Mount Rushmore of the Colorado Avalanche: Blueline

*This is the second instalment in a series highlighting a "Mount Rushmore" of positional groups in Colorado Avalanche history*

Mount Rushmore is one of the iconic landmarks of the United States. Nestled in the Black Hills of South Dakota, it’s a mountain with sculptures carved into the side depicting previous influential United States Presidents. It’s comprised of four people, Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt and Jefferson.

Since its creation, the faces depicted on the mural have been debated in multiple ways like their impact on the country, if others should have been sculpted, or their merit for being on the mountain at all.

In the sports world, a “Mount Rushmore” of a team, or positional area, or city, has been debated for years, and Mile High Sticking will take their turn. As the Avalanche have been in Denver since 1996, there are plenty of players up for selection, and the franchise’s time in Quebec won’t be taken into consideration.

The primary instalment of this series started with the goalies and the next installment of this series will be the Defensemen. There are plenty to choose from over the course of 28 years in Denver, and there were a few that stood out, and some that were debatable.  Here is the Mount Rushmore of Colorado Avalanche defensemen.

4.) Adam Foote

Avalanche stalwart Adam Foote starts this Mount Rushmore. He’s third all-time in games played for the Avalanche franchise with 967. It’s a shame he didn’t get to 1,000 in an Avalanche uniform quite honestly. He played four years as a Nordique, and normally that would disqualify him from this list, but he played 13 seasons in Colorado and was a part of two Stanley Cup championship teams, so he’ll make this list.

With Colorado, he scored 56 goals and added 203 assists. He was never known as an offensive force as most Avs fans know. That said, good things happened when he was on the ice, as he was a +129 for his Colorado career, which means the Avalanche scored 129 more goals than they allowed while he was on the ice.

Foote made his mark on the defensive side of the puck and with his grit and leadership. He accumulated 1,279 penalty minutes in his Avalanche career and never shied away from defending a teammate or sending a message. Although blocks and hits weren’t tracked for his entire career, at least via hockey reference, he made major impacts in both of those areas. The coaching staff trusted Foote, as he averaged over 19 minutes per game on ice every season but one in Colorado. He was a pillar of the early success in Denver, and he’s firmly on Mount Rushmore.