Sakic maintains 'faith' in Avalanche's core

Joe Sakic is staying the course.

The Colorado Avalanche president and general manager isn't ready to give up on his team's core group - made up of Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon, Tyson Barrie, Erik Johnson, and Semyon Varlamov - and is laying responsibility for a last-place start on every last player on the roster.

"I have faith in them," Sakic said Thursday of the core group, per Terry Frei of the Denver Post. "But to me, the start is not a core thing; it’s a team thing. I think you see we’re trying to hold people accountable. We know we have certain guys who can give more, and those guys know they can give more.

"We’re not as consistent as we need to be. We didn’t win two straight Cups and have that leeway. We have to play with that urgency every night on a consistent basis to be successful."

Sakic added the players are still adjusting to the system being implemented by first-year head coach Jared Bednar, one that he fully endorses.

When asked if he was contemplating shaking up the roster, Sakic indicated it's not the time to consider such moves.

"It’s (still) early in the year," he said. "First of all, changes are hard to do, especially this time of year. We’re two games under .500, but a four-game swing and you’re two games over .500 and right back in it."

This statement was made prior to Thursday's loss to Columbus, dropping Colorado's to 9-12-1, keeping the Avalanche in a tie with Arizona for last place in the NHL.