The Colorado Avalanche need to inject more offense into their forward corps.
The month of August is not exactly considered a prime time for landing big name free agents, nevertheless its when many of the best value deals are struck. Most impact players have long since signed expensive (and potentially franchise crippling) deals, while unsigned players are desperately trying to stay in the league.
Last summer we saw some quality players reluctantly accept Professional Try Outs (PTOs) as the salary cap has forced frugality across the league. The Avalanche gave out three PTOs last year, but ended up only signing Jack Skille.
This season the Avs have an obvious hole in their forward group and are tight against the cap ceiling with only ~$1.5 million in space. Ideally, I would like to see the roster look like this by mid-season (Rantanen is almost guaranteed to start on the 3rd line).
Landeskog – MacKinnon – Rantanen
Grigorenko – Duchene – ???????
Comeau – Soderberg – Colborne
McLeod – Mitchell – Iginla
Playing Iginla in the top 6 should not be an option this year. He creates a significant drag on his teammates and is atrocious defensively. Slotting him in the 4th line may be overly optimistic, but you never know with a new head coach. The point is there is an obvious lack of firepower in the top 6, especially if the Avs want to play Soderberg on the 3rd line.
It’s for these reasons that Joe Sakic should be courting players with either a PTO or a cheap, short term deal.
Next: Steve Downie