Colorado Avalanche

There have always been specific qualities in NHL players that make a great leader. 

It may not be the player with the best hands, or the ability to score goals at will. It may not be the player with the highest point totals, or the flashiest moves. 

But that player surely is the most poised, calm and/or motivational person on the ice. 

Take Steve Yzerman or Joe Sakic for example, both of whom had tremendous success in the NHL as captains for the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche, respectively. They have not only won Stanley Cups, but have also experienced individual success. 

On the other hand, players like Shane Doan and Brendan Morrow represent a different style of leadership. While both players are unarguably great leaders, their offensive totals are not elite-level by any means. Also, they have yet to experience Stanley Cup glory as captains, which is easier said than done.

The time has come for the Colorado Avalanche to find someone who can fit a similar role. 

While Milan Hejduk wore the C for much of the 2011-12 NHL season, he is in the final year of his contract. Furthermore, the obvious youth movement in the Mile High City suggests that the captaincy should change accordingly.

Matt Duchene is the best candidate for the job, and here's why: 

Considering this MileHighHockey.com report, Duchene had a rough season. After showing incredible resilience and motivation to get back on the ice last year, Duchene has just another learning experience under his belt. 

Now, the youngster can get back to where he left off, after playing 80 games in his sophomore season and accumulating 27 goals and 40 assists. 

There's no argument that Duchene is offensively gifted.The real question is: Does he have the abilities to become the next full-time captain of the Colorado Avalanche?

There shouldn't be any doubt. 

After checking out this behind-the-scenes video of the 2009 NHL Entry draft provided by TSN, it's almost surprising to see how far Duchene has come in only two full seasons, while also considering his experiences with injuries last year.

It should be stated that the Avs have several other young candidates in Erik Johnson, Paul Stastny, Ryan O'Reilly and Gabriel Landeskog. In addition, if they want to play the veteran card, they can always have Hejduk return as captain for one more year. 

Johnson could be the best candidate after Matt Duchene. However, he's only played in 95 games for the Avs, and while 36 points is more than respectable, he hasn't been with the team long enough. There are not only veteran options who outrank him, but younger ones as well. 

Stastny has much to prove after failing to surpass the 60-point mark in two straight seasons. Why is this a problem?

He's already surpassed 70, twice.  

The downward-trending production of Stastny limits his candidacy as a captain.  

Ryan O'Reilly is a restricted free agent who has yet to reach a deal with the Avs. Though it's almost certain he will be with the team, the prolonging of his contract negotiations should suggest that he is not exactly captain material. 

While Landeskog had a great rookie season and earned himself the Calder Trophy, the gift of captaincy may be too early for the young Swede. This would not only give him too much confidence, but hinder the rest of the team's in the process. He has much to prove in this regard. 

This offseason, Duchene signed a two-year contract worth $7 million. The most interesting part about this contract is Johnson, Stastny, Landeskog and even David Jones, make more money than he is.

The fact is, many teams would have paid him a lot more for his services, but Duchene wants to play in Colorado — notice the Avalanche gear as a youth in this video. 

This was easily a "prove yourself" contract, and Duchene will undoubtedly answer the call. 

Duchene loves playing for Colorado, has the offensive skills to be one of the best and has leadership qualities beyond his years.

What more could you possibly want in a captain, given the youthful roster in Colorado?

If the NHL season does take place in 2012-13, Matt Duchene should be given the chance to lead the Colorado Avalanche, as he will take the opportunity and thrive from it.

The NHL currently has a lot of uncertainty shrouding the upcoming season. One thing that is absolutely clear, however, is that the Colorado Avalanche want to have Jean-Sebastien Giguere in their lineup for at least one more season.

In a somewhat surprising move on Monday, RDS reported the Colorado Avalanche gave backup goalie J.S. Giguere a one-year extension to keep the veteran in Denver through the 2013-2014 NHL season (per TSN).

According to CapGeek.com, the one-year extension is for $1.5 million and includes a no-movement clause.

This move isn't a surprise in the sense that people wouldn't understand why the Avalanche would bother re-signing Giguere—quite the opposite. Giguere was amazing for Colorado last season and a stabilizing force in the locker room.

The surprise is mostly because the Colorado Avalanche almost never grant extensions to players before their contract time is up.

It would have been easy for Greg Sherman and the Avalanche front office to extend Matt Duchene earlier in the year, but even a guy who is pegged as one of the cornerstones of the franchise's future was forced to wait until the offseason to get his new deal in place.

So why did this happen now?

First and foremost, it had to be obvious to the Avalanche organization exactly how valuable having a guy like Giguere has been. Not only was he a stalwart backup for the team, he was able to step in when Semyon Varlamov was having issues and put the team back in a position to win games.

In addition, Giguere played a key role in mentoring the much younger Varlamov and helping him bounce back from a rough early part of the season.

Giguere has been both a backup goalie and a goalie coach for Varlamov, a role that he really shouldn't have to play while he is working to keep his own game sharp, but one he has stepped into nonetheless.

Plus, the Avalanche probably wanted to make sure they had Giguere for at least one more season before the impending lockout. The Avalanche wouldn't be able to sign Giguere to another contract during a lockout, so why not just seal the deal before the fact?

All in all, a smart move that makes a lot of sense for the Avalanche. They keep a strong leader around the locker room for at least another year as this young team begins to move up as a contender in the league.

Now all that's left to be accomplished is signing Ryan O'Reilly. 

The Colorado Avalanche have spent majority of the NHL offseason re-signing the players off of last season’s roster and haven’t dipped into many trade talks. With Bobby Ryan on the market, the Avs should be doing everything in their power to acquire him.

Colorado has a very young and exciting team that should have been in the playoff hunt last season, but they aren’t among the crème of the crop in the Western Conference yet.

The Avs will be led by Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog, P.A. Parenteau and the still-unsigned Ryan O’Reilly. With Erik Johnson being the big name on defense and Semyon Varlamov starting in net, Colorado has themselves a pretty solid squad.

Will it be enough to get into the playoffs, though?

Colorado just missed the playoffs last season with a pretty similar team. They’ve added Parenteau to be an impact player and John Mitchell and Greg Zanon for depth, but that’s about it. It will be virtually the same team from last season besides a few guys here and there.

It will be even harder to make the playoffs in the Western Conference in 2012-13 as many teams have vastly improved.

The Minnesota Wild for example, are a team that didn’t make the playoffs last season and went out to sign two of the game’s best in Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. They will be one of the teams vying for the top spot in the West next season.

The Avalanche could make themselves one of the West’s best with the addition of Bobby Ryan. Ryan has expressed disinterest in the Anaheim Ducks and would prefer to be traded, according to Randy Miller of the Courier Post.

I take things personally. Anaheim to me has been a team over the past year that really has shown me nothing to prove that they want me here, unfortunately. Obviously, it’s not the ideal situation. When you get drafted, you want to win championships with that team and every time they look to add a piece to the puzzle, I’m the piece going to the other way.

I gotta be honest with you. At this point, I don’t care. Move me…because it’s just tough going to the rink every day knowing that if something goes wrong, you’re going to be the guy moved.

Adrian Dater of the Denver Post writes that the Ducks would be foolish to not trade Ryan for Paul Stastny, an Av who could be on the move.

This would become an interesting situation, as Dater writes, because the Ducks need a center and are willing to get rid of Ryan whereas the Avs already have two young centers and could use a wing.

With the potential top six forwards for the Avs being Landeskog, O’Reilly, Steve Downie, Duchene, Parenteau and Ryan, how could they not make the playoffs? As long as the defense played somewhat well and Varlamov wasn’t terrible, the Avs would be one of the best teams in the West.

The Avs will be on the brink of a playoff spot if they keep their current roster, but would be a force to be reckoned with if they got Ryan.

With yesterday's signing of Jamie McGinn, the Colorado Avalanche have just one more free agent left to tie up from their roster last season: Ryan O'Reilly.

Ryan O'Reilly had a breakout season for the Avalanche last season, scoring 55 points after producing 26 in each of his first two seasons.

With his sudden offensive output and steady ability to shut down opponent's top lines, O'Reilly has become a huge fan favorite in Colorado.

The question that has been running all over the Twitter-verse ever since the Stanley Cup Finals have ended is: "Why haven't the Avalanche signed Ryan O'Reilly yet?"

Well, initially the answer was pretty simple—the Avalanche started making signings of guys like Cody McLeod, Milan Hejduk and David Jones. 

These guys were all unrestricted free agents that the Avalanche wanted to take care of before July 1st came around.

Now that everybody else has been signed, fans still want to know...what is taking so long on O'Reilly?

Obviously the team wants him back, otherwise he wouldn't have been given a qualifying offer—similar to Peter Mueller and Kevin Porter. The issue that the Avalanche face comes with determining his value.

It's easy for us to say, "Look at the year O'Reilly had! He's the best player on the team, you need to lock him up for five years and pay that man!"

But look at it from Greg Sherman's perspective:

Yes, O'Reilly had a great season for the Avalanche this year, leading the team in scoring and assists while still providing solid defense, but this was a far different year than any of the ones before.

Obviously he's earned a raise, but you don't want to just throw money at a guy who only showed this kind of offensive production one of the three years he's been in the league. You also don't want to commit to a long period of paying a guy who hasn't yet shown that's what he will consistently do.

So saying that O'Reilly should get five years and up to $5 million a year isn't really big picture thinking with this, and Greg Sherman is a big picture guy.

O'Reilly will see a bump in money, but it won't be huge. As far as years go, Sherman will want to give O'Reilly the same kind of years that Matt Duchene and Jamie McGinn received.

Both players have two years to go out and prove that they deserve the bigger money with the longer term, and the same is likely to happen for O'Reilly.

The team wants him to play hard for the next two seasons and prove that his performance this year is the type of thing that the team can expect from him year in and year out.

The team will also want to guarantee that O'Reilly will still be a restricted free agent when his next contract ends so that they will continue to retain the same bargaining power with him that they currently have.

When he has established these things, then you can expect the big years and big money contract.

So my prediction is that Ryan O'Reilly's contract will be a two or three year one, in which he will be making about $3 million a year for his salary cap hit.

Jamie McGinn was one of a few players in the NHL who had chosen to take the route of salary arbitration in order to determine what his contract would be for the next season.

Luckily for him, the Avalanche and Avalanche fans, the arbitration hearing was not necessary because McGinn and the Avalanche agreed to terms on a new two-year contract today. Greg Sherman, the Avalanche General Manager/Executive Vice President, had this to say about McGinn in a press release from the team:

Jamie made an immediate impact from the time he joined our organization. We look forward to Jamie building upon last season’s performance and are pleased to have agreed to contract terms.  

McGinn absolutely made an immediate impact with the Avalanche, tallying 13 points in 17 games with the Avalanche after the trade.

He also had seven goals in his first eight games, becoming the first Avalanche player to have done so since Marek Svatos.

McGinn's contract was for $3.5 million over the next two years, according to Adrain Dater's Twitter.

This was just the latest in what has been a string of fantastic signings by Greg Sherman and the Avalanche front office.

McGinn was a difficult contract to figure out because of how productive he was with the Avalanche in the short time that he was there. The eight goals in 17 games was very impressive, but it was also different from what he showed in San Jose.

He was never the primary scorer during his time with San Jose and was always behind the likes of Marleau, Thornton, Heatley and Pavelski. In fact, the 12 goals he had scored before he was traded was a career high.

The Avalanche gave him a deal that not only rewards him for the production that he had but also gives him the ability to go forward and establish a new value for himself.

In two years, if McGinn can put together two strong seasons from a points perspective, then his next contract will be much more lucrative.

The two years also sets up beneficially for the Avalanche as McGinn will only be 25 at the end of it and will still be a restricted free agent.

Sherman put together a similar contract with Avalanche star, Matt Duchene. Duchene's two-year contract gives him a cap hit of $3.5 million a year and allows him to do the exact same thing after a poor season from 2011-2012.

The Avalanche wanted to reward him for his strong first two seasons but also recognize the potential danger in the bad season he had. So he was given a contract that gives him a raise but also allows him to prove that he deserves a better contract with more dollars and years. This deal also ends with Duchene remaining a restricted free agent.

Greg Sherman has performed his duty as General Manager brilliantly this past offseason, but he isn't finished yet.

With all the great signings that he has made, he still has one more left to finish, Ryan O'Reilly.

Still, with what he has shown during the past couple of months, Avalanche fans should sit confidently and know that O'Reilly will get a contract done with the Avalanche, and that deal will be fair.

The Colorado Avalanche only have one player left to re-sign after coming to terms with forward Jamie McGinn on a two-year, $3.5 million deal, according to the team’s official website.

The Avs acquired McGinn from the San Jose Sharks at last season’s trade deadline in exchange for Daniel Winnik and T.J. Galiardi. McGinn was an instant hit playing in Colorado, and racked up 13 points in 17 games. Over the course of the entire season, he scored 20 goals and had 17 assists.

McGinn will earn $1.65 million this upcoming season and $1.85 million next season, tweets Adrian Dater of the Denver Post.

McGinn was scheduled to go to arbitration on July 25, writes Dater, but now no longer has to worry about that.

This is a great deal for the Avs for a couple of reasons.

One, McGinn returns to the team cheap. A $3.5 million deal won’t really affect the salary cap and is fair for a player of McGinn’s skill and potential in the future. They’re not overpaying him for his duties and he isn’t getting undervalued.

Two, McGinn is just 23 years old and can continue to be a big piece of Colorado’s youth movement. He’s one of six forwards at 25 years of age or younger. Not to mention that defensemen Erik Johnson and Ryan Wilson, as well as goalie Semyon Varlamov, are also 25 or younger. The Avs have set themselves up nicely for the future with all of these young players with high ceilings.

Avs general manager Greg Sherman was pleased to have McGinn back, saying, “Jamie made an immediate impact from the time he joined our organization. We look forward to Jamie building upon last season’s performance and are pleased to have agreed to contract terms.”

With McGinn signed for the next two years, Sherman only has to get Ryan O’Reilly to sign a new deal, and then Colorado’s roster should pretty much be set.

O’Reilly—the team’s second youngest player—lead Colorado in assists and points last season. Sherman needs to get O’Reilly to sign a multi-year contract that will ensure he’ll be in an Avs uniform at least until he’s 25. Signing O’Reilly is arguably the most important part of the entire offseason for Colorado.

When a 21-year-old scores 18 times and has 37 assists, you sign him long-term. Sherman shouldn’t have to pay O’Reilly that much until his next contract, and money isn’t an issue in Colorado anyways. They have plenty of room before approaching the salary cap.

With McGinn’s contract negotiations complete, O’Reilly is the last task of the summer for Sherman and the Avalanche.

At the end of week one of free agency, the Colorado Avalanche have made some solid signings to improve their roster.

The additions of John Mitchell, Greg Zanon and P.A. Parenteau are by no means large splashes in the market, but they were signings that addressed needs of the team moving forward.

The one question that remains for the Avalanche is, with the prizes of the free agency-pool (Zach Parise and Ryan Suter) gone, do the Avalanche really need to make any more moves this free-agency period?

This question goes beyond the idea of simply signing more free agents and should also include the idea of the Avalanche making a trade.

Many theories exist on what the Avalanche should do, so let's recap.

One of the most popular theories out there right now, and one I talked about in a previous article, is that the Avalanche should trade Paul Stastny to Anaheim for Bobby Ryan.

On paper it is a move that makes a lot of sense. The Avalanche need scoring help on left wing and Bobby Ryan could certainly provide that.

The only negatives come in the uncertainty of line combinations and not knowing who the Avalanche will use on the third and/or fourth line as centers.

It's a deal that has a lot of potential positives and could really help the team, but there is no doubt that Stastny's absence would be noticed.

From one proposal that makes the most sense to an idea that makes very little sense. In yesterday's Denver Post, Mark Kiszla wrote an article that suggested that trading Matt Duchene was the smartest way for the Avalanche to go.

In the article, Kiszla suggests that the Avalanche should make a move with Duchene to get either Rick Nash or Bobby Ryan. He also suggests that Duchene has shown that he isn't the player the Avalanche wanted him to be when they drafted him.

What Kizsla doesn't address is that just Duchene alone won't be enough to convince the Ducks or the Blue Jackets to give up their star players, not to mention that Duchene is just one season removed from a year where he tied for the team lead in goals with 27. Also, Duchene is just 21 years of age and has yet to reach the ceiling of his potential.

Yes, Duchene had a bad year, but labeling him a failure with the Avalanche because of one bad season is ludicrous.

The third idea that is often tossed around for the Avalanche is to go and sign Alexander Semin. This has been suggested as possible move by Adrian Dater and also here on Bleacher Report.

Again, on paper this would seem like a deal that would make sense. We need a scoring winger and Semin is a scoring winger. Should be a match, right?

Sadly, things aren't nearly as simple as that. Semin carries a lot of question marks, many of which have to do with his character.

If you watched any of TSN's coverage of the "NHL Free Agent Frenzy," you saw that their panel didn't really have that many positive things to say about Semin. And by that I mean they didn't say a single nice thing about him and labeled him as a bad teammate, a guy who hurts his team despite his production and as the ultimate coach killer.

At the same time, watching Semin in the playoffs this season showed him doing a lot of the things he takes heat for not doing. Back-checking, blocking shots and giving a solid effort all over the ice.

Which guy are you going to get? It's hard to say, but are the Avalanche willing to roll the dice on him? My guess is probably not. At the very least, it should be safe to say that the Avalanche won't match the $10 million-a-year offer he reportedly received from the KHL.

Here's a wild theory that not too many people are tossing about. Perhaps the Avalanche don't need to make any more moves. Maybe the team is in a pretty good position as it is.

If the season were to start today, my guess is that the lines would look like this:

Offense:

Landeskog-Duchene-Parenteau

McGinn-Stastny-Jones

Downie-O'Reilly-Hejduk

McLeod-Mitchell-Olver/Kobasew

Defense:

Johnson-O'Brien

Hejda-O'Byrne

Wilson-Zanon

There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of those lines. Matt Duchene will benefit the most from the signing of P.A. Parenteau, and we will see a lot more of sniper Matt Duchene this year.

Parenteau will do a lot of great work along the boards, down low and in the high slot to get the puck in scoring position to Duchene. Landeskog will also benefit simply by playing the way he always does and just being around the net.

Stastny's line will continue to get a chance to click, as it did toward the end of last season, and Jamie McGinn might end up being the scoring winger that we all have wished for. Don't forget that he had eight goals in 17 games for the Avalanche.

Jones may rotate around with Hejduk depending on the way the two perform, but Ryan O'Reilly is a type of center that Jones would play well with.

To suggest that the Avalanche absolutely need to make a move and acquire anybody else just doesn't seem to be the case.

Should the Avalanche acquire Ryan, that would be wonderful, but it would have to be in a way that would make sense for the team.

Semin could make a solid addition to the team, but then again, he also carries a risk of being a type of player that the Avalanche have worked so hard to rid themselves of over the past few seasons. Think Chris Stewart.

As it is, the Avalanche not only have a team of exciting young talent, but the team has really solid depth and could get scoring from a lot of different places.

Not only that, but each of the players on this team are guys who are excited to play for this team. That is a factor that I have downplayed in the past, but there is no denying the difference that it made to have guys like Steve Downie and Jamie McGinn injected into the lineup in place of downers like T.J. Galiardi and Kyle Quincey.

At this moment, the Avalanche may be happy with the roster that they have, and they have every reason to be.

It's natural for the fans to want the team to make a big splash, but perhaps we should look at this more in the way that we look at Olympic diving: A splash is going to be made, but we're looking for the right type of splash.