Avs fire Granato!!

Yahoo!! Finally, the Colorado Avalanche has fired head coach Tony Granato, whom I believe is the most to blame for the Avs' awful season this past year. Several others changes were also made, including the firing of goalie coach Jeff Hackett, another move I am extremely happy with. Here's the story:


Now it's time to bring back Bob Hartley! Not sure about hiring assistant GM Greg Sherman as new team general manager, someone's who's never been a chief GM before. Still, he sounds like he wants to do his best (we'll see how much of that's just being diplomatic), he's been with the organization 13 years (including 7 as assistant GM), and Lacroix will be mentoring him. Let's just hope he turns out better than Francois Giguere, who, while not bad in my opinion, still made a lot of bad moves.

Now, outside of the draft and re-signing our important current players (Sakic and Laperriere anyone?), we need to look at goaltending. Though I'd love to see Budaj back as a backup goalie, he hasn't proven he has what it takes to be our starting netminder.

The man I want is Jonas Gustavsson, the Swedish phenom who is called one of the best goalies in the world not currently playing in the NHL. Just watch these videos. He has what we need.




We already made the sad mistake of letting go of possible superstar Vitaly Kolesnik a few years ago. We need to nab this guy, and hold onto him. He has everything we need - speed, size, agility, determination, hockey sense, lateral movement, you name it. Besides, the guy's only 24, and should only get better. All he lacks is NHL experience. He put up incredible numbers in the Swedish league, and has narrowed his search for an NHL team down to four teams, and the Avs are one of them. He's made it clear he's jumping to the NHL this year, and the Avs need to do everything they can to make sure they're the city he lands in. Also note that, since he'd be a rookie and unproven in the NHL, he'd command a small salary, which is all too important for the Avs, who aren't far under the cap ceiling already. Let's get on it, Avs! You have a new GM, now get to work!