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September 10, 2008
Say It Ain't So, Joe
Colorado Avalanche legend Joe Sakic should
ride into the sunset instead of coming back for one final year, says
TFP Columnist Dennis Bernstein.
[Los Angeles, CA] -- So here's the
latest rage in pro athletics. Accomplished and acclaimed athlete walks
away from the stage and then hangs his team out to dry deciding if he
wants to return for one last try to capture a championship.
Us folks south of the border had to
struggle with the Brett Favre saga every moment throughout the summer.
Last season, the defending champion Anaheim Ducks could never get any
chemistry or momentum rolling while waiting for Scott Neidermayer and
Teemu Selanne to end their fence sitting. Somewhere in Scandinavia,
Mats Sundin is probably flipping coins like Harvey Two Face in
the Dark Knight to decided if and where he wants to play.
It's tough enough to be a general
manager in the days of free agency and salary caps, so when star
athletes can't show the same decision-making ability regarding their
careers than they do during in-game situations, you don't have to
wonder why most don't last long.
Last Tuesday, Joe Sakic served up the
latest version of Hold Up the Franchise by agreeing to come
back for one (alleged) final season as captain and center for the
Colorado Avalanche.
"Ultimately it came down to the fact
that I still enjoy playing and competing," Sakic said. "I'm
comfortable with my conditioning and my overall health. I'm ready for
the start of camp and looking forward to the upcoming season."
Sounds good, but is his return really
in the best interest of the franchise?
From a ticket sales standpoint, it
certainly will keep the coffers of the team robust, but on the ice the
Avs might be better served to apportion the time to younger talent
that needs to be developed. At least Joe was nice enough not to open
the bidding to other teams, he conveyed to his agent Don Baizley that
it was the Denver or home.
From a roster standpoint, Sakic's
return will have him on the number one line and prevents a move by
winger Wojtek Wolski to the middle.
Like his football cousin Favre, Sakic
is a first ballot Hall of Famer, a two-time Stanley Cup winner and the
face of the franchise since their move from Quebec. So does Sakic
deserved the time to come to his decision just a couple of weeks
before training camp opens? Of course he does and his GM Francois
Giguere agreed, going as far as saying that Sakic could have made his
decision as late as the night before training camp opens.
His teammates sweated out the
decision too, with both Adam Foote and Ian Laperriere expressing
relief and gratitude when learning of the return. But as a conspiracy
theorist, I say of course they're happy, each guy is probably playing
their last season in the NHL and sees Joe as their last best chance to
win a Stanley Cup.
But the price of Joe's return doesn't
come cheap.
He gave them a minimal home team
discount, signing on for an even $ 6million as opposed to the $6.75
million he slaved for last season. Given his statistics last season,
that price looks more like a thank you for all the good times than
appropriate for his 2007-08 production. In an injury racked season
that saw him appear in only 44 games due to the effects of a sports
hernia, Sakic posted career lows with 13 goals and 40 points and a
minus rating (-4) for the first time in nine seasons.
I'm not saying that Sakic is
necessarily done because he was coming off a 100 point season in
2006-07, but at the advanced hockey age of 39 and with the annual
Peter Forsberg experiment failing miserably last season, that's a lot
of green to give any player that missed half the season.
The signing leaves Giguere $5 million
of cap room as the season begins. He won't have the pressure of having
to consider a Forsberg signing because the Great Swede's foot problems
have him far away from another return. Maybe he's just waiting for
March to pick up another $1 million to be an injury scratch in the
playoffs.
But will Joe's return be a successful
one?
The Avs went as far as they could
with the collection of talent last season. They finished sixth in the
Western Conference and then beat an evenly matched Minnesota Wild team
in the first round of the playoffs, rallying from consecutive overtime
losses to win the last three games of the series.
That was the good news. The bad news
was the 21 goals surrendered in a second round sweep by the eventual
Cup champions Detroit Red Wings and one wonders if the memory of the
final 8-2 crushing by the Winged Wheel still is floating around in the
collective psyche of the team.
With training camp just around the
corner, the Avalanche is not better with Sakic strapping on the skates
for the last time primarily because they lack a number one goaltender.
Jose Theodore flew the coup to watch
the back of Alex Ovechkin in the Nation's Capital and free agent
signee Andrew Raycroft isn't the answer. Last year's number two
netminder, Peter Budaj, didn't start a game in the post season and he
rightfully earned his secondary role with his play.
The Avalanche look more like a first
round elimination than a champion heading into the 08-09 campaign.
Sorry, Joe, but it doesn't look like there will be any storybook
endings come spring.
Dennis
Bernstein, the man behind SCORE! Media and an NHL
Analyst with ESPN Radio, is the Los Angeles
Correspondent for The Fourth Period Magazine and a Columnist
for TheFourthPeriod.com.
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