Free agency opens on Friday. NHL general managers will be lining up with their owner’s checkbooks in order to sign the biggest fish on the market.
Colorado Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic, however, expects a quiet day. The team is likely going to be mostly focused on retaining their own restricted free agents, such as Nathan MacKinnon and Tyson Barrie. Sure, there might be some signings, but they are likely going to be minor, and only one- or two-year deals.
A lot of Avalanche fans may be disappointed by this revelation, but they should be relieved. Historically speaking, the Avalanche have really only ever been minor players in the free agent market. When they have tried to make a major splash (i.e. Ryan Smyth, Paul Kariya, Scott Hannan, et. al.), the players have usually failed to live up to expectations.
Some players however, have failed much worse than others. This list is dedicated to those players.
Consider yourselves warned Avalanche fans. This is not a list for the faint of heart. This is a list that is sure to bring up some suppressed, awful memories. These players are the worst of the worst. Without any further ado, here are the five worst free agent signings in Avalanche history.
5. Per Ledin
Never heard of Ledin? You’re not alone. His Avalanche tenure was short, as he only dressed in three games for the burgundy and blue (going pointless). He spent most of his only season in the Avalanche organization with the AHL’s Lake Erie Monsters. He was signed out of Sweden, where he was a super-pest and strong defensive forward.
Curiously, he was signed to a one-way contract, then never given a real shot in Colorado. He then lambasted the organization on his way out the door.
Though he is probably the worst of the bunch, Ledin is on this list to illustrate the Avalanche’s ineptitude when it comes to signing free agents from Europe. From Joakim Lindstrom, to Jaroslav Hlinka, to Roman Will and Borna Rendulic, it is simply a market that the Avalanche have never found a way to master.
In the summer of 2003, the Avalanche shocked the hockey world when both Selanne and his former Mighty Ducks teammate Paul Kariya took one-year deals at a discounted rate, so they could play together with the Avalanche. Needless to say, their tenure in the Mile High City was disappointing, at best.
Selanne gets the nod over Kariya on this list because he took less of a discount, and disappointed more. Kariya was injured for much of the season, while Selanne spent much of the campaign in coach Tony Granato’s doghouse. In what was easily the most disappointing season in Selanne’s career, he saw his point production cut in half, going from 64 to 32. He also saw himself be named a healthy scratch for the first time in his career.
In his next NHL campaign, he scored 90 points, so apparently Selanne and the Avalanche simply weren’t meant to be. He has an argument to be placed atop this list, but for some reason, I think Granato should shoulder his share of the blame as well.
You can’t help but feel bad for Jesse Winchester. Signed to be a fourth-line center, he saw his time in Colorado come to an end before it even started. He got a concussion in a preseason game in 2014 and has still yet to recover.
I feel bad for putting him on this list, but a signing that never plays for a team, is a bad signing, no matter why he didn’t take the ice.
Now an unrestricted free agent, Winchester’s career may be over. I hope not.
Here’s to wishing him a full recovery and success in whatever the next chapter of his life holds for him.
The Avalanche made one of the bigger splashes in the summer of 2004, signing Damphousse away from the San Jose Sharks. Alas, he would never play for the burgundy and blue.
The following season would be wiped away by a lockout. Damphousse would then retire without ever playing for the Avalanche.
He was still effective in his last season with the Sharks (scoring 41 points in 82 regular season games and 14 in 17 playoff contests), leaving many to wonder what could have been? Perhaps he could have softened the blow of losing Peter Forsberg the very next summer (the people they signed sure didn’t).
We will never know.
1. Brad May
Position: LW First signed: 2005-2006 Initial salary: $675,000
Why? Just why? Why would you bring in somebody that every single fan hates? That’s exactly what the Avalanche did when they signed May.
When he played for the Vancouver Canucks, May infamously put a bounty on the head of Avalanche forward Steve Moore. Todd Bertuzzi collected, ending Moore’s career. A lockout would follow, wiping out the 2004-2005 season. When the NHL took back to the ice next, May was a member of the Avalanche.
Never accepted by the fanbase, he was booed at home games for the entirety of his tenure in Colorado. In the middle of his second season with the Avs, he was traded to the Anaheim Ducks. In 64 total games with the Avalanche, he scored three goals and nine points, registering a minus-14 rating.
The Avalanche were ethically wrong to bring him in. The highlight of his Avalanche career was when they traded him out of town.