July 2, 2008 2:16 PM

Avalanche fans not enthralled

So, what did you think of Avalanche general manager Francois Giguere's moves on Tuesday?

Judging by the e-mails I've received from fans, not a whole lot.

A sampling:

Rustin Lucken writes: I love July 1st. I do not, however, love the Avs' free agent moves thus far. Why can't Giguere sign a big name or two? Are they THAT strapped financially? Detroit signed Marian Hossa, Brian Rolston went to New Jersey and Brian Campbell signed a long term deal with Chicago. Does Joe Sakic's non-committal give the Avs too many problems for right now?

Also, why did they sign Andrew Raycroft for $800k, when Curtis Joseph (signed by Toronto) was $50k less and has tons more experience? Seems like they always pay too much for a backup goalie (Jose Theodore was mostly a backup for Peter Budaj during his tenure here, in my opinion). Is Giguere leaning too much on the younger up and comers? It sure would be nice to see at least one or two big-name signings.

Writes John Barrows: Well, I was disappointed to see Andrew Brunette sign in Minnesota. I am a little surprised at the signings, but I don't have a problem with them not signing Cristobal Huet or Jose Theodore for that kind of money. I was surprised at the Darcy Tucker signing. And I guess we like to take chances on goalies that have had a great year, then bomb. I was hoping Colorado would have gotten Brian Rolston; don't know if they even tried.

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My response:

First, I don't know that the Avalanche is finished signing free agents, but I was hoping the team would sign a top-six forward. Brian Rolston, who can play center, right wing and kill penalties, would have been a great fit. My guess is, the Avalanche didn't attempt to sign him or any other relatively big-name forward. GM Francois Giguere, who hasn't been available to the media since Monday, had said not to expect the kind of news he made last year when he signed Scott Hannan and Ryan Smyth. Giguere also believes young players like T.J. Hensick and David Jones will play big roles this season -- he'd better be right -- and pointed out that Marek Svatos will be ready to go after missing so much time with a knee injury.

Jose Theodore was offered a two-year, $7 million contract by the Avalanche. Seemed more than fair to me for a guy who has had one decent season in three years. Instead, he chose to go to Washington for $1 million more per year on a two-year deal. As for Curtis Joseph, he pretty much gave Toronto a discount to go home. I think he would have retired rather than play for anyone else. Besides, he's 41 -- 13 years older than Andrew Raycroft. I would have preferred Ty Conklin, and he went to the Red Wings, but $800,000 is not a lot to pay for a goalie in today's free-agent game. And it is $5.2 million less than what Theodore was paid last year (remember, his contract was signed when he played for Montreal).

Speaking of the Red Wings, hard to believe they were able to snag Marian Hossa. I don't think anyone envisioned that. He got a one-year deal for $7.4 million, a shade less than what Nicklas Lidstrom makes. The Red Wings have said that no one on the team will be paid more than Lidstrom, a sure sign of great (and well deserved) respect.

And speaking of money, the Tampa Bay Lightning are looking like the New York Yankees, throwing money all over the place. Not sure where that's going to get them, though. But Barry Melrose will be an entertaining coach.

Anyway, the Avalanche wasn't about to pay anybody the kind of dough that Hossa received. Besides, given the choice of playing for a Stanley Cup champion that looks stronger than ever or for the Avalanche, which team would you pick if you were Hossa?

Darcy Tucker adds some grit and he's a decent scorer, but he's also penalty-prone, so the Avalanche had better kill penalties a lot better than it did last year. Same with Swedish winger Per Ledin; he had 137 penalty minutes in 52 games last season in Sweden.

Right now, even if Joe Sakic comes back -- I sure hope he does -- the Avalanche hardly looks like a Western Conference power and will be in yet another dogfight to get into the playoffs. I do think the defense corps -- Brett Clark, Adam Foote, Scott Hannan, Jordan Leopold, John-Michael Liles and Ruslan Salei -- looks like a strong group. But it will have to be, because I just don't know where all the scoring is going to come from.

Oh, the Avalanche announced Wednesday that Wojtek Wolski has been signed. This isn't a surprise, but it is encouraging news.

-- Rick Sadowski

Posted by Rick Sadowski at 2:16 PM | Comments (2)