hammer wrote:
I saw on twitter people were raving about Zadorov looking good in preseason. If he takes a big step forward and Rantanen makes an impact then could be a good year for the Avalanche.
Yeah, they tried him with Erik Johnson on the top pairing and he played like a man possessed the final two preseason games (at least what I heard on the radio, didn't get to actually watch). I think Bednar knew coming in that using 36-year-old Francois Beauchemin as a top pairing guy was simply not an option. Roy played the living hell out of him but in his defense, he didn't have much choice with the #4 option being Nick Holden.
I'm surprised he went with that option though. By all accounts the Avs brought in Fedor Tyutin as a "mentor" of sorts to Zadorov. Might not last into the regular season and beyond but man...both Zadorov and Grigorenko had really, really good preseason showings. If the Avs manage to turn both into worthwhile players AND J.T. Compher turns into an actual NHLer that O'Reilly trade return ends up being huge.
Listened to an Avs podcast a few months ago where they had Travis Yost as a guest. He didn't think Zadorov would amount to much but thought there was some real potential with Grigorenko.
