The Denver Broncos did in one day what the Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets have been unable to do in 61 combined. That doesn’t appear to be sitting well with the executives at Kroenke Sports and Entertainment.
The Avs and Nuggets have played a combined 61 games at Pepsi Center this year and they still have yet to match the one million fans who showed up for the Broncos’ Super Bowl 50 victory celebration. The Rapids, who ranked last in MLS in attendance in 2015, would need to add four of their games to get the teams over the one million mark.
There is no doubt folks in Denver love their teams, but it’s also clear that they show up for a winner. Based on their moves during the past few weeks and months, it’s apparent that the brass at Kroenke Sports understands that fact, and they are working hard to get their teams back to the playoffs.
Joe Sakic was the latest KSE GM to show he’s not afraid to pull the trigger on moves that he thinks will put his team in the postseason. Colorado was one of the most active teams in the final week leading up to Monday’s NHL trade deadline, acquiring three players and shipping off three prospects and two draft picks.
On Feb. 21, Sakic packaged 22-year-old Collin Smith and a fourth-round draft pick in this year’s draft for Shawn Matthias, a 28-year-old center/wing now with 76 career goals after scoring one in his first game with Colorado. Matthias is a classic rental player, but he’s hungry for another taste of playoff hockey after making just two trips in his previous eight years in the league.
Come deadline day, Sakic was the busiest man in hockey. On Monday morning, he acquired another short-term player who should add offensive firepower in the form of Mikkel Boedker. How badly does Sakic want to win right now? He gave up longtime Avs winger Alex Tanguay and prospects Conner Bleackley and Kyle Wood for the speedy winger. That’s parting ways with a guy who scored the game-winner in Game 7 of a Stanley Cup Final and two top-10 prospects within the organization for someone who can skate away at the end of the season.
The Avs GM wasn’t done there, though. His final move was an attempt to shore up a defense and power play that have been compared to the Broncos offensive line in 2015 or the Rockies pitching staff of always.
Sakic gave up much less to land defenseman Eric Gelinas from New Jersey – a third-round pick in 2017. The Avs will have Gelinas through next year, but the move still sent a resounding message: This team is no longer in development mode; they expect to win now.
Think that message isn’t being heard? Patrick Roy pulled Semyon Varlamov after the goaltender allowed three goals in the first period of Tuesday’s loss to Minnesota.
The marching orders may not be so stern in the other offices housed at Pepsi Center, as the Denver Nuggets were not expected to make the playoffs this year (especially after Wilson Chandler went on season-ending IR during the preseason). But that didn’t stop Tim Connelly from making moves at the trade deadline to remove ineffective players and fill some badly needed holes. D.J. Augustin and JaKarr Sampson have each added something the Nuggets were missing before their arrival.
Augustin, acquired via trade for Randy Foye, has proved to be a point guard who can fill up the bucket (relatively speaking). More importantly, he allows Denver to maintain the pace of play and defensive intensity Michael Malone hopes to employ long-term with Emmanuel Mudiay at the point, something they couldn’t do with Jameer Nelson.
Sampson, signed after being cut by Philadelphia, won’t add much to the offense, but he’s tough-minded defender who believes he can guard every position on the floor. Denver is averaging 100.3 points per game in wins, 106.4 in losses and 109.5 since the All-Star break, where they are 1-5. The Nuggets needed his defense, and fast.
Defense wasn’t the problem in Commerce City last year for the Kroenke Sports franchise based there. The Colorado Rapids allowed 43 goals in 2015; only five teams in the league were better. But no team was worse at putting the ball in the net than the Rapids, the only club in MLS last season to average less than one goal per game.
President Tim Hinchey and technical director Paul Bravo went ahead and addressed both anyway this offseason.
On the attacking side of the pitch, Colorado added a second designated player in two-time Swiss League Golden Boot winner and 2014 Swiss Footballer of the Year Shkëlzen Gashi. He, along with last year’s major addition, striker Kevin Doyle, gives Colorado two potent scoring threats on the front end.
Hinchey and Bravo fortified the ranks elsewhere, adding Marco Pappa and Zach Pfeffer to the midfield. Pappa brings 27 MLS assists to the club. Pfeffer already has 30 MLS appearances at just 21 years of age and has appeared on several U.S. National teams.
The biggest move of all, however, came over the weekend when news broke that Colorado was in the process of finalizing a deal to bring Everton and USMNT goaltender Tim Howard to Colorado upon conclusion of the Premier League season. While the deal has not been formally announced, Hinchey was reportedly in England last week to seal the deal. Howard would join Colorado when the MLS summer transfer window opens in July. Yes, the Rapids had a stout defense in 2015. They expect 2016 to be better.
The aggressive moves in Commerce City send a similar message to the one Joe Sakic is sending at Chopper Circle: Missing the playoffs again is not an option.
The Nuggets could be a year or two away, but the message was delivered resoundingly last year: This team intends to be back in the postseason, and anyone who might be an impediment to that process will be shown the door.
All of it bodes well for fans that have been waiting too long for these three to be perennial playoff teams. And for the Mammoth, who are currently the best team in the NLL at 7-2 and are averaging only 431 fewer fans per game than the Nuggets this season.
Playoff season is coming. The message from fans has been heard. Win and they’re in.
