Unfinished business looms over Avalanche as camp opens

After a franchise worst, modern-historically bad 48-point season, you might think a general manager would feel compelled to turn the page and start fresh, but so far Colorado Avalanche GM Joe Sakic is still struggling to stop the bleeding. Between Nikita Zadorov’s holdout, Matt Duchene’s unexpected return to the roster, a slew of question marks in key positions and coaching staff on thin ice, the Avs’ 2017 training camp looks a lot like emergency room triage.

As the Avalanche kick off their two-day training camp, fresh-faced rookies Tyson Jost and J.T. Compher will draw the attention of reporters, pressing to find out how they plan to turn the team around. The scrums will ask Semyon Varlamov about his surgically repaired hips and quiz key veterans such as Nathan MacKinnon, Gabe Landeskog, and Erik Johnson about how they’ll rebound from down years in 2016-17. The 40-some players who join the Avalanche for training camp will have plenty to be held accountable for on their own as they seek a return to NHL respectability, but they’ll all also, surely, have to answer for their missing teammate, for the drama surrounding Duchene’s apparent desire to leave Colorado, and their general manager’s bafflingly quiet summer.

Last year with the team sitting miles back of a playoff position, and with a handful of expiring contracts still on their roster, Sakic’s to-do list heading into the trade deadline was a simple one: 1) trade an obviously discontented Matt Duchene, 2) stabilize the team’s defense on the left side, and 3) trim the veteran fat on the team. Despite external and internal pressure to make major changes, Sakic waited through deadline after deadline. Many NHL general managers moved swiftly at the NHL trade deadline, making moves days in advance, but Sakic sat back. At the expansion draft, the NHL entry draft and at the opening of free agency, rumors swirled again as NHL teams geared up for action, but the Avalanche stood still, making only small moves to shore up depth positions on the roster.

Now, more than six months after the Avalanche’s offseason effectively began, Sakic has yet to cross an item off that check list. In that time, Duchene’s relationship with the team has festered. After skipping informal Captain’s practices as well as the team’s first charity event of the season while he awaits a trade he and his agent have yet to publicly request, Duchene arrived in training camp to deliver an uncomfortable, and uninspired 16-second statement on “honoring his contract.” How Duchene’s “lack of enthusiasm” at returning to Colorado will impact the locker room is hard to say, but it certainly doesn’t help them put the wounds of last season in the past.

On the second front, the Avalanche have not only failed to add to the left side of their defensive corps, but they’ve also been unable to come to terms with promising young defenseman Nikita Zadorov, who also appears unlikely to attend the start of camp. As of Tuesday, the Avalanche and Zadorov were still significantly far apart on the terms for a new contract, and appear poised for a holdout. After Francois Beauchemin’s buyout, an absent Zadorov would leave Colorado with a patchwork quilt of inexperienced rookies on the left side. That group of young defensemen looked decidedly unprepared to make a major impact at the NHL level during their rookie showcase last week. Of course, results in a rookie tournament are suspect, but the Avs’ winless trip to San Jose, in which they surrendered 16 goals in three games, isn’t an inspiring start for a team counting on so many of those inexperienced defensemen to contribute in the NHL. Mark Barberio, a depth defenseman picked up on waivers last year, leads the way in that group.

Put frankly, after surrendering a league-worst 276 goals last year, the Avalanche have not invested in upgrading or even maintaining the group of defensemen behind Tyson Barrie and Erik Johnson. As it stands on the first day of camp, the team is poised to pay Beauchemin more money to play in Anaheim than they will spend on the four defensemen taking over his minutes.

Finally, while the team didn’t actively handicap itself by bringing back expiring UFA’s who limped through last season like extras on “The Walking Dead,” they also didn’t find new homes for any of their veteran misfits like Blake Comeau, Joe Colborne, or Carl Soderberg — three players who could bar the way for prospects like A.J. Greer or Alex Kerfoot to advance.

Unfortunately, a quiet summer after a futile season is nothing new in this decade of Avalanche history, where front office opacity and early golfing have become the norm. The team’s tone deaf relationship with a justifiably frustrated fan-base was on full display Wednesday afternoon, as the team announced Milan Hejduk’s jersey retirement on the eve of a controversial media day. In a brief media appearance to honor his former teammate, Sakic devoted a scant 15 seconds to addressing his potential camp drama with a “Yup” and a “We’re continuing talking,” as if there’s nothing to worry about in Avs-land. The team’s attempt to distract fans from their multiple camp controversies carries all the subtlety of a Shea Weber slapshot to the teeth. There’s no doubt that Hejduk, who ranks top three in team history for goals, assists, and games played is deserving of that honor, but announcing his jersey retirement to put a band-aid on the team’s gushing wounds only cheapens his outstanding legacy in Colorado.

Whether Sakic is right to remain patient on a Zadorov contract and Duchene trade is difficult to say without knowing the intricacies of each negotiation, but right or wrong, his patience comes at a cost, and the bill has just arrived in the Colorado locker room. Hockey is back, and there are plenty of reasons for Avalanche fans to be excited, but facing an uphill battle with lots of questions on the ice, the last thing Colorado needs is off-ice drama. If Sakic and the rest of the Avalanche can’t find a way to close the book on 2017 soon, the thrill and hope of a new season may fade before the first puck ever drops.