2003 Colorado Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche fell far short of their goal last season, losing a shocking Game 7 to the Minnesota Wild, blowing a 3-1 series lead, their second time in six seasons.

Colorado improved over the summer, but very little of it had to do with lessons learned from the heart-sinking loss to the Wild. The change came from an unexpected phone call which resulted in the package deal signing of former Anaheim teammates Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne.

"We always want to improve over the summer, but to be able to do it with one phone call, and to be able to add two players of that caliber in the middle of summer was certainly something that we didn't expect to happen," Coach Tony Granato said. "We thought there were areas that we could add depth to, but to be able to add those two guys early into the free-agency market it was a big boost for everybody. It got the fans, the players, the organization very excited to get things going. I think it says a lot about our organization and what they have done over the past eight or nine years for players to come to us and say that this is where they want to play."

Offensively, center Joe Sakic, a future Hall of Famer, will make be key to Colorado 's strong second line. Other instrumental players, such as Alex Tanguay, Peter Forsberg and Milan Hejduk as part of the NHL's top offense unit, made up the NHL's most productive line last season.

Another crucial off-season addition was enforcer Peter Worrell from Florida. His duties will consist of protecting the forwards and providing accountability for players who take runs at Colorado's top offensive players, Sakic and Forsberg, whom have been subject to injuries during their careers.

Forsberg will continue to be the "go to guy." His competitiveness and consistency are the best in the league. Aside from being a top offensive player he relishes contact along the boards and puck battles behind the net. Forsberg hates to lose and competes with an aggressiveness that belies his shy, Swedish modesty.

The real areas for concern this season will be Colorado 's penalty killing and goaltending. Their penalty-killing unit finished 21 st last year allowing 63 goals in 359 short-handed situations, with their 82.5 percent kill rate ranking third worst among the playoff teams.

As for the net, David Aebischer will be the first guy to set foot in the crease and get first crack at the daunting task of playing in Patrick Roy's shadow. Roy retired this past summer, leaving Colorado with 551 career wins.

Despite the challenges which lie ahead, the Av's are confident and excited about the upcoming season. With their new additions they find themselves near the top of the list as Stanley Cup contenders.