Sakic dodges Barrie question while adding draft's top defenseman

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VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA – The waves of speculation came crashing down as the open of the draft drew near. Tyson Barrie was on the verge of being traded.

And then precisely nothing unexpected happened.

The draft began with a sea of boos raining down on Gary Bettman, the New Jersey Devils selected Jack Hughes first overall. This was the plan.

Colorado came up on the board twice, the first time being at the fourth pick. They selected Vancouver Giants defenseman Bowen Byram, the draft’s best defenseman by a significant margin. They selected Byram despite Alex Turcotte, typically considered the third-best player in this class, being available when the Chicago Blackhawks passed on the Illinois product.

“We got the defenseman,” Avs general manager Joe Sakic said. “We had him right up there. We love the way he plays. He plays fast, he’s poised with the puck, he plays the way we want to play. He can do everything. He’s got some bite. We love the type of player he is. [Turcotte] can skate, is a complete player, unbelievable character, he can score, he can set guys up, and he competes all over the ice. We’re pretty excited with what we were able to accomplish tonight.”

Sakic doubled down on their selection of Byram.

“If he was available we were taking him,” he said. “We knew before the draft…we had a pretty good idea Chicago was going forward. We didn’t know which one. We knew if they did that we were taking [Byram].”

For those looking to connect the conversation about a Barrie trade with the selection of Byram, Sakic dismissed the conspiracy theorists out of hand.

“We just wanted to take the best player available,” he said. “To us, he was the best player at that spot. He can be pretty explosive. I think from the back end, we’re going to have some guys that push the play. What I like about [Byram] and [Makar], they come back to pucks first. These guys can move it whether it’s with a pass or skate it out. The goal is to not be in your end too often.”

Sakic decided the “play innocent” option was the best route in addressing the Barrie trade rumors head-on.

“I don’t know why everybody here is talking,” Sakic said. “Obviously, people here in Vancouver, the draft is here, they seem to be making…coming up with some stuff. It seems every morning I wake up and I see that [Barrie] is traded so I don’t know who’s talking to me in the middle of the night. I must be talking in my sleep because I go to bed, wake up, and he’s gone. There’s a lot of media here, a lot of speculation, and a lot of rumors. There’s nothing to that right now.”

Unfortunately for Sakic, the small local media throng around him was capable of counting. With Colorado’s current defense, they’re already at eight potential defensemen. That’s a pretty full defense.

“Absolutely we do,” Sakic said while cracking a wry smile and admitting his team sure has a lot of defensemen.

Only one of them is coming off a career year and heading into the final year of his contract, however.

“We have options,” Sakic said in a follow-up. “I said at the end of the year that the way we saw how they played together, those three, you’re adding Bowen Byram…we don’t know if Byram is going to be playing next year. There’s no rush. We don’t have to do anything. We like the group we’ve got but we’re in the business of trying to make ourselves better so we’ll see here. It’s going to be a busy next 10 days.”

In mentioning Byram joining the team next year, Sakic also suggested the team would exercise patience…while leaving the door open for his newest top prospect to make the leap immediately to the NHL and exercising absolutely no patience at all.

“We’ll take our time,” Sakic began. “When he’s ready, we’ll know when he’s ready. He’s probably going to have every opportunity at training camp. I’m just excited to get him here and lace ’em up with the guys. I think we’re going to see a lot of excitement with him and I think you’re going to see it right in training camp.”

The second of their picks was Alex Newhook, a raw but absurdly talented center from the BCHL. Newhook is heading to Boston College next year and becomes the third Canadian Junior A player drafted in the first round by the Avalanche since 2016.

Newhook was MVP of the BCHL while serving as captain of the Victoria Grizzlies. He followed up a dominant regular season by solidifying his draft stock with an impressive display at the U-18s.

“You could see the adjustment,” Sakic said. “It didn’t take him very long to adjust. I don’t think it really matters where they play. [Newhook] went to BC Junior, [Makar} went to Alberta Junior, [Jost], they’re going to those leagues to get to the NCAA. They take their time and for almost all those guys, time is really beneficial. He’s going to a great spot. They’re going to have a really exciting team to follow. What we saw with the type of player he is, his vision, the way he skates, we were really excited to get him where we got him.”

Newhook is certainly on a longer development trajectory than Byram. Given the wild variance in experiences so far with Tyson Jost and Cale Makar, you might see the Avalanche exercise more patience with Newhook’s development to ensure the dynamic forward only makes the jump when he’s ready to be an impact player.

“Whatever it takes,” Sakic said of Newhook’s timeline. “In a short time, he’s come a long way. He’s a kid that loves to get better. His mindset is to do whatever he can to get as strong and as quick as he can. He’s already super fast. The way he thinks the game…I’m assuming he doesn’t want to be there too long. If it’s a year, if it’s two years, just like with [Makar] it’s going to be what’s right with them because what’s right for them is going to end up benefiting us.”

Day two of the draft is set for Saturday morning and the Avalanche still have six picks remaining, including two in the third round. Sakic indicated a willingness to use the picks to be aggressive should the opportunity arise.

“We have our list,” Sakic said. “We’ll see how the end of the first round goes but there’s a couple guys that we have ranked pretty high. If they’re available, maybe we’ll look to move up tomorrow.”

The day began with sky-high expectations for an Avalanche organization looking to position themselves as the new power to be feared in the Central Division. It’s somewhat remarkable the lack of fireworks on the trade front didn’t detract from two selections that could help position the Avalanche to win their first Stanley Cup since 2001.

In true “Quoteless Joe” fashion, Sakic sauntered off to the security of the draft floor with obvious uncertainty still lingering in the air. As the draft serves as the official kick-off of the NHL offseason, it’s fair to say this game of cat and mouse is just beginning.