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Duchene: Avalanche players knew Sacco’s style of play ‘would fail’

Nashville Predators v Colorado Avalanche

DENVER, CO - MARCH 30: Head coach Joe Sacco of the Colorado Avalanche reacts to a call as the Avalanche face the Nashville Predators at the Pepsi Center on March 30, 2013 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

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Without doing a major overhaul of their roster, the Colorado Avalanche have transformed from one of the worst teams in the NHL to one of the best. The big question now is how close to sustainable this is and, if the Avalanche really are serious contenders now, how much of the credit should go to new head coach Patrick Roy.

Avalanche leading scorer Matt Duchene would argue that the Avalanche’s coaching change has made a significant difference. He wasn’t a fan of former bench boss Joe Sacco’s tactics and now that he’s gone, Duchene doesn’t mind going public with his criticisms.

“There were very few people in this (dressing) room who were happy. Our style of play, it wasn’t right for this team. We knew it would fail,” Duchene told the Denver Post. “That was the hard part. We knew (any) success was going to be short-lived. It was hard to really be excited about it.

“For myself, it was really hard to look at what we were doing and think it would keep on working. I can honestly say now, it’s not like that.”

Duchene credits Roy for working with players “constructively” rather than having a doghouse. He also appreciates his fast-paced system.

Sacco is an assistant coach with the Buffalo Sabres now and he decided not to respond to Duchene’s comments.

The Avalanche earned a 3-2 victory against the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday to wrap up their October schedule with a 10-1-0 record. They’re enjoying offensive depth far beyond what they had last season, but it’s been their goaltending that has stuck out so far. Semyon Varlamov has been one of the league’s top netminders and backup Jean-Sebastien Giguere has allowed just two goals in three starts.

Colorado will resume its schedule on Friday against the Dallas Stars.

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