The draft has come and gone, as has July 1st, meaning the Avs have now made a few slight additions to the club. While the Avs have now signed more new players to the roster, none of them are guys I’ve ever heard of. Not that that means anything, I have a hard enough time remembering people I’ve met in person, much less someone whose name I probably can’t pronounce properly.
With their number 10 pick for the draft, the Avalanche selected 18 year old Tyson Jost, who will be playing at the University of North Dakota this fall. While we won’t be seeing him play center at Pepsi Center just yet, he has been praised for his leadership abilities on the ice and was named the British Columbia Hockey League Most Valuable Player last season with 42 goals, and 62 assists (104 pts).
Entering unrestricted free agency on July 1st, my fingers were crossed that my phone would notify me that the Avalanche had signed one of the big guns to add to our young roaster. Alas, my phone went off all day (my NHL app is the only app I allow to give me notifications) and none was to alert me of any exciting Avalanche news. However, the Avs did sign defensman Fedor Tyutin, forwards Reid Petryk, Turner Elson, Jim O’Brien, Mike Sislo, Joe Whitney and Trent Vogelhuber, defenseman Ryan Stanton, and goaltender Jeremy Smith all to one and two year contracts. As already stated, all guys I’ve never heard of.
What all this says to me is that old Joe is putting a lot of faith in our young blooded club. Rather than invest the multi-million dollars and seven or eight year contracts to older and better known veterans, the Avalanche admin is betting that the young guys are going to develop and become the face of the franchise. Who am I to say what is the right move, but let’s hope they’re all right and it won’t be the blind leading the blind out there on the ice, and looking like the mini mites that play during intermission.
Here's to hoping this won't be what our team looks like come October.
For more information on the newly signed Avs go to http://avalanche.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=888348&navid=DL|COL|home