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PostPosted: Sat Nov 21, 2015 10:51 am 
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Just realized the other thread is an "offseason" thread, so I'd better fix that since, y'know, there's a ton of traffic in here.

Avs continue their longest road trip of the season, winning big in Montreal, then absolutely shitting the bed in Toronto, then coming up short in Pittsburgh. Special teams has been the story of late, giving up SHGs, failing miserably on the PK, failing to convert multiple chances on the man advantage. Absolutely inexcusable IMO, even though this club is raw and obviously not great, there are too many options, too much firepower, for the team to struggle this horribly on the power play. Heads should roll if this continues. The PK struggles are expected as of course the goaltending just ain't holding up, so it doesn't really matter if anything else is.

I hope this ends the #Berracade nonsense. He is nothing more than a mediocre backup at best. And I'm not even sure he's that. With Varlamov on IR, Calvin Pickard should get a start here very soon.


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 23, 2015 9:13 pm 
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http://www.denverpost.com/avalanche/ci_ ... d-last-nhl

Roy is unhappy.

Quote:
"Varly needs to be the Varly of two years ago. For us to win games he needs to be our best player," Roy said. "This is how we view our team."


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PostPosted: Wed Nov 25, 2015 3:56 pm 
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1/4 mark of the season, Avs are 8-12-1, good enough for 27th in the league. That's not good obviously and since Thanksgiving seems to be a decent enough bellwether to evaluate teams, it's highly unlikely the Avs make the playoffs. Given the fact they're in the Central, it's almost a certainty they won't.

It's not all bad. After a horrendous start, Matt Duchene has been on an unbelievable hot streak, playing the right side on the top line with Nathan MacKinnon. Whereas before the two had absolutely zero chemistry, they now are on the same page. And MacKinnon, of course, has been the team's best and most consistent player thus far.

Franchise-wise, Sakic and Roy have done a marvelous job of beefing up the system. New affiliate the San Antonio Rampage is actually doing well this season, and it's honest-to-goodness prospects leading the way as opposed to career AHLers. I'm guessing Chris Bigras and Nikita Zadorov could be ready as NHL full-timers as early as next season. Mason Geertsen will probably need another season or two in the AHL, and who knows about Duncan Siemens. But even if he goes bust, and I think he will, there are very good blueline prospects in the pipeline. Up front, all eyes are on Mikko Rantanen, who looks like he'll be ready next year as well.

On the main roster, Mikhail Grigorenko is starting to look like the two-way force he was projected to be when Buffalo drafted him. Still a long ways to go, but Roy put him on the top line at LW with Duchene and MacKinnon and actually looked better than Landeskog. He's currently centering the 2nd line, which I doubt will last but for now it's probably the best place for him. Carl Soderberg is showing signs of improvement after a terrible start, but most of that IMO was Roy horribly misusing him. I don't know why he thought putting him on a third line with two rookies (Rendulic and Rantanen) to start the year was going to work, but it sure didn't, and his numbers suffered greatly as a result.

Now for the bad, of which there is plenty.

Not sure where to start. It's not just one thing, but several. Inconsistent goaltending, a failure to properly shelter/utilize an aging Jarome Iginla, Gabriel Landeskog off to a pretty terrible start, Alex Tanguay looking to be on his last legs, the fact that Nick Holden is in the top four, you name it. They're just not a very good team because a very big chunk of the talent that could fill the holes in the lineup isn't ready yet. Avs had to take a step back as a result of the O'Reilly trade, but I was unprepared just how big that step back would be.

But the most alarming aspect of the Avs play is that I feel they'd be markedly different if not for their head coach's rather backwards system. This team has speed and puckhandling skill to spare and yet they continue to sit back and block shots. It took yet another bad start for Roy to focus upon and improve neutral zone play, but it's been at the expense of forechecking rather than passive d-zone play, which I absolutely can't stand to watch. You can tell a lot of the defensemen have an instinct to drop and block rather than go after the opposition, which makes some of the slow guys even slower. And even worse is the fact that there is no cohesion, no organization in the gameplan. Once the Avs finally DO get the puck on their stick, I feel like they don't know what to do with it in the defensive zone to get it out effectively. This is not just a failure of the players. I think in fact it's mostly the failure of the coaches.

I've come to the conclusion that Patrick Roy is simply not a good coach. Far, far too slow to make adjustments, and simply isn't educated enough on the pro game to utilize a defensive scheme that plays to the strengths of the team he has put together. He hasn't done everything wrong--in fact I wouldn't mind him staying on in some sort of "presidential" role since he and Sakic have done such a good job shoring up a very weak prospect base in a very short time, but IMO he's simply not good enough to be a coach at the NHL level.

Maybe the Avs will have a Habs-like resurgence (Montreal also has a very old-school coach, in fact, both Therrien and Roy have strong ties to Bob Hartley, who's as old-school as they come) when they get a much-needed infusion of young talent next season. But ultimately I think the guy to lead the Avs back into contender status will be someone other than the guy whose #33 hangs in the rafters.

I guess the one thing we as Avs fans are breathing a sigh of relief over is the long National Nightmare of watching Nate Guenin try and play defense alongside Tyson Barrie nearly all of last season and part of this season appears to be coming to an end. Guenin has been a healthy scratch on most nights and hasn't seen much ice in the last 5-6 games or so. I'm not kidding--someone will have to show me a d-man who was worse than he was last year. By any measure, fancy stats or eye test, Guenin is a boat anchor on skates. Now if they can just get Holden in the 6/7 spot, they might be onto something.


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PostPosted: Thu Nov 26, 2015 5:59 pm 
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Roy's frustration grows by the day. Called out Varly big-time after last night's 5-3 loss. He usually goes out of his way not to call out players.

Someone on HF laid out in detail Roy's system in juniors. He argued that we have yet to see his true vision because of lack of personnel. The thing I came away with is that Roy's system is needlessly complicated, and once again he's far too slow to make adjustments when things clearly aren't working.

Listened to a podcast that one of the HF Posters has started this year and interviewed Travis Yost, who more or less eviscerated Roy's coaching. Very well spoken guy.


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PostPosted: Thu Nov 26, 2015 6:03 pm 
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Was it on Twitter where they were circulating that pick of all the Avs skaters collapsing around the net and completely missing their assignments?

That about summed it up. Roy's getting exposed big time, and he's to entrenched in the management side to be removed. Someone must realize he's getting cut up out there.

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PostPosted: Thu Nov 26, 2015 6:23 pm 
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E.L. wrote:
Was it on Twitter where they were circulating that pick of all the Avs skaters collapsing around the net and completely missing their assignments?

That about summed it up. Roy's getting exposed big time, and he's to entrenched in the management side to be removed. Someone must realize he's getting cut up out there.


You'd think, but yeah, I don't see how he ever gets fired. He'll probably just have to step down but I'm not sure how bad things have to get before that happens. Darryl Sutter had to pretty much destroy the Flames before Ken King finally asked for his resignation.

And yeah, it was Twitter.

https://twitter.com/DimFilipovic/status ... 2631456768

Quote:
Their talent isn't ideal to say the least, but what the hell are the Avs doing here? Have no plan. That's on Roy.

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And again, most everyone I talk to has NO idea what Roy is trying to accomplish out there.


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 30, 2015 11:41 am 
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I'd say if there's any coach who will make Roy look smart, it'll be Capuano. I should say "smaht", in Cappy's eyes.

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 30, 2015 2:10 pm 
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Chris18 wrote:
I'd say if there's any coach who will make Roy look smart, it'll be Capuano. I should say "smaht", in Cappy's eyes.


No, trust me, Cap's better. He may be slow to make in-game adjustments, but Roy needs MULTIPLE games before he does anything.

One could make a case that Roy is the worst coach in the league. I seriously can't think of anyone worse right now.


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 30, 2015 5:58 pm 
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Av-merican wrote:
Chris18 wrote:
I'd say if there's any coach who will make Roy look smart, it'll be Capuano. I should say "smaht", in Cappy's eyes.


No, trust me, Cap's better. He may be slow to make in-game adjustments, but Roy needs MULTIPLE games before he does anything.

One could make a case that Roy is the worst coach in the league. I seriously can't think of anyone worse right now.


Capuano doesn't make any in-game adjustments. And if they win, he keeps the same lineup & lines for the next game, even if a better player returns from injury. It's like watching a superstitious grandmother playing Lotto with grandkids' birthday dates, ignoring numbers 32-70 entirely.... I am pretty confident Capuano is the worst coach in the league.

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 30, 2015 6:08 pm 
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Chris18 wrote:
Capuano doesn't make any in-game adjustments. And if they win, he keeps the same lineup & lines for the next game, even if a better player returns from injury. It's like watching a superstitious grandmother playing Lotto with grandkids' birthday dates, ignoring numbers 32-70 entirely.... I am pretty confident Capuano is the worst coach in the league.


I guarantee you he's not. And really, most coaches won't adjust a lineup after a win, even if said change makes perfect sense. Just like most all coaches, even the ones with stellar reputations, always have a completely useless grinder they keep handing big minutes.

The underlying numbers of Capuano-coached teams are pretty good. Not stupendous, but good. And you can't tell me goaltending has been bailing him out. Roy's possession numbers have been awful the entire time he's been behind the bench, and somehow he's made them worse than ever this season. It was only after begrudgingly accepting that his system was a trainwreck that he incorporated a makeshift NZ trap and things improved dramatically. It of course took him nearly a fucking month to do it though.


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 30, 2015 6:15 pm 
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mines worse, no mine is the worst, no mine is way worse, no mine is............lol

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PostPosted: Mon Nov 30, 2015 6:26 pm 
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Fogghorn wrote:
mines worse, no mine is the worst, no mine is way worse, no mine is............lol


C'est la vie! :toot:


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PostPosted: Tue Dec 01, 2015 11:26 am 
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Fogghorn wrote:
mines worse, no mine is the worst, no mine is way worse, no mine is............lol


And if Torts was still in Van, your voice would be in here too! :lol:

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 01, 2015 11:47 am 
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Chris18 wrote:
Fogghorn wrote:
mines worse, no mine is the worst, no mine is way worse, no mine is............lol


And if Torts was still in Van, your voice would be in here too! :lol:



Torts was perfect , better draft picks and entertaining. Exactly what I want for the rebuild, unfortunately they weren't intending to rebuild. ;)

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PostPosted: Tue Dec 01, 2015 3:16 pm 
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Fogghorn wrote:
Chris18 wrote:
Fogghorn wrote:
mines worse, no mine is the worst, no mine is way worse, no mine is............lol


And if Torts was still in Van, your voice would be in here too! :lol:



Torts was perfect , better draft picks and entertaining. Exactly what I want for the rebuild, unfortunately they weren't intending to rebuild. ;)


So you've joined in, post-firing. Welcome!

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PostPosted: Wed Dec 02, 2015 5:02 pm 
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BTW, Alex Radulov is an asshole, one, for just being an asshole, two, for not signing that extension in the KHL, thereby ramping up the already-annoying speculation that he will sign with his former juniors coach Patrick Roy in Colorado this offseason.


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PostPosted: Mon Dec 14, 2015 10:28 pm 
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The Duchene trade rumors have all but died...fire up the Tyson Barrie trade speculation machine!

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/video/insider-tra ... men~769828

Either way he gambled on a bridge deal and is set to cash in. I think the Avs would be stupid to deal him but I guess it depends on how far away they truly think they are.


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PostPosted: Wed Dec 16, 2015 2:54 am 
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There's some real irony for ya--Kane's streak stopped cold by one of the worst defensive teams in the league.


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PostPosted: Fri Dec 18, 2015 12:15 pm 
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Fucking bastards.

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PostPosted: Fri Dec 18, 2015 1:21 pm 
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That was an odd game last night. I only really caught the 1st. Avs came on strong to start, chipping it past the Isles d-men and creating a whole ton of odd-man rushes. Didn't capitalize on any though. Then the Isles kinda woke up and began dominating, spending a lot of time in the Avs zone and creating scoring chances, but Varlamov was on his game.

Two goals from Beauchemin were the difference. Go figure.

It's nice the Avs are winning but the primary reason for the turnaround is that Varlamov has rounded back into form. Avs are still giving up ridiculously horrid scoring chances right in the slot, leaving guys wide open right in front of the goalie.

One things for sure...our team won the coach coiffure contest. I need to get a screenshot of the bench bosses last night because Capuano looked like he had just rolled out of bed. :lol:

Lastly, what a shame about Jarome Iginla. You can tell Roy is struggling to find a spot for him. Right now he and Tanguay are on the third line with John Mitchell, which hasn't been terrible but Iggy is a shell of the player he once was. I originally thought it was because Roy was misusing him (and he was as he was being given top line minutes and matchups) but it's also due to the fact that he's really showing his age. Doesn't win battles and isn't nearly as fast as he used to be.


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