Aarif Deen
It’s been a week since Colorado Avalanche president of hockey operations and general manager Joe Sakic, along with KSE Vice Chairman Josh Kroenke met with media to discuss the season that was.
This was Kroenke’s first time publicly speaking on the Avs since September 30, 2022, when he sat side-by-side with Nathan MacKinnon to announce the superstar center’s eight-year contract extension. Before that, it had also been years since his last Avalanche appearance.
Kroenke, who is more plugged in with the Denver Nuggets, often leaves the hockey team in Sakic’s hands. But given the disappointing ending to the Avs’ playoff run in the Western Conference Final, and the sudden departure of Chris MacFarland that followed, Kroenke took the podium with Sakic — a move that was announced late — to answer questions.
Many of the questions were directed at Sakic (both of mine were), but there were a few key topics that Kroenke spoke of that are worth highlighting.
Sakic Wanted Back in GM Chair
Kroenke was asked about Sakic’s return to the GM role, and if he needed to twist his arm, in a sense, to convince him to reclaim the position.
That wasn’t the case.
Kroenke said Sakic was excited to be GM again, the role he held when the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup in 2022.
“When a situation like C-Mac’s evolves, and you start to have a little bit of discussion there, you just look at Joe and you say, one, ‘I know you’ve done this before, so you know I feel good in a certain transition period.’ But you also say, ‘how deep is our bench?’ We always try to have deep benches, not only on the on the ice, but off the ice as well,” Kroenke said. “I don’t say I twisted his arm, but I just felt very comfortable knowing that that could be a default position for us.”
Why Kroenke Believes in Bednar
Regarding head coach Jared Bednar, Kroenke was very blunt about how much confidence he has in him, and why he felt it was an easy decision to bring him back. This is the same ownership group, Kroenke included, that fired Nuggets coach Michael Malone right before the playoffs two seasons ago. When it comes to the Avs’ bench boss, he said you can’t compare the two.
“I think he has absolute belief of the dressing room,” Kroenke said.
An Update on the Practice Rink
It’s well-documented, dating back to Sakic’s playing days, that the Avalanche are in need of a practice rink. Kroenke provided an update on the project.
“I got asked this question a few weeks ago at a Nuggets-related press conference, but there’s one final hurdle that we’re in,” he said. “We hope to have some information relatively soon, but again, it’s … we’re dealing with the city, and we’re working on pedestrian access over Speer in and around that, so hopefully once we are able to iron out and finalize that with the city, we’ll be able to announce something. I don’t have an exact time frame, but we’re very close.”
There Won’t Be An Internal Salary Cap… For Now
With the salary cap rising at a rapid rate, many have wondered which teams are gong to back off from spending to the cap ceiling. Before COVID and the flat cap that followed, it was common practice to see some teams operate under an internal salary cap well below the ceiling. The Avs were one of those teams during their rebuilding years.
When asked if the franchise will continue spending to the cap, Kroenke stated they will, as long as they continue to contend for the Stanley Cup with the superstar core they have.
“With the core players that we have, we’re going to keep being as aggressive as possible,” Kroenke said. “I think that some of that stuff can kind of go in cycles, but I think if you have a core of Nathan McKinnon and Cale Makar, led by Gabe Landeskog, and then the depth that we have. I think you better be pushing it, trying to go for Cups. I think going for Cups means you are spending as much as you can when you can, and using your resources as smartly as possible as well.”