As free agency gets underway in the NHL Saturday, Colorado Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic would love to see his team return to elite status in the league. The Avs won the Stanley Cup in 2022, but the team never found its way during the most recently concluded season.

The Avalanche ended up winning the Central Division by one point, but this was far from the dominant team that overpowered the Western Conference in the previous season. The postseason was a major disappointment for Sakic and his team. Colorado was bounced out of the playoffs in the first round by the Seattle Kraken in 7 games.

Partially as a result of that defeat, Sakic wants to change the make-up of his team. He would like to see the Avalanche get tougher and grittier.

The team is likely to address some of those needs as free agency gets underway, and Joe Sakic got a head start on implementing that philosophy during a pair of trades this week. The Avs acquired Ryan Johansen from the Nashville Predators and Ross Colton from the Tampa Bay Lightning.

“We feel we'd like to get a little grittier,” Sakic said. “We'll see what we can do July 1 as well, just to kind of help our group out.”

The Avs suffered a number of injuries while trying to defend their Stanley Cup title, but Sakic knows that's never an excuse. He wants to see more battle from his team during the 2023-24 season.

“Obviously, we never had a healthy lineup all year. I know it's not an excuse. We don't make excuses. But the reality is, we never had a chance to really find chemistry during the year.”