Colorado Avalanche Looking for Gold in An Empty Mine

The Colorado Avalanche continue to stand idly by this offseason instead of making moves to improve the team, and signing their young players, one young player in particular.

The Colorado Avalanche currently have seven players on the roster who can play center, three (maybe four) defensemen under contract for this coming season, a volatile situation with an extremely important RFA and two, maybe three, contracts that they have no need for considering their current direction.

In other words, team management is panning up fools gold and trying to pass it off as worthy of a ring.

How has Nikita Zadorov not been signed yet? What is the plan with Matt Duchene? How is the team going to ice a competitive defensive corps next season? Where will Joe Colborne and Carl Soderberg play in the lineup this coming season?

These are the types of questions management should be asking themselves daily. These are the types of questions management should be trying to answer, daily. And, these are the types of questions that should not be questions at this point in the year.

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The entry draft has taken place, and the best time to trade a player of Matt Duchene’s caliber took place along with it. Free agency has come and gone, and there are really no viable options on the market anymore. This is the quiet time of the offseason, and the Colorado Avalanche still need to make some noise in order to bring the pieces of their roster together.

So yeah, the Avalanche are looking

for gold in an empty mine right now.

The Avalanche Seem Directionless

I know, they got younger, they are going to give their prospects a chance, they bought out Francois Beauchemin, yada yada yada. The fact is, this team is still largely incomplete.

They’re planning to go into the season with a defensive corps made up by Tyson Barrie, Erik Johnson, Nikita Zadorov, Mark Barberio, Andrei Mironov and Chris Bigras? And, that’s only if they are able to ink Zadorov to a new deal.

I’ll admit, that the above defense, in theory, could end up being much better than last year’s D. There is some legitimate young talent up there, and a lot of potential. However, that’s all it is, potential.

Then, there’s the fact that Joe Colborne and Carl Soderberg, especially Joe Colborne, are likely to be useless contracts next season. With the way the current roster is made up, there is just no space for Colborne in the lineup. So, say hello to a $2.5 million contract spending most of his time in the press box.

Furthermore, Carl Soderberg is likely to get 4th line minutes, and that’s a lot of money for 4th line minutes. That’s especially true if you’re trying to trade the guy, and hope he returns to his 50 point production form. He won’t produce like that on the 4th line.

Blake Comeau is questionable, but he should still be of some use in the bottom six, and he’s relatively cheap as well.

I suppose the hope is that Blake Comeau, Joe Colborne and Carl Soderberg play well enough up to the trade deadline that the Avs are able to deal all three for the rebuild. Then again, that would be like a miracle with how quiet the Avs have been in this rebuild process so far.

Conclusion

Being an Avalanche fan is tough as it is already. With the lack of movement this offseason, it’s starting to become unbearable.

By the way, what are the Avs going to do with Will Butcher? If they can’t sign him, can’t they at least trade the rights to sign him? If he goes for free, that should be the last straw. The Avs should at least be able to get a 4th round pick for the Hobey Baker winner.

Next: Avs In No-Win Situation with Semyon Varlamov as Starter

Maybe he and Chris Bigras become the toss-ins for a Matt Duchene trade that brings us a really skilled young defenseman.

Who knows? The fact of the matter is that it’s too quiet on the Avalanche front right now even though it is the quietest time of the offseason. It’s time this team found some real gold. It’s time they made some noise.