Eurolanche

The Hejda Question

They have always deployed some of the top offensive players in the league. Since the team moved from Quebec to Denver, they have featured all-star forwards such as Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Valeri Kamensky, Adam Deadmarsh, Alex Tanguay, and Milan Hejduk. Things have not changed in Denver as fans of the Avalanche now are able to cheer for dynamic forwards such as Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog, Ryan O’Reilly, and Nathan MacKinnon. However, the defense has always been a step behind the forwards throughout the history of this franchise. The “Glory Years” defense was not spectacular, but they were solid and able to complete their job by shutting down the other team’s top stars. Patrick Roy being in net certainly assisted with the success of the defense, but they managed to do their job by committee through their depth, rather than particularly dynamic play. The Avalanche of today still have an incredibly skilled group of forwards and an elite goalie. The one thing that they are missing and have been missing for over the last ten years is a solid defense.

One of the bigger questions that the management group of the Avalanche has to be asking themselves heading into the off-season is the situation with Jan Hejda. Hejda signed as a free agent with the Colorado Avalanche in the summer of 2011. He has spent the last four seasons with the Avalanche playing key minutes. Hejda has shown an interest in re-signing with the team but the question is if the feeling is mutual. An armchair general manager will certainly claim that the Avalanche need to improve the defense by adding two top-four defensemen to the team. That is easier said than done however; especially for a team that has only added two top-four defensemen from free agency since the implementation of the salary cap. Adding two top-four defensemen in one summer will be tough considering the fact that the Avalanche have only added two top-four defensemen from free agency in the past ten years. One of those defensemen was Scott Hannan who was not a top-pairing defenseman in his time in Denver. The other defenseman was Jan Hejda himself, who was signed as a middle-pairing defenseman. Another aspect to this discussion is the expiring contracts of Erik Johnson, Tyson Barrie, Nathan MacKinnon, and Ryan O’Reilly. All of those players except Ryan O’Reilly will need a significant pay increase. With the team already close to the salary cap, signing two top-four defensemen to expensive contracts seems unrealistic. Even if Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy decide to bring in two defensemen from free agency, they do not have an exceptionally talented pool to choose from. Christian Ehrhoff, Andrej Sekera, Paul Martin, Francois Beauchemin, Jeff Petry, and Mike Green are the top defensemen who will potentially hit the free agent market. None of those names aside from Andrej Sekera are bonafide top-pairing defensemen. That’s not even speaking to the competition there will be to signing this small group of free agents in a competitive market.

Jan Hejda has provided the Colorado Avalanche with four seasons of fairly solid defense. Hejda failed to have a full season of solid play in his four seasons with the Avalanche. Although he was solid the majority of the time, each season featured a stretch of games where he did not play to the level he is capable of playing. Hejda saw an increase of play similar to the rest of the team once Joe Sacco was finally fired. The hirings of Patrick Roy and Andre Tourigny helped Hejda reach a level of play that was concealed in his first two years with the Avalanche. To start the 2013 season, he was arguably the team’s best defenseman, competing with his defensive partner, Erik Johnson. Hejda and Johnson provided the Avalanche with a legitimate shut down top-pairing that they had not seen since the days of Rob Blake and Adam Foote. As the season progressed, Hejda’s play continued to decrease but was still at a level higher than most expected. The end of the season and especially the playoffs saw Jan Hejda play some of his worst hockey of the season. An important question regarding the dip in play is whether it was a decrease in play because of his age or whether it was because of an injury. He injured his hand blocking a shot from the point in the last game of the season. Hejda began the 2014 season similar to how he played the majority of the 2013-2014 season which was at a high level. This past season was a season of two halves. The second half of the season did not go as well as the first half of the season. He had to play with a different partner in the second half of the season because of an injury to Erik Johnson. He then had to play with Zach Redmond who was the team’s seventh defenseman instead of the team’s top defenseman which added more pressure on Hejda. He undoubtedly had great chemistry with Erik Johnson as both of them played better with each other in comparison to their play with the other defensemen on the team. The big question that Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy have to ask themselves is if Jan Hejda is still a top-four defenseman or if he is on the decline.

Getting two-thirds of solid hockey from Jan Hejda is likely a better option than anything that the other depth defensemen for the Avalanche can provide. If Hejda leaves, that means that the Avalanche will have Nick Holden and Brad Stuart as their top defensemen on the left side. The Avalanche will likely bring in a top-four defenseman especially if they let Hejda walk but even if they do that, they have to play one of Holden and Stuart in the top-four of their defense. Right now the Avalanche have six defensemen under contract for the next season on their NHL roster. Zach Redmond, Nate Guenin, and Nick Holden have fairly inexpensive contracts and all three still have yet to prove that they are capable everyday NHL defensemen. He will likely come on a cheap contract that will be for a maximum of two years. The Avalanche did not trade Hejda at the trade deadline which could mean either that they could not find a team interested in him or that they want to re-sign him. While the latter does point to the Avalanche wanting to retain his services, the team also added Brad Stuart last summer. Brad Stuart was seen by many who follow the Avalanche as a replacement for Hejda. The future of Jan Hejda is up in the air but the Colorado Avalanche need to re-sign him, as he is their top left-handed defensemen on the roster right now. Hejda is a safety net because if the Avalanche do strike out on the top free agents, they have someone who has played to the expectations that were set on him in the summer of 2011. Even if the Avalanche are successful in bringing in two top-four defensemen, Hejda can easily be a solid bottom-pairing defenseman who would also have an inexpensive contract.

-- by Sunny Bassi, Vancouver, Canada --