Now that Rob Blake is in Colorado, everyone else in the West needs to beef up their staff. When the playoffs begin, depth on the blue line is very important. If you suffer injuries on defense and don't have enough depth, it can cost you the series. You can get by putting forwards out there, because you can hide them with two other decent players on a forward line. But you can't hide a defenseman that can't play.
I talked to people in the St. Louis and Detroit organizations when I heard the rumor that Blake may end up in Colorado and they both said, "Oh, no!" Everyone knows how formidable the Avalanche were before this trade, now they are even more dangerous. Even though they missed out on Blake, the Blues, Red Wings and Devils are Stanley Cup contenders and will have to continue to look for defensive help if they want to compete with the Avs. Now the real shopping for defenders begins, but if they wait too long, it won't get done.
Ray Bourque is a 30-minute guy, as will be Adam Foote when he comes back. Now they've added Blake, another 30-minute guy. They have three premiere defenders who can play 90 of the 120 defensive minutes in a game – no one else in the league can come close to that. The next closest team is St. Louis, with Chris Pronger and Al MacInnis, who can play 60 minutes. But the Avalanche only have to fill 30 minutes of defensive time – and they've got five other guys to do it with.
The Avalanche shouldn't have any technical difficulties. The only problem they could run into is not living up to expectations. With the addition of Blake, they are now overwhelming favorites to win the Stanley Cup. They have not only gained a great defenseman, they've gained all of the pressure that accompanies being an overwhelming favorite. In trading Adam Deadmarsh, Aaron Miller, a first-round pick and potentially more, they've given up a lot of their future – a team makes a deal like that for one reason. Anything less than winning the Cup will be considered a failure.
Bill Clement is a hockey analyst for ESPN. He played 11 seasons in the NHL as a center and won two Stanley Cups with the Philadelphia Flyers. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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