LINCICOME: Avs must face Father Time

By Bernie Lincicome, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published June 29, 2008 at 10:51 p.m.

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Photo by Barry Gutierrez

Goalie Jose Theodore would prefer to stay with the Avalanche, according to Don Meehan, his agent.

With NHL free agency a day away, this is where the Avs are.

Joe Sakic. Hmmmm.

Jose Theodore. Good luck.

Peter Forsberg. Fool me once, or is it twice?

Those are the big names in play and the most familiar names. Without them, the Avs are the Florida Panthers or some other bunch of interchangeable lumps in large clothes.

It may be that the Avs will be without all of them and John-Michael Liles as well, a free agent that other teams will want. Add Andrew Brunette and Adam Foote and the Avs' power play, already feeble, would then be made up of Whozat, Howzat and Huh?

Of the three most notable Avs, clearly Forsberg will be allowed to float in that special pool of his own, a place that permits Forsberg to play or not play as his whim allows, a hypnotic tease with his own highlight reel, but not for the Avs.

The Avs cannot be suckered again by Forsberg and his damaged ankles, sadly to never be well enough to allow Forsberg to be a whiff of what he was.

A suitable ceremony of appreciation is as far as the Avs should go on this, a nice night to take a bow and have his jersey retired, no matter how Forsberg sorts out his own health. If he feels he can play a whole season, he will. If he does not, he won't.

This is the same assessment Forsberg offered before showing up lame to the Avs late in the season. As long as it is Forsberg reaching the conclusion, it will always favor playing, but let it be for some team who has never seen him with his socks off.

Sakic is pondering. Or not. It is never easy to stop one life and start another, and Sakic deserves the time to sort it all out.

The Avs are in the position of taking Sakic back if he wants to come back, and then they will have to fit him in without showing any disrespect for all he has meant to the Avs.

At age 39 and already with the inevitable time lost to injury that comes with age, both the Avs and Sakic would have to accommodate reality.

Consider that Wayne Gretzky quit a year younger than Sakic will be and The Great One had never mixed it up quite as eagerly as Sakic, saving his body for the long run.

Brett Hull quit at 40 and Mario Lemieux at 41, though Lemieux had two earlier retirements that didn't take. Teemu Selanne, a year younger than Sakic, kept the Ducks waiting until January for his decision to come back.

That may be how it works out with Sakic. Half a season off, waiting to see how much the Avs can use him, what their playoff chances are (as did Forsberg) and then return.

Otherwise, it would seem that it is time for Sakic to take his bow, maybe on the same night as Forsberg, and let the Avs see if they can get along, as they never have, without him.

Theodore is still a vital player, or should be - the evidence mixed. Against Minnesota in the playoffs he was a wizard and against Detroit he was a turnstile. If the Avs were as in love with Theodore as when he first arrived, they would already have worked out a deal.

Theodore going to free agency, just to see what's out there, of course, is more risky for the goalie than for the Avs. He is going to take a pay cut wherever he plays.

A few rejections or low-ball offers and Theodore will realize Denver is not such a bad place to fall back on.

There is no longer any real magic to the Theodore name, now six seasons beyond its greatest fame. The Avs took that chance on Theodore, imagining that he was the goalie of then, plus the romantic parallel with Patrick Roy, coming from Montreal and showing his old team how wrong they were.

Theodore has shown only that Montreal was right, that he is not worth his early promise, that competent goalkeeping is the exception and not the expectation.

The Avs let a perfectly competent coach in Joel Quenneville take the fall because they could not think of anything else.

The Avs have to go young, as they were going to before the lapse with Forsberg and Foote, and they will be better off building from fresh hope rather than old dreams.

• June 30, 2008

  7:43 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  frosty writes:

  Bernie, you really don't have a clue when it comes to sports, why don't you write about knitting or cooking, something you might have something insightful to say. It's clear you didn't watch Forsberg when he was playing for us last year, getting a point a game or more, yea you know hockey, like I know knitting, NOT!!

• June 30, 2008

  9:57 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  ParkHillPosse writes:

  Frosty: Do you have some kind of personal grievance with Bernie? Take it easy, sporto, I didn't realize he was insulting you personally by commenting that Forsberg's presence is inconsistent, which is totally valid. He wasn't saying that Forsberg was ineffective, just that his health and ability to suit-up for games is questionable. And you can't argue with that.

• June 30, 2008

  10:07 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Mike1969 writes:

  Forsberg at 75% is still more dangerous than 75% of the league. Did you actually watch any game where he played and avereaged over a point a game? The answer is finding a Dr. and a solution, not shotting the horse.

  Bernie, like Forsberg's socks after he battles for 60 minutes, you stink!

• June 30, 2008

  10:47 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  Forsbergsqueen writes:

  They may have not made the playoffs if Forsberg hadn't come back. Yes, he is not the greatest player for a coach when it comes to preparing lines but, he saves games and is STILL the player he has always been when he's on the ice. Forsberg, Sakic and Foote DID create the magic that once was and can still do so. Detroit ended up winning the cup. Did you forget to mention that when up against them we were missing Forsberg, Svatos and Statsny???? among other guys. Look at the whole picture. They didn't just beat us because the boys are older now and we were a step behind. Our top 2 lines were injured.

• June 30, 2008

  4:28 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  GJrodburner writes:

  There was no way on Earth or any other planet, or from any hockey-god's divine intervention that this team would have made the play-offs if it were not for Forsberg, Foote, and to be honest, JT too. How to pay for what is best for this team is what the current GM gets paid for, but to look at Forsberg and say he can't or didn't give the team or the fans there monies worth is crazy.

  Just put up with this writer; eventually he'll run his course just like Marriotti did in the early '80s. I really wished that Kravitz still wrote for this paper! Especially when I read BL's comments about anything hockey in this city.

• June 30, 2008

  10:53 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  trekers writes:

  "Some" Peter is better than "no" Peter. He is ALWAYS a threat on the ice & should be more than welcome back to this organization & the fans! He'll draw respect, fans & teammate admiration as long as he is part of hockey in any position. As far as Joey goes I can't imagine why he hasn't given an answer to the team; he knows whether he wants to play ... so what's the issue?
  I agree with missing Kravitz writing .... wow how we miss "insight" on all levels!

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