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Avalanche get tougher, sign Koci

Heading into the offseason if you would have asked Avalanche observers if their lack of toughness was a reason for their terrible record last season most would've laughed at the notion. Evidently the Avalanche braintrust would not have. The team announced Wednesday they had signed unrestricted free agent tough guy David Koci to a one year, $575,000 dollar contract. Koci is a 6'6" winger who is a natural enforcer. In 64 career NHL games Koci has racked up nearly 300 penalty minutes and just 2 points.

Avalanche sign Craig Anderson

The Avalanche have signed unrestricted free agent goaltender Craig Anderson to a two year, $3.6 million dollar contract.

Anderson, 28, was 15-7-5 with Panthers, with a .924 saves percentage, 2.71 goals-against average and three shutouts.

This is a good deal for the Avalanche given their financial restrictions. They sign someone who can be a starter but who will not count a lot against the salary cap.

2009-2010 Salary Cap Overview

Here is an overview on the Colorado Avalanche salary cap situation with the recent news on the Peter Budaj contract and free agency beginning tomorrow. These numbers do not include RFA who have not been signed (below) or prospects who may or may not be on the team to start the season (below).

This leaves the team over $10M to spend on 8 players. They need 1 goaltender, 2 defensemen, and 5 forwards.

Player	Compensation	Cap Hit
Paul Stastny	$6,600,000	$6,600,000
Ryan Smyth	$6,500,000	$6,250,000
Scott Hannan	$4,500,000	$4,500,000
J.M. Liles	$4,125,000	$4,200,000
Milan Hejduk	$4,000,000	$3,900,000
Adam Foote	$3,200,000	$3,000,000
Brett Clark	$3,500,000	$3,500,000
Ruslan Salei	$3,275,000	$3,025,000
Wojtek Wolski	$3,100,000	$2,800,000
Darcy Tucker	$2,300,000	$2,250,000
Marek Svatos	$2,350,000	$2,050,000
Peter Budaj	$1,250,000	$1,250,000
Cody McLeod	$900,000	$1,033,333
Chris Stewart	$850,000	$850,000
T.J Hensick	$685,000	$850,000
Total	$47,135,000	$46,058,333

Players Under Contract:	15
Estimated Hit:	$46,058,333
Estimated Cap:	$56,800,000
Estimated Space:	$10,741,667

2009-2010 RFA

David Jones

Kyle Cumiskey

Michael Vernace

Jason Bacashihua

Philippe Dupuis

Prospects/System Players Under Contract	Cap Hit
Trevor Cann	$875,000
Cameron Gaunce	$875,000
T.J. Galiardi	$875,000
Ryan Stoa	$850,000
Codey Burki	$850,000
Nigel Williams	$825,000
Wes Oneil	$815,000
Cedric Lalonde-McNicoll	$613,333
Kevin Montgomery	$593,333
Ray Macias	$585,000
Tom Fritsche	$566,667
Ryan Wilson	$525,000
Derek Peletier	$512,500
Marty Sertich	$487,500

2009 NHL Entry Draft: Complete Analysis

The 2009 NHL Entry Draft is over.  After months of wondering and analyzing which prospects the Avalanche might be available or who would make good picks we can now look at what they actually did.  Earlier this week I gave my overall thoughts on the draft and what I thought they accomplished and did not accomplish.  Here is my analysis of each pick with a grade, and an overall grade.

Pick #1, 3rd overall: C Matt Duchene, Brampton Battalion (OHL)
Analysis: What is NOT to like about this kid? The speedy two way center from Brampton will give the Avalanche a great 1-2 punch down the middle. In most years Duchene would have gone first overall so for the Avalanche to snatch him at #3 is great, great value. Duchene really elevated his game in the OHL playoffs notching 14 goals, and 26 points in 21 playoff games.  Look for Duchene to spend one more year in Brampton before making the jump to the NHL level.  On top of everything else, Duchene seems like a down to earth, great kid.
Grade: A+

Pick #2, 33rd overall: C Ryan O’Reilly, Erie Otters (OHL)
Analysis: O’Reilly desperately fills a need. A hard working, excellent defensive center and someone who knows how to win and does not like to lose. A great leader, and character player. You win Stanley Cups with these type of players. O’Reilly figures to be the future checking center on the Avalanche for years to come. The criticism of O’Reilly’s game is his skating, even though most scouts agree that it is adequate. I like the O’Reilly pick because it fills an organizational need. However, it is clear the organization passed on some prospects with higher offensive upside. O’Reilly will not be a whole lot more than a checking center who can fill in on the second line on occasion. Klingberg, Budish, Shore, Morin, Werek were all taken after this pick. But I’m okay with that, the organization needs more players of O’Reilly’s mold. They also got great value here, O’Reilly was projected as a late first round pick. O’Reilly will likely need a couple years in the minors. 
Grade: B+

Pick #3, 49th overall: D Stefan Elliott, Saskatoon Blades (WHL)
Analysis: I keep repeating myself here but superb value again. Elliott was rated as the 17th best North American skater by NHL’s Central Scouting so to pick him at 49 is an absolute steal. Elliott has been described as an offensive defensemen with comparisons to Brian Rafalski. But if you listen to scouts he is a good two way defensemen who uses good positioning to break up plays. Without question his potential is as a PP QB. Elliott notched 16 goals, and 55 points in 71 WHL games last season. Elliott adds to the organizational strength of blueline prospects.
Grade: A

Pick #4, 64th overall: D Tyson Barrie, Kelowna Rockets (WHL)
Analysis: Barrie is a solid player. He helped lead his team to the WHL Championship and the Memorial Cup notching 4 goals and 18 points in 22 playoff games. Barrie possesses excellent acceleration and speed and has excellent hockey IQ. Decent pick, but I’m not a huge fan of this pick given the abundance of depth the organization has with this type of player. Barrie could be a good player but he is undersized and given the Elliott pick at 49 failing to draft a shutdown defensemen or a winger here I find disappointing. Barrie has an uphill battle with with Cumiskey, Shattenkirk, Elliot, Nigel Williams, Cameron Gaunce, and Colby Cohen all in the system. More a knock on the selection than the player here. 
Grade: B-

Pick #5, 124th overall: G Kieran Millan, Boston University (Hockey East)
Analysis: Finally! The Avalanche address their biggest area of need in round five. I found this pick surprising and am still not a huge fan at this selection. Especially with Oliver Roy STILL available and the higher ranked of the two. But with the plethora of Avalanche prospects already at BU perhaps this pick isn’t that surprising. Millan did have a great year on a stacked BU team posting a 29-2-3 record with a 1.94 GAA and a .932 save percentage.
Grade: C+

Pick #6, 154th overall: G Brandon Maxwell, USDP (U-18)
Analysis: Another goaltender! Now this pick I like! Could be a steal when all is said and done. Maxwell was a standout for the US at last year's Under 18's, where they captured the bronze medal. He posted a 4-0-1 record with a .926 save percentage and a 2.21 goals against average. A pick with lots of potential but it is going to take some time. Maxwell will be playing hockey next season for the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers.
Grade: B+

Pick #7, 184th overall: D Gus Young, Nobles (HIGH-MA)
Analysis: Really difficult to judge the picks by this point. He has good size and is apparently a decent skater. Young is headed to Yale and would appear like a long shot to make the organization but he has a lot of development ahead of him so we will just wait and see.
Grade: C

Aside from being mildly disappointed the Avalanche failed to address a couple organizational needs I was very pleased with the selections they made. I really think they did a good job, especially with the first three picks. I’ll be shocked if those three are not all promising NHL players. I would be much happier had they drafted a legit shutdown defenseman.

Overall I give them an A- minus for their weekend in Montreal.

Peter Budaj re-signs

Much maligned goaltender Peter Budaj has been re-signed to a one-year, $1.25 million dollar contract. Budaj, 26, will become an unrestricted free agent after the upcoming season.

It is hard to believe Budaj got a raise after the season he had but I don't think this contract is bad at all. It seems like a fair deal for both sides. If Budaj finally does have a great season he can back up the brinks truck next offseason. Conversely, if his inconsistency continues the Avalanche can move on with no cap consequences.

Cody McCormick will not be back

According to Denver Post reporter Adrian Dater the team did not give restricted free agent Cody McCormick a qualifying offer. McCormick will become an unrestricted free agent on Wednesday.

It is obvious the organization felt it was time to cut ties with McCormick. All they had to offer McCormick to retain his rights was a raise of $52,200 taking his yearly salary to a paltry $574,200. McCormick was arbitration eligible so the organization could've walked away at that point if it came to that. Clearly they felt strongly about McCormick not having a role on the team next year.

2009 NHL Entry Draft: Overview

The 2009 draft is over and I find myself pleased with most of the decisions made by the organization in Montreal. Thankfully they didn’t do anything stupid like many fans feared. When the draft ended Saturday afternoon my initial gut feeling was that they had a very strong draft. After review and further examination that gut feeling was vindicated. But we should all acknowledge that judging a draft less than a week after it happened is less than ideal and very difficult. We’ll know in four or five years how this draft really turned out. But with that said, I feel like the team added three almost certain NHL players (Duchene, O’Reilly and Elliott) and a few other potential steals.

Before the draft I wanted the team to accomplish several things:

• Find a way to get additional draft picks
• Don’t trade away or do anything stupid with #3 pick
• Build forward prospect depth
• Draft a goaltender
• Don’t reach for “boom or bust” prospects

So how did the Avalanche do in this regard?

Unfortunately they were unable to add additional draft picks. With such a deep draft adding a middle second round pick would have been great. But perhaps because of that teams weren’t willing to get rid of picks as easily as years past. Maybe trading Svatos wasn’t an option they were willing to consider. Either way, it was disappointing to see them sit on their hands and not make moves to acquire additional draft picks.

Thankfully, the Avalanche did not do anything stupid with the #3 pick. Some fans were concerned with comments made by Rick Pracey leading up to the draft where he seemed to indicate the team would not be opposed to moving down. But as I expected that was a bluff, they had Matt Duchene as their guy at #3 for months. A no brainer.

They did not address their need for forward depth as much as I would’ve liked. Yes, they did select centers Matt Duchene and Ryan O’Reilly with their first two picks (both players I am excited about) but the rest of the draft they loaded up on more defensive prospects and goaltending. They didn’t draft a winger in what I feel is clearly an area they need to build depth.

They did address their obvious need for goaltending by drafting a goaltender with both their fifth and sixth round selections. It seemed like a reach when they selected Kieran Millan from Boston University with their 124th selection, especially with projected second round pick Oliver Roy still on the board. But on the flipside there must have been a reason Roy had slipped so far. Still, this was really the only pick all weekend I really was not a huge fan of. They obviously see something in him that others don’t because his potential seems to be as an AHL goaltender. It just seemed like a pick that you could’ve got a little later in the draft. But if they reached for Millan, they did anything but with their sixth round pick. With their 154th selection they drafted Brandon Maxwell. Maxwell was the starter for Team USA at last year's Under 18's, where they captured the bronze medal. He was outstanding in the tournament posting a 4-0-1 record with a .926 save percentage and 2.21 goals against average. Maxwell will be playing hockey next season for the OHL’s Kitchener Rangers. A great pick.

The only prospect that could be qualified as a boom or bust pick was above mentioned selection of Kieran Millan. But that is not to say they didn’t have the opportunity to draft these types of players. The obvious “boom or bust” prospect of the draft was sitting there at 33 and thankfully the team passed. Bruising Minnesota center Zach Budish was available and certainly would’ve been a popular choice. He has great upside but is coming off a torn ACL and many criticize his skating ability. Instead the team went with reliable, hard working center Ryan O’Reilly from the Erie Otters. I will get into this selection more later this week but the team opted for a sure thing and a player who fills an obvious need rather than some prospects with more pure offensive talent.

My more in depth pick-by-pick analysis will be out later this week and I will begin posting prospect bios with scouting reports in the coming days.

Prospect Bio: Matt Duchene

Born: January 16, 1991

Hometown: Haliburton, ON

Height: 5'11"

Weight: 200 lbs

Position: Center

Shoots: Left

Team (League): Brampton Battalion (OHL)

Draft Selection: 3rd overall

"Duchene is an explosive skater and speedster with great hands, very good passer and has a great shot with a quick release. Matt can also play in his own end,being responsible defensively. He is the most complete forward in the draft and tops off the package with outstanding hockey sense."

Christopher Ralph, The Hockey Writers

"Duchene has the ability to dominate a game. He is an excellent all-round skater
with great speed, his playmaking, ability to see the ice and move the puck
through traffic to create offense are outstanding. He has a very good shot,
but I see his best asset as his speed and ability to beat defensemen to the
middle or outside."

NHL Central Scouting’s Chris Edwards

"Matt Duchene is a pure offensive player who also is a great penalty killer. He
helps the Brampton Battalion in all facets of the game. A pure sniper, he
plays the point on the power-play and is a threat to score on the penalty
kill as well. He reminds me, probably most of the new breed of snipers,
Patrick Kane, Sam Gagner and Steven Stamkos as he grows into his offensive
position in the NHL."

NHL Director of Central Scouting E.J. McGuire

Prospect Bio: Ryan O'Reilly

Born: February 7, 1991
Hometown: Varna, ON

Height: 6'0"

Weight: 200 lbs

Position: Center

Shoots: Left

Team (League): Erie Otters (OHL)

Draft Selection: 33rd overall

"O’Reilly, who’s brother Cal suits up for the Nashville Predators, was a point per game player this year in the OHL. He basically is your do-it-all forward and a great team player. The only thing that might hold Ryan back is his skating, even though some scouts have described it as adequate. He’s likely able to overcome any deficiencies with his hockey IQ. He was close to a point per game player in Erie of the OHL this year."

Christopher Ralph, The Hockey Writers

"He's very responsible defensively. He backchecks hard and he's very good at identifying his check in his own end. He's very good at the defensive end of the game."

NHL Central Scouting’s Chris Edwards

"He's a special player. He's nowhere near the level he's going to be. He really accepts the challenge of getting better. He really believes in the team winning, not himself. I haven't had a kid that's so focused on preparation and just
working on getting better. He's got such a work ethic you almost have to pull
him away. We always talk about the will to prepare -- well, he's got a
phenomenal will to prepare."

Erie GM Sherry Bassin

Prospect Bio: Stefan Elliott

Born: January 30, 1991
Hometown: North Vancouver, BC
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 180 lbs
Postion: Defenseman
Shoots: Right
Team (League): Saskatoon Blades (WHL)
Draft Selection: 49th overall

"Some think he’s going to be a steal coming out of the Saskatoon Blades a la Mike Green. I wonder though. I’ve heard some rumbling of skating issues, which
are concerning, although more report this is a strength. He is described as a
good two-way d-man and plays in all situations for the Blades. Elliot registered
55 points in 71 games for the Blades. He did become the first ever Saskatoon
Blade to be named the WHL Scholastic Player of the Year, after maintaining a
93.3% school average in 2008-09."

Christopher Ralph, The Hockey Writers

"Stefan is your all-around, good NHL prospect defenseman. For the Saskatoon Blades, he is an equal mix of solid defense and good offense. Sometimes he is leading the rush, he has that capability, but more often he's supporting the
rush or starting it with his good first pass out of the zone."

NHL Director of Central Scouting E.J. McGuire

"Stefan Elliott’s strengths include his skating ability, his snap shot and wrist shot, and his one-on-one defensive play. Stefan is a very intelligent player who uses his stick and body positioning to his advantage while in the defensive zone. He is not a physical player but his stick and body positioning make up for his lack in physical play. He possesses above average puck handling skills and
can make a good first pass. Stefan is very good at quarterbacking a power play
and his ability to read the play makes him an offensive threat."

Saskatoon head coach and GM Lorne Molleken

Prospect Bio: Tyson Barrie

Born: July 26, 1991

Hometown: Victoria, BC

Height: 5'10"

Weight: 190 lbs

Position: Defensemen

Shoots: Right

Team (League): Kelowna Rockets (WHL)

Draft Selection: 64th overall

"Son of former NHLer and WHL great Len Barrie, Tyson helped lead his team to a WHL Championship and the Memorial Cup tournament, recording 18 points (4-14-18) and a plus-18 rating in 22 playoff games. Barrie put up an impressive 52 points in 68 games. I had the fortune to watch Barrie on several occasions, most
recently during their triumph over the Calgary Hitmen in the WHL finals. Barrie
displayed lightning-like acceleration and speed, as well as being for agile. He
did look kind of small out there and these are always concerns for defenseman at
the next level. There was no denying his offensive prowess, however, and he
displays the hockey intelligence that bodes well for success in the big
leagues."

Christopher Ralph, The Hockey Writers

“Tyson is an instinctive hockey player. He has the ability to carry the puck up ice, navigate his way through zones and make things happen from the back end. He was another player that fit the criteria of acquiring skill on the back end.”

Avalanche Director of Amateur Scouting Rick Pracey

Prospect Bio: Kieran Millan

Born: August 31, 1989

Hometown: Edmonton, AB

Height: 6'0"

Weigh: 190 lb

Position: Goaltender

Glove Hand: Left

Team (League): Boston University Terrier (Hockey East)

Draft Selection: 124th overall

“That was one pick in particular that was a nice, shared involvement from everyone at every level in the organization,” added Pracey. “He has a national championship on his resume, which was very attractive to us. He showed the ability to withstand pressure in big-time games weekend after weekend in a really tough league.”

Director of Amateur Scouting Rick Pracey

Prospect Bio: Brandon Maxwell

Born: March 22, 1991

Hometown: Winter Park, FL

Height: 6'0"

Weight: 195 lbs

Position: Goaltender

Glove Hand: Left

Team (League): USDP (U-18)

Draft Selection: 154th overall

“Maxwell is a pick we’re all excited about. He was a sixth round pick, but we all had him valued higher than that. We really are attracted to his competitiveness and his skill level. He’s quick, he reads and reacts to the play and he’s a player we were very pleased was still available.”

Avalanche Director of Amateur Scouting Rick Pracey

Prospect Bio: Gus Young

Born: July 10, 1991
Hometown: Dedham, MA
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 190 lbs
Position: Defenseman
Shoots: Left
Team (League): Nobles (HIGH-MA)
Draft Selection: 184th overall

"His size was attractive to us. His development may be on a bit of a longer
course. There’s still a decision as to whether he plays another year at Noble or
heads to the USHL. Regardless, Gus is a guy that we’re very happy with too."

Avalanche Director of Amateur Scouting Rick Pracey

2009 NHL Entry Draft Recap

There wasn't nearly as much drama during draft weekend as there was leading up to it. With the exception of the Pronger trade there was not a ton of whealing and dealing. Despite all the uncertainty over who would go #1, at the end of Friday the top of the draft went as just about everyone expected.

Over the next week my comprehensive draft review will be posted but in the meantime here are the prospects that were selected by the organization over the weekend:

1st round (3rd) - C Matt Duchene
2nd round (33rd) - C Ryan O'Reilly
2nd round (49th) - D Stefan Elliott
3rd round (64th) - D Tyson Barrie
5th round (124th) - G Kieran Millan
6th round (154th) - G Brandon Maxwell
7th round (184th) - D Gus Young

Introduction

I have been contemplating starting this blog for a while but I finally feel like I have enough time to do so. It will cover all Avs related news but as the season starts it will focus more on prospects/feature stories.

A little about me: I'm a transplanted, devoted Avs fan. I've followed the team since they were in Quebec. I live in Seattle, and am a season ticket holder for the WHL's Seattle Thunderbirds and also get to a couple NHL games in Vancouver. I welcome any and all feedback.