When I say Colorado Avalanche, who do you think of? Patrick Roy? Ray Bourque? Joe Sakic? How about Peter Forsberg? Chris Drury? Adam Foote? No question, the Avs are a star-studded bunch. At least we know it isn't Dave Reid. (Unless, of course, you're in the Reid family).

Looking at his career numbers (164 goals in 914 games), most would classify the 35-year-old Reid as a "journeyman." But even in a locker room that boasts three surefire Hall of Famers (Roy, Bourque and Sakic) and another (Forsberg) who's quickly skating into that category, Reid is a lot more valuable than that.

To fans, the 6'1, 218-pound Reid is the strong, silent type -- the hard-working role player that never takes a night off.

In the Avs' room, though, Reid has a larger role: player-coach. On Sunday, after a 6-3 win over the Rangers, Reid stood in the corner of the cramped visitors' locker room in Madison Square Garden, chatting with 21-year-old sophomore defenseman Martin Skoula. Only minutes earlier, the talented, young Skoula made a big play which led to the Avs' game-tying goal. Skoula was still pumped, but he spoke quietly to Reid about the game while the media lunged for Roy and Bourque. For young players, conversations with veterans like Reid -- on buses and planes and in cramped locker rooms -- are invaluable.

Reid, who started his career in 1983 with Boston (when Skoula was just four years old) and bounced between the Bruins and the minors before securing a full-time spot in Toronto in 1988, remembers his early days in the league.

"In Toronto, Brad Marsh really helped me," says Reid, who helped beat the Avs en route a Stanley Cup as a member of the Dallas Stars in 1998-99. "He was always willing to talk about the game. Not just our team, but other teams and different players. It really made me feel part of things."

"At this point of my career, I can say I've been in every situation, whether it be good or bad," Reid told me, "so I just try to talk to the guys about it. It's the role I have on this team."

In between periods, Reid isn't afraid of heading to the chalkboard to go over X's and O's. As a player, he feels he sometimes has an advantage over a coach.

"Sometimes you have a tendency to block out the coach," Reid says. "I think it helps a lot when you get guys on the team to speak up. They say the same things as the coach -- same game plan -- just with a different angle. The coach comes at you the same way all the time. [Colorado coach Bob Hartley] has seen me doing it in the lockerroom, and I have a good relationship with him. We talk. He knows I'm not going up and knocking him. I think as a team you have to have that. Every team I've been on we've had that. That's why I'm doing it now."

Reid hopes to play one more after this one. Then? "Down the road, I'd love to coach," Reid admits. "I'd enjoy doing that. I just really enjoy talking with the guys about hockey, telling them what I see, trying to help them out."

For now, Reid is happy to be the guy nobody thinks about. Nobody, that is, except his teammates.

E.J. Hradek, an associate editor at ESPN The Magazine, appears regularly on NHL 2Night. E-mail ej.hradek@espnmag.com.