During the summer, it’s often hard to get any new information about the Colorado Avalanche, simply because nothing new is happening. In order to fight the boredom, I’ve decided to give people a series of articles introducing our new 2010 draft picks. The majority of these names will be unrecognizable to the average fan for another few years, but if you’re on a fan blog site, you are no average fan, and so, getting to know these players will be beneficial to your team knowledge. Plus, a few years down the road you can impress your friends when one of these players hits the ice for the first time in an Avs jersey and they ask “Who’s that guy?”

Luke Moffatt – 7th Round – 197th Overall

Moffatt will be a very interesting study in the coming years, because we’ll be able to predict his future faster than maybe some of our other choices. He is what is called a boom or bust prospect. He’ll either reach his potential and be a first/second line player, or he’ll be a bust and the only time we’ll see him at the Pepsi Center is when we’re paying him at the concession stand for our beers. This is because Moffatt has a very specific skill set. He’s a point-producer, and his style of play dictates that he will not ever be a grinder or defensive specialist.

He does have a history of success as well. Though the last two years his play has regressed, before that he was considered a future star, and was even drafted 2nd overall in the 2007 WHL Bantam draft. Though he was drafted, he has made it clear that he has no intention of playing in the WHL, and will actually report to camp at the University of Michigan this year.

Stats:

Ht. 6-1  Wt. 187

Year          League                   Games Played             Goals             Assists           Points

08-09     U-17 USNTDP                 58                            21                     17                   38

09-10         USHL                             28                             5                      10                    15

According to the team’s website, the Colorado Avalanche will launch the 2010-11 NHL season by hosting a reunion of Stanley Cup Champions.

Players and coaches from the 1995-96 Colorado Avalanche squad will be on hand for this momentous occasion, which will reportedly be held October 6th & 7th. The apex of the festivities will be a pre-game ceremony before the season opener vs. the defending champions, the Chicago Blackhawks.

(Joe Sakic behind the net, celebrating Uwe Krupp’s Cup-clinching goal in triple OT, Game 4 vs. the Florida Panthers. Image courtesy: Yardbarker.com)

These pre-game celebrations are becoming a tradition for this franchise, as last year’s opener was preceded by Joe Sakic’s retirement ceremony.

The Avalanche seems to be on the offensive right now, working diligently to establish a strong legacy and history of the team. As most Avs fans will remember, the team hosted a series of Alumni Nights last season, honoring early members of the club. I expect most of those players will attend this reunion, including (hopefully) players like Peter Forsberg. If you read the article, it seems the only confirmed guest of honor will be the 1996 Conn Smythe trophy winner, Captain Sakic.

The one player I’m not expecting to show up is legendary goaltender Patrick Roy. He is still working his tail off in Quebec as the owner/coach of the Quebec Remparts, and he generally doesn’t make special appearances at these types of things.

Nevertheless, the 1996 Stanley Cup was Colorado’s first major sports championship, so this reunion is not only a celebration in honor of hockey and the Colorado Avalanche, but a celebration for all of Colorado and its rich sports tradition.

NOTE: Cameron Gaunce Article

Check out this interesting article on Av-hopeful Cameron Gaunce. If you’ll remember, he was our first pick in the 2008 draft (2nd round, since we traded our first for Adam Foote).

Much like Joey Hishon has been this year, Gaunce was felt to be a reach by the Avs scouting when he was picked. Since then, he’s become a leader on his team, has been a finalist for Most Outstanding Defenseman in the OHL, and perhaps most impressively, has won/been a finalist for awards for both Best Offensive Defenseman and Best Defensive Defenseman.

He’s the epitome of a well-rounded blue-liner, and I’m really hoping for good things from him come training camp.

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Every year for the past three years or so, we the hockey fans are faced with the Annual Forsberg Dilemma. Will Peter Forsberg make an official return to the NHL? And if he does, do you want him on your team?

Seems like a strange question to ask regarding one of the most electrifying players of all time. And yet, because of his ailing body, it is a legitimate concern. It’s generally agreed that if he does make his return to the NHL, it will be with either the Colorado Avalanche or the Philadelphia Flyers. I’m not sure how the Flyers’ cap situation is, but I do know money is not an issue for the Avs, who will actually have to spend money before the end of the summer to reach the cap floor. Let’s take a closer look at the Dilemma.

Pros:

If he returned to the Avs, he would likely take over at the 2nd/3rd line left wing, the biggest need we have in our forward ranks. When he last played in the NHL, back in 2007, Avs fans remember the impact he had. In 9 games, he scored a remarkable 14 points. Although it has been argued that he is merely a shell of his former self, watching him in the Olympics I’m not so sure. He’s certainly lost a lot of his speed, but his passing abilities are still elite.

The bottom line is, when Forsberg is on the ice, he makes your team better.

Cons:

Therein lies the problem, and the obvious con to adding Forsberg is his health. If he makes your team better when he’s on the ice, when he’s not on the ice, nursing his chronically, infamously bad ankles, he’s hurting team chemistry. Add on to that the fact that the Avs have made it no secret that they are following a strict youth movement, and Forsberg may not be in the Avs plans this year or in the future.

To be honest, none of this may matter at all. According to reports out of Sweden, Forsberg is having his doubts about being able to play at all.

Personally, Forsberg is my favorite non-goalie in the game. I don’t care if I’ve got an elite Foppa or one that has to shoot electric current into his ankles while he’s on the ice to keep his ankles in place (like he did in 2007), I’m just happy seeing the guy play. Someday we will retire #21 at the Pepsi Center, there’s no doubt about that. Until then, I want Forsberg on my team if he’s willing and able.

This offseason the front office decided it was time to get a little crazy. There have been so many new signings, unexpected new faces, and fond farewells to old veterans, I’m having a hard time even keeping up with the action.

We Avs fans knew we were in for a wild ride when the big guys made their first move…FOUR days before the open bidding started. The Avs traded a measly 4th round pick to Phoenix in 2012 (The Coyotes are suckers…the world will already be over by the time that draft comes around!). But what they got back in return was Daniel Winnik. I’m not even going to post his stats, or his unique style of play. The only thing you need to know about this guy is, he’s got the word “Win” IN HIS NAME! It doesn’t get any more clear cut than that.

Since then, the Avs have continued their onslaught on the NHL Offseason. Here’s a list of the players we have let go via Free Agency:

Darcy Tucker

Marek Svatos

Matt Hendricks

Stephane Yelle

Chris Durno

Brett Clark

Ruslan Salei

Now that’s a lot of salary off our books. As far as Restricted Free Agents go, thus far we’ve signed

Daniel WINnik

Brandon Yip

Kyle Quincey

Which leaves two of our main pieces left unsigned:

Chris Stewart

Peter Mueller

Photo Courtesy: Yardbarker.com

As they’re RFAs, nobody can make an offer to them except us without an offer sheet. It’s sort of a complicated process, so we’ll just say it’s highly unlikely anybody would try to do that, and we’ll leave it at that. Regardless, that still gives us about two months before we have to worry about these two remaining unsigned. I think we can get a deal done.

In all seriousness, this has been one of the slowest Avalanche off-seasons in memory. But really, if you look at our line-up, and our eager young defensemen who are going to try to make the squad this year (Shattenkirk, Gaunce, Cohen, Elliot), I don’t really think that there’s a whole lot we need to add.

Plus, we need all the extra cap space so that in a few years, when we’re celebrating our Stanley Cup Championship, we don’t have to simultaneously mourn the dismantling of our team (Lookin’ at you, Chicago).

Here’s to patience, and to a smart, savvy, albeit dull 2010 Off-season for the Colorado Avalanche.

Colorado Avalanche 2010 Entry Draft Selections:

17. Joey Hishon – Center – Owen Sound (OHL)

47. Calvin Pickard – Goaltender – Seattle (WHL)

71. Michael Bournival – Left Wing – Shawinigan (QMJHL)

95. Stephen Silas – Defenseman – Belleville (OHL)

107. Sami Aittokallio – Goaltender – Ilves-Jr. (Finland-Jr.)

137. Troy Rutkowski – Defenseman – Portland (WHL)

139. Luke Walker – Right Wing – Portland (WHL)

197. Luke Moffatt – Center – USA U-18 (USHL)

Photo Courtesy of Yardbarker.com

Seeing as last season’s Entry Draft was the most exciting draft in Avalanche history, it’s no surprise it was also the first one I watched myself. Last weekend I enjoyed my second one, and I realized that no two drafts are the same, at least not for an organization that is on the rebuilding fast track. Last year’s draft was exciting because we knew, whether it was going to be John Tavares, Victor Hedman, or, the most likely outcome, Matt Duchene, we knew we were getting a great player. That happens when you pick top three.

Due largely to our success in last year’s draft, we found ourselves this year in a much worse position, draft-wise, because, despite some draft-lovers’ notions, the goal of an NHL team isn’t to have a lottery pick at the end of every year. No, this year we made the playoffs, and in doing so, dropped 14 spots to pick at lucky number 17.

Last year, we had the easiest job in all the draft. Pick the last of the Big-3 not taken by New York or Tampa Bay. This year, it got a little more complicated, and there were a whole plethora of potential options. Now, if you’ve been spending the last several weeks studying draft rankings and reading prospect profiles like I have, I’m sure you went into the draft with a pretty good idea of what kind of players would be available to us at our spot. I spent a lot of time studying the opinions of Central Scouting, a notable draft organization that ranks players in North American and Europe, splitting up the skaters and goaltenders. I knew we were looking at potentially guys like Dylan McIlrath, Jack Campbell, Emerson Etem, or Austin Watson. I even profiled the first two guys as my top two choices, and chose Campbell in our Fansided Mock Draft.

Of course, if this draft has taught us anything, it’s that we really don’t know anything.

Both of my choices were gone after the first eleven picks (McIlrath to the Rangers and Campbell to the Stars). Then, as our suit announced the pick, with Etem and Watson still on the board, I was in shock to hear a name I was actually unfamiliar with. Weeks of studying and preparing, for what?! To hear a guy’s name I’d never heard before? My initial reaction was not unlike most of yours, I’m sure. “Joey Hishon? Who is this guy, and why didn’t we trade down?”

But forgive us, Avs scouts, for our premature evaluation. That was the Central Scouting kool-aid talking. People were upset we passed on Etem, although his name name was skipped eleven more times before he was finally called at the penultimate pick of the first round. Only a small minority of Avs fans have the geographical advantage our financial dedication to actually watch these prospects on a regular basis to judge what kind of players these kids are. So we do what the rest of the hockey world does, we leave it up to the scouts, and base our opinions off of their opinions. The problem with that is, they’re just opinions, and the Avs’ scouts have their own opinions as well.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think I’d rather through my lot in with the guys who found players like Ryan O’Reilly and Paul Stastny in the second round over the guys who had a former OHL Western Conference Playmaker of the Year and Stickhandler of the Year ranked as their 55th best North American skater. Yeah, that’s our guy Hishon, in case you didn’t know, but I’ll get to that later.

As it stands, it’s impossible to fairly judge how well this draft went for the Colorado Avalanche for at least another five years. But here’s something to think about if you still can’t get past Central Scouting’s low ranking of our first round pick. According to the draft agency, of our eight selections, three of them were seen as second round values (Hishon, Rutkowski, Silas), and two others were the top goaltending prospects in both North America and Europe (Pickard and Aittokallio, respectively).

After some research and time to reflect, I’d say this draft has an opportunity to be one for the ages.

The network of NHL writers here at Fansided have been working hard over the last several weeks to come up with a complete mock draft for the first round of the 2010 Entry Draft.

To see the full mock draft, click here.

To get a more in-depth analysis on the 17th selection and why I selected who I did, check this out.

The 2010 NHL Entry Draft is being held this weekend at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The first round will take place Friday starting @ 5:00 p.m. and rounds 2-7 will conclude on Saturday.

Photo Courtesy: Yardbarker.com

The second nominee we’ll look at before tonight’s show is the Buffalo Sabres’ defenseman Tyler Myers.

Why He Should Win: Tyler Myers this season truly did something that not many players his age could: at 19 years old, he became a number one defenseman for a playoff team in the National Hockey League.

I cannot overstate this kid’s imposing physical tools. He stands at a towering 6′8″, a monster of a man, and he fills it out well at 222 lbs. He doesn’t use his size to crush the opposition so much as he uses his long reach and impeccable positioning to neutralize the offensive rush in his zone. He was effective in the defensive zone, judging by his +13, which was second among rookies.

On top of that, he’s also a dominant offensive force from the blue line as well. He led all rookies in assists (37) and was just outside the top ten for defenseman scoring league wide with 48 points.

Why He Shouldn’t Win: As good as Tyler Myers’ season was, he had a teammate who was even better. This year, Ryan Miller was the best goaltender in the world. He was the Olympic MVP, and all bets are on that he’ll take home the Vezina Trophy tonight. It makes the job of the defense a lot easier when you’ve got a good goaltender. When you’ve got the best goaltender in the world behind you, it’s not quite as hard to look like a stud.

Conclusion: Still, nothing can take away from Myers’ exceptional rookie season, and I honestly wouldn’t be surprised at all to see him take the trophy tonight. As far as this blog is concerned, I’ve marked him down as the runner-up.