Joe Sacco: Method to his madness??

With 6 games left, it is questionable whether or not the Avalanche will make the playoffs. The Avs are 2 points ahead of Calgary with one game in hand, but the Flames come to town Friday night. They could easily tie the Avs in points, and if that happens, I think it will be all downhill from there. Since St. Patrick’s Day, the Avs have been awful and have gone 1-5-1. We can blame Andy, or the defense or the offense, or individual players, but I think it all comes down to some of Coach Joe Sacco’s decisions of late.

SACCO AND GOALTENDING:
“Craig Anderson set a Colorado record for goalies playing in his 66th game Sunday in San Jose.” Then, surprise, surprise, Andy was in net again Wednesday night against the Ducks for his 67th game of the season with 6 games remaining. Patrick Roy is regarded as one of the best goalies of all time, yet he never played this many games during the regular season. Earth to Sacco, goalies need a break every once in awhile, hence the reason you have a backup. (His name is Peter Budaj in case anyone forgot. He also used to be our # 1 goalie and wasn’t too shabby between the pipes). My question is why doesn’t Sacco play Budaj more often? Typically when you have back-to-back games, your #1 goalie plays one game and the backup plays the other game. Apparently Sacco didn’t get the memo. Ultimately, I think Andy is tired both mentally and physically and he is starting the feel the pressure of getting this team into the playoffs. Even if the Avs manage to make the playoffs, Anderson will be tired and won’t be sharp. Sacco took the saying “one game at a time” too literally and didn’t think about the whole picture regarding goaltending.

SACCO AND THE DEFENSE
Don’t even get me started! One game, Liles is benched. The next game it’s Quincey. Then, oh I don’t know, maybe Clark sits out. After Wednesday’s loss to the Ducks, Sacco says he makes his decision based on what defensemen will give him the best chance to win. Well, let’s look at a couple interesting statistics. Against the Ducks on March 31st, Sacco’s defensive scratches were Clark and Quincey, but he kept Salei in the lineup. When Clark, who is regarded as one of the best shot blockers in the NHL, is scratched, the Avalanche are something like 1-5-1 (sorry, don’t have the exact stat but you get the idea). When Ruslan Salei is in the lineup, the Avs are 3-8-1. If you’re looking for the defensemen that will give you the best chance at winning, play Clark and bench Salei!!! Sacco needs to pick his best D men and stick with it because switching up the pairings every night is not the way to win hockey games. Hockey coaches and players always talk about “chemistry,” but if you’re scratching a different player every night, the defense won’t have any chemistry. Along with this, the defense is going to play tentatively out of fear that they are going to be benched next game.

SACCO AND THE OFFENSE:
Recently, the Avalanche offense is M.I.A. Not quite sure what Sacco can do to fix this other than switching up the lines. Luckily, the Avs will be getting Brandon Yip and Stephane Yelle back for Friday’s game against the Kings. Hopefully this will be just what the Avs need to change things up and get the offense fired up.

Sacco is a rookie NHL coach, and I think the past couple weeks have really shown that. Some people think maybe the Avalanche should “Tony Granato him.” This suggests that the Avs demote Sacco to assistant coach for a season or two and bring in a veteran coach to mentor Sacco. I think Sacco has incredible potential, but right now he is not making smart decisions. So to answer the question “method to his madness,” I am thinking absolutely not. I think his inexperience is showing and maybe he has gone into panic mode.

What do you guys think??

I’ll leave you with this quote from Sean Burke:

“It's too easy when you're not winning to look for excuses and point at others for reasons. You can say 'Oh well, it's this guys fault or they don't do this well' or you can say 'I've got to play better and contribute more'. You've got to find another gear and come up with big games."