Kukla's Korner Hockey

Kukla's Korner Hockey

The Harder To Play Against Colorado Avalanche

07/08/2015 at 8:24am EDT

from Mark Kiszla of The Denver Post,

Roy, however, has long believed it's the players who set a winning tone in a locker room. One of the primary reasons the Avalanche signed 35-year-old defenseman Francois Beauchemin as a free agent is to establish an unwavering standard of professionalism with younger teammates.

"I don't believe we were a soft team, but I don't think we were a tough team to play against," Roy said. "I don't think anybody was coming into our building saying, 'Holy (expletive), tonight we have this guy from the Avs in our face,' " Roy said.

"Now, we know that Beauchemin is going to be a physical guy, Blake Comeau is going to be a physical guy and (Patrick) Bordeleau back healthy to be a physical guy. I think that's going to change our team a lot. It's going to bring the energy we were missing at times."

Many Avalanche fans hoped the team would sign Andrej Sekera or Paul Martin to help on defense. And know what? Roy bluntly admits he also wanted those players, but the Avs' refusal to offer more than a three-year contract to a free agent eliminated them in pursuit of Sekera, who signed for six years and $33 million with Edmonton, or Martin, who got four years and $19.4 million from San Jose.

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Paul Kukla founded Kukla’s Korner in 2005 and the site has since become the must-read site on the ‘net for all the latest happenings around the NHL.

From breaking news to in-depth stories around the league, KK Hockey is updated with fresh stories all day long and will bring you the latest news as quickly as possible.

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