Depth Charts 2: Colorado Avalanche

The series continues.

COLORADO AVALANCHE (44-31-7, 95 pts)
* For argument’s sake here, I’m going to say Joe Sakic comes back and Peter Forsberg doesn’t.
Forwards
1. Joe Sakic
2. Paul Stastny
3. Ryan Smyth
4. Milan Hejduk
5. Wojtek Wolski
6. Marek Svatos
7. Tyler Arnason
8. Darcy Tucker
9. Ian Laperriere
10. Ben Guite
11. Cody McCormick
12. Cody McLeod
13. Brian Willsie
DIVISION RANK: 3. Analysis: Really, two dudes named “Cody”? Seriously, losing Sakic would be a big loss of points and leadership, but the continued presence of Smyth (and potential return of Forsberg, along with some reliable third/fourth-liners, make this a nice, on-the-rise kind of group. Especially if Svatos stays healthy, love that guy.

Defencemen
1. John-Michael Liles
2. Scott Hannan
3. Adam Foote
4. Ruslan Salei
5. Jordan Leopold
6. Brett Clark
7. Daniel Tjarnqvist
DIVISION RANK: 3. Analysis: Liles only at No. 1 because of his potential. But if he and/or Leopold don’t have good years and put up some points, this group could easily drop to No. 5 fast.

Goaltenders
1. Peter Budaj
2. Andrew Raycroft
DIVISION RANK: 5. Analysis: Budaj has “potential,” meaning Raycroft was a bizarre choice to back him up considering.

Previous Charts
Minnesota Wild

Tomorrow
Calgary Flames

~ by duncan on August 9, 2008.