Regarding the moves in Colorado, what I'm most interested in seeing is how much of a scorched-earth policy they're prepared to adopt in order to rebuild an organization that was brimming with talent when the Genius, aka Pierre Lacroix, took over from Pierre Page, back in the 1990s, a year or so before the move to the Mile High City. Lacroix had a huge stockpile of players at his disposal, thanks to the Eric Lindros trade. Imagine a centre-ice corps that consisted of Mats Sundin, Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg, all just about to hit their primes. It's no wonder he won championships; it's amazing he couldn't win more.
But now, with Sakic teetering towards retirement and Forsberg uncertain about his future and his goaltending in absolute shambles, does Lacroix take his medicine for a couple of years and rebuild patiently with draft choices? Or does he immediately try to quick-fix a team that's not going anywhere for a while, a team that has Paul Stastny and not much else to build around? One sure indication of the team's direction will involve the 2009 entry draft, where they have the third overall pick. If Colorado selects a player with its choice, then patience may be part of the blue print for a year or so. If they flip it to Boston in exchange for, say, unsigned Phil Kessel, then that will be an indication that Lacroix wants to get competitive sooner rather than later. And of course, a lot will depend on who they eventually hire as coach. Whispers around the NHL suggest that despite their acrimonious parting some years ago, Marc Crawford is not out of the question as a candidate. After all, they did win a Cup with him, something that only Bob Hartley managed to duplicate among the other coaches Lacroix has hired and fired.