After trade additions, Sakic expects Avs to “compete for the Stanley Cup”
Apr 13, 2021, 6:44 AM
The Colorado Avalanche have won 16 of their last 19 games, and have received reinforcements in goaltender Devan Dubynk, and old friends Patrik Nemeth and Carl Soderberg prior to the NHL trade deadline on Monday. On paper — and on the ice — the Avalanche don’t appear to have many flaws, and the man responsible for this roster-construction project said that the training wheels are off.
“This is as deep a team as we’re going to have here, where we can have four lines who are really deep. We’re going to have to get cheaper starting next year at some of those positions,” general manager Joe Sakic said in a press conference after the deadline passed. “We love the way the team is coming together; love the way they’re playing. Management, fans and everybody in the dressing room believes this is a time we need to compete for the Stanley Cup.”
After Pavel Francouz was ruled out for the season following hip surgery — something that the Avalanche finally revealed on Monday — and after seeing Andrew Hammond and Michael Hutchinson in net during playoff runs in the last three seasons, Sakic wasn’t leaving anything to chance. After adding Jonas Johannson, who’s gone 3-0-1 with a 1.87 goals-against average, Sakic wasn’t finished, saying, “We saw last year that we got to our third goalie, and we wanted to have an experienced backup as well with ‘JoJo.'” Enter Dubnyk, a 10-year veteran who’s thrilled to have the opportunity to win a championship, even as a backup to Philip Grubauer.
The 220-pound Nemeth fills a very specific role for the Avalanche, according to Sakic. “We were looking to get a defending defenseman,” he explained. “Patrik did a great job for us before. He’s had a great two years in Detroit. We want to make sure we have that big defending body who can eat up some penalty minutes so we can rest some of our other guys.”
That’s Soderberg’s role, as well. “We wanted to add some depth, and we know what Carl brings,” Sakic said. “He can come in and penalty kill; play a big role. He’s a big guy who can definitely help our bottom six.”
All three of the additions are free agents after the season, which is important, given that, as Sakic suggested, money will get tighter with Grubauer and Gabriel Landeskog’s impending, unrestricted free agency and Cale Makar’s restricted free agency, which came sooner than usual given that Makar’s NHL debut in the 2018-19 playoffs ate up a full season of his entry-level contract.
For Sakic, who won two Cups on the ice as the Avalanche’s captain, that means the time is now. “We believe in our group. We believe in the players that we have,” he said. “Their expectations are to win, and our one goal is to win the Stanley Cup — and that’s what we’re going for.”
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NEXT UP: Avalanche (29-9-4, 62 pts) vs. Blues (19-16-6, 44 pts) | Wednesday, Apr. 14 at 5:30 p.m. | TV: NBCSN.
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TEAM NOTES
• The Avalanche possess the league’s top line, and they have a numbers to back that up. In a not-so-remarkable coincidence given their scoring prowess, since Mar. 1, Gabriel Landeskog (12 goals/20 assists), Nathan MacKinnon (12 goals/20 assists), and Mikko Rantanen (17 goals/15 assists) have each scored exactly 32 points. That puts them in a three-way tie — with each other — as the top three scorers in the league during that span.
• Colorado acquired forward Carl Soderberg from the Blackhawks in a trade for forwards Ryder Rolston and Josh Dickinson at Monday’s deadline. Soderberg, 35, scored 135 points (57 goals/94 assists) with the Avalanche from 2015-2019.
• After Monday’s win over the Coyotes, the Avalanche are 12-0-1 in their last 13 games at home. Their last loss at Ball Arena was on Mar. 8; also to the Coyotes.
• The Avalanche are 4-0-3 in the second half of back-to-backs this season.
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PLAYER NOTES
• Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and an assist, extending his point-scoring streak to 10 games. That streak, which has seen MacKinnon score 17 points (7 goals/10 assists), is the league’s longest this season. MacKinnon now sits second in the NHL in plus-minus with plus-25 on the season.
• Mikko Rantanen had a pair of goals on Monday, reaching 25 on the season to move into second place in the NHL behind only the Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews (32). Rantanen also reached the 300-point plateau in his career, becoming the fifth player in the high-scoring 2015 draft class to reach that mark.
• Philipp Grubauer earned his 25th win of the season, tying the Lightning’s Andrei Vasilevskiy for the league lead. Grubauer played in his 107th game as a member of the Avalanche, moving into a tie with Craig Anderson for sixth place in Avalanche history. Next on the list is David Aebischer, who played in 174 games between 2001-06.
• Devan Dubnyk backed up starting goaltender Philipp Grubauer on Monday, and is likely to start a game this week, perhaps as soon as Wednesday. Dubnyk will play in front of the league’s best defense in allowing shots; his former San Jose team was the league’s fifth-worst in that category.
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THE FINAL WORD
“The key for us is our top guys got the job done. I thought the (Nathan) MacKinnon line was exceptional, (Cale) Makar was really good and ‘Grubi’ (goaltender Philipp Grubauer) was probably our best player.” — Head coach Jared Bednar
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INJURY WATCH
• Bowen Byram (COVID-19 protocol) will be out until at least late April.
• Logan O’Connor (lower-body injury) was placed on injured reserve on Apr. 2. He is expected to be out indefinitely, but it would be a surprise if returned before early May.
• Matt Calvert (upper-body injury) missed the Mar. 31 game and was placed on the injured list on Apr. 11.
• Conor Timmins (upper-body injury) missed the Mar. 8 game and has not played since.
• Dennis Gilbert (facial injury, COVID-19 protocol) was placed on injured reserve on Feb. 20. He is expected to be out until at least late March.
• Erik Johnson (upper-body injury) left the Jan. 30 game and has no projected return date. On March 25, coach Jared Bednar suggested that it was possible that Johnson could miss the remainder of the season.
• Pavel Francouz (hip) has yet to play this season and remains on injured reserve. On Apr. 12, the Avalanche ruled him out for the rest of the season following hip surgery.
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LAST NIGHT’S LINES
FORWARDS:
Top Line: LW Gabriel Landeskog, C Nathan MacKinnon, RW Mikko Rantanen
Second Line: LW Andre Burakovsky, C Nazem Kadri, RW Valeri Nichushkin
Third Line: LW Brandon Saad, C Tyson Jost, RW Joonas Donskoi
Fourth Line: LW Liam O’Brien, C Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, RW J.T. Compher
DEFENSEMEN:
Top Pair: LD Devon Toews, RD Samuel Girard
Second Pair: LD Ryan Graves, RD Cale Makar
Third Pair: LD Keaton Middleton, RD Jacob McDonald
GOALTENDERS:
Starter: Philipp Grubauer
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Shawn Drotar is the host of “The Fan Late Night with Shawn Drotar;” weeknights from 10:00 p.m. to midnight — only on 104.3 The Fan. Follow him on Twitter at @sdrotar.
