Clark Out for Remainder of Season

(avalanche-country.com)

Adrian Dater reports that Brett Clark underwent surgery to repair his dislocated shoulder and is done for the season. With the acquisitions of Foote and Salei, this hurts much, much less than it would have a month ago. And you have to assume FG knew this was coming and that's why he shored up the D with two new bodies.

But honestly, what did the Avs say to the hockey gods this year? Or maybe the team stopped believing in them after missing the playoffs last year and that pissed them off? Oh those hockey gods are vindictive!

Smyth in the Lineup Tomorrow but Clark...Not So Much

(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Two things became official today, one good and one bad. Of course since we're talking about the Avalanche, that means some injury updates!

Ryan Smyth will be in the lineup for tomorrow's game against St. Louis. That absolutely blows me away. lately I tend to tack on a couple weeks padding to the announced return dates but they got this one right so I'll tone back my slagging of the medical crew a bit.

And in the bad news, it is a dislocated shoulder for Brett Clark and he is out indefinitely. Regardless of whether people think Clark is a top-notch defenceman, he is needed on the Avalanache blue line. The oft-scratched Skrastins will become a regular in the lineup while both Clark and Cumiskey are on the IR.

Also, in what might put an end to the "Q for Adams" folks, when talking about Brett Clark's injury he stated:

"Guys have gotten through it...It’s up to that crew to continue to do the same."

There you have it, straight from the horse's mouth. The players pick up the slack when others go down to injury, not the coach.

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Avalanche Sign Clark to Extension

Brett Clark has been signed to a two-year contract extension that will keep him with the team through 2009-10. Contract details have just been released and it's a $3.5M/year deal. A tad higher than the $2.25 I was guesstimating. I'm not sure if he's a $3.5M defenseman but he'll get a chance to prove his last season wasn't an anomaly

Clark was forced into an unfavourable position gobbling up top-line minutes last season. The extra exposure opened him up to criticism which, however true at the time, will be less of an issue this year. Logging less minutes and under less presssure will let him settle back into a supporting role on the blueline.

With career highs in every category last season, it's good to see him back on a short-term extension.

The TSN article says it all with this blurb:
The 30-year-old Clark completed his second full-season with the Avalanche in 2006-07 where he eclipsed his NHL career highs set in games played (82), goals (10), assists (29) and points (39). His 23:40 average ice-time per game led the Avalanche last year and he led the entire NHL in shifts per game (35.1). His 210 blocked shots a year ago led the Avalanche and ranked fourth in the NHL. Clark was the only Avalanche defenseman to appear in all 82 games last season and he owns a current games-played streak of 143 dating back to November 23, 2005.