Say hello to Matt Jordan everyone……
Last week, The Denver Post’s Woody Paige sat down with former Avalanche GM, now team President, Pierre Lacroix. In it, Lacroix, basically says he made the biggest mistake in the world by hiring Francois Giguere. Pierre pretty much cited burnout from his duties as the reason for giving Giguere, who had NO HOCKEY EXPERIENCE, all the power he did. Lacroix has admired that it was the biggest mistake in the world.
In the end, Pierre has over-simplified his formula for success. By the time he took over as general manager of the Quebec Nordiques in 1994, he was already handed players like Peter Forsberg, Adam Foote, Joe Sakic, Mats Sundin (whom he traded as one of his first acts as GM), Owen Nolan, and other key cogs.
Yet, when you look at the Nords at the time, in a complete rebuilding process, it’s not who you have, but what you do with that roster. That, in and of itself, is the TRUE genius of Pierre. He comes into the Nords, fires coach Pierre Page, and brings in the young upstart Marc Crawford.
His formula, he claims, is (from the article) “Two great young centers and a great goalie, surrounded by a mix of young and experienced complementary players (with speed on offense and toughness on defense); a young, smart, rising head coach, balanced by excellent, specialized assistants; a solid scouting staff; and a hard-hat executive corps harmonizing.”
Things are going back to that, in Avs-land. Matt Duchene and Paul Stastny are his two young centers, he is hoping that Craig Anderson will be his talented goalie, and from the looks of the Ryan Smith deal, the “blue collar” players are coming this way.
He did reply to the coldness in which everyone was fired. While I do understand all of what he was saying, I have to ask here, if all moves were internal, then why not wait until you have fully healed, before making all these moves?
Things are definitely going to be interesting around Avs-Land. Pierre is back in change, at least in some capacity. The ship is being righted, and he is right, it’s time to be patient Avs fans. Things will get better, everyone. Just have the faith and the patience. The corner is always closer than you think.
