The Colorado Avalanche have won three Stanley Cups -- and in this cover story from THN's Dec. 29, 2000 issue, we analyzed the Avs as they prepared to win their second Cup.
The Colorado Avalanche are one of the NHL's best-managed franchises, with three Stanley Cups in the modern era and many memorable playoff runs. And in this Dec. 29, 2000 story by THN writer Mark Brender, the magazine covered Colorado's key factors in building a consistent winner:
AVS DO IT WITH INTENSITY, ‘D’
By Mark Brender
Chris Drury calls it the Ray Bourque factor, the one thing that has instilled the Colorado Avalanche’s new-found commitment to defense.
Speaking from his New Jersey hotel room, the high-scoring left winger said that in the more than two years since he joined the team, the players’ will to take care of their own zone has never been higher than it is right now.
Almost as soon as Bourque arrived from Boston last March, he stood up and said the Avs wouldn’t win unless they improved their defensive play.
Never mind that grinding forwards Shjon Podein and Dave Reid had been saying the same thing all along. Those two harping about defense is like the Pentagon lobbying for an increase in military spending. But when it came from a shoo-in Hall of Famer, the Avs were more receptive.
“I definitely think guys started believing in it and trusting in it when Ray got here,” Drury said.
It’s not, however, a revolutionary defensive transformation. Colorado, fourth in the league on Dec. 15 with a team 2.12 goals-against average, was on track to reduce its goals against for the third consecutive year. Last year, the Avs allowed 201 goals; this season, they are on pace for 177.
So what else, besides Bourque’s begging for ‘D,’ accounts for the club’s franchise-best start (21-5-5-0) this season?
Colorado GM Pierre Lacroix points to goalie Patrick Roy’s chase of Terry Sawchuk’s all-time wins record.
It proved that pursuing individual records isn’t necessarily destructive to the team concept — provided they’re the right kind of records. Right from the season opener, when Roy was four victories shy of record-breaking win No. 448, no one wanted to delay his date with destiny by being greedy for goals. Roy got his moment of glory at Washington in the sixth game of the year. More importantly, the determination that helped achieve it continued.
“The focus has been there right from the start,” Lacroix said. “It has been giving us a good pulse and a good way to do it and we’re still in this.”
Added Drury: “Last year, we’d do it for five or six games and go on a streak and then forget about it, rely on our talent.”
And that may have been the Avs’ undoing in 1999-2000. Colorado was no better than .500 through the first quarter of last season. Failing to secure easy points against patsy opponents in October and November cost them home-ice advantage in the Western Conference semifinal. Drury remembers that Game 7 in Dallas well. Colorado mostly outmanned Dallas in the previous six games, but, pumped up by a wild home crowd, the Stars came out flying in the first two periods and ultimately triumphed 3-2 in overtime. Game and series to Dallas, lesson learned by the losers. The regular season matters. Home-ice advantage matters.
This season, the Avs are winning the the winnable games — the club was 17-0-1-0 against teams with sub-,500 records. It all sounds so convincing, this Avalanche-as-perfectly-oiled-hockey-machine plot line. Beat the teams you’re supposed to beat, be competitive against everyone else.
Then the Avalanche were swamped by the Stanley. Cup champion Devils 6-1 Dec. 5.
Colorado coach Bob Hartley said the only guy that showed up for his side was Roy — and he surrendered four goals before the game was 30 minutes old.
But that lopsided loss didn’t lead to any Avalanche implosion and the team has also seemingly avoided any controversy over another potentially divisive distraction — the impending unrestricted free agency of Sakic and Roy at the end of the season.
On a pure quality basis, no NHL team has more to lose. On the other hand, few teams could better compensate for the losses from within their roster — if Sakic leaves, Alex Tanguay or Drury would be a good fit in the No. 2 center spot behind Forsberg.
Through outstanding drafts in the mid-and late 1990s, Colorado has managed to turn over a third of its roster the past three seasons while maintaining a winning tradition. Fourteen players on Colorado’s regular 23-man roster came up through their system.
“The next core of the franchise is already in,” said Lacroix, referring to Tanguay, Milan Hejduk, Drury and Co. “They’re all going to be dominant players in the league.”
They’re off to quite a start.