With Joe Sakic having some trouble with his age as of late, many were wondering who his replacement would be. The Avalanche answered that question late Monday.
Paul Stastny has been signed to a 5 year 33 million dollar contract with the Colorado Avalanche. This has effectively sealed his spot as the next captain.
“At a young age, he’s demonstrated tremendous skill, vision and composure on the ice and is recognized as one of the most complete players in our league.” – Avalanche GM Francois Giguere
Stastny looks like he will follow in his dad’s footsteps and stay with this franchise for a long time.
“I’m still in a state of shock…two years ago, I was in college and now I’m signing this kind of deal in the NHL. I’m so excited. It’s a great organization, and I didn’t want to go anywhere else.” – Paul Stastny
On another not so light note, the Tampa Bay Lightning have fired Barry Melrose as their head coach and replaced him with assistant coach Rick Tocchet.
GM Brian Lawton had this to say:
“This was a tough decision to make… Barry is a good man and we have a great deal of respect for him. We wish him nothing but success. However, the results were unacceptable and the players have to understand that we need to be better. Hopefully this change helps push them.”
Interviews and news reports over the last few days have shown that the players and management were not pleased with Melrose’s coaching style. But on the other side of the coin, Tampa Bay management traded away some solid players and ended up leaving Barry with a mess to try and clean up. It was a bad situation that Barry couldnt fix.