Avalanche WARNING

[Drovchas]

Free Agency Begins

As I sit in my office on the morning when free agency is about to open up. I start to get nervous,then I see the email from the NHL Office regarding Free Agents, I gasp when I see the list.

There seems to be alot of trouble signing draft picks this year because on the list was:
#4 pick Travis Stephans
#11 Pick William Allen
#15 Pick Temmu Ahonen

also on the list that grabbed our attention was C-Jiri Hudler and RW Nikoali Zherdev.

We submitted our bids and then waited for responses.

The first news we got was not great, It seems our bid was not high enough and Buffalo was egre to fill Vaneks hole left in thier roster as they offered a 5year 18.25 Mil contract.So Zherdev is the newest Sabre.

Later that day we got some great news as we were informed that Allen,Stephans,and Ahonen all accepted our offers of 900K for 3 years.

So moving into this year we have Matt Duchene, the #3pick Sabourin, #4 pick in Stephans, #11 pick in Allen,and the #15 pick in Ahonen. To say the future is bright in Colorado is a vague under statement.

Off Season Trades

TOR trades Garnett Exelby FOR FLA Radek Dvorak

MIN trades Marek Zidlicky FOR CAR Tim Gleason

TOR trades Coloton Orr, Kyle Rogers FOR BOS 1st Rd. Pick,Miroslav Satan

DAL trades Brendan Morrow FOR BOS Tim Thomas

MTL trades Andrei Markov,Andrew Benoit FOR MIN Martin Havlat, Robbie Earle

TB trades Chris Phillips FOR ATL Pavel Kubina

CAR trades Jussi Joiken,Sergei Samsonov FOR LA Dustin Brown, Rattias Ivannus

DAL trades Nick Grossman FOR MTL Jaroslav Halak

DAL trades Trevor Daley FOR ATL Evander Kane

[Drovchas]

Thanks onlybygrace ,, yea im a big fan of backes and I was excited when I read the trade offer.

[Drovchas]

2009/2010 Opening Day Rosters
Colorado Avalanche

*R-Rookie
LW/ C /RW
Line1- S.Sullivan /(A)P.Stastny /(A)M.Hejduk
Line2-T.Stephans*R /M.Duchene*R/ D.Backes
Line3-W.Allen*R/ P.Mueller/ M.Svatos
Line4-C.McLeoud/ S.Yelle /K.Porter

D/ D
1st pairing K.Quincey/ J.Liles
2nd pairing T.Priessing/ (C) A.Foote
3rd pairing J.Sabourin*R/ B.Clark


Power Play
LW/C/RW
1st Unit-S.Sullivan/P.Stasny/D.Backes
2ndUnit-M.Hejduk/M.Duchene/P.Mueller

D/D
1st Unit-J.Saboruin/J.Liles
2nd Unit-K.Quincey/T.Priessing

Penalty Kill
PK.1
F/F/D/D
S.Yelle/M.Duchene/A.Foote/J.Sabourin
PK.2
P.Stastny/T.Stephans/B.Clark/K.Quincey

[Drovchas]

The Hockey News
Pre-Season Power Rankings

1.Pit-MVP-S.Crosby
2.Det-MVP-N.Lidstrom
3.SJ-MVP-J.Thorton
4.WSH-MVP-A.Ovechkin
5.CHI-MVP-M.Hossa
6.NJ-MVP-I.Kovalchuck
7.VAN-MVP-R.Luongo
8.CAL-MVP-J.Igilna
9.PHI-MVP-C.Pronger
10.BUF-MVP-R.Miller-New Face-J.Chechoo,N.Zherdev,K.Skrastins,M.Turco
11.ANA-MVP-R.Getzlaf
12.BOS-MVP-Z.Chara-New Face-B.Morrow,C.Orr
13.NYR-MVP-M.Gaborik
14.OTT-MVP-D.Alfredson-New Face-A.Tanguay,C.Rivet
15.CBS-MVP-R.Nash
16.NSH-MVP-S.Weber-New Face-R.Salei
17.Montreal-MVP-M.Cammerilli-New Face-M.Havlat,N.Grossman
18.STL-MVP-A.McDonald-New Face-B.Gionta,S.Hannan
19.LA-MVP-A.Kopitar-New Face-J.Joiken,S.Samsonov,N.Habibulin
20.MIN-MVP-M.Koivu-New Face-J.Pitaken,A.Markov,T.Gleason
21.DAL-MVP-B.Richards-New Face-T.Vanek,E.Kane,T.Thomas,J.Halak
22.CAR-MVP-E.Stall-New Face-D.Brown, N.Schultz,M.Zidlicky
23.PHX-MVP-S.Doan
24.TB-MVP-M.St.Louis-New Face-P.Kubina
25.TOR-MVP-D.Phaneuf-New Face-S.Souray, R.Dvorak,M.Satan
26.NYI-MVP-K.Okpusso
27.COL-MVP-P.Stasny-New Face-D.Backes, S.Sullivan
28.FLA-MVP-N.Horton-New Face-G.Exelby
29.EDM-MVP-A.Hemsky-New Face-M.Komierserk,R.Scuderi
30.ATL-MVP-B.Little-New Face-C.Phillips

[Drovchas]

TSN.CA
The Insider
Top 10 Players of Each Position

Centre
1.Sidney Crosby-PIT
2.Evgeni Malkin-PIT
3.Pavel Datsyuk-DET
4.Joe Thorton-SJ
5.Nicholas Backstrom-WSH
6.Patrick Marleau-SJ
7.Ryan Getzlaf-ANA
8.Eric Stall-CAR
9.Brad Richards-DAL
10.Henrik Sedin-VAN

Left Wing
1.Alexander Ovechkin-WSH
2.Ilya Kovalchuck-NJ
3.Henrik Zetterburg-DET
4.Danny Heatley
5.Daniel Sedin-VAN
6.Thomas Vanek-DAL
7.Alexander Semin-WSH
8.Zach Parise-NJ
9.Simon Gagne-PHI
10.Brendon Morrow-BOS

Right Wing
1.Jarome Igilna-CGY
2.Marion Gaborik-NYR
3.Marion Hossa-CHI
4.Rick Nash-CBS
5.Martin St.Louis-TB
6.Daniel Alfredson
7.Patrick Kane-CHI
8.Dustin Brown-CAR
9.Corey Perry-ANA
10.Phil Kessel-TOR

Defense
1.Zdeno Chara-BOS
2.Nicholas Lidstrom-DET
3.Chris Pronger-PHI
4.Sergei Gonchar-PIT
5.Scott Niedermayer-ANA
6.Mike Greene-WSH
7.Drew Doughty-LA
8.Duncan Kieth-CHI
9.Shea Weber-NSH
10.Brent Seabrooke-CHI

Goalie
1.Roberto Luongo-VAN
2.Marin Brodeur-NJ
3.Ryan Miller-BUF
4.Henrick Lundqvist-NYR
5.Mikka Kipprusoff-CGY
6.Marc-Andre Fluery-PIT
7.Evgeni Nabokov-SJ
8.Niklas Backstrom-MIN
9.Cam Ward- CAR
10.Tim Thomas-DAL

[Bure10Beezer34]

I really like how you are working the GM angle on this franchise...very creative! The Avs are a really young squad with some vets to even things out. It'll be fun to watch how they progress for you. Good luck and welcome!

[Drovchas]

Lake Erie Lines

Lw/C/Rw
1st line-C.Durno/R.O'Reilly/C.Stewart
2nd line-T.Fritsche/T.Hensick/D.Haydar
3rd Line-P.Byron/R.Stoa/B/Willsie
4th Line-T.Gallardi/K.Larman/B.Yip

D/D
K.Cumiskey/T.Ahonen
R.Wilson/B.Skinner
W.Oniel/R.Macias

[Drovchas]

Tsn.ca Insider
-Bob Mackenzie Blog

Pre Season Thoughts and Rants

To be the best you have to beat the best. This saying is as old as it is true. Thats why I think the Pittsburgh Penguins will be lifting Lord Stanleys Cup again this year. Aging Detroit will have some trouble keeping up, it dosent help when you have some great young teams in your division.My darkhorse this year will be the Montreal Canadiens with additions like Martin Havlat for speed and scoring and Barret Jackman for pure physical strength, something they have been lacking. They can do some damage if they get in the playoffs.

Now Its time for me to rip some General Managers across this league. First off is Dallas GM Joe Nieuwendyk. What are you doing? You have traded one NHL proven goalie plus your team captian Morrow,and now you currently have three NHL goalies:Tim Thomas, Jaroslav Halek, and Jari Lethonen. Unless there are some trades looming, you get a thumbs down from me. Dean Lombardi the L.A. Kings GM, what kind of glasses did you have on when you traded your teams captain Dustin Brown, a player who shows signs of improvement every year (for Jussi Joiken and Sergei Samsonov). Come on! To Boston GM Peter Chiarelli do you not know the value of a first round draft pick, to simply give it away for Kyle Rogers and Colton Orr, thumbs down. A thumbs up to Minnesota who now has one of the best Defense cores in the league with the additions of: Joni Pitkanen, Andrei Markov, and Tim Gleason. Get a scorer and you could move from the pretender list to contender list. Thats all the time I have, the season is about to start, till next time, your hockey insider is out.