Anyways, the Colorado Avalanche and Joe Sacco find themselves in second to last place in the western conference. This time last year, they were the talk of the league with Matt Duchene playing high level hockey but most of all their goalie Craig Anderson holding the line. During the 2009-10 season, many things should have gone wrong, but they didn't. For instance, Anderson never should have been relied on to win games but he was. After a while the Avs just gave up on the defensive aspect of things and let Andy take care of the load. Stars like Stastny, Duchene and Hedjuk flourished in a system that was only a year removed from the worst season in Avalanche history. That horrible season by the way was a year in which Colorado relied on a two goal tender system, much like what is being done today. That does not appear to work and now, more than ever, we can see that the defensive line needs to change. We gave up Scott Hannan and in return made our old captain run the defense. Foote is a good player and a leader as the C on his sweater suggests, however he needs to leave the organization. His age is not on par with the youth movement in front of him.
What I really believe to be true is what to do with our goalie situation. Last year Anderson was in consideration for the Vezina trophy and a spot on the U.S olympic team. He was the show stopper. Due to injury, Anderson is no longer that same goalie and may never return to form. Anderson had something to prove last year and he did it. It is my personal belief that Anderson did not put as much effort into this past offseason as he did the previous one. His efforts have shown and he has become non reliable.
I am glad that I never purchased his jersey because I think this season will be his last with the Avalanche organization. The Av's need to completely rebuild and part of that will be saying goodbye to Budaj and Anderson. Andy is a quality guy but has shown that he is a hype goalie and nothing more. Unfortunately this road is only going to get worse for the Avalanche. In order to completely rebuild, they will have to hit rock bottom once more. For that to happen, we will need to wash the system clean.
