KRIEGER: Playoffs offering second chances

By Dave Krieger, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published April 11, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

Text size  

• 2 Comments
• Email
• Print

Tom Olmscheid / Associated Press

The Avalanche's Ryan Smyth scores a goal in Game 1 of the playoff series against the Wild on Wednesday night. Smyth struggled with injuries during his first regular season with the Avalanche but hopes to find redemption in the playoffs.

One of the charms of playoff hockey is that once you're in, nothing that happened before matters. Pedestrian play can be redeemed in one scintillating run at the Stanley Cup.

That is the sort of redemption available to Avs goaltender Jose Theodore and power forward Ryan Smyth this spring. Their respective valleys of darkness have been of different natures and duration, but each arrived at a place where their large salaries seemed out of all proportion to their contributions on the ice.

Theodore's resurrection began in January after 21/2 forgettable seasons that made his 2002 Hart Trophy as the NHL's Most Valuable Player seem like a case of mistaken identity.

For most of the past two years, former general manager Pierre Lacroix's March 2006 trade for him looked like a futile attempt to recreate his trade for Patrick Roy more than 10 years before. Now, acquiring Theodore for David Aebischer, who played this season in Switzerland, looks pretty good.

Smyth arrived in Colorado to considerable fanfare and a fat free-agent contract last summer. He struggled through neck, ankle, shoulder and head injuries on the way to his lowest point total since 1999, when he was 23 years old. When he finally got healthy, coach Joel Quenneville dropped him to the Avs' third line for lackluster play.

In Game 1 of the team's first-round playoff series against Minnesota, both players shone. Theodore kept the Avs in the game early, and again late, with athletic, at times sensational play in net, earning a shiny 1.69 goals-against average in the overtime affair. Smyth was more aggressive and energetic than he'd been all season, scoring one goal and putting twice as many shots on net as any teammate.

"He played to his strengths - going to the net, creating havoc," Quenne ville said. "One of the key reasons you acquire a guy like him is this time of year. And he showed his value and the importance of what he can do."

Smyth has not pouted about his injuries or demotion, knowing in the back of his mind that he could make up for all of it in the second season.

"You're acquired for a reason, and I feel I've got to step up this time of the year," he said after a light practice Thursday. "This is what I believe they wanted me for. Every chance you get, every opportunity, you've got to take full advantage."

"He's obviously started to feel a lot better down the stretch and (Wednesday) I thought he was skating the best he's skated all year," Avs captain Joe Sakic said.

Theodore's trials lasted much longer, but in the second half of this season, he emerged as the goaltender Lacroix coveted, trailing only three NHL goalies in goals-allowed per game since January.

"I feel as good as I ever felt in my career," Theodore said. "And I have more experience now, so a lot of times during the season if a team was coming back I didn't panic, which maybe earlier on in my career I would panic a little bit more."

Theodore's time in Colorado has been mostly humbling. For much of it, he backed up or shared time with Peter Budaj, a goalie with neither a resume nor salary to rival his own. He finally won the job in January, at age 31.

"I just think he seems composed, he seems confident. His quickness reflects his anticipation," Quenneville said.

"When things are going well, you kind of know what you have to do out there," Theodore said. "I don't really say it's being in a zone because I pretty much feel the same way I've been feeling since January. It's just about playing the way I can, and that's what I'm doing now. I'm just playing the way I can."

Many Avalanche fans remain skeptical, measuring each new goaltender against Roy and finding each wanting.

"I think nobody should be compared to him," Theodore said. "When I say nobody, I mean nobody in the league. He's in a class by himself. Obviously, as a goalie, yes, I tried to look at what he'd done and tried to do the same thing because he (played) so well under pressure, but he's in a class by himself."

As for whether Theodore has regained the form that made him a sensation six years ago, he'll let you decide.

"People around the game, people at home should make their own opinion," he said. "For me, it's clear in my mind, but I don't have to say it. I'm just going to let people who follow the game make their own opinion."

For Theodore, like Smyth, that opinion will be based on what happens now. Lead the Avs on a spirited playoff run and past failures will be forgiven. Revert to mediocrity when it matters most and the old wounds will be reopened.

That is the risk/reward ratio of playoff hockey, and why the game is at its best this time of year.

• April 11, 2008

  6:16 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  PapaWayne writes:

  Welcome back to the playoff scene, Colorado Avalanche fans...we here in Detroit have missed you! ;-)

• April 11, 2008

  3:06 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Spencer writes:

  Thanks, I feel sorry for anyone who lives in Detroit. My condolences

Featured

• 2008 Voter’s Guide

  

  Use our Ballot Builder tool to compare your viewpoints to the candidates.

• A Dozen on Denver

  

  Sandra Dallas wrote 'Lennie's tavern' for our ongoing fiction series. Check it out!

• Rocky Multimedia

  

  The news comes alive in our videos and slide shows. Catch up on today's events.

• Bronco Dean's rant

  

  Listen to Bronco Dean's totally biased pregame rant about the Broncos-Jaguars game.

• Presidential Elections

  

  See how Colorado counties have voted through the years.

• County election profiles

  

  A look at how residents in each Colorado county may vote.

• A dream fulfilled

  

  A Rocky Mountain News and MediaStorm production

• Latest from Dove Valley

  

  Click for more broncos videos.

• Sam Adams' Open Mic

  

  No. 44 means a lot to Floyd Little