Colorado Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche announced Thursday that Jared Bednar would be the team's new head coach, two weeks after former head coach and vice president of hockey operations Patrick Roy resigned. 

Executive vice president and general manager Joe Sakic spoke about the hire on the team's official website:

After profiling the type of coach I wanted for our team and going through an interview process with several good candidates, I believe that Bednar is the best person to lead this team behind the bench. Jared's track record of success as a head coach in the American Hockey League speaks for itself and he is considered to be one of the top up-and-coming coaches in our business.

Even though we had to accelerate the process with training camp approaching, we feel we met some real strong candidates with a lot of potential to become head coaches in the NHL in the near future. I would like to thank the general managers who gave us permission to talk to key staff members at such a precarious time.

Mike Chambers of the Denver Post reported that Bednar and Colorado agreed on a three-year contract.

Bednar, 44, was the head coach of the AHL's Lake Erie Monsters (the Columbus Blue Jackets' affiliate) last season, leading the team to a 43-22-6-5 record and a Calder Cup after going 15-2 in the postseason. 

Overall, he's 251-158-42 as a head coach, with stints leading the ECHL's South Carolina Stingrays (2007-2009) and the AHL's Peoria Rivermen (2010-2012), Springfield Falcons (2014-2015) and the Monsters (2015-2016). He won the Kelly Cup with the Stingrays in the 2008-09 season. In total, he has 14 seasons of professional coaching experience, both as a head coach and as an assistant.

He spoke about his first NHL head coaching opportunity with Avalanche.com:

My family and I are thrilled to be heading to Denver to begin this new challenge. I feel ready for this role with the Avalanche and I am grateful for the trust that (Avalanche President) Josh Kroenke, Joe (Sakic) and the organization has shown me. This is a great sports market with a passionate fan base and I can't wait to get to work. I would also like to thank Columbus Blue Jackets organization for the opportunity they gave me.

Bednar's task will be a unique one. Roy's late resignation means Bednar has less than a month to prepare for his new gig before training camp commences. So not only is he taking on the challenge of his first NHL head coaching assignment, but he also does so with far less time to adjust to his new surroundings and familiarize himself with the roster than the average hire.

Plus, as Adam Gretz of Pro Hockey Talk noted, "Bednar is taking over an Avalanche team that had regressed in each of the past two seasons under Roy and has some pretty significant holes on its blue line."

But according to Gretz, "the cupboard isn't entirely bare." The Avalanche have a solid core, led by forwards Nathan MacKinnon, Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog and Mikko Rantanen, defenseman Tyson Barrie and goalie Semyon Varlamov.

In Colorado, the hope is that "perhaps a fresh approach that plays to the strengths of the core players can get even more out of them," as Gretz wrote. The Avalanche are just two seasons removed from reaching the postseason and have registered at least 82 points in each of their last three campaigns, so a postseason berth isn't out of the question in 2016-17.

For that to happen, Bednar will have to hit the ground running. Certainly, the organization will demonstrate some patience, given the unusual circumstances of his hire. But the Avalanche have the talent to be competitive next season.

     

You can follow Timothy Rapp on Twitter.

The Colorado Avalanche announced Friday they have signed forward Nathan MacKinnon to a seven-year deal through the 2022-23 season.

According to Bleacher Report's Adrian Dater, the contract is worth a total of $44.1 million.

MacKinnon, who at 20 years old was an unrestricted free agent, recently completed his third season with the Avalanche and recorded 21 goals and 31 assists. 

Keeping MacKinnon in Colorado was important for Avalanche vice president and general manager Joe Sakic, as he told the team's official website.

"Signing Nathan to a long-term contract was a priority this offseason," he said. "He is going to be a key part of our team for many years to come, and it was important to secure his rights moving forward."

The 6'0" winger is capable of playing a tough brand of hockey, which allows him to get to the front of the net for scoring opportunities. But his ability to dictate where the play is going even when he isn't in possession also puts him in favorable positions:

That ability has made him a valuable asset on the power play and is a trait that all reliable scorers need to have.

After a rookie season in which he put up a career-best 24 goals and 39 assists, a sophomore slump saw his point total decrease by 25 and his plus/minus rating go from plus-20 to minus-seven. 

He silenced a lot of doubts last season, when he recorded 52 points as a part of Colorado's young first line, which featured captain Gabriel Landeskog (23) and Matt Duchene (25).

However, that line might not be staying together for long. On June 30, TSN's Frank Seravalli noted both Duchene and Landeskog have been involved in "trade rumblings" over the past year. 

If that's the case, MacKinnon could play out his new contract without some of his most productive teammates, which shows the kind of confidence the Avalanche have in him moving forward. 

        

Stats courtesy of Hockey-Reference.com.

When the Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2001, beating the New Jersey Devils in a seventh game and sending Ray Bourque on to retirement with his first championship ring after 22 years in the NHL, Patrick Roy was mad at himself. 

He'd allowed a goal in the 3-1 victory, and Roy told his teammates before Game 6, when the team was down three games to two, that there would be no more Devils goals from that point forward. Roy was magnificent in a 4-0 Game 6 victory at the Meadowlands and essentially just as good in the seventh. But he'd allowed that one goal, to Petr Sykora (on the power play) and Roy was ticked. Besides, this was his fourth Stanley Cup ring. He'd been there before. He didn't need to over-celebrate anything.

That helps explain why Roy, now the coach of the Avs, didn't like one of his players jumping up in celebration Sunday night, with under five minutes left in a game they were trailing 4-0 at home to the St. Louis Blues.

Act like you've been there before. Actually do something meaningful. Then you can celebrate a little. 

Roy might be hopelessly old school in this age of Facebook likes and manufactured safe-space zones from anything negative in the world, but he was right to call out Matt Duchene for his hippety-hop celebration of his 30th goal, which was punctuated by his two-fisted pump toward the heavens and a guttoral yell.

First, here's video of Roy's postgame presser in which he said, "Are you kidding me? What is that???".

Before everyone calls Roy an out-of-date ogre, who wrongly had the temerity to question an expression of pure joy from his top goal-scorer, more background: Roy had been relentlessly positive all season toward his team and, in particular, his top players. Only a little more than a week ago, Roy called his team a "special group" after a 3-1 loss in St. Louis, that they had given a "great effort." Roy was immediately barbecued by Avs fans on social media for being too soft on his team.

But something changed on the flight back from St. Louis. Roy went on Denver radio station 104.3 The Fan the next morning for an in-studio appearance. Roy was asked by The Fan's Mike Evans about the team's core of young players—Duchene, Gabe Landeskog, Tyson Barrie, Semyon Varlamov, Erik Johnson, Nathan MacKinnon—and whether it was good enough now and for the near term.

"That's where I'm going to have to do a much better job," Roy told Evans. "I'm going to have to make them accountable."

In the two games the Avs have played since, at home to Washington and St. Louis, they've been outscored 9-3. When Roy saw his team's highest-paid player, Duchene at $6 million, celebrating like he'd just won the Stanley Cup after scoring a personal-milestone goal in a 4-0 game, he'd had enough.

Roy was right to do it. Don't jump around and celebrate in a game you've been losing 4-0 at home with time running out. There has been some dissenting opinion on this, including from venerable TSN hockey analyst Bob McKenzie, who told Edmonton's TSN 1260:

You know what? I’m going to flip this around a little bit and say yeah, I can understand some people, including Patrick Roy, being a little miffed by the level of celebration from Matt Duchene. But I’ll tell you something else. It was 4-0. It wasn’t 14-0. It was 4-0 and there were over four minutes left in the hockey game.

Now, I understand the odds of the Colorado Avalanche coming back to get a playoff spot are slim and none. And I understand that in most hockey games when you have a three-goal lead with four minutes left that most teams do button it down and that’s that and you’re not going to win. But I mean, it’s not unheard of for a hockey team, especially one in dire straits that’s that desperate – maybe somebody else should have got more excited about Matt Duchene’s goal that made it 4-1.

Instead of having Patrick Roy admitting after the game that this reflects our losing mindset, maybe we should have more of a winning mindset. That is, when Matt Duchene scored the goal, the bench should have been up celebrating. Patrick Roy should have been up celebrating. Everybody should have got fired up to try and score three more goals in the final four minutes and salvage a point and keep the dream alive, however unrealistic that might be given how far behind Minnesota they are. But Minnesota was also losing on the day, so…

If there’s a losing mindset, I think it permeates the entire organization and that probably Matt Duchene took an excessive amount of blame for what probably is an organizational problem, and not just with the players. Because if the coach is saying that you shouldn’t be celebrating a 4-1 goal with four minutes left, what the coach is basically admitting to me is, ‘We’re not winning this hockey game and we’re not making the playoffs.

There is nobody in hockey I respect more than Uncle Bob, but I'll politely disagree on this one. Look, I'm not saying there is no hope in a three-goal deficit with four minutes to play. Sure, cheer for the comeback, get yourself fired up to shock the world. No problem with that mindset. But is that really what Duchene was cheering for the most at that moment?

Otherwise, you don't jump around on a goal that makes it 4-1. You do that when it's 4-4, and you've actually done something. Until then, you don't celebrate. You get mad. You get mad that you've been down 4-0 at home, against a team playing its backup goalie by that point, Anders Nilsson. You get mad that it took this long to do anything. You act like the goal never happened, that you're mad many more hadn't already happened and race to the faceoff circle to try to get that next one.

You don't jump around and pump your fists at the sky that you just scored a goal in a meaningless situation. You toss the puck back onto the ice, like a baseball fan in the bleachers who catches a home run for the other team. 

And, let's get real: How many teams have come back from four-goal deficits with under five minutes in a game? I don't actually know the answer to that question, but it can't be many. 

Here, to me, is what made the whole thing look worse: Duchene's linemate, Mikkel Boedker, fished around to get the puck to give to Duchene. It was his 30th goal, after all.

Is that what the standard of saving pucks for posterity has come to in this game? You used to never see guys posing for a photo with a puck unless it was their 500th, or unless it had just won a Stanley Cup with a goal, or some other truly momentous occasion. 

Now, we have guys wanting the puck for their 30th goal in a non-playoff season? In Duchene's case, a guy being paid $6 million a year to just play hockey? Isn't he supposed to score at least 30? 

And, by the way: How would Boedker, a guy who has only been with the team a few weeks, have known Duchene was only one goal away from 30? Does he read the papers? Did he say to himself in advance, "You know what, I want to get that puck and give it to Dutchy, and I don't care what the score is. It'll be a surprise."

Or, did Duchene tell him something before the game, something like, "Hey, if I score tonight, you get me that puck, OK? It'll be my 30th, a career high, and the first time since anyone from this team has done it in nearly 10 years."

The Avs had a day off Monday, so there was no further comment from Roy or Duchene. But, to me and many others, the Boedker retrieve of the puck was an even worse optical moment than the brief celebration by Duchene. Look, you score a goal, the Pavlovian reflex is to celebrate the moment. Nobody in hockey begrudges a brief moment like that. 

But to jump around, and then have the puck saved for posterity? Optically, it can well be argued that it looked like a selfish moment for Duchene. It looked like a moment where a guy said to himself: "Yay me! I just got my 30th goal!"

Duchene is a good person and a good player, and there was nothing evil about what he did. But was it a leadership moment? Roy didn't think so.

"I think we have some good leadership, but maybe not from our core," Roy told the team's website. "Our core has not proved that they have the leadership to bring this team to another level. I mean, eventually we have to admit it, isn't it?

Roy went on to say that the captain, Landeskog, is "pretty much alone" in his leadership qualities, and gave the defenseman Johnson some praise for "trying," but didn't mention anyone else. No mention of Varlamov, or Barrie, or Carl Soderberg or MacKinnon and, most of all, no mention of Duchene.

Earlier in the season, Bleacher Report reported that Avs general manager Joe Sakic was shopping Duchene around in a trade. At that time, the team, and Duchene, was off to a terrible start. After winning a division title in 2013-14, the Avs were just coming off a non-playoff season and out to a 5-9-1 start. There are many virtues to hockey, but patience isn't one of them. It's win-or-else, and it was close to being "or else" time in Denver.

But then Duchene and the Avs started doing great things again. He started scoring goals, and the team won a lot of games, enough to be ahead of the Minnesota Wild for the final Western Conference playoff spot just three weeks ago. But then Duchene, along with MacKinnon, went down with knee injuries. The team won its first two games without Duchene, but then lost three of its next four, including a critical 4-0 loss at home to the Wild.

Since then, there has been nothing else to celebrate. The loss to the Blues at home, on national television, had Roy fuming after the first period. Had Duchene just tied or won the game, he easily would have celebrated his goal with him. But it turned out to be a meaningless goal in a 5-1 loss.

There was nothing to celebrate. Unless, that is, you don't know what true victory tastes like.

Adrian Dater covers the NHL for Bleacher Report

Matt Duchene hasn't played since March 16 against the Vancouver Canucks because of a knee injury. However, he's ready to return to the ice.

Continue for updates. 

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Duchene Will Play vs. Capitals

Friday, April 1

Colorado Avalanche head coach Patrick Roy said Duchene will play Friday against Washington.

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Duchene Vital to Avalanche's Postseason Hopes

Losing Duchene is a huge blow for the Avalanche, who are nine points behind Nashville for fourth place in the Central Division with five games remaining. The 25-year-old leads the team in goals (29), surpassing his previous career high of 27 in 2010-11, and points (56). 

In a report from the Avs' Twitter account, starting center Nathan MacKinnon, who is second on the team in points, will also miss the next two games. All that missing offensive firepower leaves a void that will be impossible to replace, forcing the team to rely on defense and goalie Semyon Varlamov to win games. 

Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon will miss the next two games after suffering an undisclosed knee injury.

Continue for updates. 

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MacKinnon to be Evaluated After Next 2 Games

Tuesday, March 22

MacKinnon exploded for 24 goals and 39 assists as a rookie, but his production tapered off during the 2014-15 season after a broken foot sidelined him for the final month-and-a-half of the regular season. He bounced back throughout a mostly healthy 2015-16, posting 52 points (31 assists, 21 goals) through the first 72 games of the regular season.

Originally hurt in last Friday's win over the Calgary Flames, MacKinnon sat out Sunday's triumph over the Edmonton Oilers. With four wins in their last five games, the Avalanche have put themselves in the eighth spot in the Western Conference. They have a one-point advantage over the Minnesota Wild. 

"We're in a good position, and now it's up to us," Colorado goaltender Semyon Varlamov said, per Monte Stewart of the Denver Post.

Colorado doesn't have a bigger star than MacKinnon, so any kind of absence figures to cripple the offense's potency. The team is also without Matt Duchene, which makes MacKinnon's injury even worse. 

DENVER — As business went, Monday's NHL trade deadline day was like Babu Bhatt's Dream Cafe on Seinfeld. Fans wanted action, but like a day at Babu's, they got mostly quietude.

But the Colorado Avalanche—yes, the same Avalanche that supposedly weren't in the market for any short-term rental help at the expense of any prospects, the same team whose general manager said recently that big trades are just too hard to make now—was the one team with a seemingly win-now mentality on Monday.

While there were bigger trades made in the days leading up to the deadline, with Andrew Ladd to Chicago and Eric Staal to the Rangers being the biggest, Colorado's acquisition of 26-year-old winger Mikkel Boedker from Arizona for Alex Tanguay and prospects Conner Bleackley and Kyle Wood qualified as deadline day's biggest.

In the end, Sakic was right: Big blockbusters just are harder to make now in the tight salary-cap era.

But did he change his philosophy about not mortgaging the future for rental players who might leave after this season as unrestricted free agents?

"Well, we didn't want to trade (our) first-round picks, (our) top prospects, and we didn't do that," said Sakic shortly before boarding a team charter flight to Minnesota, where the Avs and Wild will have a showdown on Tuesday night at Xcel Energy Center—one that might be termed "The Battle for the Last Wild-Card Spot."

Bleackley was a 2014 first-round pick of the Avs, which presumably would make him one of the organization's top prospects. But the team's estimation of him had sunk so low that it was not going to offer him a pro contract, and he would have gone back into the draft this year.

According to SI.com's Allan Muir, Bleackley showed up to last season's training camp out of shape and was immediately sent back to the Red Deer Rebels. Prior to this season, Bleackley had the captaincy stripped from him by coach Brent Sutter.

Boedker is in the last year of a contract paying $3.75 million, and there are conflicting opinions about his value.

Writing for Sportsnet.ca, Jonathan Willis savaged the deal, saying Colorado badly overvalued Boedker and deeming the trade "lopsidedly in Arizona's favor." However, legendary former coach Scotty Bowman had a different take. "Very speedy. I like him," he told Bleacher Report of Boedker.

The Avalanche desperately want to make the playoffs this year. They don't want to have to tell their fans, "Hey, sorry we didn't make it again, but we're still young and developing and next year will be our year." 

That kind of line has gotten old in recent years with what has become a fickle fanbase that doesn't show up to the Pepsi Center if the Avs are not winning.

And the fact is Colorado wasn't all that young. Even after dealing the 36-year-old Tanguay for a player 10 years younger, the Avs remain the third-oldest team in the league at 27.97 years on average, according to NHL Numbers.

While their true core is composed of younger guys such as Nathan MacKinnon, Gabe Landeskog, Matt Duchene, Semyon Varlamov and Erik Johnson, this is Duchene's seventh year in the league now. If Colorado can get into the playoffs, it has a goalie in Varlamov who is capable of getting red-hot and just enough around the edges to be a dangerous team.

The addition of Boedker over Tanguay in the top six is an upgrade, no matter how you slice it.

The Avs should be commended for their risk-taking in this case because teams are so close in talent level now in this NHL age of parity that there truly is an "anything can happen" feel to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Edmonton made it to the Stanley Cup Final as an eighth seed in the first year of the salary-cap era (2006), and the Los Angeles Kings won a Stanley Cup in 2012 after starting out as the eighth seed. In 2014, the Avs entered the playoffs as Central Division champions with home-ice advantage in the first round against Minnesota only to lose in seven games.

Once you're in the NHL's big dance, you have a real chance to go far.

The Avs also added defenseman Eric Gelinas from New Jersey for a third-round pick in 2017. Sakic said Gelinas' booming slap shot will be put to immediate use from the point on the power play, which has struggled mightily of late. On the season, Colorado is a stunning 0-for-13 on five-on-three advantages.

Boedker, one of the league's fastest skaters, will play on a line with MacKinnon and Landeskog.

"We tried to improve our club, and I think we did that," Sakic said. "By getting Boedker, he can keep up with MacKinnon. He can score goals and we're real excited to have him. We know he's UFA and we gave up a young 'D' in Kyle Wood, but we feel we've got a lot of good young 'D' coming up and could afford to do that."

Some other deals trickled out past the 3 p.m. ET official cutoff, but unless David Jones from Calgary to Minnesota for an aging Niklas Backstrom and a sixth-rounder is your idea of a big trade, none generated much buzz.

The day with real buzz in the NHL now, trade-wise, is draft day, when teams have a better idea of their budgets and can get more out of their acquisitions than just a potential two-month rental.

Until then, the NHL's trade market is officially closed for business.

Trade information courtesy of NHL.com's trade tracker.

Adrian Dater covers the NHL for Bleacher Report.

With mere hours remaining in the NHL trade deadline, the Colorado Avalanche announced they acquired winger Mikkel Boedker from the Arizona Coyotes on Monday.

According to ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun, winger Alex Tanguay and prospects Conner Bleackley and Kyle Wood will be heading to the Avs, and neither team will retain any salary.

The cost for Colorado isn't all that high given what was reportedly the Coyotes' earlier asking prices for Boedker. According to USA Today, the team was initially wanting to get a first-round pick back and then lowered the demand to a second-round pick and a "quality prospect."

Swapping Boedker for Tanguay, Bleackley and Wood isn't a bad deal for the Avalanche, who will benefit from the immediate impact of the addition of Boedker. Dan Rosen of NHL.com is a fan of the deal for Colorado:

Boedker will be a massive upgrade over Tanguay for the Avs as they prepare to head into the playoffs, if reported trade is official.

— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) February 29, 2016

NHL Network's Steve Mears also noted how the 26-year-old provides some much needed youth to the lineup:

The #Avalanche, who were the second-oldest team in the NHL, get a little younger with 26-year old Mikkel Boedker for Tanguay. #TradeDeadline

— Steve Mears (@MearsyNHL) February 29, 2016

The Toronto Sun's Mike Zeisberger is already looking forward to what should be a potent Avs attack:

Boedker + Duchene + MacKinnon = an #Avs team with ridiculous speed.

— Mike Zeisberger (@zeisberger) February 29, 2016

Boedker has scored 13 goals and assisted on 26 more in 62 games this year. He could very well set career highs in both categories this year.

Sportsnet's Dimitri Filipovic, however, isn't sold that Boedker's numbers reflect his true value on the ice:

Wrote this about Boedker over the weekend. Good job by the Coyotes in inflating his perceived value. pic.twitter.com/jqNYc1Gca0

— Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) February 29, 2016

Bleacher Report's Jonathan Willis noted Tanguay is averaging 0.42 points more per 60 minutes than Boedker this year. Boedker should be an improvement over the 36-year-old Tanguay, but Avs fans might want to temper their expectations for him somewhat.

The Coyotes are eight points back of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. They were unlikely to make the playoffs with Boedker, so they were smart to cash in before potentially losing him for nothing in the offseason after he hits unrestricted free agency.

Tanguay is also a free agent at the end of the season, so Arizona is only tied down to him financially for the short term.

Both Bleackley and Wood give the Coyotes two assets for the future. The former has 13 goals and 28 assists for the Red Deer Rebels in the WHL, while the latter has eight goals and 27 assists in the OHL for the North Bay Battalion.

Neither projects as an All-Star-caliber prospect at this stage of their careers, but they could provide value to Arizona down the road, which was unlikely to be the case for Boedker.

The jury in the civil trial of Colorado Avalanche goaltender Semyon Varlamov against his former girlfriend reportedly sided with him Tuesday and rewarded him with $126,000 in damages.    

Tom McGhee of the Denver Post reported the news and noted the lawyer of Evgeniya Vavrinyuk (Varlamov’s former girlfriend) said she “was the victim of a beating by a drunken, out-of-control Varlamov.”

The goalie’s lawyers offered a statement and said the claims were “groundless and completely unsupported,” per McGhee.

The incident in question allegedly happened following a Halloween party in 2013, but the jury decided Varlamov did not commit assault and battery. McGhee noted that Vavrinyuk’s lawyer, Olaf Muller, will appeal and ask for a second trial.

Muller claimed Vavrinyuk's team was not allowed to present critical evidence during her case, including “bloody pictures” and accounts of previous alleged beatings, per McGhee. Muller also offered a quote: “The trail judge shapes what the jury hears. It is not surprising given the court’s decision.”

Varlamov’s lawyer, Laura Menninger, responded, per McGhee: “You can judge by the photos. Her small bruises do not reflect the brutal attack she says happened.”

McGhee said Varlamov’s “lawyers painted a picture of a greedy conniver, thirsting for vengeance, and a million dollar payoff” and also shared this account from Menninger:

Vavrinyuk then had telephone conversations with a friend in Russia in which she said she wanted a $1 million payout, which she would have to split with the lawyer, Menninger said.

The friend recorded the conversations and sold the audio to Russian broadcast stations.

Vavrinyuk also told the friend that she started the fight, punching Varlamov twice in the face, hard.

"Don't tell anyone I hit him first," she told her, Menninger said.

Muller said Vavrinyuk cannot return to Russia because of this incident. Varlamov played for his country in the 2014 Olympics and “is idolized” there, and Vavrinyuk has reportedly received threats, per McGhee.

Muller said, per McGhee: “If she goes back, who knows what will happen. She is stranded here. Literally, the entire country has it out for (her).”

Varlamov boasts a 19-12-3 record this season, a 2.59 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage. As of Tuesday, the Avalanche were 27-22-3 overall and in the Western Conference playoff picture with 57 points.

The NHL announced on Friday that it has suspended Colorado Avalanche left winger and captain Gabriel Landeskog for two games following his hit on Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand on Thursday night. 

Coming in from the blindside, Landeskog made contact with the head of Marchand after the Bruin snapped a wrister toward the Avalanche goal. The NHL offered a look at the incident:

Landeskog was fined $59,907.84 for the hit, and the money will go to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund, per the NHL. Landeskog has yet to comment on the suspension.

Marchand, who didn't suffer an injury, spoke with Stephen Harris of the Boston Herald after Thursday night's game:

I didn’t really see him coming. 

I knew I got hit in the head and all I was really concerned about was making sure I was OK. That was it. 

Any time you get hit in the head, you’re a little concerned — especially (since) I got a concussion a couple of weeks back. So I was definitely nervous; I’m happy I’m OK. 

Things happen quick. I know that. I’ve been there. I’m sure he didn’t mean it. I don’t think he’s a dirty player. It’s hockey. It is what it is.

The 23-year-old Landeskog recorded 12 points in his first 16 games, and his Avalanche are off to a 6-9-1 start—dead last in the Western Conference Central Division. 

Colorado, who is in the midst of a seven-game road trip, will be without its captain for games at the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs.

Second-line winger Blake Comeau, who recently played on a first line with Sidney Crosby on the Pittsburgh Penguins last season, could make the jump into Landeskog's spot while he serves his suspension. 

Stats courtesy of Hockey-Reference.com

BOSTON — Joe Sakic sat on the concourse level of Agganis Arena on Wednesday, watching his Colorado Avalanche practice under the numerous NCAA championship hockey banners earned by Boston University. The man once nicknamed "Quoteless Joe" was actually in a talkative mood.

"You can't afford to stay behind the eight ball in our division—never mind the conference: our division!" the Avs' third-year general manager said. "We gotta get points."

I'd been hearing a few rumors recently involving the Avalanche, rumors of Sakic calling around the league to gauge interest in any possible trades to help his club, which entered Thursday's road contest with the Boston Bruins at 5-9-1, just one point ahead of cellar-dwelling Edmonton in the Western Conference.

This will be Game 2 of a seven-game, 14-day road trip, with game one already being "probably the best game we've played on the road in a long time," according to coach Patrick Roy on 104.3 The Fan, a day after a 4-0 Avs win in Philadelphia.

This road trip, part of a stretch in which the Avs play 18 of their next 25 games away from the Pepsi Center, will likely determine much of the team's fate for 2015-16. The organization's first major goal—to get off to a good start—has already failed. This road trip, combined with this being the third year of Sakic and Roy's partnership aimed at restoring the sheen to a once-proud hockey franchise, is a time of pressure.

Sakic, whom I've known for 20 years and is as honest as the day is long, didn't deny the essence of the rumors. But he also gave a knowing shrug that said, "This is what all GMs do when things aren't going as well as you'd like."

No, he's not out to blow up his team and start from scratch if he can help it, he said. But asked whether there are any "untouchables" on his roster beside 20-year-old former Calder Trophy winner Nathan MacKinnon, this is what the Hall of Famer, who won two Stanley Cups with Colorado and a gold medal with Canada at the 2002 Olympics, said:

"You know what, it doesn't matter what I say or what anyone says. Nate's not going anywhere, and there are guys that don't want to move. But you're always talking with teams, and you're wanting to listen on anybody, really."

The first instinct of any NHL team with a bad record is to make the coach the first sacrificial lamb. But this is a unique situation in Colorado. Not only is Roy a legendary former player, he posted a 112-point season his first year as a coach and also holds a managerial title: vice president of hockey operations. If anyone is to pay the price for this bad start, it will almost certainly be the players instead of the coach and GM.

One of the guys who doesn't want to move is 37-year-old Jarome Iginla, who led the team in goals last year, with 29, and is off to a fine start with seven goals and 12 points in his first 15 games this term.

Iginla is in the second year of a three-year, no-movement clause deal and told Bleacher Report on Wednesday he would not approve of any trade this season, citing family reasons above all. Plus, Iginla said he still believes in the players around him, most of whom are still around from a 112-point, Central Division championship season in 2013-14.

"We're going to be really good at some point," Iginla said. "A lot of our guys...just need to keep learning."

But when does the meter expire on a team with "young" and "learning" players such as seventh-year pros Matt Duchene or fifth-year captain Gabe Landeskog—both of whom were top-3 draft picks? Why is goalie Semyon Varlamov, a finalist for the Vezina Trophy in 2014, sitting out his third straight game on Thursday in Boston in favor of backup Reto Berra? Where is defenseman Nikita Zadorov, the main player acquired from Buffalo this past summer in the Ryan O'Reilly trade? Answer: Zadorov, 20, was sent down to the AHL's San Antonio Rampage recently after a bad start.

Sakic's two highest-paid players, Duchene, at $6 million and Varlamov at $5.9 million, could be available at the right price if Sakic's line that "you're always talking with teams and you're always wanting to listen in on anybody" is to be taken literally.

"Any moves I might make...won't be for a quick fix," Sakic said. "We've got some good young players. Our moves are going to have to make sense down the line as well. It's tough to make deals in a cap world.

"The cap plays a big role for all teams. Some teams are already at the cap and some teams have their own internal budgets. Everybody deals with what they're allowed. It's tough to make that big trade; the money's got to even out. That's why you see a lot of deals still at the deadline. You can take on a couple months' salary if you think it's the right move. It's worth it if you really think you can win a championship."

This Avalanche team in front of Sakic and Roy, though? It is one toward which both are trying to stress the positives. But with both of them, having won multiple Stanley Cups, you get the unmistakable vibe each of them know this team, as currently composed, won't be good enough to win a Stanley Cup.

"If there's a deal that makes sense for your organization, you're going to do it," Sakic said. "You don't want to move some guys, but you're always listening. Having had different conversations with different GMs, you know what? You're never not going to listen. But every team is the same. You have to hear things out, and see if they make sense."

Sakic, who made more than $100 million in his career and wants for nothing materially, says he's still enjoying his job. But you can tell he's in a period of flux between that of the great player and the GM who has yet to prove he is great at that job too.

"I want to win as much as I ever did as a player," Sakic said. "There are days when you're frustrated, but it was the same when you played. You only have fun when you win. That's all we're here trying to do. Hopefully, right now, we're trending up."

Adrian Dater covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. Follow him @Adater