Sakic has a playbook. (1) Stick to a *small* core, and as a corollary (2) move out good players who aren't part of that core when there is value to be found (Soderberg, Barrie, Kerfoot); (3) don't pay for in demand free agents; concentrate on trades where you have negotiating leverage (Toews) or where you can deal from organizational depth (Saad).ESQ wrote: ↑Wed Oct 14, 2020 2:45 pm Does Sakic have a playbook, or does the Avalanche have a strict internal cap? I think its more the latter - they've been nearer the floor than the ceiling for many years. Which is very unfortunate, as they are undoubtedly wasting the best years of Mackinnon's career without ever gearing up for a run, and with the contract he's on they could have probably used the cap space to at least make the finals.
There are two other things I've noticed about Sakic. He doesn't get taken to the cleaners on re-signings. And he knows that the season doesn't start on July 1. All GM's know this; Sakic is one of the few with the patience to ride it out.
It might also be that he's got an internal cap and this internal cap has made him squeeze the most efficiency out of everything he does. (This year they are going to get much closer to the cap).
As for not ever gearing up for a run during the Mackinnon years, they were geared up this year. The organization was a mess just 3 years ago and Sakic oversaw a tear down. Like as much of a mess as the Canucks were. Mackinnon looked good but not great, but Sakic signed him to many years and held onto Landeskog while letting other players move on, getting good returns where he could. In 3 short years, they are now a top 4 team in the conference through they seemed to have suffered a spate of injuries. They were beat in 7 games in a series where they had to use their third string goalie and by a team that went to the finals They have a defense comprised of Makar, Girard, Johnson, Toews, Graves, and Cole with Byram in the wings. That's talent in a lot of ways. And the offense? We know about the big three, but they've complemented that group nicely with the moves the past couple offseasons, which is a good thing because their homegrown guys haven't totally broken through (Compher's been good but you gotta think there's more, Jost has disappointed but could yet break out).
Goaltending might hold them back, but I think they are the team to beat in the west.