Parity’s poster boys
Time will tell if the NHL salary cap will make the Avalanche’s mile-high success over the last decade evaporate into Colorado’s thin air
There
has never been a great
need for editorializing when it comes to grading out the National Hockey League’s second go-round here in Colorado. The Avalanche won a Stanley Cup in its first season after being relocated from Quebec City, and ever since the numbers have always told the story on what has become the NHL’s most solid franchise west of the Mississippi.
In nine years in Denver the Avs have made six trips to the Western Conference finals and won two Stanley Cups. Owner Stan Kroenke is an heir to the Wal-Mart fortune who might never need the money, having secured every meaningful revenue stream in a state-of-the-art arena where the Avs have renewed 93% of their season tickets this fall, setting a sales record the day they opened up the wickets for individual game sales this fall.
But with all the numbers working in his favour, Colorado general manager Pierre Lacroix always had one more major advantage over a Northwest Division that included small markets Calgary and Edmonton, middling Vancouver, and the notoriously tight-fisted Minnesota Wild. While teams with actual budgets would spend their entire payroll in October to secure a lineup for the start of the season, Lacroix would spend 40% more on his own roster, then still have a few million around at the trading deadline to grab a player like Ray Bourque or Rob Blake to put the Avalanche over the top.
“ The reason they had that extra is because of the success they had in the playoffs,” explains Blake. “ They won division titles year after year, they won Stanley Cups, so the income and the revenues were always there to support the trades. And, they sold out every year.”
Of course, it’s a vicious cycle: You spend; you win; you draw; you host more playoff games; you have more money to spend again next season. And of course, the opposite was also true for smallmarket teams. With a payroll of US$60.9-million last season, the Avalanche was the only club in its division to spend more than the new salary cap of US$39-million.
And the lineup, post-lockout?
“ You pick it now in October,” admits Blake. “But good GMs will understand what they need, and they’ll still get it at the deadline. How they’re going to do it? That’s their game. Pierre has figured a way every year to do it.”
For now though, as he enters his second decade at the helm of this franchise, Lacroix has spent the summer learning a dance that is foreign to him, trying to replace two of his best players who left for teams that could better afford them. The locker stalls of Peter Forsberg and Adam Foote — “ Two big-name players,” Blake emphasized — have been filled by the flighty pair of Pierre Turgeon and Patrice Brisebois, neither of whom is the kind of superstar Avs fans have become accustomed to welcoming to town.
“ We had two unbelievable lines last year. We’d come with Sakic, we’d come with Forsberg,” said Blake. It was a tandem unseen down the middle, perhaps, since Glen Sather would send Mark Messier and Wayne Gretzky over the boards in Edmonton. “Now, I think [lines] one through four have more depth. The guys they picked up, the money they spent this summer, has filled our roster one through four. Now, it takes all four lines to fill up that void left by one great player.”
Which is fine with about 20 other teams, because that’s a game anyone can play. Lacroix’s idea of depth players at forward used to include Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne, neither of whom returned for a second season in Denver. Now his second-line centre is Turgeon, who signed a fiveyear, US$32.5-million deal in Dallas and never delivered more than 15 goals in a season for the Stars. And Habs fans know about Brisebois, whose US$4million salary never quite meshed with an average of four goals and 31 points the last three seasons in Montreal.
“ They guy’s a good player — better than what the boos in Montreal dictated,” said exCanuck Brad May, another newcomer who fits Lacroix’s new budget. “I don’t know if you’ll ever replace a Peter Forsberg. Adam Foote, clearly, this guy is awesome too. I don’t know if you can say we’ve replaced him.”
The Avs, in fact, are the poster boys for the parity NHL commissioner Gary Bettman sought in his “new NHL.” While long-suffering Edmonton traded up for Chris Pronger and Mike Peca and Calgary added Roman Hamrlik, Darren McCarty and Tony Amonte, the Avs brought in Andrew Brunette, Antti Laaksonen, Ian Laperrière and Curtis Leschyshyn. Good players. Not great players.
“ They work their nuts off,” May said of the above-mentioned group. “If you pride yourself on that, you’ll be in every game.”
Again, however, work ethic is an aspect of the game in which any of 30 teams should be able to compete with Colorado. And so the hiking boot has shifted to the other foot here in the Rocky Mountains, and as if on cue, the Avalanche has begun to take notice of how other teams are operating under the salary cap, perhaps a bit edgy now that the playing field has been evened.
“ Talking about Edmonton,” Laperrière said, “they went out and got two players they said they couldn’t afford. Now, with the cap, they can afford those guys? I don’t know how, but they did. It’s surprising sometimes … ”
Completely unsolicited, May echoed that sentiment across the dressing room moments later: “You look at the teams that didn’t have money, and haven’t been successful, apparently, have been spending a lot more money. They haven’t earned any more, so how in the world would they be spending it?
“ A partnership is probably the best system to move forward; it is the system we’re in,” he continued. “I look around the league and say, ‘ These teams are spending money. This is great for hockey.’ But why in the world could they not spend it two years ago when they had people in the stands? [Edmonton] is probably the biggest example. But the thing I like is Edmonton — and Calgary — are passionate about their hockey. Their teams are healthy. And … they were healthy over the last number of years, too.”
Actually, Edmonton’s payroll in the 2003- 04 season was US$31-million. Today, the Oilers are coming in around US$32million — about US$4-million behind Colorado.
But you’ll have to forgive the Avs if their accounting is a tad mixed-up. This is the first season they’ve been asked to pay attention to payroll here in Denver.
It might take a little getting used to.