2010 Offseason: The Colorado Avalanche Circus

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.