There's been a lot of talk of late regarding the Avs dumping their core and blowing it up. Some people seem to be mistaken that Joe Sakic deserves a shot to rebuild the team. He doesn't. He has built the worst team in the NHL (while spending to the cap) and doesn't deserve to spend another day as an NHL GM.
Joe is one of my favorite all time players, and an NHL legend, but there is no way that he should ever be at the helm of an NHL franchise again. While he has shown some ability to keep the talent that he has, Sakic has an abysmal record when it comes to bringing in talent.
A breakdown of his moves. I left out a bunch of two way contracts and minor deals like that. None of them have really been impactful either way. A couple of guys on two way/small deals played way too many games at the NHL level, but that's more a function of the Avs poor scouting and depth, not an indictment of those players or the deals they were signed to.
Good moves:
Sakic has shown the ability to resign players at a team-friendly number. As a former player Joe seems to insist on treating players with professional respect, and I think that guys respond to this treatment.
He has signed Duchene, Landeskog, Varlamov, Barrie, and Mackinnon to pretty friendly deals. For as much as I'm about to bash Sakic, he does deserve genuine credit for this.
Mixed moves:
Did resign ROR to a two year deal. It was basically just kicking the can down the road, but two extra years of O'Reilly certainly isn't a negative. Perhaps this should be in the "good moves" category.
Traded Steve Downie for Max Talbot. Two players that have declined hard and were pretty useless after this trade. Meh.
Resigned Erik Johnson at 6M for seven years. I suspect this will end up in the "bad" category, but I'll reserve judgement for now.
Blockbuster trade, ROR for Zadorov. Obviously there are a lot of moving pieces here, and it's to be seen where Zadorov ends up as a finished prospect. Grigorenko literally puts in a Filatov level effort, Jamie McGinn rules.
Signed Blake Comeau, three years 2.4 per. Comeau is a fustrating player, but a decent bottom sixer. Hasn't always lived up to the contract, but does provide some value.
Trades Connor Bleakley, Kyle Wood, Alex Tanguay for Mikael Boedker. Boedker provides a little value but leaves, Kyle Wood is tearing up the AHL right now. Very close to being in the "bad" category.
Bad moves:
Traded a second round pick for Reto Berra, who sucks.
Resigned Reto Berra to a three year deal.
Resigned John Mitchell for three years at 1.8M a year
Signed Iginla to a three year deal at over 5 mil a year. Did have one good year, but Sakic is paying 16 mil for 56 goals from a scorer. Not good enough.
Traded Parenteau and a fifth for Danny Briere. Briere basically didn't do anything and retired after the season, Parenteau had a couple more decent seasons.
Trades a second and a sixth for a clearly washed up Brad Stuart
Proceeds to give a two year extension to Brad Stuart for 3.6M a year BEFORE HE PLAYS A GAME.
To the surprise of nobody he proceeds to play horribly and eventually gets bought out.
Let Paul Stastny walk instead of trading him because the Avs were looking at the playoffs. Horrible asset management, especially when you're not a contender.
Signed Carl Soderberg to a five year deal at 4.75 per. Soderberg has 10 points this year and has literally quit trying, he just coasts.
Signed Beauchmin to a three year deal, NMC, 4.5 per. Not an NHL level defenseman right now. Had a good half a season, but is horrible. If he wasn't on this huge contract I literally think he would be in the AHL right now.
Trades a third for Eric Gelinas, a player who cannot skate, handle the puck, play defense, or seemingly do anything other than shoot at an NHL level. He sucks.
Signs Joe Colborne to a two year, 2.5M per year deal. I bet Joe Colborne has a nice smelling locker because there's no way he breaks a sweat out there. Only forward that I have ever watched at any level that has literally stood in one spot for an entire PK.
Signed Fedor Tyutin to a one year, 2M deal. Not the worst in terms of length, but Tyutin is horrible and an AHL level plug at this point.
I understand that prospects take time to reach the NHL, but Sakic is coming up on his fifth draft as Avs GM and only two players (Mackinnon and Rantanen) are currently on the team, and 2014 first round pick Conner Bleackley didn't even get an ELC.
Joe Sakic has been wheeling and dealing for depth for four years now and has literally come up with nothing. A couple players on big contracts have had one good year and then become an albatross, today the best player that Sakic has brought in is Blake freaking Comeau. Somebody tell me why he deserves another day. Totally clueless. Avs are horrible and Joe Sakic is a massive culprit.
