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Avalanche lose two assistant coaches

Colorado Avalanche Headshots

Andre Tourigny

NHLI via Getty Images

The Colorado Avalanche will have some vacancies to fill as defensive coach Andre Tourigny, and video coach Mario Duhamel will not return for the 2015-16 campaign, per the Denver Post.

Tourigny has resigned to pursue a head coaching position while Duhamel hopes to serve in a role that would allow him to be behind the bench. Duhamel has been granted permission to speak with other teams so that he can pursue that goal.

Per the Post:

The Avs obviously have a problem with shots-against and getting hemmed in their zone. But Tourigny should not be seen as “runner” or scapegoat. At every practice I attended, play stopped when Roy had something to say — and usually he was running the D-zone drills.

Patrick Roy’s second season as Colorado’s head coach was a rocky one. After leading Colorado to a division title in 2013-14, the Avalanche finished at the bottom of the Central Division with a 39-31-12 record. Their offense was a big part of the issue as they went from scoring 2.99 goals per game to just 2.55 this season.

Colorado did finish on a high note with a 12-6-1 record from the beginning of March onward and Roy felt they learned a lot in 2014-15. At the same time, the Avalanche were a terrible puck possession team in 2013-14, which led some to believe that their regression was just that catching up with them.

The Avalanche similarly struggled in that regard this season with a five-on-five Fenwick of 43.9%. The only team that did worse than them in that regard were the Buffalo Sabres.

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