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PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2018 4:42 pm 
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VHF wrote:
I must say the Avs are looking real good so far. The top line is killing it, may become one of the best this year. Soderberg and Compher are off to nice starts too. Youngsters like Jost, Girard and Rantanen will keep improving. The D core is fairly balanced and has been surprisingly effective despite giving up a lot of shots. Varlomov is playing crazy good and Grubauer has been pretty good in a backup role. The team is still trending very good after the 47 point improvement last year. Bonus: No cap crunch coming for the next few years.


Hey Alex!

Yes, very exciting time to be an Avs fan after so many years of futility, as Greg accurately put it. The best part for now is that some of the best talent is not even yet on the team in Martin Kaut, Igor Shvyrev, Pavel Francouz, Conor Timmins, and Cale Makar. And of course, Colorado has two first rounders in what appears to be a deep draft, especially for forward talent.

I do wish they'd play more aggressively and use their speed to the fullest advantage. Too often they just sit back and play soft, passive hockey. But...I digress. It's a fun, yet occasionally frustrating team to watch. Given how incredibly young they still are that's probably a very good thing.


Yes to be expected from such a young team. I see Makar is off to a great start at UMass, 8pts in 4 games. Too bad about Timmins, it's sure taking a long time to recover from his concussion. Hopefully he can fully recover. I'm curious to see how Kaut does playing in N.A., he definitely needs to put on a few pounds. Will Annunen come over anytime soon, he was impressive at the U18WJC.

I don't know much about Shvyrev, but I see he is playing for the Eagles now. I also don't know much about Francouz, would he be the first call up if one of your goalies got injured?

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PostPosted: Thu Oct 25, 2018 9:15 pm 
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Yes to be expected from such a young team. I see Makar is off to a great start at UMass, 8pts in 4 games. Too bad about Timmins, it's sure taking a long time to recover from his concussion. Hopefully he can fully recover. I'm curious to see how Kaut does playing in N.A., he definitely needs to put on a few pounds. Will Annunen come over anytime soon, he was impressive at the U18WJC.

I don't know much about Shvyrev, but I see he is playing for the Eagles now. I also don't know much about Francouz, would he be the first call up if one of your goalies got injured?


Igor Shvyrev is a work in progress, very talented but very raw. The story as I understand it is that he got kinda hosed in the KHL so the Avs were able to lure him across the pond and sign him to an ELC. Problem now is that they're still using him as a 4th line guy when he should be getting top six minutes. He seems like a pretty fun, energetic guy though. Kaut appears to be about where he should be, not running away with it but also not looking outclassed. I imagine he'll need at least one full year in the minors before he's ready for the NHL.

Not sure about Justus, he is part and parcel of Alan Hepple's "Euro goalie" strategy. You only have a limited time to sign a goalie drafted in NA, but you have around four years to sign a Euro draftee, in the meantime you're not paying for their development in whatever pro/amateur league they happen to be in. I believe he is their top goaltending prospect as of right now, it's possible he'll make the jump across the pond but they may opt to keep him in Europe one more season. No rush because Franz Ferdinand is off to a rollicking start in Loveland. He would most definitely be the first call-up if one of Grubs or Varly goes down. Spencer Martin has been in the organization for a long time now but hasn't even really shown he can cut it at the AHL level.


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PostPosted: Fri Oct 26, 2018 12:25 am 
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What the hell....!? :lol: :lol: :lol:

https://twitter.com/Avalanche/status/10 ... 1834248193

Apparently Sammy dropped the mic after that.


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PostPosted: Sat Oct 27, 2018 5:47 pm 
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Avs fans on HF freaking out a bit because Mike Babcock apparently took in a UMass-Amherst game, where of course Cale Makar plays.


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PostPosted: Sat Oct 27, 2018 7:46 pm 
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Tyson Jost suffered a concussion in last night's win against the Ottawa Dutchies last night, out indefinitely. He is now the third player on the roster to be dealing with PCS.


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PostPosted: Sun Oct 28, 2018 12:29 pm 
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Never mind! Babs was just going to watch his son play. Carry on. :lol:

I believe there were a couple Leafs scouts there as well, but they could've been watching anyone.


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PostPosted: Mon Oct 29, 2018 4:29 pm 
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The Avs' AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles, announce they've signed defenseman Justin "No U" Falk to a PTO.

This seems like very disconcerting news, as I'm guessing the organization has decided to shut down Conor Timmins for the season. It would've been a long shot to see him this season anyway but it's just not good to see something like this.


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PostPosted: Tue Oct 30, 2018 7:09 pm 
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Sven 10 is Out Again...Good God. Love the player, he's seriously underrated from a talent standpoint but his gritty style of play and small frame appear to take a serious toll on his body. He missed a ton of time last season, though came back and had a pretty big showing in the postseason. I don't know if he's worth an extension but I think he's more than just some interim filler guy. He drives play and makes teammates around him better, but is more of a complementary player--he needs better talent than what the Avs have been saddling him with of late...i.e. NOT Colin Wilson. :roll:


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PostPosted: Wed Oct 31, 2018 1:20 pm 
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Oh boy...injuries already making the lineup look about as deep as a urine-filled kiddie pool.

Landeskog-MacKinnon-Rantanen
Kerfoot-Kamenev-Wilson
Nieto-Soderberg-Calvert
Dano-Dries-Greer

That fourth line looks like a disaster on paper, A.J. Greer, who was selected with a pick garnered from the O'Reilly trade, is clearly not a favorite of the coaching staff, but I'd at least like to see him play on something other than a line that'll be lucky to get 4 minutes in the next game.

Also, Soderberg is wasted in a checking/grinder role. Put him at 2C already!

2nd line at least looks promising, even though I'm in can't-wait-until-he's-gone mode on Colin Wilson.


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PostPosted: Fri Nov 02, 2018 2:08 am 
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Boy I hope tonight was the nadir of the season because...holy shit that sucked.

Avs blow a 4-1 lead that they only really had because Mike Smith sucks. Nevertheless, the long break had a bad effect

Also, the Flames just really have the number of the Avs and Jared Bednar in particular. He's not adjusting to the hard, speedy forecheck the Flames utilize and as a result, the quick, short passes the Avs use for zone exits is leading to turnovers galore. They're also playing suuuuuuuuuuuper soft D in the neutral zone, not sure what in hell that's about. Once again, the game turned because of something involving Sam Bennett. This time it was a big open-ice hit (that I thought was legal but I'm biased) laid on Mark Jankowski by Ian Cole. Bennett proceeded to drop the gloves and absolutely pummeled Cole. Cole got a 5-minute major and the gate for his hit, Bennett got a 2 and 10 for instigating, but after that it was allllll Flames.

I fucking hate Avs/Flames matchups. Do not know why the Avs play Calgary so poorly, but almost all of their all-time worst losses are to this one team. Just baffling...


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 03, 2018 4:14 am 
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Well, well, well... that was a crazy entertaining game against the Canucks. How can a team score 11 goals in 2 games and lose both of them?

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PostPosted: Sat Nov 03, 2018 6:43 pm 
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VHF wrote:
Well, well, well... that was a crazy entertaining game against the Canucks. How can a team score 11 goals in 2 games and lose both of them?

More defensive breakdowns than the other team... Scoring isn’t the issue. Team defence needs to tighten up.

That LMR line though... scary big, fast and talented. Very tough to contain.


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PostPosted: Sat Nov 03, 2018 10:50 pm 
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It's a combination of things--in Calgary the Avs had no business being in that game in the first place. The only reason they were was because of Varly and Smith played like garbage. And...the Avs ALWAYS play like utter shit against Calgary, they have their entire existence. No idea why.

Vancouver, Bednar flat-out said both goalies played poorly. Grubauer was definitely horrid, especially on the GTG where he inexplicably mishandled the puck and led to the turnover, but the loss shouldn't just be pinned on him. Erik Johnson is having a really poor start to the game and the coaches have noticed, put him on the third pair with Patrik Nemeth, saw the second-to-least amount of ice time of any Avs defender, and still somehow found a way to get ventilated for I believe three or four of Vancouver's goals. Inexcusable. At the very least we finally saw signs of life from Tyson Barrie, who for some reason tends to play the Canucks really well.

Oh, and the NHL schedule-makers can go fuck off forever. Two back-to-backs, followed by four days off, followed by another set of back-to-backs, followed by ANOTHER four days off. Who the hell thinks that's a good idea!?!?

Anyway, Avs are still off to a very good start despite yet another round of bad injuries, poor defensive play from their top two defensemen, and a mangled mix of forwards beyond the top line that haven't found their game yet. And I'll say that, despite his good numbers I don't think MacKinnon has yet found his stride. When he does and some of those other issues start to get worked out, I think they'll be a force. But it may take a while.

I'm also getting extremely irritated with Jared Bednar. He completely overplayed Gabe Bourque and Matt Calvert, who have almost no puck skill, and despite the fact that they finally were getting much-needed secondary scoring from the brand-new second line of Dries-Kerfoot-Wilson, went away from them entirely and didn't play his 4th line at all. He's making some veteran coach mistakes--over-relying on a scant few vets and talentless grinders--when previously he veered away from bullshit like that.

Anyway, they gets lots and lots and LOTS of time to rest, practice, and recuperate before they play again.

EP40 is one hell of a player though, even though he and Boeser were annihilating the Avalanche I was still enjoying the show.


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 06, 2018 2:35 am 
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Oh, and I have come to the conclusion that Marko Dano is...not that great a hockey player.


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PostPosted: Fri Nov 09, 2018 1:27 am 
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How quickly things change. Avs drop four of their last five after being one point away from being in the league lead.

It'd be nice if EJ and Barrie would pull their heads out of their asses and start to play. Both have been horrid to start the year and their roles have been reduced as a result. EJ is now on the third pairing and Barrie got kicked off the top power play unit. Unfortunately they're still managing to play terribly. Good news is Ian Cole and Sam Girard have been good. But one great top line and solid top pairing do not a team make.

I'm not even going to go into the two Avs goals that got called back in last night's loss to the Preds. If this is what the league really wants I don't know what to say.


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PostPosted: Fri Nov 09, 2018 11:45 pm 
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Oh wow, five of their last six now with Connor McDavid coming up.

Coming close to closed-door-meeting time. But hey at least Erik Johnson and Tyson Jost both finally scored. Jost had scored earlier this season but not at even strength.


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PostPosted: Mon Nov 12, 2018 3:01 pm 
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Whew...Avs win with a solid effort against the Edmonton McDavids 4-1. Shot share was in Edmonton's favor but if you actually watched the game you wouldn't have come away thinking the Oilers were the better team. Connor McDavid ends the game without a point, which I'm told is the first time he's ever failed to register on the scoresheet against Colorado.

Nice, solid effort all-around, on a night when Nathan MacKinnon was not at his best. Bednar tried out a "kid line" on a couple shifts of Jost-Kerfoot-Kamenev, which I hope he tries more often, as Kamenev played really well last night. Just wish they'd actually play A.J. Greer as well and quit using Gabriel Bourque as an everyday guy. He shouldn't be, not at all, even on a team with two pretty serious injuries up front.


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PostPosted: Thu Nov 15, 2018 1:04 pm 
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BIG comeback win against the Bruins, down 3-1 at one point, they come roaring back with five unanswered goals. In the battle between two elite top lines, to my surprise, it was the Avalanche's trio that came out on top. The eventual GWG had Rantanen (who had a monster night) deke his way past Bergeron AND Marchand and create an odd-man rush, then dished to Nate on the right side for the goal. Pastrnak was busy covering Landeskog on the left. And it's not like that line sucked, Pastrnak still managed to get a goal on the power play, but at least last night it was the 92-29-96 line who looked outright dominant.

The top line even managed to make Chara look kinda bad near the beginning. MacKinnon came speeding in behind the net and forced Chara to turn it over, where it landed right on Mikko's stick. He dished to Landeskog who was inexplicably uncovered in the high slot, he had about a good second to snipe it past Halak.

Ironically Avs couldn't score on the empty net but then got a power play goal after Bergeron took a hooking penalty against MacKinnon with seconds remaining.

Here's the shocking, stunning stat: The Avs actually held a big advantage on faceoffs. Whaaaaaa...???

Mark Barberio saw action for the first time in weeks, and unlike his previous two outings, played like a guy who did not want to see the press box again anytime soon. Nikita Zadorov played the fewest minutes of any player last night, and was promptly benched after taking a not-so-smart interference penalty early in the game.

Louie Debrusk's kid gave the Avs all they could handle, scoring two goals, including one on the breakaway after a terrible MacKinnon turnover. Apparently he lost his stick and was late getting back, which is why he was so far ahead once it started going the other way. :lol:

Hopefully Chara's injury isn't too bad, but it didn't look good. Went to hit Carl Soderberg and his knee buckled.


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PostPosted: Thu Nov 15, 2018 5:18 pm 
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Sooooooooooo, what's Rantanen's next contract going to look like?

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PostPosted: Thu Nov 15, 2018 9:23 pm 
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E.L. wrote:
Sooooooooooo, what's Rantanen's next contract going to look like?


Dater tweeted that he spoke to Mikko's agent and that he's only going to sign a short-term deal in the offseason, but I'm not convinced that's going to happen. Surely the Avs will at least try to break out the bank and sign him for max term, especially given how well he's playing right now and last season as well. Guess we'll see.


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