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Sunday, October 18, 1998
Lacroix has to stop Avalanche's slide
When Lacroix switched jobs after a career as an agent, his aloof attitude irritated a lot of his colleagues, especially those who had been in the game a lot longer and had seen the ups and downs.
Colorado's Stanley Cup victory in 1996 did nothing to improve the situation and the road has been downhill since.
The 0-4 start this year can be blamed partly on the absence of free agent Sandis Ozolinsh and the injury to defenceman Eric Messier. But there are also a number of other factors, many of them directly traceable to Lacroix.
For one thing, he never got along with coach Marc Crawford and Lacroix openly pined for the day when he could hire his buddy Bob Hartley. He fired Crawford last spring and replaced him with Hartley, but the team hasn't improved.
Also, Lacroix stockpiled a number of first-round draft picks, following a tactic that has made many an organization successful. But tactics can get dated and these days, a first-rounder isn't what it once was.
When legendary Montreal Canadiens GM Sam Pollock loaded up on first-rounders, he was getting players who were in the top 12. But now there are 27 teams, and the last three first-round picks would have been third-rounders in the days of the 12-team league. Of Lacroix's four first-rounders, not one was in the top 10.
Even though Colorado still has stars, many of the character players are gone -- and hockey is still a team game.
But probably Lacroix's worst player decision was to ship out Mark Parrish, who is turning many a head for Florida, in return for 11 games from Tom Fitzgerald.
Now Lacroix faces a new challenge: Stopping the slide of a quality team.