Avalanche centers on possible void

Sakic undecided, so team stocks up at his position

By Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published June 22, 2008 at 9:08 p.m.

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Photo by Andre Ringuette, Getty Images

50th overall pick Cameron Gaunce.

Photo by Andre Ringuette, Getty Images

61st overall pick Peter Delmas.

Photo by Andre Ringuette, Getty Images

110th overall pick Kelsey Tessier.

Click to enlarge: The Avalanche's draft picks

It probably isn't a coincidence that the Avalanche has been stockpiling centers throughout the organization in recent years, a reluctant acceptance that captain Joe Sakic won't play forever.

Sakic, who will turn 39 next month, still is pondering his future. He told Avalanche general manager Francois Giguere last week that he needed more time to decide whether to return for a 20th NHL season or retire, and it could be another week before a decision is made.

The Avalanche is hopeful that Sakic will decide to play but would like to know one way or the other before July 1, when the league's free-agency period begins.

In the meantime, not that management ever can hope to replace its future Hall of Famer, the Avalanche added three more potential big-league centers Saturday in the NHL entry draft.

That makes a dozen players capable of playing the position who have been selected by the Avalanche in the past four drafts. Two of them, 2005 draftees Paul Stastny and T.J. Hensick, already have made the Avalanche roster.

Big things also are expected of Ryan Stoa, the club's first selection in 2005. A knee injury limited Stoa to two games with the University of Minnesota last season, but he has recovered and has been named Golden Gophers captain for the 2008-09 season.

On Saturday, the Avalanche selected 5-foot-9, 168-pound Kelsey Tessier, 18, who led the Patrick Roy-coached Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in scoring, with 81 points in 68 games; 5-11, 155-pound Mark Olver, 20, Northern Michigan's top scorer as a freshman, with 38 points in 39 games; and 6-0, 180-pound Nathan Condon, 18, a Wausau West (Wis.) High School senior who had 59 points in 23 games and will attend Minnesota in the fall.

Two weeks ago, the Avalanche acquired former Colorado College standout and Hobey Baker Award winner Marty Sertich from the Iowa Stars for a conditional 2009 draft pick. Sertich, like Tessier and Olver, is on the smallish side, at 5-9 and 165 pounds, but he led the American Hockey League Stars in scoring, with 52 points in 79 games.

Several smaller forwards were taken in the first round Saturday, evidence that the NHL's attempt to emphasize offense and skating since the 2004-05 lockout is taking hold.

"Definitely, (size) is not as important as it used to be," said Ted Hampson, who is stepping down as the Avalanche's chief amateur scout but will remain on the staff. "You love to have size, but in Tessier's case, he's an ultra competitor. He plays a lot bigger than his stature. He never stops. He's a smart player and he just competes every shift and makes good plays.

"There's room for guys his size and there's always room for guys with his heart and character. In today's hockey, there's certainly a little more room for guys his size."

Olver is the son of Iowa Stars general manager John Olver, who has coached on several levels and was drafted by the Colorado Rockies hockey team in 1978.

"Mark is a good competitor and a smart player, so he kind of fits in the same role (as Tessier)," Hampson said. "He probably (plays with) a little more finesse than Tessier. Tessier will give us more drive and grit."

The speedy Condon was the 200th player taken overall, but he was ranked the 78th-best North American skater by the NHL's Central Scouting Bureau.

Condon's high school coach, Peter Susens, said the youngster is "an electrifying offensive player, the best that I have coached in 30 years."

All of the Avalanche players drafted, and almost every other player taken Saturday, will need time to gain more physical maturity and game experience before getting a realistic opportunity to earn a place on an NHL roster.

"You never know," Hampson said. "It depends on how they develop next year. I think we're looking down the road two or three years for anybody out of this draft to be ready (to play in the NHL).

"It was a very deep draft. We were getting into the mid- and late rounds with players that we felt very positive about, and I think other teams felt that way. We feel that we added a good young group to the Avalanche roster. We're looking forward to watching them develop."

• June 23, 2008

  12:17 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  GJrodburner writes:

  I'm not sold on this lack of size not becoming a factor for these current draft picks. In an 82 (and now possibly an 84-game schedule) your going to need some meat on those 155-165 pound frames just to see the end of the marathon known as an N.H.L. season. Through demonstrations of talent or lack thereof, not every small sized current draft choice is going to make the roster. Regardless, size in the season, the play-offs, and the Cup finals does make a huge differnce; competitiveness be damned. I'll take fire and size over an undersized chicken-hawk any day out on the ice in the N.H.L.

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