https://www.bsndenver.com/joe-sakic-ple ... ing-it-up/Sakic had his first offseason presser today.
Quote:
The team hasn’t decided on a new AHL coach yet. That AHL team will play in Loveland starting this fall, moving from San Antonio. The team parted ways with their most recent AHL coach, Eric Veilleux.
Sakic expects defenseman Connor Timmins to make the club out of training camp.
By saying he hopes the Avs become even younger and quicker, it might be a strong signal that potential unrestricted free agents such as Blake Comeau and Mark Barberio may not return. Maybe that’ll be totally wrong, but it’s a sign probably.
Sakic is OK with top prospect Cale Makar going back for a sophomore season at Umass-Amherst, but hopes – and sounded like he expects – him to turn pro when the season’s over.
The Avs expect to name a new ECHL affiliate at some point soon.
He had essentially a “we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it” demeanor when asked about the status of goalie Jonathan Bernier, who can be UFA on July 1.
Sakic stressed the team is "staying the course," and will not "chase" free agents. I don't expect, and actually hope, they don't make a big splash in free agency. Of course, a phone call to John Taveras's agent would be just due diligence, but apart from Paul Stastny there's no one on the market who interests me.
I honestly wouldn't mind Comeau and Barberio coming back, but I think there are players in the system who could provide something potentially better. Both were acquired as "interim" measures and both have done their job admirably.
I fully expect Patrik Nemeth to be back next season. Yeah, drove me up the wall at times but he was also a waiver-wire pickup who played 2nd pairing minutes virtually the entire season. He was Bednar's "closer" and did a lot of the big defensive work to hold down leads. I was mostly against him coming back but his performance in the playoffs convinced me otherwise.