Roster’s too soft, man. Too fragile. Too pretty.
The stuff that’s been chucked at Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic over the last 24 months, Ken Holland heard 16-17 years ago. In his sleep.
“There was talk, (with) the Red Wings at that time, that (we) were too European, were too small,” Holland, general manager of the Oilers and architect of those early-oughts Detroit rosters that the Front Range loved to hate, said on the eve of Colorado-Edmonton Game 1 Tuesday night at Ball Arena. “(But) we believed in the team.”
Holland built teams that won the Stanley Cup in 1998 and 2002, then again in 2008.