Two recent Colorado Avalanche players have gotten official titles in the front office for the organization.
Andrew Cogliano and Pavel Francouz, two members of the 2022 Stanley Cup winning team, have moved on to the next chapter of their careers. Francouz officially announced his retirement back in April after missing the entire season due to injury, while Cogliano retired last month and joined the front office without a clearly defined role. He was at the NHL Draft at the end of the June and was sitting at Colorado’s table on Day 2. Francouz was in Denver last week helping the goaltenders at development camp.
On Wednesday, both got new titles in the front office.
Cogliano has been named Special Assistant to the General Manager. Yes, that sounds a little bit like what Dwight Schrute’s role was in The Office, but he’ll likely wear many hats, including scouting both pro and amateur players for the team. Cogliano had the respect of the locker room, as evidenced by the fact that Nathan MacKinnon made sure to congratulate him on his career when he won the Ted Lindsay Award.
“Still pissed at him for retiring but I’m happy he’s with the team now,” MacKinnon said. “He’s going to help us win in other ways. Great guy, one of my favorite teammates ever, so I just wanted to acknowledge his retirement.”
Francouz’s role is now officially a Goaltending Scout. That’s hardly a surprise, given what the 34 year old told us last week. As soon as it became clear he wasn’t going to be able to play this past season, he hopped on to help the team in that department. That culminated at the draft, when the team selected three different goaltenders. A scouting role like this likely allows Francouz to live overseas in the Czech Republic with his family.
Ilya Nabokov will likely be someone that Francouz keeps tabs on for the Avalanche, as KHL training camps are set to open up in early August.
