I have done my list of my favorite Avalanche players, and I've done a list of NHLers that I just can't stand, so now I think it is time for a list of Avalanche players that I'm not upset to have seen move on. There are few that I really didn't like, plenty that were just members of the team and I didn't cheer individually, but few that I didn't like for one reason or another. Here is a list of those that I could put in that "didn't care for" category however...
Tyler Arnason - This guy would look great whenever he would play against the Oilers, showing good moves and a scoring touch. However in the remaining 74 games a year he would be invisible, soft, and a waste of a roster space. In his last year or two even his ability against the Oil disappeared, leaving him a completely underwhelming player who I and nearly every Avalanche fan was ready to see go.
Matthew Barnaby/George Parros/Peter Worrell - These guys can be grouped into one group because they all fit for the same reason. These guys are low skill type guys that were brought in for toughness but in all reality they provided extremely little to the team. In fact combined they played only 64 games, a majority of them by Worrell. Barnaby at least provided a little offense while there, but overall none of them really fit on the team ... and this coming from a guy who really liked Scott Parker in that role on this very team.
Ossi Vaananen/Chris Gratton - This pair gets some unwarranted disapproval from me not for their time with Colorado per se, though they really weren't great pieces even here, but rather for being a part of trades that I didn't care for and I didn't feel were good then or now. First off the trade of Drury to Calgary I wasn't sold on even though it brought back Morris, a young d-man with potential. However Morris and Ballard, another young d-man with potential (and who could wear my name on ice in an Avs sweater) acquired in a trade from Buffalo, were then sent to Phoenix for Gratton and Vaananen and a 2nd round pick that became Stastny (though it can be argued that the Avs could have got him with their first pick earlier that round or even with their pick 3 picks later). The trade I didn't like at the time and still don't, feeling that we gave up two good players with potential (and one named Ballard) for two "leaders" which didn't bring much to the ice including leadership and a pick which we got a player who I would take over any of the others but we could have had without the trade as well.
Jose Theodore - Bringing in Jose didn't cost the Avs much, however he was injured at the time of the trade and was having a really bad season. A part of me liked Aebi (the Avalanche goalie at the time) but wasn't hurt in seeing him go either, however I never really bought into the Theodore hype. He was given the starting job over Budaj, another guy I have liked but in recent years proven that he isn't able to be a starter, and promptly went out and had a bad season losing his job to Budaj who nearly carried the team to the playoffs down the stretch. Budaj wasn't able to keep the starting job the next year though and while Jose played well he was traded away later in the season, never really being the guy for Colorado. I never bought into him being the man and felt he was overrated and he has done nothing to prove that wrong that I've seen.
Brad May - How the Avalanche could sign this guy was beyond me. The only one on this list that I hated and couldn't cheer for even as a member of my beloved Avalanche team. Besides being a guy who was dirty and a pain in the ass on the ice and one of those guys that just rubs everyone wrong, he is also the one who "allegedly" put the bounty on Steve Moore's head that led to the Bertuzzi incident. Again, how the Avalanche could bring this joker into the organization I will never know.
So there aren't many Avs players that I really didn't want on the team, and in fact only one that I've flat out hated and couldn't cheer even though he wore the team colors. Everyone else I've either been a fan of or accepted as a piece of the team. All teams have those players and they are needed parts of the team. Not everyone is going to be a star, or a fan favorite, but they are there to do a job and I respect them and cheer them on along with the rest of the team...
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