The Colorado Avalanche did not need to chase headlines in the 2000-01 season to look like a powerhouse. Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Patrick Roy and Ray Bourque already gave them a roster loaded with future Hall of Famers and a real shot at the Stanley Cup.
Pierre Lacroix still wasn’t done.
With the Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Blues looming in the Western Conference, the Avalanche general manager made a move that changed the shape of that season. On February 21, 2001, Colorado landed defenseman Rob Blake and center Steven Reinprecht from the Los Angeles Kings for Adam Deadmarsh, Aaron Miller, prospect Jared Aulin, and first-round draft picks in 2001 and 2003.
That was a steep price for a contender already sitting among the league’s best, but the deal served two purposes at once. Colorado added one of the NHL’s elite defensemen and, just as importantly, kept him out of a rival’s hands.
Jason La Canfora of The Washington Post reported that the Avalanche’s deal also blocked Blake from going to Detroit and St. Louis, both of whom were looking for a boost to their Stanley Cup push.
Blake had spent his whole NHL career with the Kings and was nearing unrestricted free agency, which made a trade increasingly likely. Los Angeles had not been able to lock him up on a new contract.
Colorado didn’t hesitate. Blake had already won the Norris Trophy as the league’s best defenseman in 1998 and was still one of the most dangerous offensive defensemen in hockey.
In 54 games with the Kings, he had put up 17 goals and 32 assists. Once he arrived in Colorado, he joined an already imposing blue line alongside Bourque and Adam Foote.
The Avalanche’s roster was stacked everywhere you looked, and Roy gave them elite goaltending behind it. Blake fit right in from the start, scoring 10 points in 13 regular-season games after the trade.
He then turned it up in the playoffs, finishing with six goals and 13 assists in 23 games. His 19 postseason points led all NHL defensemen.
Colorado went on to beat the New Jersey Devils in seven games and win its second Stanley Cup title. For Bourque, it ended a 22-year wait for hockey’s biggest prize.
For Blake, it was his first championship. For Lacroix, it was another example of a front office willing to pay a heavy cost when the moment called for it.
There’s still one question attached to the deal: what if Blake had gone to the Red Wings instead? Detroit won the Cup the next season, but Colorado made sure Blake’s first championship came in Avalanche colors. Twenty-five years later, the trade still stands as one of the franchise’s signature moves.
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For Colorado, that kind of production is exactly the sort of problem it wants to have, but it also starts to sharpen the roster conversation in Denver. When young players are driving results at the AHL level and showing they can handle bigger responsibilities, the next step gets harder to ignore, and the organization will have to decide how much longer it can keep all three on the same track before their play forces a move. [Read more 🡒]