The Colorado Avalanche may be in the calm part of the offseason, but one of the boldest moves they could still make would not involve a trade at all. It would be a front-office decision: naming a new general manager.
Joe Sakic has handled the job well in the interim after Chris MacFarland left for Music City, but there’s no sign he’s meant to stay in that chair for the long haul. The cleaner path, according to the thinking here, would be to identify a successor sooner rather than later.
That successor could be Andrew Cogliano.
When MacFarland first departed, Cogliano was immediately mentioned as a possible next man up. The Avalanche, though, were not eager to toss him straight into the deep end. Sakic stepped in to steady things and smooth out the transition.
Now that the dust has settled, the idea is that Sakic could continue guiding Cogliano toward the role before the season begins. That makes the former Stanley Cup winner a realistic candidate to be named the full-time GM ahead of the season.
The quiet around the vacancy is part of what makes this worth watching. In other organizations, a GM opening tends to trigger a flood of names and speculation right away.
The Detroit Red Wings had that kind of buzz when they moved on from Steve Yzerman. So did teams like the Toronto Maple Leafs and New Jersey Devils.
The Nashville Predators spent months floating possibilities, and the Vancouver Canucks reportedly worked through two lists of candidates.
Colorado has not had that kind of noise.
That silence may be the clearest clue of all. Rather than a wide-ranging search, it looks more like the Avalanche have time to prepare Cogliano and eventually hand him the job of leading the front office against the other 31 NHL GMs this upcoming season.
In Other News...
Avalanche Cup Veteran Jack Johnson Just Took An Unexpected Hockey Turn
Jack Johnsons post-playing path has taken another turn, and it lands him back in the college game after a brief stop in scouting. The former Avalanche defenseman and 2022 Stanley Cup champion has moved into a new phase of his hockey life, shifting from the ice to the bench after retiring and spending a short stretch as a pro scout with Vancouver.
For Johnson, the next step comes in a familiar place in another sense, as he joins a successful NCAA program with a strong development track record. It is his first coaching role, and it gives him a chance to help shape players at Ohio State while beginning a new chapter in the sport that defined his career. [Read more 🡒]
Brett Kulak's Contract Just Drew A Brutal Label Avalanche Fans Will Hate
Brett Kulaks name showed up on an annual list no player wants to see, with The Athletic slotting the Avalanche defenseman No. 8 among the NHLs worst contracts. It is the kind of label that draws attention in Denver because Colorado has built around finding value on the blue line, and Kulaks deal has been part of that conversation since he signed a five-year, $22.5 million contract.
The Athletics case leans on a sharp downturn in impact and the numbers behind his play in recent stops, but that framing is easy to challenge when a defenseman still fits a useful role and the salary cap keeps rising. From the Avalanches perspective, the bigger question is less about a harsh ranking than whether Kulaks contract really belongs anywhere near the leagues bottom 10, or whether this is simply the kind of list that overstates a mid-tier deal in a changing market. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Face One Opening Night Choice That Could Define Their Depth
The Avalanche have already put together a second version of their opening-night lines, and the exercise only reinforces what has been obvious about this roster all summer: Colorado can lean on its depth down the middle. With a group built around center strength, the real question is how quickly Jared Bednar wants to put that advantage to work when the season begins.
Jaden Schwartz is already back at Family Sports Center and even has a new jersey number waiting for him, another small sign that camp is moving toward the real thing. What remains unsettled is how Bednar will deploy all that center depth in the opener, and whether he chooses to spread it around or stack it in a way that gives Colorado an immediate edge. [Read more 🡒]