OffThePost.org

Guess we'll see what happens tonight...but obviously Avs are not exactly looking forward to tonight's matchup against the Leafs.

Lo and behold, after stubbornly refusing to use his 2nd best center as his 2nd line center, Jared Bednar finally, blissfully relents and puts Carl Soderberg together with J.T. Compher and Colin Wilson. The result? Big Carl's first career hat trick!!!! Look what happens when you finally put him with wingers who know how to handle the puck, JARED.

Avs went down 2-0 against the Maple Leafs but they fought back to tie it and then Soderberg took the lead with a fantastic blue-collar job wrestling the puck away from Gardiner for a SHG.

Mark Barberio had one of the worst games I've ever seen a veteran defenseman play. He's missed nearly 20 games due to injury and clearly doesn't have the legs. Got burned at least three times I saw, and left a WIDE open lane for Mitch Marner to come screaming into the zone and fire one past Varlamov to tie it 3-3. While I kinda wish Varly would've had that one, that was a pretty well-placed shot, and doesn't account for the fact that Marner didn't have a guy within 10 feet of him as he entered the zone. Not acceptable.

But hey, beggars can't be choosers and the Avs finally have a fantastic win against a good team after a month-and-a-half of misery. And for possibly the first time this season, it wasn't the Top Line doing all the heavy lifting.

No surprise, the Avs finish their utterly disastrous Canadian road trip with a big, squishy thud against the Senators, 5-3. Same script as they've had for a while--lackluster play until they give up a couple, then turn it on too late. And of course, the Sens are handing over their first rounder at the end of the season so there were many reasons not to drop this one. It's not the nadir of the season (that would be blowing a 4-1 lead in the third period against the Flames) but it's fairly close. Ironically, their ONE win in the Great White North came against the Maple Leafs, who I guess are slumping a bit themselves.

The Avalanche have GOT to have the league lead in goals called back. I think I read somewhere tonight's overturned call means they have 10 on the season. That's an insane number.

Avs finally do what they should have done with Tyson Jost a year ago--send him to the minors. Conceivably he could be there for the next three weeks, since the Avs technically don't need extra forwards while on a five-game homestand with the All-Star break sandwiched in between.

Unfortunately, this means more Gabriel Bourque, which is never a good thing.

Not sure what in hell the Avs plan is right now. I suppose they're perfectly content with tanking it if indeed that happens AGAIN, but there should have been some progress made this season. I am so sick and goddamned tired of this one resurgent season followed by garbage. They need to actually give a shit this year and not let it slip away. I get they don't want to give up anything big or mortgage the future, but they can't just let everything unravel, not when they were contesting for the top spot in the Western Conference at one point.

Oh and after that throttling in Ottawa the other night, the Avs have now given up the most goals in the Western Conference. Just shows you how good that top line really has been since they still have a positive goal differential despite that.

Another day, another loss due to goaltending and power play outage.

Avs do a full backflip and faceplant into the All-Star break with a lackluster loss to the Minnesota Wylde. Had the Canucks at least forced OT the Avs would have entered out of the playoff picture. As it stands,

Some alarming stats:

Avs are the worst team in the league since December 3rd.

Avs are the most penalized team in the league with 498(!!!!!!) PIM. If they had a couple goons or "tough guys" I could understand to a point, but they made a point to run those guys outta town. And yet...this team just unravels with insanely dumb and sometimes lazy penalties at the worst possible times. I'm just not sure what to say about that.

They should not do anything panicky like Edmonton, but they should at least try to shake things up. No reason to hold onto players who aren't going to be there next year, clear them out NOW (or whenever the trade freeze is lifted) and call up some of the promising youngsters from Loveland. But they can't just sit back and do nothing.

Anyway...All-Star break...and not a moment too soon. We all need it.

Oh good heavens...now they're saying MacKinnon may miss the ASG (where he was voted Central Division captain) due to an injury suffered in last night's loss. He was sent out in the dying seconds of a four-minute PK and sure enough, gets hurt blocking a seemingly harmless shot off his ankle. He stayed in the remainder of the contest but didn't look quite right. The Avs announced he was getting an MRI and if there's any damage...yeesh.

And to add injury to injury, the last hope for An Avs Goalie That Doesn't Suck, Pavel Francouz, got hurt and had to leave an Eagles game after the first. He too was chosen as an All-Star (AHL of course) and the Eagles just announced he will not participate for sure.

If either of these guys are out for an extended period of time, well, there's a very distinct possibility the Avs' 1st rounder may be higher come draft day than the Senators' one. I suppose that's a good problem to have but mother FUCK...what a monumental collapse if it ends up happening.

Jesus -- so much promise to start the season but like many middling teams, Defence and Goaltending (and injuries of course) come back to bite them in the ass. While the Canucks are right there, I personally hope the Canucks miss the playoffs by a considerable margin. Not the same story for the AVs, who are further ahead and are building on something more complete. Canucks and Avs are tied in points, but St. Louis is lurking with a promising past 10 games and games in hand.

I'll be royally pissed if they just sit on their hands and let this team miss the playoffs. I'll pretty much be done with Jared Bednar as well, even though it isn't his fault both goalies have completely forgotten how to play (and this is a year after the Avs went out and hired Varlamov's favorite goalie coach). But the constant string of penalties and special teams implosion absolutely fall on his shoulders.

It's kinda funny comparing Pettersson and MacKinnon. With MacKinnon, you could not build a better hockey player from a physical standpoint. He is the perfect mix of size, speed, and skill. And while McDavid obviously has the higher top-end speed, MacKinnon's acceleration is like nothing I have ever seen. Dude goes from 0 to 60 in no time flat, it still takes some defenders off-guard. HOWEVER...there's a reason a guy with his tremendous gifts took a little while to put it all together. He doesn't have a great hockey IQ, and is prone to temperamental, sometimes downright childish behavior. He can come unglued at the worst of times and just makes bad decisions with the puck from time to time. He also could stand to be a little less lazy in the defensive zone, but I digress.

Pettersson on the other hand is absolutely NOT a physical specimen at all, which makes the fact that he is dominating right off the bat just one full year removed from being drafted all that much more impressive. Insane skill coupled with an off-the-charts awareness of the game, I honestly can't tell that he isn't that fast because he just knows where to be at all times. The only concern with him going forward is his durability, but I think we can already say that he is by far the best player in his draft class, and it's not even close.

The one issue with elite, superstar talents is that they can mask a lot of flaws in a given roster. Just look at the Oilers in McDavid's first full season. Everyone thought they were legit contenders the following year despite the fact that roster was utter crap. I think we're seeing something similar in both Vancouver and Colorado, though I think both teams have something to look forward to. They both have potential star defensive talents likely entering the league next season, and there's decent talent in both pipelines. Guess we'll see where this goes, but Sakic better wake the fuck up, and soon. I am sick of this playoffs-then-no-playoffs bullshit. At least make some kind of shakeup move to wake these guys up. You don't have to mortgage the future (in fact you shouldn't since BOTH first rounders might be lottery picks) but you have to take a good look at the roster and see if there is something that helps both in the short- and long-term.

MacKinnon will be arriving to the All-Star festivities a day late. He likely won't play or engage in the skills competitions but at least by participating in the off-ice stuff he will avoid any potential suspensions.

Avs finish All-Star weekend and now enter their "bye" week, so they don't play until Saturday against the Canucks. I'm guessing Pettersson is gonna light them up like a Christmas tree.

No idea what these guys do at the deadline. They SHOULD sell off sell-able assets, even though they likely won't get anything much in return. Expiring deals include Colin Wilson, Sven Andrighetto, Patrik Nemeth, and of course, Semyon Varlamov. The trade value of all of those guys is next to nil, so I'm guessing Sakic will likely stand pat unless someone comes calling with something insane.

I don't like the fact that they are likely going to let this season ride out, for better or for worse. I think there are things they can do to bolster the roster without giving up big pieces of the future. But I'm guessing they are going to wait until after the draft before they finally start "going for it" as they'll know by then what kind of player they get with the pair of first rounders they currently have. They'll also have a ton of cap space to play with, even with the impending gigantic raise Mikko Rantanen will be getting, so I expect them to be players in the free agent market as well.

File this under the "One Step Forward, Two Steps Back" file:

Tyson Jost concluded what was supposed to be a brief stint in the AHL with 3 goals and 1 assist in 6 games with the Eagles, and now we receive word that he suffered a concussion in his final game at the hands of noted headhunter Kurturs Murkdurmurd. It's been that kind of year.

Meanwhile, the Avs are gonna try tweaking the lineup again for tonight's game against the Canucks:

Kerfoot - MacKinnon - Wilson
Landeskog - Soderberg - Rantanen
Nieto - Compher - Calvert
Andrighetto - Dries - Bourque

I'm guessing Boeser/Pettersson are gonna combine for 10 points tonight.

Varlamov gets the start.

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Well the actual spelling is "Kurtis MacDermid" but I think my way fits him better.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand the Avs are officially out of the playoff picture. A weak-ass effort AT HOME against the Canucks.

Not sure what to say at this point. This team, despite their many flaws, is too talented to be this awful for this long.

You're right. Last night seemed to be lack of effort and effort can be fixed.

The goaltending has infected everything else. They don't trust the guy between the pipes, which leaves them discombobulated, disorganized, and hesitant. They have ZERO confidence right now because they feel like every mistake they make is ending up in the net...and it pretty much is.

I suppose it's too late to do anything about it now. Francouz is hurt so he's not an option right now. I think they waited too long, they were desperate to get Varlamov back on track so at the very least they'd get something of value in a trade. I think we're past that point now.

Unfortunately if they let this season go it'll have consequences. I think if they tank it again they'll have to fire Bednar. You can't have a guy trying to lead a team with two abhorrent seasons out of three under his belt.

Troll says, "Virtanen with a goal and an assist"

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Shoresy, "It's called a sweater"

Yeah, and it was friggin' ROUSSEL with the setup for Jake's opening goal. That stabbed me deep for sure.

I don't necessarily blame Varly for that one. Ian Cole decided to stupidly pinch up high (dude, that IS NOT what they signed you for) and Erik Johnson could not have played the ensuing 2-on-1 any worse. Even the dumbest of defensemen know you cover the guy without the fucking puck. Instead he tried to block the passing lane, thereby covering neither guy.

Still, you'd like a goalie with Varly's proven ability to make that stop. He didn't, and apart from a couple clean breakaway chances he managed to stymie, he was still below-average.

Yes goaltending is a much larger issue with no quick fix. But effort level and execution has as much to do with systems and coaching as it does with player motivation. They should make the playoffs, I mean on paper they have the most talent and are the best of the bunch of those middling teams, but without consistent goaltending they're as good as done.