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They're loading in the east, and now that Ekholm is going to Edmonton, it might be time for Colorado to bolster the lineup.

Julien BriseBois said picks don't matter to him right now, and I wonder how Colorado feels. Does it really matter if you get another Oskar Olausson in the mix via the draft?

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I would hope not, there shouldn't be a single asset, pick or prospect, in the system that shouldn't be up for grabs. I don't care if it's Olausson, Sean Behrens, first rounder, whatever, if it can be flipped to address a vital need, then fucking do it. The Avs enter the ninth circle of cap hell next year once the massive extension for MacKinnon kicks in, and the chances of them contending go way down. This should be a go-for-broke year.

EDIT: Just read the Avs traded for Lars Eller! Stay tuned...

Avs win streak gets stopped at six, drop one 7-5 to the New Jersey Devils.

I've NO idea why Bednar chose to start Justus Annunen over Keith Kinkaid, unless the latter is hurt somehow. But...why else would you trade for the guy? Some have theorized that Annunen got the start against an opponent that doesn't necessarily affect their playoff push to see if he's an option for this year. If that was the question, then the answer most assuredly was...NO.

Don't get me wrong, the big kid got hung out to dry by the Avs in the first. Just a terrible period for them in all facets. But they came to life in the 2nd, roaring back to close the gap to one. Just couldn't close the deal.

That said, Annunen is not a legit goaltending prospect. Big kid, but way, way too slow to play in the NHL. His lateral movement across the crease is akin to the Titanic tryin' to dodge that iceberg. He's just not good enough. This is what happens when you don't prioritize the drafting and development of goalies.

Lars Eller literally got to the rink 15 minutes before warmups started, and said he wanted to play, so he did. Did not have a great showing, but I'll cut the guy slack since he had just flown in from Anaheim and hadn't had a single minute practice or even downtime to get to know his linemates.

If this is all the Avs do before tomorrow's deadline I'll be thoroughly underwhelmed.

Well, another week, another swoon to start the month.

Avs have been very bad to start the month of March after a spectacular February. This weekend was no exception. Got absolutely destroyed in Dallas Saturday afternoon, then blew the lead with less than 3 minutes to go in the third at home against the Kraken at home (off a horrid giveaway by Nathan MacKinnon behind his own net, and he knew he fucked up) to lose it in OT. They weren't particularly good in that game either, but Georgiev was playing fantastic the whole night and deserved far better. Just a bad, BAD stretch.

Also, the Avs gifted the Kraken a full two-minute 5-on-3 to start the 2nd period when Jack Johnson tripped someone, Mikko Rantanen thought he was getting called for something (and really he was cross-checking a guy into the Seattle bench, so), said something to the effect of "That's fucking soft!" and got dinged for 2 minutes for Unsportsmanlike. Avs killed off the penalties but in postgame Bednar for the first time said he came close to benching Rantanen for that. Said he had a talk with the guy instead. If Bednar is saying stuff like that, you can be assured he wasn't just annoyed, he was pissed off. Mikko needs to be better there.

Lastly, I'll give the Avs organization and Altitude credit for hosting what looked like a good, full-fledged Pride Night. We're seeing some teams half-ass it and outright cancel theirs, so the Avs bucked that annoying little trend and let their rainbow flags fly. I've no doubt part of that is influenced by the late Peter McNab, who was a staunch ally and wore his Pride pin long after any team-mandated celebrations.

I am not impressed with the moves made at the deadline. These are certainly no Joe Sakic moves. More injuries...particularly another KEY injury to Manson (who upon his return had this team rolling again) might end any hopes of the conference title.

Seems to be temporary trouble in paradise as Bednar is in the media calling out his top folks. That's preposterous to contemplate or advertise benching the MVP of the Avs this year (Raantanen). Let's hope that was just a sound bite.

I do have a shout-out....to Sammy G on Saturday afternoon....He doesn't get many props in this house but in my opinion (and the bosses) he played one of his best games of the year. Even though the game itself was not pretty.

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Sammy's turnaround to his season has been a huge reason the Avs have been so successful in 2023. His offense continues to sputter but his defense has been phenomenal. He remains probably my favorite player on the roster (Mikko and Cale close seconds).

Methinks Bednar's getting public with it because he's already had some talks with Mikko to get him to calm down, this is probably a last resort before some benchings do take place. It's fine, I know Nate had his moment with Bednar a couple years back and they came out better for it. Now it's Mikko's turn. He's been amazing but he's also been a Finnish psycho rage-beast on some nights. Dude needs to calm the fuck down. He was bitching about a call that wasn't even on him, though he thought it was at the time.

What I think happened was that they made the move for Eller to allow enough roster flexibility for a bigger deal that didn't materialize. I wouldn't be surprised if it was for Adam Henrique, who got hurt at the worst possible time. It's also possible they might believe Landeskog is lost for the entire year, and given the continued spate of injuries just said "Ya know what? Maybe it's not worth going all-in."

That said, I fully expect something big in the offseason to address the second line center issue. Don't know what it'll be but it better be huge.

Avs technically have the easiest strength of schedule of any team (I think that's what they said at least) for the remainder of the season. If they miss the playoffs entirely it'll be the biggest implosion in franchise history.

First up, the San Jose Sharks, with Norris-favorite Erik Karlsson, coming in on the 2nd of a back-to-back. No excuse whatsoever to lose this one...which is why I think they'll lose it.

Late, meaningless games against the Sharks always seem to end up with a major Avs injury. Last year it was Hertl driving Kadri's head into the boards, and the year before that it was that dipshit Kevin La-Bank tripping up Sammy Girard as he was skating to a loose puck. Hopefully they don't go three in three years tonight.

Bednar said after today's morning skate that Erik Johnson is ahead of schedule, no timeline whatsoever on Landeskog, Helm is skating, and Frankie doesn't appear to be progressing. Good thing they went out and got Kinkaid, though oddly they called up Jonas Johansson for tonight's game.

https://twitter.com/BR_OpenIce/status/1 ... _&ref_url=

Mikko admits he needs to be a little calmer, so that's good news. He also said he regrets this little chirp to a Stars fan, telling him to look at the ring. Personally I thought it was brilliant, but he said that isn't really his thing. Oh well, it led to a fun little sports moment!

Okay good, there was the laugher the Avs needed. Catch a tired Sharks team on the 2nd of a B2B at home, you damn well better embarrass them, and they did. Props all around. I believe SJ had one shot on goal in the first period, and it barely counted as a shot.

I swear the Sharks are guilty of one bad cheap shot on an Avs player every fucking year. This time around it was Couture sending Rantanen awkwardly into the boards. Doesn’t sound like it resulted in injury at least, unlike those past incidents.

Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesus...the lack of transparency from this organization is beyond ridiculous.

Now Bednar just said the lingering knee issue that's kept Gabriel Landeskog out the entire season is "unrelated" to the knee surgery he had prior to last year's playoffs. Like, what the fuck is it then? If it's a chronic condition, that's beyond concerning, given that Landeskog is in Year Two of an 8-year contract that pays him pretty well.

Colorado! The place to go if you are injury prone or have a pre-existing condition for a long term contract......makes you wonder the diligence being performed up front before the money is handed out. At least they didn't give EJ any more money!

I guess there is always next year for some of these guys.

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Hoo boy...Avs starting out March with a thud. One win so far and we're ten days in.

So far Lars Eller looks like a guy who should've headed back to Europe last year. Plays with a bit of an edge and can stay pretty strong on pucks, but abysmally slow, and NO offense to speak of. Also, he's not even winning fucking draws, so what even is his point!?!?

One play in particular sent me into a rage last night in the Avs' 5-2 drubbing at the hands of the Kings. Defensive zone draw, it's Eller vs. Phil Danault. No shame in losing to that guy. But then Danault gets kicked out and it's Viktor Arvidsson comes in. Eller STILL loses the draw, Arvidsson bumps it back to the defenseman who rifles it at the net, and sure enough it's Danault, playing wing, in perfect position to deflect it past Alexandar Georgiev. You lost to a FUCKING WINGER, DUDE.

This is what the Avs gave up a 2nd rounder for!?

Anyway, it's obviously not all on Eller, the team as a whole just looks lifeless. It's possible that the team just once again blew their wad to win with a depleted lineup, or that key players who have returned are way more banged up than they're letting on, or a combination of the two. If that's the case, I can kinda see why they didn't try and make more moves, but I'm also incensed they even made one to begin with.

Avs needed overtime to do it but they manage to get the two points thanks to Cale Makar just taking the game over and busting in on Connor Ingram.

Ironically, a trade that seemed pretty innocuous at the time is paying dividends, while the more high-profile deal is looking like a bust. Denis Malgin is putting up highlight-reel goals, and would've had two on the day had one not gotten called back on a hand pass. Meanwhile, Lars Eller has been pretty ordinary, and getting his ass handed to him in the faceoff circle, which is, kinda the whole reason he was brought aboard in the first place.

Anyway, Avs in Montreal tonight, Artturi Lehkonen's first game back since being traded to Colorado.

Unlike other coaches, Jared Bednar goes out his way to play guys if there’s any hometown incentive involved. Last year he put Darren Helm on the top line in Helm’s first game back in Detroit, Avs proceeded to score the first goal on the first shift of the game. Last night he started both Sammy Girard and Arturri Lehkonen, sure enough Lehkonen scores two goals and Sammy gets an assist, but was also all over the damned ice. I’m just glad Bednar is, at least most of the time, the antithesis of an old-school coach.

In other news: FFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCKKK!!!!
Or I guess in this case it’s PUUUUUUTAAAAAAAIIIIIIINNN!!!!!!

Lehkonen apparently broke a finger during the game, out for 4-6 weeks. Marc Moser sat down with NHL Radio today since he happened to be in Toronto for the Avs’ next contest and said they thought he deflected the puck off his hand on his 2nd goal.

I suppose it could be worse given what happened to Andrei Svechnikov in Carolina, but it still sucks.

Anyway, it was a 8-4 drubbing, highlighted by Bowen Byram absolutely clowning both Guhle and Savard for (I think) the second goal of the game. I believe the Avs scored on all their power plays as well. Still did not like Georgiev’s performance but I suppose if you’re gonna have a bad night, this was the night to do it.

Since we’re on the subject of the Habs, Alex Galchenyuk gets the callup with Lehkonen out. By all accounts the guy has done the work necessary to get another shot. Here’s to hoping he can be a contributor.

Avs win both of a back-to-back to sweep the Eastern Canadian road trip. First a 2-1 shootout victory over the Leafs (where they managed to hold the vaunted Toronto attack to under 20 shots in 65 minutes), then a 5-4 barnburner in Ottawa over the Sens.

Officiating in the latter game was utter horseshit. Avs win on a weird-ass goal where the play probably should have been blown dead but instead ends up being Lars Eller's first goal since joining the team. Whatever, I'll take it.

Weirdly, Avs still don't really gain any ground on the insanely hot Minnesota Wylde, who basically haven't lost since the Avs beat them in their own barn.

I'm scared to admit it because when I praised Michael Porter, Jr. of the Denver Nuggets, he and the team went in the shitter, but...Lars Eller appears to have found his stride after a shaky start. Played some masterful defense against the Leafs and then wasn't much worse tonight against the Sens. So far, so good.

Avs survive a tough first period in Detroit before rolling over the Red Wings.

Bad news is, of course, Makar pulled up lame backchecking to stop Dylan Larkin and sat out a majority of the third. Game was well in hand by then so it may have been precautionary, Bednar said after the game he was fine but I ain’t holding my breath.

Sure enough, no Cale Makar tonight against the Hawks.

His replacement? Kurtis MacDermid.

Hopefully Chicago isn't in a spoiler mood and have been told the goal is to finish last.

Avs once again overcome a somewhat sleepy start to dominate the very, very bad Blackhawks to the tune of 5-0. Denis Malgin with two goals and an assist, one of those goals and the assist were full-blown highlight reel moves.

Give Alex Galchenyuk credit. His first callup he looked rather lost, this time around he's fighting like hell to stay in the lineup. Greg Cronin, head coach of the Eagles, has been effusive with praise about how much work he's put in during his time in the AHL. Will he stick? I dunno, but it's nice to see he's giving an honest effort.

Oh and OF COURSE the Avs suffered another injury. Evan Rodrigues took a hard hit from Connor Murphy, sure look like the principal point of contact was the head. It was a rough hit, but legal from what I could tell. What pissed me off is that E-Rod got pissed and hit a Hawks player with a hip check and got called. Why, I don't know. The Hawks player had the puck and E-Rod used his hip, it wasn't a low bridge or a knee-on-knee hit so I'm at a loss as to why he got dinged. Anyway, E-Rod left the game not long after that, so it's fairly easy to figure out why. He's also not out there for practice today, so I'm guessing he's out for the Pittsburgh game.

Also not skating: Cale Makar.

Darren Helm is in a regular jersey but who the fuck knows when he'll ever play again.

Oh, this is fun: Sam Girard was really struggling to start this year, and I thought it was either injury or something else, but it turns out...it was the effin' stick!

https://www.denverpost.com/2023/03/19/s ... avalanche/

Girard has always used a very short stick, which is hilarious given that he's probably the smallest guy on the team already. But he's using one that's about 5 inches longer since December and his game has taken a complete 180, especially on the defensive side of things. I was afraid he wouldn't be able to "Tornade" like he usually does on account of not being able to keep the puck in tight but that certainly isn't the case. On one of the goals he spun past about three Hawks before getting it down low for the setup.