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Injured Avs had 'heart'

Giguere reserves judgment on who he plans to re-sign

By Rick Sadowski, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published May 2, 2008 at 11:37 p.m.

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Given the circumstances, Avalanche general manager Francois Giguere said Friday, his team delivered as much as he could have expected this season despite the four-game playoff sweep at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings.

"I think so," he said. "I would have really liked to see how our guys would have competed if we were healthy. Going into the series, I really felt good about how we were playing and I liked our chances against them. It came pretty quick that we lost some important pieces, and it was tough to compete against them."

Injuries cost the Avalanche the services of a half-dozen regulars for all or part of the Western Conference semifinal series, and two players, Scott Hannan and Ian Laperriere, played in an 8-2 loss Thursday with a broken bone in a foot.

"Those guys showed unbelievable character and heart," Giguere said. "To me, it's that warrior mentality. You just have so much respect for what they're willing to go through. That's part of the hockey culture, and you never ever use it as an excuse for a subpar performance or anything like that. But it got to a point where it was a little overwhelming.

"There's no team in any era that can lose that quality and that quantity of players and still at this stage, when you're down to the best eight teams in the league, be able to compete at the level that you need to be able to beat them."

Giguere is reserving judgment on which players he'll try to re-sign - Joe Sakic, Jose Theodore, Peter Forsberg, Adam Foote, Andrew Brunette and John-Michael Liles are among 13 unrestricted free agents - and he hasn't yet committed to retaining coach Joel Quenne- ville, who is in the final year of his contract.

"You really have to gauge who you give long-term contracts to," Giguere said. "When you try to be careful with term, it means that guys come back to the negotiating table quicker. We have plenty of time to address all these issues, and we will."

If Sakic chooses to return for a 20th NHL season, Giguere said, "I'll be the first one cheering. Joe needs to take some time and see if that's the right thing for him and his family. He's been a great captain, a great ambassador for this organization and for this community."

Asked about Quenneville, Giguere said he was "happy" with how the Avalanche played. "I think the work ethic from our players on most nights was really good," he said. "So the credit goes to the players and to the coaches also."

When might Giguere make a decision on the coaching staff? "I don't want to put myself in a corner," he said. "We have our amateur scouts coming. We're going to have meetings for a few days.

There's a lot of things to do. That's going to be done in the proper way and I feel confident that we'll address all those issues in a timely manner."

Giguere acknowledged that injuries to Forsberg (groin), Ryan Smyth (broken foot), Paul Stastny (torn knee ligament) and Wojtek Wolski (broken ribs) adversely affected the team's play against Detroit.

"But you can't just say, 'Will the injuries explain everything?' That's why you need to take a step back and get to a point where you take some distance from it and then you evaluate everything," he said. "We need to look through everything and not get too high on the good things and not too down on the bad things, try and be as objective as you can."

Giguere will evaluate Theodore in the same manner. After posting a 1.88 goals-against average and .940 saves percentage in the first-round series with the Wild, Theodore was pulled three times against the Red Wings and had a 6.92 average and .826 saves percentage. "You've got a guy that got sick (before Game 1)," Giguere said. "Was his strength all back by Game 2? It's a position where confidence plays such a big part. The way he played in the Minnesota series was outstanding. He was probably the biggest reason for us winning that series, and then he gets sick and he's not too effective in (Games) 1 and 2.

"Does that create a little bit of doubt? You don't know, but it kind of had an impact, and Detroit was unbelievable. If you look at Game 3, they were all really good goals. It's tough to blame a goalie for Game 3. They're a team with such good movement and puck movement, and they take advantage of all your little mistakes."

STILL PLAYING: Peter Budaj (Slovakia), Jaroslav Hlinka (Czech Republic) and Ruslan Salei (Belarus) have accepted invitations to play in the World Hockey Championships. Play began this weekend in Quebec City and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Signed up

The following players are signed for 2008-09 and would count $28.789 million against the NHL salary cap. The league cap this season is $50.3 million and is expected to increase next season.

2008-09

Pos. Player cap number

LW Ryan Smyth $6.25 million

D Scott Hannan $4.5 million

RW Milan Hejduk $3.9 million

D Brett Clark $3.5 million

D Ruslan Salei $3.025 million

C Tyler Arnason $1.675 million

D Jordan Leopold $1.5 million

RW Ian Laperriere $1.064 million

C T.J. Hensick $850,000

C Paul Stastny $850,000

G Peter Budaj $700,000

RW David Jones $500,000

C Ben Guite $475,000

Comments

  • May 3, 2008

    8:32 a.m.

    Suggest removal

    mafoppa writes:

    Time for a Coach change!
    Forsberg & Smyth were roughed up excessively when they were on the ice. Coach should have put a stop to this by having an enforcer out there. I realize Parker was injured, but there were other players willing to step up and some did, but not enough. The refs just turn their heads and allow this, but the Coach should not. I don't feel like the coaches made the adjustments that needed to be made with other teams game plan. We were just out coached!!!

  • May 3, 2008

    1:24 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    Quagmate writes:

    I am beginning to think the style of play coach Q uses is the cause for soo many injuries. Hear me out, before I get toasted here.

    Dump and chase, the wrestling behind the net, the puck always against the boards and tight checking. It is a style of play. Too many times it's "shot the puck out along the boards" where the wingers end up fighting with a defensman for the puck in our own zone.

    It bothers me that it takes two Avs to get the puck from someone on the boards (which means someone is open). If the guy can shoot from the boards with his back to the goal, I could see three guys on the puck, instead it looks like Junior Hockey with 5 guys around the puck, four of them on our team, three players open.

    Ah well, maybe I'm seeing things, but it sure seems to me the team defense and offense are poorly conceived.

    My point is, it may be time for a new style of play.

  • May 4, 2008

    4:03 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    dietpepsi writes:

    fire the coach, get rid of the goalie who thinks ned flanders is cool, get rid of the other goalie who suffers from incompetance syndrome, and most important: get rid of the fans in Denver who turned cheek and wore their redwingz sweaters knowing the home team was in trouble...
    lets get: a new coach, a new, stronger goalie and a real 7th man!!

  • May 5, 2008

    3:57 p.m.

    Suggest removal

    champagnetony writes:

    I have been supporter of Q for awhile, but his mismanagement of the goalies in this series with Detroit was pathetic. Knowing that Theo was sick, he shouldn't have played in Games 1 or 2. Budaj was in the doghouse, and that possibly cost a win in one of those games. I know, I know, goaltending wasn't our only problem, but it sure didn't help. I have finally decided that coaching is a problem with this team, Detroit consistently had an open man on the weak side, and there were no adjustments made. The team has been very inconsistent throughout the year, some games they looked like they could win the cup and other games, they get shellacked 8-2. Of course injuries are and will continue to be a problem, but the team has to be able to play "its game" regardless of who is on the ice. Ah well, at least we made the playoffs this year and did well in the first round. That is something to build on.