Bleacher Report - Articles by Andre Belliveau

One Player Down, One To Go

Andre Belliveau — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:48:26 -0400

So the Avalanche are in "re-build" mode and are trying to lose cap space in players that Francois Giguere just happened to have signed. Thank you Francois. Avs fans thank you....not.

OK, now to what I really wanted to talk about in this article, the Avalanche are shedding cap space so they are starting to trade players. Although many people can argue that Ryan Smyth was a leader and was an avalanche scorer. I must say that he did not live up to his contract and just held the Avalanche back.

Also, I truly believe that the Avalanche have done this for a reason, not just because they wanted to lose Smyth, but because he took too much of the salary.

The Avalanche had traded for a couple of good defensemen in Kyle Quincey and Tom Preissing, two depth players that can develop into great players in a year or two, if not this year.

So, now Greg Sherman has to make one more move, and that is trade Scott Hannan, arguably the most over-paid under-achieving defenseman that the Avalanche have on their roster. Scott Hannan has a $18 million four-year contract, which is too much for a player that doesn't play to his contract, like Smyth.

One possible trade could be Scott Hannan and a third-round pick for Jack Johnson. Although Hannan has a no trade clause I'm sure Johnson will wave it, or at least I hope.

Joe Sacco Named Colorado Avalanche Head Coach

Andre Belliveau — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:55:34 -0400

Joe Sacco has been named the new head coach of the Colorado Avalanche, along with former Avalanche player Sylvain Lefebvre as assistant coach.

Sacco, a native of Medford, Mass., played his college hockey at Boston University where he appeared in 111 games over three seasons with the Terriers. In 1987 he was a fourth round pick (71st overall) of the Toronto Maple leafs. He went to play 738 games in 13 years of his pro career, Sacco played with a number of teams such as Toronto, Anaheim, the New York Islanders, Washington, and Philadelphia.

In 2008, Sacco went on to coach, and found himself in Lake Erie coaching the AHL affiliate team of the Colorado Avalanche which he got 11 more wins than the year before with the team.

In early June 2009, the Avalanche had fired Tony Granato along with his full coaching staff after the most disastrous year ever since they moved from Quebec to Colorado. Tony Granato and his staff are the second on the list to get fired along with ex General Manager Francois Giguere.

Now the Avalanche had something to do. 2008/2009 assistant coach and former head coach of the Lake Erie Monsters, Joe Sacco was promoted earlier today to head coach of the Colorado Avalanche. New GM Greg Sherman had this to say about Sacco, “The American Hockey League has proven to be a valuable training ground for NHL head coaches and we’re confident that Joe’s experience at that level will be vital to his success with our organization at the NHL level.”

Sacco at 40 years old will be the 13th head coach of the 14 year old franchise.

Colorado Avalanche in a Slump, What's Next?

Andre Belliveau — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 16:04:09 -0400

Okay, since I am an Avalanche fan, I thought I would write this article.

THE BAD

First of all, 15th in their conference and 27th in the League not acceptable what are you guys doing. We need to keep our good players not get rid of them and trade for young people.

Okay, I know what you're all saying what is this guy talking about we need young people to get better in the late years but the young "guns" aren't good they cant play and they have about 10 of them on their team. Maybe some of you agree with me and i hope you do.

Second of all, at the trade deadline, trading Jordan Leopold for two little pussies. I know that Jordan Leopold isn't good, but you traded Tanguay to Calgary for him then you give him right back does that make any sense? I didn't think so.

Thirdly you guys have the third round pick its not first or second so maybe you cant get john Tavares or Hedman (correct me if I'm wrong) do something with it.

and most importantly YOU HAVE NO GOOD PLAYERS: Stastny, Hejduk and Smyth that's about it.

THE GOOD

Okay maybe some of you are tired of me rambling on about the bad so here's the good.

You guys do have a third rounder maybe get a good player since Sakic is probably going to retire and rumors about Hejduk going and Smyth getting traded. So there's a good player with the Third.

FINALLY!!!!:D finally Francois Giguere is gone he was horrible sure he got Smyth and Hannan but that's all hes done right lets hope that we get a new and much better GM soon.

Coaching and GM

With Francois Giguere gone,

fire granato

Maybe even Patrick Roy could come coach of GM for them.

Mike Cammalleri The New Flame of Calgary

Andre Belliveau — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:18:44 -0400

The man known as Mike Cammalleri was traded to the Calgary Flames on Draft Day 2008 from the Los Angeles Kings for the number 17 selection in the draft.

Cammalleri is a very speedy left wing who scored a total of 79 goals in the past 3 years as a Los Angeles King. But in 2008, he only had 19 goals because of injuries which caused him to miss 19 games of the regular season.

When NHL.com asked Cammalleri if he was excited to be a Flame he said:

"I’m really excited. I've had a few days to digest it, and I'm really excited about it."

When the interviewer mentioned that Jarome Iginla had led Flames team scoring by more than 30 points last year, he asked if he Cammalleri was confident he could take pressure off the captain offensively. He replied: "It seems to be what I’m hearing. I would think that I'll be able to do that."

The closing question asked was if he felt any added pressure by being on the last year of his contract, and he replied:

"I've kind of always been that way. I've never really had a long-term deal, so I've kind of always played contract to contract."

Read the full interview with NHL.com here.