Other NHL GM’s have to stop answering Joe Sakic and the Avalanche’s phone calls
Joe Sakic and the Avalanche have had a phenomenal offseason, probably the best offseason of any team. Did they sign a big name free agent like Tory Krug, Taylor Hall, or Alex Pietrangelo? No. Instead they opted to resigned pretty much all of their restricted free agents guaranteeing that the winning formula the Avalanche had last regular season will return for the next season. Tyson Jost still has to be resigned but he has been tendered a qualifying offer by the Avalanche, now all that has to be done there is put pen to paper. There will be a few faces gone from last season, Matt Nieto went and signed with the San Jose Sharks, and Nikita Zadorov was traded to the Blackhawks. Both of those guys are going to be missed and they were instrumental to the Avalanche’s success last year, definitely not the biggest part of the success, but they were a good part of it. While they will be missed Avalanche fans have got to be excited about the guys that Joe Sakic has brought in to replace them.
In the past couple days the Colorado Avalanche.. 1. Replaced Nikita Zadorov with Devon Toews 2. Added Brandon Saad 3. Retained Andre Burakovsky, Ryan Graves and Valeri Nichushkin 4. Didn’t use any top prospects, firsts, or future financial flexibility to do so — Dimitri Filipovic (@DimFilipovic) October 12, 2020
That is essentially the quick break down of what Joe Sakic has done to improve the Avalanche over the offseason. An absolutely phenomenal job of upgrading positions while spending very little to do so. Sakic retaining Burakovsky, Graves, and Nickuskin brings back a core of players that really helped the team win games. Also all the amazing prospects the Avalanche have waiting to play are still waiting to play for the Avalanche and not someone else, thats HUGE. Joe Sakic has been absolutely fleecing other GM’s this entire offseason trying to get the Avalanche a Stanley Cup. So much so that it’s almost become a joke about how much he’s been fleecing these other GM’s.
new phone who dis — Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) October 13, 2020
Seriously! NHL GM’s have got to stop picking up phone calls from Joe Sakic. He has been steeling players away from teams all this offseason, and he did it last year too. As an Avalanche fan I’m all for it, keep doing what you’re doing Mr. Sakic Sir. Everyone outside of the Avalanche have got to be getting tired of Joe Sakic committing highway robbery of the other NHL franchises though. Me? I’m not going to complain.
Memo to NHL GMs: Do not answer Joe Sakic’s calls. Do not answer Joe Sakic’s texts. Do not accept Joe Sakic’s DMs, should he slide into them. If he comes to talk to you at the GM meetings, pretend you have use the bathroom and then don’t come back. — Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) October 11, 2020
As an Avalanche fan Joe Sakic could slide in my DM’s anytime he wants, but every single NHL GM has got to block his number. He’s got to be treated like that toxic ex where every time you text them they end up getting whatever they want and you just feel ashamed. Every single trade he has made the last two years he has come out on top. It’s clearly not by just a little either, Sakic has been the obvious winner of every trade he has made so far this offseason. It’s so obvious that Joe Sakic wins every single trade he is a part of that it’s become a damn internet meme.
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The first big trade that Sakic made this offseason was sending Nikita Zadorov and Anton Lindholm to the Blackhawks in exchange for Brandon Saad and Dennis Gilbert. Rather than sign Taylor Hall to a contract that’s large enough to convince him to play in Buffalo, Joe Sakic opted to absolutely ROB the Chicago Blackhawks in a trade for a solid top 6 forward. Joe Sakic gave up a player he wasn’t going to sign for a top 6 forward that he doesn’t have to pay the full contract. Chicago is retaining some of Saad’s contract so the Avalanche are only paying Saad $5 million of his contract. The two other players involved in the trade are AHL guys that most likely will only see the NHL this season due to injuries to other guys. Saad is a huge addition to the Avalanche’s forward position. Sakic brought together a group of players that were top in the league in scoring despite always being injured and added even more firepower. Sure Nikita Zadorov is gone, but Joe Sakic is a trade wizard who is always two steps ahead on building a hockey team.
Joe Sakic couldn’t leave the hole that Zadorov left empty so he went calling, texting, and sliding into the DMs of other NHL GM’s. Clearly Ol’ Trader Joe has got a chip on his shoulder after not winning NHL GM of the Year after a beautiful offseason of trading and free agent signing last year. So he called up this years NHL GM of the Year Lou Lamirello in New York and convinced him that a second round pick in 2021 and 22′ is a fair trade for Devon Toews just to prove a point. Sakic wanted revenge for not winning the GM of the Year trophy. This is like when you do trades with your buddy in your fantasy football league that doesn’t actually watch football. Someone clearly seems to have the upper hand. The thing is Lamirello clearly watches hockey so it’s not really the same. Maybe Joe Sakic has some dirt on Lamirello that we don’t know about? Did Sakic some how figure out how to turn the trade setting to easy mode like I do in NHL20′ Franchise mode? No, in reality Sakic just saw an Islanders team that was absolutely DESPERATE to shed some cap space so they could sign their superstar center Mathew Barzal and Joe Sakic leapt on the opportunity to fleece yet another NHL franchise. So obviously Sakic had to take a top 4 defensemen from the Islanders to replace Zadorov who is essentially a 7th D man.
Replacing Zadorov with Toews; adding Brandon Sadd; retaining Burakovsky, Nichuskin, and Graves, and not having to get rid of high level draft picks or prospects to do so is beautiful. That offseason is just *chefs kiss* If you’re an Avalanche fan you couldn’t be happier, you’d pick up the phone any time Joe Sakic called and you’d be happy to do so. While fans of other teams had better hope that Joe Sakic doesn’t call their GM, and the other NHL GM’s have got to start ignoring Joe Sakic’s phone calls. What an offseason so far for Joe Sakic and the Avalanche.