Colorado Avalanche: Does Coach Joe Sacco Need to Go for the Avalanche to Rise?

To say that the Colorado Avalanche’s season has become an even bigger mess than Charlie Sheen would be unfair to Mr. Sheen; at least Charlie Sheen is entertaining to watch right now.

Coach Sacco and the Avalanche seem lost and are finding it difficult to even keep it close with the last-place team in the conference, being outscored 10-2 in their last two games against Edmonton.

Futility like this usually results in one of two things in the NHL—either the team finds new players for their coach to lead or a new coach to lead their players.

Judging by the trade deadline it is hard to tell exactly what the Avalanche are thinking but it seems like they are happy with the roster they have and know the potential exists in the offseason to add to it.

In fact, when this has happened in the past to the Avalanche it has almost always resulted in the coach being shown the door and not the players. Tony Granato has been on the wrong side of this equation twice and even Stanley Cup champions like Marc Crawford and Bob Hartley have fallen victim the ever-spinning NHL coaching carousel.

Some very respected members of the local press have come out and said that Joe Sacco and Greg Sherman should have the opportunity to right the ship next season. The journalistic brain trust of the Avalanche all seem to concur that it would be a “sensible decision.”

Still, the fans of the Avalanche deserve more and it is becoming harder and harder to believe that Coach Sacco will be able to deliver it.

Last season Coach Sacco was up for the Jack Adams Trophy and Craig Anderson was discussed as a Hart Trophy candidate. This season has told a completely different story, but the question seems to be who benefited more from the other?

There is no denying that this season has been wrought with injuries for the Avalanche. However, it is not an unfamiliar place for the Avalanche in recent years.

In 2007-2008 the Avalanche found themselves in a similar situation with injuries. But strangely, they were not threatening the cellar of the Western Conference. Instead they were poised for the playoffs and even made it past the first round.

The coach of that team was Joel Quenneville, who was a picture of consistency guiding the team to 90-plus-point seasons every year and only missing the playoffs once by a very narrow margin.

Certainly Coach Q had his flaws and trying to compare the teams and the injuries might prove to be inconclusive, but the bottom line is that nothing was used as an excuse for those teams.

There is simply no reason that this Avalanche team should be playing so poorly right now. On paper they seem to be a better squad than the Oilers, despite their defensive deficiencies and injuries at the moment.

So why have they been so thoroughly embarrassed in their last two meetings?

History has shown that superior coaching can overcome a perceived lack of talent. Those who disagree need only look at the 2003 playoff series between the Colorado Avalanche and the Minnesota Wild.

So if it is true that the Avalanche have become the “other team” in the Pepsi Center and the salary cap floor will always be closer than the ceiling, then isn’t it fair to at least ask for a coach that can get the most out of that situation?

At the moment Joe Sacco seems less like Jacques Lemaire and more like Tony Granato. If that ends up being true then the Avalanche have already made that decision once before.