Joe Sakic’s deadline moves are paying early dividends for the Avalanche

As the NHL’s trade deadline drew close in late March, Colorado Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic looked to add to the league’s best team in an effort to make an all-out push to claim the Stanley Cup this June.

Like most general managers in pursuit of the Cup, Sakic hoped to add another star player; the kind of veteran leader that he, himself, became over the course of his career. And like Ray Bourque, the longtime Bruin that helped the Avalanche to their second Stanley Cup title in 2001. Sakic, Colorado’s longtime captain, famously gave Bourque the first opportunity to raise the historic, silver-plated chalice aloft.

Sakic and the Avalanche were in pursuit of the Philadelphia’s Claude Giroux, easily the best available player on the trade market. Giroux’s desire to play his 1,000th game in a Flyers sweater delayed his inevitable departure, however, and by the time he reached that milestone and was finally dealt, it was the Florida Panthers who swooped in with a blockbuster deal to obtain him. Sakic missed out on his star.

Fortunately, due to Sakic’s efforts beforehand, the Avalanche — who possessed the best record in the NHL — didn’t need one.

Sakic pivoted, and by the time the trade deadline passed, he had added four new skaters to the Avalanche’s roster; essentially one-fifth of the team would be new as Colorado revved up for their title run.

Prior to the deadline, physical defenseman Josh Manson was dealt to Colorado from the Anaheim Ducks, and Minnesota Wild face-off ace and forechecker Nico Sturm was acquired by the Avalanche in an exchange that included Tyson Jost; the only NHL-level player that Sakic dealt away in his four total trades. At the deadline, gritty veteran Andrew Cogliano was added from the San Jose Sharks and two-way winger Artturi Lehkonen — who played a major role in the Montreal Canadiens’ surprising run to the Cup finals last season — completed Sakic’s impressive haul of players.

“Well, we wanted to add to get a guy like Manson for the blue line,” Sakic told NHL.com last week. “We know we can move the puck up, but we wanted somebody with some toughness in front of the net, some guys that are harder to play against. It’s the same up front, especially with our mid-six and bottom six; we wanted to add a little more size, a different element to our team. We get more size, and we think having Nico will help in our face-offs, which we were looking to do. It was about changing it up and adding more depth to our lineup. We know we’ve got our top guys, but we wanted to strengthen our depth.”

Sakic understood that his team, led by superstars Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar, along with All-Star caliber skaters Gabriel Landeskog, Mikko Rantanen, Devon Toews and resurgent center Nazem Kadri, didn’t need an overhaul; it needed a tune-up. Each of the four players that Sakic added provide particular skills that the Avalanche didn’t possess or otherwise needed more of. None of the four have to be stars, but the early returns have been promising.

The Avalanche have gone 6-1-1 since that March 21 deadline. And in Tuesday’s more-dominant-than-it-looked on the scoreboard 6-4 victory in Pittsburgh, each of the four played notable roles in a game in which Colorado was missing its entire second line of Landeskog, Kadri, and Valeri Nichushkin — who sat out with a minor illness.

Manson scored his first goal with the Avalanche only a minute into the third period to give Colorado a two-goal lead that they wouldn’t surrender. Sturm, who had an assist in Saturday’s 4-2 win over the same Penguins team in Denver, won 10 face-offs on Tuesday; the only Avalanche player to win as many as he lost. Though Cogliano didn’t find his way onto the scoresheet, he was the catalyst for Lehkonen’s first goal for the Avalanche — and Colorado’s sixth and final tally of the game. Cogliano dove to break up a pass in the Avalanche zone after the Penguins had pulled goaltender Tristan Jarry, not only stifling a last-minute possession, but flicking it out of the zone as well, where Lehkonen potted an empty-net goal off of assists by Toews and Darren Helm.

After being eliminated in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs in the last three seasons, the league-leading Avalanche have no intention of settling for that again.

“We thought we had a really good shot last year, and it didn’t happen. Whether you lose the first round, second, third, the goal is to try to win the Stanley Cup,” Sakic said last week. “I know the guys came back focusing more on little details, game details, being more consistent in those areas. I think our guys have grown and matured. Now we still have to get to the playoffs, and a lot of good things have to happen, but we see the maturity and sense of purpose. It’s there.”

The Avalanche clinched that playoff spot with the win over Pittsburgh on Tuesday, and defenseman Bowen Byram returned from a three-month absence due to concussion symptoms. Landeskog, Kadri and slick-skating defenseman Samuel Girard are all expected back by the playoffs. Good things are happening. He’s provided this team with the tools and the talent. As he suggested, with only a dozen games left to play in the regular season, the Avalanche have to keep their sense of purpose.

And then, the fun really begins.

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