Denver (AP) - It's been little under a month since new Avalanche General Manager Lawrence Bailey took the reins in the Mile High City, and while he hasn't been noisy yet, he's been seen lurking in the shadows getting a read on the situation.
"It's tricky," he explained, "you want to know who and what you're dealing with before jumping in head first. You want to first get a read on your team, then on the league as a whole, and finally on your fellow GMs.
"I think I'm getting there."
The Avs roster is a bit scattered and lacking an identity if you believe what Bailey tells you, but his approach is methodical and it's likely there will be a number of new faces by the time camp breaks in the fall.
"We wanted to know where we stood with our RFAs and UFAs first and foremost," said the young man at the helm. "We were happy to get young guys like Perezhogin and Kalinin under contract, as well as bringing back a veteran like Marty (Reasoner). It would have been nice to come to terms with both Yelle and Wesley, but they've earned the right to test the UFA market, and we wish them well with that."
The lone move he's made that wasn't internal thus far was to add blueliner Dmitri Kalinin, young prospect (and 2006 1st round pick) Nick Foligno and a late pick in the 2008 Entry draft from Philadelphia in exchange for useful young rearguard Paul Ranger, and a 1st (Lars Eller) and 2nd (Joel Gistedt) round pick in the 2007 Entry draft.
"We felt we needed to add a couple legit top four defensemen before the start of the season, and we weren't too enthralled with the draft class this year," described Bailey. "I've long been a fan of Dmitri's and feel he will be a very positive influence on a young, developing blueline here in Denver.
"My predecessor also did a wonderful job adding early picks in both the 2008 and 2009 drafts, so that made moving one of our two 2007 first rounders much easier. As did adding a great youngster like Foligno."
As things stand, Bailey still hopes to add a few things via free agency (the Avs currently have about $20,000,000 in cap space) including a top line forward, a top four defenceman, and a pair of veteran third liners to play alongside Ethan Moreau.
"We have our eye on a number of guys and would love to add some punch at the top of the line up," said Bailey when asked about his free agency plans. "We have five very good forwards in our top six right now, but adding some star power would put it over the top. We have the money and we're willing to spend it to make this team a playoff contender and more.
"And if we can't get what we need there, I have no problem pulling the trigger on a deal to fill our roster holes--but we'll cross that bridge when we need to."
Based on this reporter's view of things, the Avs line up currently looks like this:
EMPTY-Straka-Knuble
Williams-Horcoff-Sykora
Moreau-EMPTY-EMPTY
Arnason-Reasoner-Kolnik
Richardson, Perezhogin
Johnsson-Liles
Kalinin-Hamhuis
EMPTY-Lebda
Foster
Budaj
Raycroft
There are definitely moves that need to be made, and the rest of the offseason promises to be one to watch in Colorado.