick on Mikael Samuelsson in Game 3. And, this being the Red Wings, the team that owns the Avs, it wound up being a four-minute double-minor penalty. And, this being the Red Wings, it cost the Avs a power-play goal that proved to be the difference in a game they had to win."

"In the wake of the Avalanche's 4-3 loss in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals Tuesday night at the Pepsi Center, this much is clear: There's no way that kind of comeback is happening. Not in this series. "

"Bring back the Big Red army. The Avalanche lost again — this is becoming monotonous — to the Detroit Blue-and-Yellow Wings on Thursday night, 4-3. "

"Colorado lost again to the Wings, 4-3 at the Pepsi Center on Tuesday night, to drop into the ignominious 3-0 hole that only two NHL teams ever have crawled out from."