Joe Sakic

At 54 years old, Joe Sakic has this physical status:

Sakic was drafted 15th overall by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft, a pick the Nordiques received when they traded away Dale Hunter and Clint Malarchuk to the Washington Capitals. Rather than make the immediate jump, he told the Nordiques management he would prefer to spend the 1987–88 season in Swift Current to prepare for the NHL. He made his NHL debut on October 6, 1988, against the Hartford Whalers and registered an assist. His first NHL goal came two days later against goaltender Sean Burke of the New Jersey Devils. During the season, he wore #88 because his preferred number, #19 was already taken by a teammate, Alain Côté. While considered a front-runner for the Calder Memorial Trophy as rookie of the year due to his rapid scoring pace, an ankle injury that forced him to miss 10 games in December and the resulting scoring slump helped quash any hopes of winning the award. He would finish his rookie season with 62 points in 70 games, and finishing eighth in voting for the Calder; defenceman Brian Leetch, who won the rookie scoring race with 28 goals and 48 assists, won with forty-two first-place votes, while Sakic only received two third-place votes.

In 1989–90, his second NHL season, Sakic was able to switch his number back to his familiar #19 (Alain Côté had retired over the summer), and scored 102 points, which was ninth overall in the league. At the start of the next season, 1990–91, he was named co-captain along with Steven Finn (Sakic was captain for home games, Finn for away games) and again passed the 100 point mark, improving to 109 points and sixth overall in the league, but would slip during 1991–92 to 94 points, having missed 11 games. Early on in the season, Sakic showed some of his leadership qualities, even while Mike Hough was serving as captain, as he stood firm in the Eric Lindros holdout issue. With Lindros holding out against the Nordiques, who were one of the worst teams in league, Sakic commented, "We only want players here who have the passion to play the game. I'm tired of hearing that name. He's not here and there are a lot of others in this locker room who really care about the game." Lindros was traded a year later, ending the situation and bringing in a number of quality players, which vastly improved the Nordiques. During their first four seasons with Joe Sakic, the Nordiques finished last place in the Adams Division and last in the entire league for three straight years, from 1989 to 1991.

Starting with the 1992–93 season, Sakic became the sole captain of the franchise. Under his leadership, the Nordiques made the playoffs for the first time in six years and set a franchise record for wins and points in the process (since broken by the 2000–01 Colorado Avalanche team). Sakic reached the 100-point plateau, the third time he did so in five years, by scoring 48 goals and 105 points in the regular season, and added another six points in the playoffs. In the shortened 1994–95, after the 1994–95 NHL lock-out, Sakic was eight points behind Jaromír Jágr for the scoring title with a fourth-place finish, and helped the Nordiques win the division title, their first since the 1985–86 season.

In May 1995, the Nordiques announced that the team had been sold and were relocating from Quebec. Before the start of the 1995–96 season, the franchise moved to Denver, Colorado, and was renamed the Colorado Avalanche. Sakic led the team to a Stanley Cup championship in its first year, scoring 120 points in 82 regular-season games and 34 points in 22 playoff games. He was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the 1996 NHL playoffs. During the run for the Cup, Sakic again proved himself to be an effective team leader. Although his Nordiques had missed the playoffs in five of his first seven years in the NHL, he scored 18 goals, including six game-winners, and 34 points. He was one goal off from the record for goals in a playoff year, and his game-winning goals established a new record.

In the 1996–97 season, Sakic only played in 65 games due to a lacerated calf, yet still managed to score 74 points as the Avalanche earned their first Presidents' Trophy and third straight division title. He had another great playoff season with eight goals and 17 assists, and took the Avalanche all the way to the conference finals, where they eventually lost to the Detroit Red Wings in six games. As a free agent during the summer of 1997, Sakic signed a three-year, $21 million offer sheet with the New York Rangers as a restricted free agent. Under the collective bargaining agreement at the time, the Avalanche had one week to match the Rangers' offer or let go of Sakic in exchange for five first-round draft picks as compensation. While it seemed as if the Avs could not afford to keep Sakic as they had already committed large amounts of salary to Peter Forsberg and Patrick Roy, an unlikely lifeline would appear in the form of the movie Air Force One, produced by Avalanche owners COMSAT and a blockbuster hit that summer. Its profits enabled Colorado to match the offer, which instigated a salary raise for many NHL players.

Injuries would again limit Sakic's playing time in the 1997–98 season. While playing in his first Olympics with Team Canada, Sakic hurt his knee and was forced to miss 18 games with the Avalanche. In the 64 games he did play in, he still scored 63 points, enough to earn him his seventh All-Star appearance. He finally rebounded from his injury problems in the 1998–99 season, finishing fifth in the league in scoring with 41 goals and 96 points in only 73 games. He led the Avalanche all the way to within one game of the Stanley Cup Finals, where they lost to the eventual champion Dallas Stars. After the season ended, Sakic was ranked number 94 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.

During the 1999–2000 season, Sakic reached several career milestones. Injuries limited him to only 60 games, but he still managed to lead the team in scoring with 81 points. On December 27, 1999, against the St. Louis Blues, Sakic earned an assist to become the 56th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 career points. Later in the season, on March 23, 2000, he scored a hat trick against the Phoenix Coyotes, and became the 59th player to score 400 career goals. It also gave him 1,049 points with the Quebec/Colorado franchise, passing Peter Šťastný as the all-time leader on the team.

Sakic eclipsed the 100 point mark again in 2000–01, finishing with 118 along with a career-best 54 goals, both being second-best in the league. He won the Hart Memorial Trophy, the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy and the Lester B. Pearson Award (the latter presented to him by former Nordiques mentor Peter Šťastný), while also being a finalist for the Frank J. Selke Trophy. He led the Avalanche to their second Stanley Cup championship, defeating the defending title holders New Jersey Devils in seven games. Memorably, after receiving the Cup from the NHL commissioner, Sakic broke with tradition by not hoisting it first as most captains do, instead passing the Cup straight to Ray Bourque, a player who had waited a record-breaking 22 seasons to win the Stanley Cup.

Sakic led the Avalanche in scoring again in the 2001–02 season, finishing sixth in the league with 79 points. On March 9, 2002, he played in his 1,000th career game. The Avalanche once again reached the Western Conference Finals, but lost to the eventual Cup-winning Detroit Red Wings. The following year, Sakic appeared in only 58 games and finished with just 58 points. He rebounded the following year, finishing third in the league with 87 points. It also marked the first time since the 1993–94 season that his team did not win the division title, which was won by the Vancouver Canucks.

Following the 2004–05 NHL lock-out, the Avalanche were forced to lose many of their key players in order to stay below the salary cap. Even with the loss of teammates Peter Forsberg and Adam Foote, Sakic still helped the Avalanche get into the playoffs, where they eventually lost to the Anaheim Ducks in the conference semi-finals. In June 2006, Sakic signed a one-year, $5.75 million deal to keep him with the Avalanche for the 2006–07 season. Upon the retirement of Steve Yzerman a month later, on July 3, 2006, Sakic became the League leader for most NHL career points scored among active players.

Sakic had another strong season in the 2006–07. He scored his 600th career goal on February 15, 2007, against the Calgary Flames, becoming the 17th player in history to reach the milestone and third that year. On the final day of the regular season, he scored his 100th point, reaching the milestone for the sixth time in his career. At the same time, Sakic became the second-oldest NHL player to score 100 points in a season at age 37, alongside hockey legend Gordie Howe. Despite his efforts as well as a late-season charge, Sakic and the Avalanche missed the playoffs for the first time in 11 years, finishing one point behind the eighth placed Calgary Flames. On May 1, the NHL announced that Sakic was named as one of the three finalists of the Lady Byng Trophy, but it was eventually awarded to Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings.

In April 2007, Sakic signed on for a 19th NHL season with the Colorado Avalanche, signing a one-year deal for 2007–08. Sakic commented on the deal, saying "at this stage in my career, I prefer to do one-year deals as I evaluate my play year-to-year." Upon signing Sakic to the deal, Avalanche General Manager François Giguère said, "Joe is the heart of this organization and his leadership and value to this team and especially our young players is unquestioned." On October 7, 2007, he scored a goal and had an assist against the San Jose Sharks, moving past Phil Esposito into eighth place on the NHL career points list with 1,591. Nineteen days later, Sakic scored a goal and assisted Ryan Smyth for an overtime game-winning goal against the Calgary Flames, reaching his 1,600th point in the NHL. On December 27, 2007, it was announced that Sakic underwent hernia surgery to accelerate the recovery of an injury that had forced him to miss the previous 12 games after a 232 consecutive games played streak. The operation caused him to miss a career-high 38 games. He was activated off of the injured reserve on February 24 and played that night, scoring an assist. On March 22, 2008, Sakic recorded his 1,000th career assist against the Edmonton Oilers, becoming the 11th player in NHL history to reach this milestone.

In June 2008, Sakic had a talk with Colorado General Manager François Giguère and said that he is uncertain with his future with the Avalanche. However, it was announced on August 27, 2008, that Sakic decided to sign a one-year contract with the team. Injuries limited Sakic's playing time in 2008–09. A herniated disk in his back forced him to stop playing in early November, after playing in 15 games, in which Sakic scored 12 points. While at home letting his back heal, Sakic broke three fingers in a snow-blower accident. He announced his retirement on July 9, 2009 The Avalanche retired his jersey, #19, prior to their 2009–10 season opener on October 1, 2009, with a "C" on the banner to represent his lengthy service as team captain (having been the only captain of the Avalanche until he retired). Sakic was also named the inaugural member of the Avalanche Alumni Association.

Sakic was voted into the NHL All-Star Game 13 times and played in 12 of them, serving as a captain for two of them, the last in 2007. He had at least one point in 11 of them. The only one that he missed entirely was the 1997 All-Star Game, due to an injury. Sakic won the Most Valuable Player award in the 2004 All-Star Game after scoring a hat trick, despite the Western Conference losing the game. He is the all-time assist leader in All-Star Games with 16 assists and is third place in all-time all-star scoring with 22 points, behind Mario Lemieux (23 points) and Wayne Gretzky (25 points). His best record in an All-Star Game was in 2007, when he scored four assists for the winning team; however the MVP award was given to Daniel Brière, who had a goal and four assists.

Executive career

After he retired, Sakic decided to take time off from hockey and spent time with his family. In 2011, two years after his retirement, Sakic returned to the Avalanche to work in their front office. He was named an executive advisor and alternate governor for the team, effective at the end of the 2010–11 season. In his role as an advisor, Sakic would advise the team in hockey-related matters, and as an alternate governor, would represent the team at Board of Governors meetings.

On June 26, 2012, Sakic was selected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on November 12, 2012, along with Mats Sundin, Pavel Bure and Adam Oates. Sakic was the only member of his class who won the Stanley Cup during his career.

On May 10, 2013, the Avalanche promoted Sakic to executive vice president of hockey operations. In this expanded role, Sakic had the final say on all matters regarding hockey personnel. During Patrick Roy's time as head coach, they shared most of the duties normally held by a general manager. General Manager Greg Sherman remained in his post, but served mainly in an advisory role to Roy and Sakic. This de facto arrangement was formalized the following season, when Sakic was formally named general manager and Sherman was demoted to assistant general manager.

Sakic's tenure as general manager faced early adversity, notably in the 2016–17 season where the team finished in last place and managed only 48 points in the standings. He admitted later that he was at points expecting to be sacked by the team ownership in the midst of the poor results. Despite finishing last, the team did not win any of the top three lottery picks in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft, dropping to fourth. This seeming misfortune would later prove beneficial, as it led to the Avalanche selecting future Norris Trophy-winning defenceman Cale Makar at fourth overall. The poor season also initiated a trade request from star player Matt Duchene that Sakic would ultimately parlay into several assets, including defencemen Sam Girard and Bowen Byram. In later years he would make additional trades for Nazem Kadri, Devon Toews, and Artturi Lehkonen, and sign Valeri Nichushkin as a free agent. The Avalanche won the Presidents' Trophy for the 2020–21 season, but faltered in the second round of the playoffs for the third consecutive season. They finished second in the regular season the following year, but won the Stanley Cup. Sakic became only the third person, after Milt Schmidt and Serge Savard, to win a Stanley Cup with the same franchise as a player and general manager. In recognition of his work for the 2021–22 season, Sakic received the Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year Award afterward.

On July 11, 2022, the Avalanche announced that Sakic would be ceding the general manager title to longtime assistant Chris MacFarland and assuming a new role as president of hockey operations.

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