Ottawa Citizen has an Avalanche preview.
Patrick Roy earned plenty of hardware during his playing days and it seems the Hall of Fame goaltender isn't done adding trophies to his mantle.
Not much was expected of the Colorado Avalanche in 2013-14, but Roy managed to raise the bar in Denver as a rookie NHL coach, leading the Avs to a Central Division title while picking up the Jack Adams Award for himself.
Of course, Roy is hardly satisfied with merely making the playoffs. He was a big part of four Stanley Cup championship teams as a goalie, lifting the Cup twice with Montreal and two more times in Colorado. Clearly, anything short of returning to the top of the NHL mountain as a coach would be considered failure.
NHL.com has an article about the Avs as well.
The goal for the Colorado Avalanche last season was to return to respectability and earn a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, targets that were achieved under former star goalie and rookie coach Patrick Roy, who guided the team to a 52-22-8 record and won the Jack Adams Award.
The objective this season is to build on that success, even if it doesn't result in another Central Division championship, and to make a deep run in the postseason.
"I know why I was coach of the year, because I have a special group," Roy said. "They're the ones who were the difference last year, the ones who came to camp with a purpose and wanted to be different. As a coach you establish some values that you want to have, and these guys did that perfectly. We certainly have different words that we use -- partnership, trust and respect -- and these guys have bought into that.
"Last year we approached it that we wanted to surprise the world of hockey, and I think if we can go even deeper in the playoffs that would surprise the world of hockey again."
The Avs have a bunch of statistics against them...
An awful lot of digital ink has been spilled on Patrick Roy's 2013-14 Colorado Avalanche this summer, a team that more or less defied woeful play at five-on-five by riding unsustainable shooting and save percentages. Largely because we have seen a model of this team before, many analysts are expecting some form of regression – the 2011-12 Minnesota Wild and 2012-13 Toronto Maple Leafs have provided ample case studies in the importance of getting the right side of possession. Perhaps more accurately, they have provided lessons on why teams must not rely on volatile percentages to rack up wins.
What makes this Colorado team interesting is two-fold. Firstly, they're teeming with young and developing talent, which could help stave off that regression to a degree. Secondly, we have only seen one year of real success from this club. The season before, Colorado played to a 67-point pace and finished dead last in the Western Conference.