Matt Duchene celebrates after his game winning goal.

Former Colorado Avalanche General Manager Francois Giguere took a fan-favorite approach in building his team a few years ago. In the 2007-08 season, the Avalanche only had two members of the Stanley Cup winning teams of the past: Joe Sakic and Milan Hejduk.

Giguere thought he would make a fan-favorite splash by re-signing a franchise legend in Peter Forsberg and acquiring defensemen Ruslan Salei and Adam Foote for the stretch and the playoffs. Forsberg was a huge offensive part of the Avs’ Stanley Cup championships from the past, and Adam Foote was the trustworthy shutdown defenseman from the past.

The Avalanche blew by the Minnesota Wild in the first round, only to get overpowered and swept by the eventual Stanley Cup winners in Detroit.

Giguere made his next move to fire coach Joel Quenneville to hire; you guessed it, former Avalanche coach Tony Granato. The team, largely composed of aging veterans from the past, suffered that year, falling all the way to last in the Western Conference, and 28th in the entire National Hockey League. Captain and future Hockey Hall of Famer Joe Sakic only played a handful of games, and the link between past and present, Paul Stastny, was hurt most of the year too. The team wasn’t going anywhere, and was clearly in rebuilding mode after a series of questionable decisions.

Enter Greg Sherman. He took over as General Manager as the Avalanche cleared house in most front office positions. After their dismal year, Sherman had the third overall pick in front of him for the next draft. As predicted, Jonathan Tavares (Islanders) and Victor Hedman (Lightning) were taken 1-2, so Sherman had only one choice. And that was to draft the star of the Brampton Battalion, Matt Duchene. Duchene is touted as a naturally skilled scorer and overall offensive force, as he put up over a point-per-game in his two seasons with the Battalion.

These two players became something special for the next season, as the reins of the franchise were given to them from Joe Sakic after his retirement. Duchene and O’Reilly joined 2006 first round pick Chris Stewart to create a formidable attack.

Sherman then figured he would do something good about the “back to the future” mentality by hiring no-name NHLer Joe Sacco as their coach. He brought a breath of fresh air, and a defensive mentality to the Avalanche’s play.

The Avs jumped out to an extremely surprising start to the season, grasping the Northwest Division lead for most of the season. The young team fought to get into the playoffs and ended up losing to the powerhouse San Jose Sharks in the first round. While it wasn’t a Cup season or anything, the team took huge strides.

Duchene asserted himself as a deadly scorer and set-up man, even at 19 years old. Duchene scored 24 goals and added 31 assists for 55 points. O’Reilly may not have put up a lot of points in his first year, but he proved he was a gritty and trustworthy all-situations forward. And Stewart broke onto the scene as the Avs’ next pure goal scorer, scoring 28 goals in his sophomore season, and adding 3 more tallies in the playoffs.

Lesson learned for the Avalanche: Don’t go after players from the past for the future, but draft future stars for the future. With Duchene and Stewart anchoring the scoring, and O’Reilly keeping the other players off the scoresheet, the Avs are absolutely set for not only now, but for the future.

-Jordan Kuhns