Warren Rychel a potential candidate to join Avalanche front office

Warren Rychel, a two-time member of the Avalanche as a player and now a successful junior hockey executive with the Windsor Spitfires, has had discussions with the Avs about joining the front office in an undetermined role, sources tell BSNDenver.

Rychel, whose Spitfires won the Memorial Cup this month, is the general manager and part owner of Windsor. He confirmed recently to Windsor broadcast journalist Mike Vlasveld that he currently is speaking with “several” NHL teams. BSN has learned the Avs are one of them, and a leading candidate.

Rychel, a three-time winner of the Memorial Cup as a GM with Windsor, has indicated this past season could have been his last there and is ready to take the next step, to the NHL.

The connections between Rychel and the Avalanche run deep as Rychel is good friends with current Avs GM Joe Sakic, having won a Stanley Cup as teammates in 1996. Rychel had a second stint with the Avs later in his playing career. The Avalanche also interviewed former Spitfires head coach Bob Boughner, now an assistant in San Jose, for their head coaching job last summer. Boughner remains a part-owner of the Spitfires alongside Rychel.

The Avalanche had no comment on the situation. Reports surfaced recently the Avs reached out to the Toronto Maple Leafs to interview 31-year-old assistant general manager Kyle Dubas for a front-office position. But, reports out of Toronto said, the Maple Leafs rescinded permission to talk to Dubas, who has time still left on his contract.

BSNDenver will update the story as it develops.

*Adrian Dater and AJ Haefele contributed to the story