“We were right there to the end” – Joe Sakic on losing out on Panarin, and other notes on free-agent day

Just got off a conference call with Avalanche GM Joe Sakic, and you could tell there was a hint of disappointment in his voice. Not over the guys he got today – Joonas Donskoi and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.

It’s over the guy he didn’t get: The Bread Man, Artemi Panarin. For Sakic and the Avs, it wasn’t for a lack of trying: