If the Avalanche players have stopped caring, why should we?

But here is the tougher question: If the minds of the last-place Avs are already somewhere else as a horrible NHL season winds down, what is coach Joe Sacco still doing here?

Sacco is earnest and hardworking, a hockey grinder at heart. But he obviously has lost this team.

With Colorado emotionally beaten by a league-worst record of 12-22-5 and little to play for in what remains of the regular season, I asked Sacco on Tuesday:

Hey, Joe, are you focused on getting to the golf course or the blackjack tables in Las Vegas as soon as the season is over?

“Do I look like I’m worried about that?” replied Sacco, with a laugh. “I have a lot of other things to be worried about right now.”

Yes, for starters, Sacco needs to worry about saving his job.

It should already be too late. With the Avs doomed to miss the playoffs for the third consecutive season in his four-year stint as coach, Sacco’s dismissal should be expected.

Of course, not everything wrong with the Avalanche is the fault of Sacco. A hose should be turned on to clean out the front office.

But when a team loses interest, it is an ugly condemnation of both the players and the coach hired to motivate them.

After a humiliating 3-1 loss at home to poor, pitiful Calgary on Monday night, veteran and highly decorated goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere angrily blasted the professionalism of his teammates.

“Some guys are more worried about their Vegas trip at the end of the season than playing the games, than playing every minute of the games. Quite frankly, I don’t care about your Vegas trip right now,” Giguere said. “It’s embarrassing. I’m embarrassed to be here right now. It’s not even funny.”

Given 12 hours to mount a defense, not a single Colorado teammate disputed Giguere’s claim.

And that led to another difficult question I did not enjoy posing to Sacco: If this team’s professionalism has taken a leave of absence, isn’t that a poor reflection on the head coach and his staff?

“I think everybody has to take some responsibility, there’s no question,” Sacco said.

Sacco strongly defended the work ethic of his coaching staff at practice, in the locker room and on the bench.

“As far as being prepared, making our players make sure they understand the game plan going into every game, that we’re organized, we’re detailed? We’re doing everything we can from that standpoint,” Sacco said.

Sacco, however, could not defend the team’s record.

“As far as the situation we’re in, where we stand in the standings? Hey, I expect criticism,” Sacco calmly said. “We expect criticism as a coaching staff. We have to take some responsibility for what goes on.”

Sacco has been unable to change the culture of losing that has gripped the Avs. What is the first act required for Colorado to get its mojo back? An upgrade in playing talent? Or a fresh attitude?

“That’s a good question, and I really don’t have an answer. It’s very difficult to change the culture of any franchise. Winning becomes a habit. And losing becomes a habit. It’s contagious,” said Avalanche veteran Milan Hejduk, who won the Stanley Cup with Colorado in 2001. “I’m not saying you ever get used to losing. But it’s in the back of your head, when you’re losing: ‘Oh, here we go again.’ “

Viva, Las Vegas.

Hit play on that classic Elvis Presley song. The Avalanche is living devil may care. All their NHL playoff hopes down the drain, Vegas awaits the Avs, with the city’s neon flashing and one-armed bandits crashing.

Giguere apologized to his teammates Tuesday for airing the team’s dirty laundry in public.

“I don’t think he needed to apologize,” Sacco said.

Props to Giguere. It’s about time somebody in Colorado gives a hoot that this hockey team stinks.

You know who should apologize on behalf on the Avalanche? Stan and Josh Kroenke, for allowing their family business to fall into such disgraceful disrepair.

Nine games remain in the regular season. To be honest, the more times the Avalanche loses, the better shot it has at landing 18-year-old defenseman Seth Jones, the son of a former Nuggets player, with the No. 1 pick in the NHL draft.

In other words, Kroenke needs to roll a seven.

Lady Luck, please let the dice stay hot.

Know that string the Avs are playing out?

When they’re done with it, the same string can be used to bundle up Sacco and ship him out of town.

Mark Kiszla: 303-954-1053, mkiszla@denverpost.com or twitter.com/markkiszla