Since skidding to the bottom of the standings last season, the team has tried just about everything imaginable to right the sinking ship. Like trading a first round pick for young and unproven goalie, Semyon Varlamov. They also added JS Giguere to the lineup, ultimately dismissing three goalies from last season.

The defense was rebuilt with size and grit in mind, the fast, puck-moving players were traded away or waived.

Giguere rallied the team though a “must-win” game early in this season’s skid but it didn’t last long. Since then there have been variations on the must-win theme, all resulting in less than favorable outcomes. Bag skates and closed locker room meetings quickly followed.

Coach Sacco has tried nearly every line combination possible, including ones that aren’t obviously sensible. Matt Duchene played a game on the forth line after Sacco declared that he wasn’t scoring enough. The working scheme behind putting a scoring center on a line of grinders to improve scoring is not clear to the fans.

Varlamov has been allowed to play through a losing record. But Sacco also briefly started trying to go with the goalie that’s hot, problem being neither is hot for more than three periods of NHL action.

The team started the year leaderless, at least officially with no captain named. Eventually veteran Milan Hejduk was awarded the captain’s C but this too has failed to inspire the group to play competitive hockey.

The Avs latest move has been to bring up 2009 draft pick Stefan Elliot. Saturday night Elliot played like he’s been in the league for years. He scored the game-winning goal and played well both offensively and defensively. Is he the missing cog that is going to get this team humming along to a winning record? Is it back to the speedy puck-moving defenseman strategy already?

After the sticker shock began to wear off Avs fans realized that they could have been looking at a season of Peter Budaj and Brian Elliott in net. Remember a season of Budaj and Raycroft between the pipes? That was psychotherapy waiting to happen for the Colorado faithful. The satisfaction comes from knowing that the team is at least making a complete change in goal.

The dire warnings of an injury-prone Varly are causing me to flinch, a little. With good reason, I sometimes wonder if there are voodoo dolls of Tomas Fleishmann, Peter Mueller and Kyle Quincey and someone is sticking them full of needles. Is Greg Sherman guilty of not looking closely enough at injury histories or is it bad juju and a black cat? A 23-year-old athlete is a bit too young to be labeling as injury-prone. I’m not too worried.

I mentioned here that I thought the Avs and Caps might be able to work something out (as well as asking rhetorically why Vokoun would want to come here). And while I’m cautiously optimistic about yet another goalie that is lacking an entire season under his belt, the Avs did shore up the number two spot nicely with a wily veteran. Another shot in the dark goalie? Perhaps. It’s odd how Varly and Craig Anderson are similar in that way but the Anderson signing was quickly characterized as brilliant and this one has the stink of failure about it before the ink was dry. The difference is of course that first round pick.

Let’s look at some Avalanche first rounders over the years. Anyone want to trade Scott Parker for Varly? I’m in on that action. C’mon, admit it, he was a favorite but wouldn’t you make that trade knowing half the equation? How about Marc Denis, Martin Skoula, or Wojtek Wolski? All first round picks and decent ones at that. And now the guys that amounted to a pile of dog doo:
Peter Ratchuk.
Kevin Grimes.
Mikhail Kuleshov.
Jonas Johansson.
Vaclav Nedorost.

Those players amount to more than half of the Avs first round picks over franchise history. That’s a lot of big bust and mediocre talent.  It’s not so much an indictment of the Avs scouting capabilities as it’s a statement that the draft is a crap-shoot. I think this trade is worth the risk.

I seriously doubt the Avs gave up a statistically viable lottery pick for next year. You know: a pick that actually has a decent chance of moving up. Even if the Avs finish out of the playoffs by one spot, the odds they will move up appreciably in the draft via the lottery are…Spock? What are the odds? Right, astronomical. Stop the hissy-fit drama class.

I’ll take the young kid over the old vet in this situation. Varlamov could be here for many years. Odds are Vokoun wouldn’t last long, he is 35-years-old after all.

Excellent Avalanche blogger Jibblescribbits was one of the first to light the calming incense in Avs nation; you really ought to check out his interesting angle on the situation.

Anderson was an unknown as a starter. At least with Raycroft and Theodore they had a little hardware in the trophy case to back up the gamble. Anderson? Nothing. So sure, it worked out for a year. I guess we should be happy about that. But then once the Avs did get a decent goalie they played the old hard-ball way of doing business. One contract offer, take it or leave it. That was all fine and dandy in the old glory days. Players wanted badly to be a part of this wining, star-studded team. But times have changed.

Really, I should amend that. Ever since Theodore/Budaj it’s been a joke. Or was it Budaj/Theodore? And that’s the point, isn’t it? How did Peter Budaj manage to usurp Jose Theodore’s starting job? Peter Budaj, a guy the Avs are going to let walk this off-season? Uh-huh.

So whether it’s bringing in bust goalies or busting the balls of the decent one we had – this organ-eye-zation hasn’t got it right since Roy. It doesn’t take statistics to determine that that is a poor rate of success.

Imagine if we were looking at Elliott/Budaj in goal next season? Wow. That’s not rebuilding. That’s a wrecking ball. Apparently it isn’t going to happen, thankfully.

Should the Avs have gone for Michael Leighton when he went through waivers? Beats me, I thought so and said as much on Twitter but now that I think about it, it’s just more of the same. Hmmm, that Bryzgalov guy was claimed off waivers and that worked out ok…well anyway.

Now there is a little talk going on in Washington that Semyon Varlamov might not be signing with the Caps. That’s a guy that has had some injury problems but that also looks pretty solid when I’ve seen him play. Heck, he replaced Jose Theodore as the #1 goalie…oh wait, everyone does that…well anyway. The Avs and Caps may be able to work another trade. The Caps need help at center and defense and the Avs just happen to be doing well in those positions if you consider future prospects.

A veteran candidate is Tomas Vokoun, though why he would want to play here I can’t imagine. Bryzgalov wouldn’t play here even if the Avs did pay him. The hot, young trade possibilities all seem to be in the West or worse, in the Northwest and that just makes it less likely that teams are going to want to face that player on down the line.

By far this area of the Avalanche is going to come under the most scrutiny this next season. If the Avs falter in acquiring a quality goalie, the critics are going to be talking about how they let Anderson get away. And they would have a legitimate point.

One thing I should point out is that I’m not much of a vampire fan, in fact I think I can count on one hand the number of vampire books I’ve read, ever. So don’t expect any kind of deep analysis of the vampires. You won’t need that anyway. Healy treats the vampire aspects rather lightly and you should be laughing out loud, as I was through out this book.

So if I’m not a vampire fan why read it? I asked myself that but gave it a chance nonetheless; it is about hockey too, right? Right! The hockey story is as strong as it gets, great scenes on the ice of the camaraderie and the minor league hockey lifestyle. Hammie, our hero is well developed and I was drawn into the story by him quickly.

The vampire story develops slowly and it isn’t like you don’t see it coming. What I didn’t see coming was Healy’s origin of the vampires as a race/species, whatever. With a Da Vinci Code sorta twist, it whacked me in the head. I have no idea if it’s been done before but I really liked it and I think he could expand on that in a future (short?) story. He barely touches on it but it seems like there could be more there.

One of the most entertaining aspects of the book is the narrator butting in here and there with comments. At first I was a bit nonplussed by it but it grew on me to the point that I looked forward to it. Besides, the narrator gets in one of the best jabs at the French that I’ve ever heard. Hilarious. Healy’s portrayal of the vampires is tongue-in-cheek for sure and I thought his depiction of the vampires as pests was amusing. If you have a vampire infestation, who do you call?

Overall it’s an entertaining read with some inventive use of matzoh balls, great imagery of small town Canada, young guys playing hockey for the love of the game, quirky characters and yes, just a bit of blood and vampire-ish gore to round it all out.

Blood on the Ice is available as an ebook here and here.

Here’s my theory on the plan. Yes, the team wants to stay young. They are happy to keep things on the cheap for now but to be fair they did offer Craig Anderson a nice contract that he walked away from. And they want to get back to a team that has an identity. It’s old news that Sakic, Roy and Forsberg are not going too save this team on the ice or at the box office.

Those parts of the Plan are readily apparent. Quietly playing out over time are the efforts of the management to lay a solid foundation for Matt Duchene. And I believe that part of that is nurturing the best environment for Matt Duchene to become the captain of this team.

Matt Duchene is slated to be the face of this franchise and it’s all been in motion for years. Duchene has been billeted with current captain Adam Foote since day one. Think that was a happy coincidence? I doubt it. He’s being groomed. Foote has strong leadership skills and Duchene is expected to soak up a lot of this directly from the source.

Need more evidence? Matt Duchene is on Twitter. Not only is that unprecedented for this organization, it’s completely out of character. No one else on this team has been granted that kind of access to social media. We will have to see what happens to Erik Johnson’s account now that he is an Avalanche.

The Avalanche’s “All About the A” ad campaign has featured Duchene prominently.

Do trades figure into this scenario? I think so; the trade of Scott Hannan was two-fold. The Avs certainly thought they were getting a quality player in Tomas Fleischmann but it also set up another scenario. Next year Adam Foote is expected to retire and that would leave Hannan in a clear position of leadership on this team. A position that would be somewhat difficult for a 20 year old to tackle, even one of Duchene’s drive and determination. Don’t see Hannan as a leader? How about that situation in Washington where it was said that Hannan took the lead in a team meeting only weeks after getting there? If he’s got the stones to pull that on a new team imagine the role he would feel needed filling in the Avs locker room with the departure of Foote. That kind of situation could derail the plans the Avs have for Matt Duchene.

Liles is another potential leader that could upset the apple cart. Could be one of the reasons he was again in play on the trade market. And if Liles hasn’t got the message yet that he is expendable then there is always draft day to take care of that situation for good. I’m not endorsing such a move; I think that Avs are much better off with Erik Johnson AND John-Michael Liles on the blueline. But the team may not see it the same way if it threatens Duchene’s ascent to Captain. Erik Johnson now gives them more options in parting with Liles. I think Liles can and does still provide important leadership on this team but he also has to accept The Plan and his place in the scheme of things.

And what about Stastny? It’s just possible that he is passive enough about leadership that he will not be a factor. He strikes me as a guy that is motivated to play hard and win but is more than happy to let others do the rah-rah stuff. Same situation with Milan Hejduk.

All of this is about chemistry. The Avs, like any team has to monitor the chemistry on the ice as well as in the locker room. If they think they have the leader of the future on their hands then they have to take steps to ensure that his position is secure. It’s not unusual for teams to trade away players to start a new chapter and set the stage for the locker room chemistry of the new era. The Avs know this but don’t expect them to come right out and say it. It just isn’t polite dinner table conversation.

Injuries
The latest blow to the injury-wracked Avs is the season long loss of Tomas Fleischmann, diagnosed with pulmonary emboli or in English: a blood clot in each lung.
The Avalanche are up to 235 man games lost to injury. Obviously not satisfied with last year’s huge statistical loss of players to injury the Avs are on pace to blow that number out of the water this year.
And these aren’t just role players that are missing time. Chris Stewart went down for seven weeks when he was the leading goal-scorer on the team.
TJ Galiardi missed several weeks with a broken wrist. A guy that was depended on for top six work.
Kyle Quincey though not quite playing to expectations was slated for top four defensive duties: out for the season.
Let’s not forget that Peter Mueller, a top six forward has missed the entire regular season.
And then there is Craig Anderson, a workhorse last season, missing multiple stretches at a time.

Goaltending
And that brings us to the glaring issue this season. Inside the drama of Mission Impossible could be another classic: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Budaj.
Is this the season like 2006-07 where Budaj salvages what he can of a Theodore-like season? I shudder to make such a comparison but at this point Budaj has played 23 games and Anderson is sitting at 28 games. Granted much of that is due to injuries but Anderson is not anywhere near his 2009-10 form. They have near identical stats and at this point Anderson’s are headed in the wrong direction.
And after another weak game Saturday, Peter Budaj is getting the call once again.
Arguments that Anderson’s defense isn’t giving him any help are only as valid as they were last season when Anderson faced a shooting gallery night after night and nonetheless stood on his head for this team.

PK and PP
Sure, sure. The Avs are up there in the power play but so are the Blackhawks and they just recently climbed into the top eight. And Peter Forsberg is sure to nudge that number up some more. But where the Avs really need to improve is on the horrific penalty killing. Currently the third worst team in the league. And Forsberg isn’t going to help that much. In fact he will likely challenge it as Foppa has never been short on PIMs.

Your mission Peter Forsberg, should you choose to accept it: play till the trade deadline and see how that ankle/foot performs at the NHL level. If everything goes well be prepared for the weight of a city’s expectations to be placed on your shoulders.

The “practice with the team” strategy serves the purpose of saving a little face for both sides if that 1% comes into play. While I do think that the Avalanche would do just about anything for Peter Forsberg, I don’t think they would put either party in a position to embarrass themselves. No, this is serious stuff folks.

In 2008 Forsberg was in and out of the line up and reports later surfaced that he was wearing a battery powered device attached to electrodes resulting in some kind of wild, bionic set-up. Nonetheless, in his short stint in the 2007-08 season/playoffs he played 16 games and recorded 19 points.

This guy is still crazy talented.

Look, this team has no time for games and I doubt anyone is playing games. The organ-eye-zation takes winning seriously. They aren’t going to bring a guy into practice, create all this circus atmosphere and media hype if they didn’t think it was a real possibility. Joe Sacco has a team to coach, this isn’t some HBO special about has-been players.

As for the various hints that just waving Forsberg in front of the fans at a practice will increase ticket sales. Well, I’m a bit put off by that, are we really that stupid? That we will run out and buy tickets to see Peter Forsberg even before he says he is good to go and a contract is in place? I suppose the circus atmosphere is bound to drag in a few of the “sucker born every minute” types. But to insinuate that it’s an actual marketing plan by the Avs? Please. These are the people that brought you “It’s all about the A.” They don’t HAVE the imagination of P.T. Barnum.

We’ve all heard Forsberg’s talk-talk about playing in the NHL again. But never, ever has he gone to this level. I firmly believe that this will result in Forsberg signing with the Avalanche. Then, and only then will the tickets sales go through the roof…oh, and will they ever!!

I don’t get the feeling that he is a players coach. You aren’t going into his office to have a warm sunny chat. If you are in that office at all you are probably in big trouble.

Sacco has sent TJ Galiardi down to the minors to “work on his game.” While I agree that Galiardi hasn’t been as good as we’ve seen, I’m not really that surprised either. Couple reasons, the first is that I never thought the kid was 1st line material anyway, nor do a lot of bloggers/fans. Second, seems like Sacco wants 3rd line mentality on the 1st line and that might be a bit difficult to achieve all the time.

Regardless, Sacco is sending a message once again with his tough love.

Will it work?

I have no idea.

But if it doesn’t, get ready for the fall out.

Sacco seems to have a tendency to look a bit schizophrenic with his lines. Defensively he has really messed with a few guys…but mostly with good results.

John-Michael Liles got a little bench time last season and that was shocking, to say the least.

Matt Hunwick is finally getting the seat after the fans have ridden him mercilessly for weeks, typing #BlameHunwick in their tweets during games when ever anything goes wrong.

We saw this same thing with Wilson earlier in the season, where it seemed that Sacco could have benched the guy a little sooner. However, I do have to think that perhaps Sacco should be given a little credit for trying to let guys play their way out of a slump.
We all saw what a mess you can make of a player (goalies specifically) when Quenneville was here with his quick hook. So maybe Sacco should be given a little credit for being patient with really young guys?

But when he does drop the hammer, he’s not fooling around. For now at least, the message seems to be getting through.

Part of what I think is a huge factor is experience. While the team is very young in average age they are also rather short on experience. Many of the players on this team have more experience listed on their NHL resume than I would like to give them credit for.

For example, Craig Anderson is listed with eight years of experience. But we all know those were years as a backup, not as the number one goalie. Expectations are different, work load is different, every thing is different. Last year Anderson was out to prove he could be the man. And as many discover following a superlative performance: it is often more challenging to match it than it is when you are coming out of no where and you are the underdog. Once the white hot spot light hits, the pressure is really on.

The way I see this team is a combination of games played or complete seasons played. And the Avs have a serious glut of sophomores. Here’s how I see the team structure right now, give or take a dozen or so games, either way

Rookies: Dupuis, Shattenkirk, Yip and Porter.
Sophomores: Duchene, Galiardi, Hunwick, Jones, O’Byrne, O’Reilly, Stewart, Wilson, Winnik and Craig Anderson.
Experienced: Fleischmann, McLeod, Stastny and Budaj. Though Budaj has little more games than Anderson I see him as an experienced backup where as Anderson is a sophomore as a starter.
Solid Vets: Foote, Hejduk, Liles.

Those are the major players on the team. Two thirds of this team falls into my rookie or sophomore status. What’s more is these are guys that are being given large chunks of responsibility.

So while many guys, though not truly sophomores, they are experiencing their second year of full responsibility. Like Craig Anderson. Some of this is due to injuries but also a huge reliance on young players. When you have guys like Hunwick, O’Byrne, Shattenkirk and Wilson playing major minutes on defense, there will be growing pains. Scott Hannan was steady and easily falls into the established veteran category, but he was traded.

Despite Duchene and Stewart’s sophomore status, they are not in a slump (at least Stewart was not before the injury) when it comes to scoring. Thankfully, or this team would be in real trouble in the standings. Mainly it’s important to remember to temper expectations of this team that is so young and inexperienced. They should only get better and better.

It’s not that Hannan was generally considered to be a bad player here in Colorado. Rarely did I hear that complaint. However, more often that not when I heard or read someone describing Scott Hannan they would say that they just didn’t notice him. And then there would often be the hurried addition to the statement that, well, maybe that was a good thing. Yes…and no.

If you notice a defenseman all the time it’s because he is scoring or getting scored on. Hannan was solid, if not spectacular.

Fleischmann had a couple days before his first game to get in the groove. He would start his Avalanche tenure with a long road trip. First stop was the Carolina Hurricanes. Fleischmann’s contribution to the game: 16:27 TOI and one shot on goal.

The next night the Avs faced the Tampa Bay Lightning. In a 6-5 losing effort, Fleischmann did tally two assists and a plus one rating. But close examination of the assists reveals that the first goal was all Matt Duchene with guts and determination in front of the net. Fleischmann merely put it on net with a pedestrian wrister. He also gained the first assist on the Avs last goal of the night, a hard yet errant pass into Milan Hejduk’s feet that was redirected into the net.

The latest game against the Panthers saw Fleischmann with 17:38 minutes on the ice and two shots on goal. That’s it.

Fleischmann ought to be lighting things up, in my opinion. He has said publicly that the trade took him by surprise. Seems to me that would be a pretty serious wake-up call. I would think the guy would come screaming in to town, ready to set the scoreboard on fire. Instead, it looks like we got a Bic lighter.

While it was acceptable that Hannan wasn’t particularly noticeable that can’t be the case with Fleischmann.

All in all, a disappointing trade so far.

But now all bets are off. With the addition of Kevin Shattenkirk, Ryan O’Byrne and Matt Hunwick, and now the subtraction of Scott Hannan, there are a lot of changes going on. All this shuffling is of course(?) due to a rash of injuries. But if all of these players continue to play well, the Avs are going to have too many blueliners when everyone is healthy.

Kyle Quincey has already shown signs of being in the dog house and is perhaps only playing due to the injuries. The return of Adam Foote may not force Coach Sacco’s hand, yet. He has been willing to play seven defensemen many times this season. But eventually the injured Kyle Cumiskey’s return will force the situation.

Many have wondered if the Avs really needed two undersized, speedy puck handling defensemen, Liles and Cumiskey. With the addition of Hunwick the question becomes more pertinent.

Suddenly this is a notably different defense. It’s younger and faster and possibly even more physical. Though Hunwick is described as undersized, you can’t say that about O’Byrne, so the size of the squad isn’t much changed and frankly, one can’t be much less physical than Hannan. Hunwick may be smallish but he fights a lot better than Hannan.

Ryan Wilson, O’Byrne and Foote will be expected to lead with the forearm when it comes to toughness. Just ask the Capitals fans, toughness is an important part of the defensive makeup of any blueline squad. So despite Wilson’s lack of smart play as of late he still adds an important aspect to the defensive scheme. Too many mistakes however could very well lead to the dog house.

John-Michael Liles
John-Michael Liles has become everything you could want in the speedy, puck handling defense man that many thought Cumiskey would be, would have to be with the non-stop trade talk swirling around Liles on an annual basis. But Cumiskey hasn’t progressed in his defensive responsibility, and as well as Liles is playing the Avs would have to be batty to think about trading the guy no matter what the offer. Besides, the departure of Hannan allows/demands Liles to step into a veteran leadership role on the blueline. That leadership is something that is going to be sorely needed come next year with the expected retirement of Foote.

With Liles just hitting 30, the Avs now have only one defenseman over 30. Hunwick’s three years of experience is essentially replacing Hannan’s twelve years of experience. For a defense that was universally panned at the beginning of the season you’ve got to wonder if it’s going in the right direction. But you can’t say it isn’t different.

Colby Cohen trade: Good or Bad?
Cohen may or may not have been the future of the young defense in Colorado. But why wait for the future when you can have it now? Not a Ray Bourque kind of now, but a more experienced and seasoned defenseman in Hunwick that the green Holøs, Cohen and even Shattenkirk don’t offer. Don’t get me wrong on Shattenkirk, he looks great so far but he’s still green. The Avs can ill-afford that much inexperience on the blueline and when it comes to trades, you’ve got to give to get.

Retooling on the Fly
What the Capitals learned last season is that you can’t necessarily win the Cup with scoring. The Avs, sending a solid, stay at home defenseman to the Caps might mean that they weren’t watching the first round of the playoffs in the spring. Sure, the Avs are forth in the league in scoring but they are also seventh in goals against. So trading a solid defender like Scott Hannan is risky. Isn’t it? Hannan played an average of over 20 minutes per game and PK time as well that will need to be filled.

On the other hand, O’Byrne can pick up the PK work and Foote will be back soon. Hunwick will be expected to add to the PP, something that the Avs thought was fixed with the addition of Peter Mueller. But that injury situation is as unknown as Mueller’s return date.

Last year this time coach Sacco said the team was in a must win situation. That is neither here nor there now, but it was pretty obvious that the Avs, this year, were in a must trade situation. It isn’t an easy accomplishment at this time of year and the Avs are to be commended for getting this one done.

So I’m not sure if this is the right direction for the Avs defense but there’s no denying that it is different. And since I wasn’t real impressed with last year’s squad I’m certainly willing to give this new look a chance.

Ryan Wilson is a guy that plays a different game, a physical game. That’s the game Sacco wants out of at least part of his defense. Holøs doesn’t offer that physical game and though Shattenkirk isn’t the biggest guy he has been delivering the hits as well as blocks. But with the points Shatty is putting on the score sheet there’s just no way Sacco can justify sitting him.

A few stats comparing Holøs to Wilson: over roughly the same number of games, Wilson and Holøs have about the same +/- rating and they each have a couple assists. However, Wilson has 27 hits to Holøs’ 4 and Wilson has 26 blocked shots whereas Holøs has eleven. The difference between those two numbers is huge.

New acquisition, Ryan O’Byrne brings the same kind of grit to the game; in fact since he has arrived he is even ahead of Wilson when it comes to hits and blocks.

Think the Avs are missing Brett Clark a little?

Here’s a surprising stat for you, John-Michael Liles leads this team in blocks with 39, that’s only 6 behind Brett Clark. Liles is nearly on pace to double his blocks from last season. More bonus: earlier this season in an Avalanche round table, I said Liles was about as likely to hit 40 points this season as Adam Foote. Oops. Guess I blew that one. With 20 points already it seems unlikely Liles can miss that mark. If there’s one thing I like to see its Sacco and Liles getting along, no dog house for Liles, just him playing lights out.

The Avs situation on the blueline isn’t likely over yet. Kyle Quincey has been a healthy scratch since returning from injured reserve. Quincey was a regular top pairing for most of last year but did spend some time in the dog house, late in the season. Though that didn’t keep the Avs from re-signing him in the off season.

Kyle Cumiskey is still out with an injury and his return is likely to further complicate the crowded blueline.

Compare and Contrast

The play of Matt Duchene and Chris Stewart is interesting to observe. While Stewart leads the Avs in both points and goals, Duchene is struggling to put up goals. The odd thing about is that in any given game, Matt Duchene is hard to miss out there on the ice. He’s often dashing into the zone with the puck, and it’s not unusual to see him behind the net turning a defenseman inside out with his stops, starts and sparkling puck handling.

Chris Stewart, on the other hand, can spend minutes on the ice where I don’t notice a thing. Sure he’s working hard and skating hard, but it isn’t flashy. In fact, unless he is scoring a goal, you are more likely to notice Stewart defending a teammate in a tussle. The thing is: he’s scoring goals.

Matt Duchene is not. It’s eerily like the beginning of last year for the sophomore. He pulls some sweet move on the defenseman, gets open and fires the puck just to have it bing off the iron or just miss that sliver of net the goalie left open. Almost, but no cigar. Where I’m seeing too much of Matt Duchene is in the sin bin. He has had way too many penalties that have nothing to do with aggressive play. His first NHL fight Monday night may well have had as much to do with his frustration as it did with the generally chippy nature of that particular game.

Defending the Caveman

The Avs were suffering injuries in such numbers that some very young players were forced into service. The defensive corps was hit so hard that they were forced to make a hasty trade for an experienced defenseman. But with the return of Ryan Wilson and Adam Foote, and despite Colby Cohen and David Liffiton’s return to the farm team, the Avs will soon have eight healthy blueliners.
What to do? Well, here’s what you don’t do. You don’t sit Ryan Wilson.

Yes, Shattenkirk has looked good on this call up and Holøs has played a smart game. But neither player gives the Avalanche the fearsome hitting capabilities that Wilson brings to the Avs blueline. The best thing about Wilson’s physical play is that he knows when it’s appropriate. Rarely does Wilson make a huge hit that takes him out of the play. He’s a smart checker. Considering the occasional brain freeze I’ve seen in every young Avalanche defenseman, I’ll take the physical game Wilson brings. Wilson should play.

The Avs, forced to call up a bevy of rookies, suddenly shifted to the youngest team in the NHL. Jonas Holøs is the grizzled vet amongst the boys with ten games to his credit. The other three, David Liffiton, Colby Cohen and Kevin Shattenkirk total twelve games of NHL experience.

All those young guys on defense would be enough to make any knowledgeable fan wince at the sight of a D that young taking the ice in a season this young.

The kids had a nice showing on Saturday night and elated fans and bloggers were ready to trade the Kyles and give the young guys a chance. Growing pains be damned. And after a 5 – 0 beat-down of the Dallas Stars over the weekend it’s easy to forget just how painful they can be. Easy until it costs the team a game, or a ½ dozen.

But for now Sacco seems willing to play his young guys in every situation, but then he doesn’t have much of a choice, does he? Most of these kids are playing more minutes than they are years old.

For now, Avs fans are going to have to live with Quincey. He just signed and probably isn’t going anywhere soon. But Cumiskey does seem like a commodity that would be available for trade. And while Wilson’s steady play, hard hits and willingness to fight at an especially low salary would be desirable for any team, it’s just the reason the Avs should keep him.

Next year Foote will surely retire, opening the way for yet another defenseman to step in on a permanent basis. As the injuries begin to clear up, why not let the kids duke it out for top dog? It will make them all better by the end of the season.

During the game the Avs lost two more players to injuries. David Van Der Gulik is reported out indefinitely with a knee injury and T.J. Galiardi is reported to have a broken wrist. On the bright side at least they aren’t defensemen?

Along the Dashers

• Colby Cohen spotted making some nice outlet passes but made a critical mistake late that cost the Avs at least a point.
• As of Tuesday, Colorado had 45 man-games lost to injury, second most in NHL.
• Chris Stewart scored his 100th career point in the Calgary game.
• Kevin Porter was doling out hits and racking up points. Might be getting tired of the bus tour in Erie
• Brandon Yip was credited with a Gordie Howe hat trick in Saturday’s game. Sorry, but that’s hardly a fight.

Tough Guy is the no nonsense expose of Bob Probert’s life written with Kirstie McLellan Day. Its part Animal House and part Slap Shot. This is a story of a time in sports that is so different from today that it’s hard to believe that it was only a couple decades ago. Probert was such a hard party machine that he would stay out all night, till 7 A.M. dress for practice and play that night. He was a smoker. He microwaved his urine to fool the testers into thinking it had just come out of his body and yet he occupies some interesting spots in the record books.

The book opens with an emotional narrative of that last day of Probert’s life. Kirstie McLellan Day stirs the emotional soup by quickly shifting the book to Probert’s voice and taking us back in time to a fight with Tie Domi. Probert tells us of Domi’s first shot at fighting him, filling the page with four letter words, you are suddenly jolted out of the opening passage of the book. You know you are in Probie’s world now.

Probert’s ability to party was stunning; it’s amazing he had time for hockey. An example of Probert’s thought process: when meeting the press with fellow draft pick, Steve Yzerman, Probert assessed him as “fairly serious…and not someone you would expect to be sitting next to in a jail cell, laughing off a hangover.”

But he did have time for hockey. In the 1988 Playoffs he broke Gordie Howe’s playoff record of 21 points. Probert held that record until 1995. Probie’s chapter about his friendship with Sheldon Kennedy is particularly heart warming. It was his first really successful attempt at staying clean after a major scrape with the law.

Probert said he was most happy when he was playing and fighting.

The thing you will see over and over with fighters is pride. That blue collar ethic applied to their job as the enforcer, the man that provides protection. Probert was no different when it came to protecting his guys off the ice. In an incident at a bar, Probert engaged in a street fight to defend a teammate. After the fight he went back in the bar to have a couple more beers before going into the emergency room to get stitched up.

Bob Probert was clearly a troubled man. He struggled with priorities and even as he looked back on his life he alternately took responsibility and dodged it throughout the book. Two things kept Probert on the straight and narrow, the game and his family. And he did manage to keep clean, now and then. It’s a crazy ride through the life of a hard partying and hard hitting hockey player.

When the Avs brought Jose Theodore to town in a trade, the high paid goalie spent Huet-amounts of time on the bench with an equally hefty salary. In the 2006-07 campaign Budaj could have pulled an Antti Niemi, stealing the job from the struggling Theodore. He was given ample opportunity, playing 57 games that season. But the next season Theodore was back on top. The 2008-09 season saw Budaj as the de facto starter. He didn’t get the job done. Once Craig Anderson was signed the #1 job was Anderson’s to lose. All of this has led to the conclusion that most people can agree that Peter Budaj is an acceptable backup goalie, in relief. In the case of an injury, there is one camp that gets rather more agitated.

Of course with the camp that has little faith in Budaj comes the talk of who will be called up. The Avs farm team, the Lake Erie Monsters have John Grahame and Jason Bacashihua. Grahame gets the call and I’m sure we will hear some reasoning about his NHL experience as part of the decision making process. I doubt we will hear anything about his mother being a long time employee of the Avalanche organization.

Only mother/son on the Stanley Cup? Good trivia question. Go research it and let me know.

The backup may not seem like that important of an issue, but to the camp that believe Budaj is bound to go down in Flames (it had to be pun) it is a big deal. In the other camp are the “I Believe in Budaj” supporters. A campaign started by Avalanche blogger Jibblescribbits at the start of the 2008 season and still chanted aggressively by supporters, the majority of which believe he is the perfect backup goalie to Craig Anderson.

I’m in the latter camp; I believe Budaj can handle this challenge just fine.  Remember last season Anderson went down when goalie-killer Keith Ballard crashed the net causing a neck injury?

What an odd coincidence that Ballard is now with the Canucks…hmmm.

Anyway, Budaj played well in that 4 game stretch in Dec. 2009. With the current schedule Budaj can play an equal number of games over a two week period giving Anderson lots of time for rehabilitation. This really should not be much of an issue as long as the injury has been reported/diagnosed correctly.

And finally, Avs fans find the answer to the most pressing question form the night of Anderson’s injury – who would have gone in as the third/emergency goalie if it had come to that? Kyle Quincey said he was “willing.” In a situation like that you can’t ask for much more.

Holland has hawked his idea before and thinks it is gaining support.

The popularity of bashing the shootout is higher than ever and what’s going on here is that this is a way to make the shootout less relevant. There has always been a rabid circle of hockey fans, bloggers, purists, etcetera that have loudly declared the shootout to be the scourge of the game. However, it is often much harder to un-do something once it has been done, and such is the case with the shootout rule. So the opponents will chip away at it any way they can.

I happen to be one of the few people that will admit to supporting the shootout. However, if it needs to go, let’s find a better solution than this idea.

LeBrun declares that too many games were decided by shootouts last year. It’s a popular lament that tends to be parroted, and probably without a lot of thought. But, what did you expect? That’s why it was instituted: to decide games. And LeBrun goes on to say that Holland’s idea would ensure games are decided in a more traditional fashion.

Huh? “Traditional?” International play has long used the shootout and the Western Hockey League used it early in the development of the sport. But I’m stumped on this “tradition” of 3-on-3 hockey.

Maybe we should make it really exciting and actually “traditional” by restricting the goalies from dropping during the overtime? Make them play the old stand-up style. That should keep us from ever getting to a shootout and we can keep five skaters on the ice too.

I think that we can all agree that the 82 game season is a long and difficult endeavor for these athletes. And that the best hockey is playoff hockey. Probably anything that can be done to get players to the end of the season in the best condition possible is a good idea. Extending OT play, even a few minutes is counter-productive to that end when you consider that the best players are the ones that see the most OT time.

This feels like what may be the first of many attempts by the anti-shootout crowd to push the shootout into irrelevancy and eventually elimination. Never mind that every fan in every arena stands up, cheers wildly and intently watches every second of the shootout. Never mind that those are the people that pay to go to games.

Holland was on Puck Daddy radio today discussing the idea with Greg Wyshynski. It was a good segment, though Holland seemed cautious while discussing the topic. But I was encouraged to hear him say that he believes that a game that has a winner and a loser is a good thing for the league. Ties may be traditional, but they are boring.

If the shootout is a gimmick, the same can be said about 3-on-3 play. There’s really nothing traditional about deciding games with 3-on-3 play. If in fact there is such a need to rid the NHL of the shootout, let’s find a better way than this.

But it does seem that the stubbornly conservative GM, Greg Sherman is going to be compelled to do something soon, assuming he wants this team to remain competitive. The elements of the storm are well known, first; the re-emergence of Peter Mueller’s concussion battle, and second is the performance of the Avs tepid power play.

Next up: the 16 scouts at the Avs-Wings game prompting instant trade talk among fans, bloggers and media. But not everyone is stirring the pot, Denver Post beat writer Adrian Dater maintains that it might not mean a thing.

The Avs may well be looking to trade, and the “new NHL” seems to have birthed a “new Avalanche” philosophy that is nearly the opposite of the good old days of trading for huge players. Those players came with equally huge salaries and obviously that just isn’t the Avs style anymore.

So while a trade wouldn’t surprise me, I think it will likely be a pretty low key transaction that will have most of us scrambling for stats on the internet rather than rattling them off by memory. It won’t be a big time player. The Avs only off-season acquisition is evidence enough of that. Daniel Winnik? Who?

And last year the Avs traded for Peter Mueller: not exactly a household name. Kyle Quincey, anyone? So the Avs have gone from wild to mild.

And if the Avs pull the trigger to improve the defense and/or the power play, expect it to be a pretty mild transaction.

But don’t worry Avalanche fans, the season of the young guns is upon us all and this ride is going to be anything but mild.

The Good: Matt Duchene is expected to be the next big thing for the Colorado Avalanche. No pressure kid. But there is little doubt in my mind that Duchene is one of the most dedicated young NHL players we’ve seen in this town in years. He’ll handle the pressure just fine. Will he be the most prolific scorer since Sakic and he will be the captain as well? The combo of skill and leadership is very apparent. But I’m not much for predicting scoring totals; there are so many factors in this league that it’s nearly impossible. What I will stick my neck out and say is that Matt Duchene will be the captain of this team in short order. It’s not just the star power. Its leadership, you can see it in every interview, the standard he holds himself to, the way he conducted himself during that rookie year.

The Bad: Paul Kariya’s short stay in the Mile High City was less than the stellar success that everyone thought it would be. Though the idea of pairing up with his buddy Teemu Selanne was a great one, a major injury made for a short season of only fifty-one regular season games and a paltry 36 points. That one year in Colorado was Kariya’s third lowest points per game total in his career. It seemed that the Avalanche couldn’t be anymore loaded that season of 2003-’04 with players like Sakic, Forsberg, Hejduk, Tanguay and Blake and Foote on defense. Even the retirement of Roy seemed palatable. But that 100 point season ended badly in the eyes of many Avalanche fans.

The Ugly: Mike Ricci is an enigma. How can a guy so ugly get so much attention? Well anyway, I loved the guy’s passion for the game. I was always a little disappointed that he didn’t end up staying with the Avs longer and working in the front office like he does for the Sharks. It’s a bit amusing to me that he seems baffled by the popularity that he enjoys in Denver. Even to this day you will see Ricci jerseys at the games. He wasn’t a prolific scorer, he had only one fight and yet his popularity was undeniable. Maybe some of it was a product of the championship. But most of it was his charisma.

The past and the future coming together on opening night, it’s good to have hockey back.

In an interview at this morning’s skate, Colorado Avalanche center, Matt Duchene responded to the question of his recent feistiness in training camp.  Duchene admits that he is acting a little tougher out there on the ice.  And a lot of the fans in attendance at the Avalanche Burgundy and White charity game got an up close look at Duchene’s new attitude.   Adam Foote, however, was front and center.  Speaking of the incident with Foote, Duchene said, “I got a step on him and he grabbed me up high, so I gave a shot back.”

In case you haven’t seen the exchange between Duchene and Foote, here is a video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Duchene goes on to say he isn’t sure where it can from (this year) but that he used to be a bit more like that in juniors.  He goes on to say that bringing a little more edge to his game can make sure guys aren’t taking advantage of him.   I have to say that I am very, very excited to hear this from the sophomore.   There is no doubt that he was a target for much of last season until Chris Stewart stepped in one game and let the league know how things were going to be.   But guys have to take responsibility for themselves out there; they can’t always depend on someone else to watch their back.   Duchene is likely to spend the season on a line with Peter Mueler and Milan Hejduk, he’s going to have to take care of himself.
Duchene says his confidence is at a different level this year; he’s looking down the road at what kind of player he wants to be.   That’s just the kind of confident attitude that the Colorado fans like to hear.  Considering the year Duchene had last season, it’s a good sign for Avs fans.

First big flop of day one is Kevin Shattenkirk. Wow, for all the hype surrounding this kid I didn’t see a thing! I picked him out of the crowd on nearly every shift during scrimmage and most of my ratings were just OK.  On day 2 Shattenkirk was again up and down. I saw one nice steal and an outlet. But it was mostly a down day. Good players get the puck and make something happen. I noticed Shattenkirk spending a lot of time apparently ensuring that he was in sound positional placement, but doing little else. When he did get the puck, especially late in the day he was sloppy, hesitant and often deferred to his defensive partner, Scott Hannan, allowing him to make the play.

Good defensive players for the 7th spot were in short order. Cameron Gaunce, Jonas Holos and Colby Cohen are the most likely suspects. We’ll see how the preseason plays out.

As for the regulars: Ryan Wilson was solid but nothing spectacular, Liles looked sharp and Hannan was playing his usual, unadorned and steady style. Foote looked good. Kyle Cumiskey was reported to be out with a groin injury.

That leaves Quincey. Last year I was thoroughly unimpressed with Kyle Quincey in training camp and yet he had a decent season. However, the fact that Quincey was suddenly in Sacco’s doghouse late last season has me wondering. Then there is this snippet from rookie camp of some interesting occurrences on the ice involving Quincey. On day two Quincey was as interested in dropping the gloves with his future teammate (Winnik) as he was in playing defense. Put it all together and I’m just slightly concerned that the guy might have a bit of an attitude at times. Hopefully it never turns into anything significant.

The top nine on this team is all but set but I expect we will see a lot competition though the year at the wing position for the top lines. Is Galiardi really a first line wing? I thought Galiardi looked good. Fast skating and quick hands and concentrating a lot on the game with the puck. I like to see that because a lot was made of the game he was playing so well in some opponent’s heads last season. And while that can be valuable, I like to see it on the ice as well.

Ryan O’Reilly was also looking good during camp and will be playing with considerably better line mates than what he was working with last season. The Avs should have a third line that will be able to score often enough to make teams pay attention.

So that leaves the 4th line guys. McLeod looked fine and we got a look at the new acquisition, Daniel Winnik. On day one I thought: Winnik is big, looks competent enough. But as day two rolled along things were looking up. So I hope that the Avs have indeed acquired a defensive forward that is aggressive on the fore check and bonus, effective. He doesn’t just press the defense; he steals the puck or makes them cough it up. Very nice.

Who gets these last two offensive spots (if indeed there are two) is anybody’s guess. No one was particularly outstanding in camp except Greg Mauldin and he doesn’t seem like a good fourth line kind of guy. I saw him lay one hit in two days. Who gets the call is going to depend on play in the preseason much more than two days in camp.

Goalies: yep there were goalies there. See The Avalanche Guild for some excellent goalie coverage from training camp.

There were a lot of stellar performances on this team last season, not the least of which was the rookie bench minder, Joe Sacco.

Will Sacco’s tough demeanor get old quickly with these guys? Is it possible that Sacco’s style could become detrimental? Have the team veterans been acting as a buffer? The assistants? Will that remain stable?

I do not think this team is deep on defense. I believe as the season progresses the loss of Brett Clark will be noticeable. Can Ryan Wilson have another good season sans head injuries? The Avs have many promising looking rookies coming into camp. They may look promising but the one or perhaps two that make the team will obviously be rookies and that brings with it all the adjustments to the big league play.

This year the team has a serious lack of veteran leadership on the ice. Are Adam Foote and Milan Hejduk enough? Last year it became apparent to me that while Darcy Tucker didn’t do squat on the ice, he was clearly important off the ice. Have the young guns learned enough to take the reins by themselves? We shall see, but I sure would have liked to see one more grizzly, old vet signed.

If Peter Mueller thinks he has escaped the expectations that were dogging him in the desert, he’s got another thing coming. The fans and media have anointed him the Golden Boy of the Power Play and that won’t change this year. And the Avs need that power play to perform. Perhaps more importantly they need the penalty kill to perform and where that savior is going to come from is not readily apparent to me. Basically the same guys are going to have to do better. A lot better.

If this team stays healthy it will certainly look different up front. And like last year, will the youth movement mean more of the same? Periods of exuberant and brilliant playing mixed with 3rd period collapses and head-shaking mistakes? But…they still won a slot in the playoffs. What about this year?

It’s time for training camp and I’ll be there over the weekend so expect a report from camp. And as usual the Avalanche will wrap camp with the traditional Burgundy and White charity game on Monday night. I’ll likely have a recap of that as well.

On day two I put my lucky socks on again and hoped for a nice little signing, maybe a left wing or a big solid defenseman.  As the day progressed I checked the wire, twitter (the new wire) and anything else I could think of to find a whisper of a rumor that the Avs were shopping.  Every indication was that Greg Sherman was not even pushing his cart through the aisles of free agency.  Not even window shopping?  Nope.

Damn socks.  Maybe I was asking too much of my lucky socks.  Off-season work wasn’t in the lucky spell?  Avs fans want a signing, damnit!

As days turned to weeks and cap geeks pointed at how far under the floor the Avs were (are) it became more and more apparent that this is not your Joe Sakic’s Avalanche.  No, no.  This is a strategy wholly alien to the likes of those fans.

No pressure Matt Duchene. 

And here we are, weeks later and I’ve finally taken off my lucky (and quite smelly) socks.  Kovalchuk has signed with the Devils and is likely off the market despite the legal maneuvering about to commence.

I think it’s safe now. 

I realized that my lucky socks did their job after all.  The Avs didn’t go out and blow ridiculous amounts of money on any over-hyped or over-aged saviors.  And that may be the best luck of all.

Shift to the post season and getting a chance to see a lot of Boston games and I have to say that Johnny Boychuk looked like a decent defenseman. Obviously Boston thinks so as well.

What the heck does that have to do with Ryan Smyth? You’ll see.

Here’s the time-line:

June 24th, 2008 – The Colorado Avalanche traded Johnny Boychuk to the Boston Bruins for Matt Hendricks.
July 2nd, 2009 – The Colorado Avalanche traded Ryan Smyth to the Los Angeles Kings for Kyle Quincey, Tom Preissing and a fifth round pick in 2010.

The Avs and the Bruins swapped players, Boychuk for Matt Hendricks. Let’s say that trade never happened.

And let’s say the Smyth trade didn’t happen either. The Avs would not have Preissing or Quincey. Preissing is a non-factor as he was sent down after a mere 52 minutes of playing time, never to see an Avs jersey again.

Quincey was an asset for most of the season, but there were a few knocks on him as the season went along and he “earned” some doghouse time with Sacco late in the season. I don’t have a beef with Quincey, just pointing out he was no more than a decent defenseman.

On trade day the Avs swapped Wolski for Mueller and found a missing link in the power play. And a right handed shot for the power play as well.

However, the second unit PP was still weak.

Guess what folks: Boychuk plays on the #1 PP unit for Boston and he shoots right.

Imagine if the Avs had kept Boychuk and Smyth.

By late season the team would have had a nice looking power play with two units that had that elusive right hander that has a good shot from the point. And Boychuk kills penalties too.

Boychuk’s play on D would be virtually indistinguishable from Quincey’s over the course of the season.

The Avs would have had another strong leader in the room with Smyth, and a guy that produces on the ice as well, including on the power play.

And for that we would have to imagine the Avs with OUT Hendricks and Quincey. I could have lived with that. Quincey was good and Hendricks was a great gritty guy that made a difference on this team, no doubt. But I think this team would have been better off with my scenario.

The San Jose Sharks came out in the third with the Thornton line reunited and buzzing around the Avs’ net. It foreshadowed the future.

The Avs scored at 4:51 of the third to give them the lead in the game, but it wouldn’t last for long.

Suddenly the game opened up with back and forth play and lost whistles. Next thing you know Boyle scored, the puck inexplicably hitting no one on the way in despite the Avs crowding the lane.

Less than two minutes later Pavelski scored on a two on one when Adam Foote lost his check along the boards.

Douglas Murray ended the Avs season, scoring the second empty netter of the night with 31 seconds left in the game.

Just 47 seconds into the game the Sharks Joe Pavelski scored on a wrap-around when Kyle Cumiskey couldn’t control the Avs-killer behind the net. Pavelski scored four key goals in this series, more than any of the high dollar guys on the Sharks team.

That opening goal was the seventh unanswered goal by the Sharks.

The period, though scoreless, went well for the Avs in that they managed good pressure on the Sharks in their zone. And Avs fans were shocked to see that the Avs earned the first power play opportunity of the game. It did not result in a goal but the Avs kept the pressure on and controlled the puck well.

The Avs wrapped the period with a 7-10 shot disadvantage on the Sharks.

Building on a decent first period, the Avs hit the ice in the second with more confidence and attitude. After the first period the Avs were behind in hits but closed out the second ahead of the Sharks.

At the 6:14 mark of the second period Marek Svatos came screaming down the wing with Joe Thornton checking him. Svatos got the advantage to the inside and cut in front of the net for a very nice goal to tie things up. Many Avs fans have been hoping for the Marek Svatos scoring touch to return for, well, all season.

Way to end the season on a high note, now go away.

The Avs were again controlling the puck but were not getting much in the way of scoring chances. But the confidence was back and so was the attitude.

You could see it when Chris Stewart took exception to Nichol giving Cumiskey a little bit of a late hit on an offside. A 4-on-4 ensued that ended with a penalty on Liles. A ridiculous situation with the 240 pound Murray turning in an Oscar-winning performance of being pinned to the boards by the slight Johnny Liles.

I’ve got some sea-side real estate in Colorado to sell that referee.

Avs start and end season with the Sharks, though with different results.

The Avs had a great season, better that even most (reasonable) Avs fans expected. I don’t think you will hear any complaining in this town. Sure, some well meaning advice during the off-season but we are all looking forward to a great team in the future.

I’ll be covering them as we go forward so be sure to check back in!

Well, time to shave.

See ya ‘round Avs fans!