Adam Foote leaves Avalanche organization

Adam Foote, one of five Avalanche players to have their number retired, who has worked for the organization as a defensive coach at times since retiring as a player, has officially departed the organization.

The Avalanche confirmed that Foote, 46, has left the organization to spend more time with his family. He has one son, Callan, who was drafted in the first round of the 2017 NHL draft by the Tampa Bay Lightning and another, Nolan, who is a 16-year-old left wing with the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League.

Foote was seen as recently as a week ago with other members of Avalanche scouting and management in Plymouth, Mich., for the World Junior Summer Showcase. He was on the ice for last month’s Avalanche rookie development camp, working with defensemen as a coach.

TSN’s Darren Dreger, in a conversation with Buffalo radio station WGR, first reported the news of Foote leaving the organization – and was critical of it.

“Adam Foote was a player development guy, but highly respected. He was a guy that the management types of the Colorado Avalanche would lean on from time to time,” Dreger told WGR. “Now, he’s got some focus elsewhere with his son Cal drafted high by the Tampa Bay Lightning. His younger son, Nolan, he’s going to be a high pick. Both are playing for the Kelowna Rockets this year. So there might be a level of distraction. But with a first-round pick being a defenseman and a high second-round pick being a defenseman, how do you allow Adam Foote to walk away from that organization? So there’s a lot of things that need to be corrected and perhaps straightened out in Colorado.”