Adrian Dater interviewed Kroenke the Younger about the Avalanche
The Denver Post’s crusty hockey columnist got his hooks into Josh Kroenke and asked him about the future of the Avalanche.
Fans of the Colorado Avalanche have been critical of choices the organization has made recently – including the decision to retain coach Joe Sacco.
The Denver Post’s Adrian Dater interviewed the team’s president, Josh Kroenke and wrote about the conversation at the paper’s web site today.
Kroenke, who also runs the Nuggets, admitted to Dater that he’s not as comfortable talking hockey as he is basketball but asserted that he understands the direction the team is headed in:
“I understand strategy now. I understand what we’re trying to do on the ice.”
That’s a positive, right? Kroenke continues: “It’s a simple thing, but for someone who wasn’t around hockey growing up in central Missouri, just figuring out the line changes happened was impossible for me in the beginning. I do go to games, but when I do I’ll usually come in with a couple of friends, wear a ball cap, get under the radar and sit down close. It’s just a different environment down there on the boards. I really enjoy the game.”
Kroenke explained that he understands the frustration of Avalanche fans but asserted that there some things they don’t understand about the hockey business:
“If I was a fan, that’s what I’d be saying too, to throw a bunch of money at the situation. But when you’re sitting at the other side of the table, you want to do right by your fans but you also want to protect your team a little bit, especially in a hard cap system. You want to make sure you don’t get yourself in a position where it’s going to be really hard to get out of and inhibit yourself from going forward.”
Adrian Dater scored himself a pretty rare interview – but Kroenke didn’t color outside the company lines in discussing the Avalanche. The interview left me wondering if he really knows enough about running an NHL franchise to be the guy in charge of ours.
He freely admits that he’s more of a basketball guy.
With Pierre Lacroix ailing is it time for the Avalanche to bring in a new General Manager?
