Amidst the craziness of the Democratic National Convention in Denver this week, the news of Joe Sakic’s new contract with the Colorado Avalanche had the potential to get lost in the noise. Thankfully it did no such thing, and when news broke on Tuesday of the Avalanche captain’s new 1 year, $6 million dollar contract, it hit the public just like any news of Obama would.
Joe Sakic spent the entire summer trying to decide whether he had 20th NHL season under his belt, and with how long it took him to make that decision, many fans were convinced that he would not be back. He had quite a bit to think about, including one of the worst injuries of his career. Sakic felt he should have been able to rebound quicker than the 3 months he spent in rehab after hernia surgery. He ended up only playing 44 games.
As for the Avalanche, this leaves them in a much better situation than they were in just a month ago. The Avs GM Francois Giguere has stated throughout the summer that he will make any decisions as far as roster moves without Sakic in mind until he signs another contract. Whether that was true or not, Giguere must be breathing a heavy sigh of relief, because the re-addition of Sakic to the locker room removes some of the uncertainty of this club going in to ’08-’09.
As a Denverite, the news and history being made at the Pepsi Center and Invesco Field this week with the DNC and Barack Obama is a great thing for this city, and is something that may never happen again in my lifetime in my hometown. But, as a hockey fan, the news of Joe Sakic coming back for season 20 makes this the best week ever for the city of Denver.