Sakic would have retired if Avalanche pressed for fast decision on return

Although the Avs lost Andrew Brunette, Jeff Finger, Kurt Sauer and Jose Theodore in free agency, they added some grit with the arrivals of Per Ledin, Andrew Raycroft, Daniel Tjarnqvist, Darcy Tucker and Brian Willsie.

Sakic said he likes the roster additions but that they didn't play a role in his decision, which he made in mid-August but didn't announce until last week just to be sure.

"I like what we have here, but the biggest decision for me was whether I was willing to do what it took to play," Sakic said. "And once I started training and got the excitement, I realized I wanted to come back."

Sakic said the time he was given to put hockey on the back burner probably helped refuel him.

"It was a draining year for me mentally and physically, with the injury and coming back, doing the rehab for three months," Sakic said. "At the end of the year, I didn't want to think about hockey. I told Giguere in June that I wanted to start training in July just to see if I was up to the challenge."

He soon realized he still had the desire, and he signed a one-year, $6 million deal to return.

But he's still year-to-year and said he's not even considering the 2010 Vancouver Olympics in his native Canada.

"No, not at this point," he said. "We've got another year before that to even think about that. We'll see how this goes. If I bounce back and have the type of year I had two years ago, then I'm really going to have to think about that. But I'm just excited. I'm ready to play this year and this is the only year I'm focusing on right now."