Today we close out our midseason report card on former Avs. We covered Jeff Finger, Kurt Sauer and Karlis Skrastins in Part 1 and yesterday we looked at Andrew Brunette, Brad Richardson and Jose Theodore. This entry, I believe, covers everyone else who appeared with the team at some point last year. Next week, we'll move on to current Avs.
Jaroslav Hlinka: After a season mostly spent in Joel Quenneville's dog house, Hlinka wasted no time escaping; he bolted for Linköpings HC in the Swedish Elite League as soon as the season was over. As of Sunday, his club was in first place and Hlinka, now wearing #71, was leading the SEL in scoring and assists.
Scott Parker: I've already covered the Parker story, so I won't repeat it here. I don't think anyone knows where Parker is, so I'm just going to assume he's living out the rest of his days in Key West, wearing a tacky floral shirt and a straw hat while motoring around on a moped. Or something.
Peter Forsberg: I don't really know a lot about this guy, other than the fact that he played with Daniel Tjarnqvist on Sweden's 2006 Gold Medal Olympic squad. Apparently, he's skating in Sweden. Other than that, who really knows?
Wyatt Smith: Smith is gone and mostly forgotten. He signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning this summer, and was later traded to Phoenix - the team that originally drafted him. To date, Smith has played for 5 NHL and 7 AHL teams. He's currently playing for Pheonix's AHL affiliate, the San Antonio Rampage. Through Tuesday, he has 17 points in 31 games with the Rampage and the Norfolk Admirals.
Johnny Boychuk: After four years in the AHL, Boychuk finally got a cup of coffee in the NHL with a call up last January. He played in four games - two at forward, two at his natural position (defense). He was surprisingly jettisoned this offseason to the Bruins for minor-league forward Matt Hendricks. Boychuk has just played one game with Boston this year, but he's put up good numbers with Providence - he is 3rd on the team in scoring and is the highest scoring defenseman in the AHL. And, for the first time in his career, he's been named to the AHL All-Star team. I'm on record as saying the Avs gave up on Boychuk too quickly, and I see no reason to change my position on the subject now.
Jeff Jillson: Jillson never played for the Avs last year, but he was around for a short time as a healthy scratch. Jillson signed this summer with HC MVD in the Russian KHL. It appears that he has left that team and is now playing in Finland for the delicious noodles of Rauman Lukko, which means he's a teammate of former Avalanche Antti Laaksonen.
Michael Wall: Wall, acquired at the 2007 trade deadline for Brad May, had just one brief call-up for the Avs last season, dressing as a backup for Peter Budaj on February 4th (coincidentally, that was Budaj's last game as a starter under Joel Quenneville). Wall left the Avs organization this summer (his wikipedia page says he turned down their contract offer) and appears to be done with professional hockey. He's currently playing defense for the Smithers Steelheads - an amateur team in the CIHL.