DENVER -- The Colorado Avalanche are no overnight success. Joe Sakic knows that better than anyone.
He was Colorado's captain when the franchise last won a Stanley Cup, in 2001. Now, 21 years later, Sakic is the architect behind the Avalanche's return to a Final, this one opening Wednesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning (8 ET, ABC and ESPN+).
Sakic took the reins as Colorado's executive vice president of hockey operations in 2013, after serving as an advisor starting in 2011. He has built the Avalanche into a beast, but it wasn't easy.