The Mysterious Case of Rick Pracey

Yesterday, our ever astute Earl06 noticed that Rick Pracey's name is no longer on the Avalanche website's staff list and his bio page is missing. I hit multiple brick walls in trying to find out what happened. All I have for you is that Pracey is no longer part of the Avalanche organization.

There's been some talk about the lack of quality European scouting the past few years, so perhaps that plays into the issue. However, it's pretty baffling when you consider Pracey was the guy in charge of drafting gems like Ryan O'Reilly and Tyson Barrie, not to mention the top three selections of Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog, and Nathan MacKinnon, all of whom are proving to be the right choices for Colorado. So what happened?

I'm hoping that this was a decision on his part, one that sees him moving up in the world, and not something done by the Avs or due to a negative personal situation. We may never know; hopefully, a member of the media with a little more access than us will use those precious contacts to find out.

UPDATE: It's being reported that Pracey was "relieved of his duties" from the Avs. So he was fired. The lack of discussion from the Avs makes me think it was not an amicable parting.