CBC-Sports

Development the secret behind Avalanche's talent

February 11, 2010 12:04 PM | Posted by   Kevin Weekes  

After broadcasting the Oilers-Avalanche game this past Saturday night, like most of you, I was amazed at the amount of great young talent Colorado had on display.

The real magic or the Caramilk secret to their upstart success this year and in years past starts, but doesn't end, at the draft table.

Many teams draft players but the hands on the developmental process ends there or somewhere thereafter. They don't always invest all of their resources into every young player they draft or acquire and this is failing these kids and the organization. It’s very small-minded thinking for sure.

The more players an organization can develop to play in the NHL, even if they don't end up playing for their team, the more assets they’ll have. And this puts a team in a position of strength when it comes to dealing.

Part of Colorado's DNA

Drafting and player development have never been more important than in today's NHL due the salary cap, early unrestricted free agency and restricted free agents getting the dollars and terms of unrestricted in many cases as well.

From their time as les Nordiques, to this current managerial staff of the Avalanche, drafting well is a priority, but developing well is an even bigger one. It’s a mandate that’s part of the organization's DNA at every level.

Pre-game skates are typically 10:30 a.m. for home team and 11:30 for the visitors. At 10:11 a.m., last Saturday in Colorado, Matt Duchene, Brandon Yip, Ryan O'Reilly, Chris Stewart, TJ Galiardi and Peter Budaj were on the ice and doing drills, many other players were on shortly after.

Exciting young team

Colorado’s assistant coach Steve Konowalchuk willingly came out early as well and ran some great pre-practice drills. The official skate was awesome! Great up-tempo drills that actually sharpen skills and hockey sense. Post practice had assistant coaches Sylvain Lefebvre and Konowalchuk working with any and all players that wanted to get better, about 90 per cent of the team stayed and appeared to love this extra work.

As crazy as this may seem, I've played on a few teams that were anti-development, where extra ice and or gym time and drills with coaches were scarce, not encouraged, and/or non-existent.

Not the case in Colorado.

The Avalanche have drafted Duchene and Stewart in the first round, Galiardi and O'Reilly in the second, Justin Mercier in the sixth, Yip in the eighth and David Jones in the ninth, and fortunately, all of them they're enjoying the Avalanche's commitment to development.

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