I was one of the first to jump on and overreact to the Varlamov and Liles trades.  Dont get me wrong, I still think we paid too much on both deals, but its not about the individual deals is it? Its about what Sherman has built over his tenure in Denver and what he started with.

More after the jump:

The rosters below represent what Greg Sherman was handed on June 3rd 2009 and todays roster heading into the 2012 season.  Breaking down each position, should determine how Sherman has improved, or hurt this team in his tenure.

Centers

2009--------------------------------2012

Guite-------------------------------Stastny

TYLER ARNASON-------------Duchene

Hendricks (Prospect)----------OReilly

McCormick-----------------------McClement

Dupuis-----------------------------Porter

Stastny-----------------------------Hishon (Prospect)

Hensick----------------------------Mercier (Prospect)

---------------------------------------Malone (Prospect)

A pretty clearly improved group across the board.  We all know that the 1,2,3 punch of Stasnty, Duchene and OReilly is impressive, and adding a decent prospect cupboard with Malone and Hishon to boot is a lot to do in 3 years. Especially when you start with TYLER ARNASON AS YOUR 2ND LIKE CENTER

Left Wing

2009----------------------------------2012

Smyth---------------------------------Mueller

Wolski---------------------------------Landeskog (Prospect)

McLeod-------------------------------Lindstrom

Durno (Prospect)------------------Galiardi

Ledin (Prospect)-------------------Winnik

Galiardi (Prospect)----------------Bordeleau (Prospect)

Stoa (Prospect)--------------------Stoa (Still a sucky prospect)

-----------------------------------------Olver (Prospect)

Left wing is arguably the Av's weakest position heading into training camp, and yet, the improvements are still clear.  Without Muellers concussion, you're looking at an enormous improvement from Smyth and Wolski, to Landeskog and Mueller.  Landeskog should develop into the best player on either list here, but beyond him the LW Prospects are weak, weak, weak.

Right Wing

2009-----------------------------------2012

Laperriere----------------------------Hejduk

DARCY TUCKER------------------Jones

Hejduk--------------------------------Kobasew

Willsie---------------------------------Yip

Svatos

Jones

Stewart

The Avs still dont look great at right wing, Hejduk is about on par with his 2009 stats (amazingly) while Jones has taken huge strides forward. Of course, this group is missing Chris Stewart, who is an incredibly talented power forward with an enormous ceiling.  But it ALMOST balances out losing Svatos and Tucker.

Defense

2009---------------------------------2011

Foote--------------------------------Johnson

Tjarnqvist---------------------------Quincey

Salei----------------------------------O'Byrne

Clark---------------------------------Wilson

Hannan------------------------------Hejda

Leopold-----------------------------Cumiskey

Nycholat (Prospect)--------------Hunwick

Liles----------------------------------Holos (Prospect)

Mackenzie (Prospect) ----------Elliott (Prospect)

O’Neill (Prospect)----------------Barrie (Prospect)

Peltier (Prospect) ----------------Guance(Prospect)

Vernace (Prospect)--------------Siemens (Prospect)

Macias (Prospect)----------------Liffiton (Prospect)

Cumiskey (Prospect)------------Chouinard (Prospect)

All i can say here is wow. That 09 defense was EMBARRASSING. If anyone can look at those two lists and tell me that 09 was better ON ANY LEVEL, they should seek medical attention immediately.  This teams defense has improved tremendously from the prospects on up since Sherman took over.

Goaltenders

2009----------------------------------2012

Budaj---------------------------------Varlamov

Raycroft------------------------------Giguere

Cann----------------------------------Attikaliliatiliatlenko (sp?) (Prospect)

Bacashishua (sp?)-----------------Pickard (Prospect)

'Nuff said, its not even a competition here.

Say what you will about Sherman's recent trades. But its hard to argue that he hasnt been good for this team when you look at where we were when he was hired.