2007-08 Colorado Avalanche offseason report

[dave the world]

2007-08 Stanley Cup Champion Colorado Avalanche
(42-30-9-1, 94 pts, 2nd in NW Division, 5th in Western Conf.)
(16-7 in Playoffs, beating SJ 4-0, EDM 4-3, PHO 4-1, OTT 4-3)

Depth Chart
*-called up only in instances of injuries

L			C			R
Alex Tanguay 75		Peter Forsberg 86	Milan Hejduk 79
Paul Kariya 80		Chris Drury 76		Rotislav Olesz 73
Robbie Schremp 72	Derek Recchi 74		Sami Talonen 70
Chris Neil 66		Richard Park 70		Dan Hinote 68
			Riku Hahl 70*		Chris Simon 65
			Marek Svatos 63*

D
Wade Redden 80		Adam Foote 79
Ossi Vaananen 76	Tim Gleason 74
Ryan Suter 72		Kurt Sauer 68
Daryl Drummond 70*	Tomas Slovak 65*

G
David Aebischer 83
Alvaro Montoya 77

Captain
C Peter Forsberg

Alternates
D Adam Foote
C Chris Drury
(D Wade Redden)
(L Paul Kariya)

07-08 Colorado Avalanche Franchise Awards:
Regular Season MVP
C Peter Forsberg (32+38=70, +33)

Playoffs MVP
R Milan Hejduk (11+9=20)

Rookie of the Year
C Derek Recchi (13+23=36)

"Mr. Clutch"
L Paul Kariya (10 GWG)

Farm Player of the Year
D Daryl Drummond

OA: 70 (****) - stay-at-home defenseman

When Adam Foote suffered an injury that prematurely ended what he had already said would be his final season of pro hockey, Daryl was called up with four games to go in the regular season. Drummond was tabbed to take Foote's place next year at any rate, and was ready after providing a reliable and physical presence all year in Boulder (0+4=4, 70 PIM, +11).

Budget/Finance
Budget (self-imposed): $50m.
Used: $48.4m

Ticket prices: $14/$10/$149 and falling.

Misc.
Cups: 1996, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2008

Coaching: Tony Granato was fired halfway through the regular season after a poor start. Rick Tocchet stepped up as interim head coach. Rumor is that ownership may look for a new coach next year, despite the Cup win.

Drafted young players on roster: Olesz, Recchi, Talonen.

Notes:
I do a bit more trading than the EHM Purist might, though I almost never sign a free agent, and the trading primarily affects the farm team and prospects. I try to keep a core of guys around, as you can tell from the depth chart--still a handful of guys around from '03, and Park, Neil and Redden were additions pretty quickly thereafter.

[1/2 Cab]

Chris Drury back on the Avalanche? That's umpossible.


:)

[dave the world]

Originally Posted by 1/2 Cab

Chris Drury back on the Avalanche? That's umpossible.


:)

I can dream!

[Sakic19]

Where be Sakic? And in all honesty, I'm betting if Sakic wasn't around, Foote would be captain. But it is your game.

[dave the world]

Retired. And Forsberg is captain here for two reasons--one, he's got a much higher leadership rating in the game, and two, Foote was retiring after that season. I wanted to have a guy that'd be captain for more than a year.

[dave the world]

Well, it's now in the 2013-14 season and one of the best things that can happen has happened. I had a guy who played great, but didn't fit into the lineup with a rookie that had performed pretty well, so I gave him the minimum qualifying offer to see if he would stick around. If guys like that do stay, I try to reward them by making room, but he held out, so...

Vyacheslav Larinsky gets offer sheet
New Jersey Devils have made an offer sheet to Vyacheslav Larinsky. Offered contract is worth $2,933,300, which consists of $2,200,000 yearly salary and a $733,300 signing bonus. The New Jersey Devils are subjected to lose four first round picks as a compensation to Colorado Avalanche if the offer is not matched within a week.

Vyacheslav Larinsky compensation.
Colorado Avalanche have received four first round picks from the New Jersey Devils as a compensation for losing Vyacheslav Larinsky.

:D

Incidentally, two seasons ago I also took over the Lightning, who were just barely missing the playoffs every season, but way over budget. So last season they made it, but lost in the first round, still about 7 mil over budget. To make room, I also gave the minimum qualifying offer to one of the overachieving 70-rated guys and, within the next week, will also be compensated for him with two first-rounders.

I've never had the computer make offers on my RFAs before, and now it's two in one preseason. Pretty awesome.

[BOLT]

Is this the freeware version you're playing? I've never seen offers to RFAs either.

[dave the world]

Originally Posted by BOLT

Is this the freeware version you're playing? I've never seen offers to RFAs either.

Freeware it is. I was taken by surprise. Very cool. :D I'll grab a screenshot and put it here.

edit: click for screenshot

I should have thought to get a shot of the player profile before the transactions went through. I don't remember exactly what the coding was where you can usually tell if there's a qualifying offer, a two-way contract, an option, etc. It was pretty humorously long.

Anyone else seen this before? The computer teams don't generally have RFAs, so it's pretty rare I guess.