Some interesting news surrounding the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday. And no, this doesn’t involve any big-name players potentially on the trading block.
Not yet, anyway.
Pierre Lacroix, now 68 years old, is reportedly open to an NHL comeback, according to Adrian Dater of Bleacher Report, adding his preference is with the Avalanche. Lacroix stepped down as GM of the Avalanche in May of 2006, essentially saying at the time that he wanted to spend more time with his family.
He left behind a legacy as the architect of a Colorado team that won two Stanley Cups (1996 and 2001) and always seemed to contend for the Western Conference during his tenure.
The Avs currently are led by franchise icon Joe Sakic, and it might be too awkward for owner Josh Kroenke to oust him in favor of his old boss, Lacroix. Many critics of the way the Avs have run things the past few years say the team has gone back to the well of nostalgia too much already, bringing in Sakic as GM and Roy as coach for three years.
This would be a bit different, though. Unlike Sakic and Roy at the time of their respective hires by Colorado, Lacroix has plenty of experience at the job. He also deeply cares about the franchise, and, the NHL sources said, is saddened by its decline. He is a man of immense pride, so he would not even consider coming back and tarnishing his great legacy if he thought he wasn’t up to the job.
This report comes with the Avalanche enduring another disastrous season.
Patrick Roy abruptly quit as the team’s head coach in the summer before the season began. Colorado has only one win in the new year and sits at the bottom of the NHL standings -- by 10 points.
This could be a historically bad team in the salary cap era by the time this season is done.
For Sakic, he has quite a mess to clean up in Colorado. Meanwhile, Jarome Iginla has made public his hopes to get traded to a playoff team ahead of the deadline.