All Entries in the "Colorado Avalanche" Category
Rink Recollections: Jeff Odgers, NHL, 1991-2003
By Brian D’Ambrosio Jeff Odgers played every NHL game as if it were his final. He never took a game for granted –scared that his career could fade away at any moment. Odgers scrapped and gritted his way onto the roster and he made sure he never provided his coaches with a sufficient reason to [...]
A Brief History of Avalanche Leading Scorers
It started the year the Joe Sakic retirement began to look like it was written on the wall. The Avs gave up on winning. Right after the 2006-07 season: that last magic season for Joe Sakic when he scored 100 points, the Avs were beginning this pattern. They were tied for 3rd in scoring that [...]
Honey, I Lost the Kids (part 2 of 2)
In the first part of this epic, we promised three pieces of evidence to explain how Garth Snow does things with the sole intention of job preservation. We pointed out how he is relatively awful at drafting in part one. Part two will speak to other shortcomings, starting here: Two- Garth Snow uses salary cap [...]
Honey, I Lost the Kids – part one of two
It’s almost like a reflex when you ask hockey fans about the best way to build a winner “It’s the draft!” Drafting allow you to develop players or trade for established ones. Since the Isles have had no playoffs since 07-08, they’ve been in rebuild mode. We’re going to look at this draft rebuild with [...]
Why Was John Tavares Holding His Head in His Hands?
For the 9,000 or so fans in attendance (way below the average of 13,000 that they had when they were a winning team), the debacle that was the 6-4 loss at the hands of the not that good Carolina Hurricanes had a few unusual moments. The Islanders scored 4 power play goals and lost. That [...]
Hockey Myths Exposed – Defensemen Need Time to Develop
Anyone who has watched more than a handful of hockey games gets serenaded with statements that are undisputed in the hockey world, but in reality it doesnt make a lot of sense. We’ve already disproved the myth that power forwards need years to develop in our article “Ninogate,” in which we use the “talent is [...]
We Are Not That Dumb
It can be assumed that the Isles and Garth Snow are on a strict budget. Whether they say it or not, their actions support such. However, since they constantly say the opposite, they should be held to their own words. Garth consistently repeats, three times a year, once before free agency starts, again after [...]
Hockey Independent Roundtable: Preseason Stanley Cup Predictions
Hello everyone and welcome again to the Hockey Independent Roundtable. In today’s piece, five HI writers will provide you all with their early picks for the playoffs ad the Stanley Cup. This piece will double as Part III of my five-part 2013 NHL season preview. Part I –> Northeast Division Preview Part II –> Eastern [...]
Boston Bruins Offseason Notebook: Corvo, Zanon Depart On Day One Of Free Agency
While the Boston Bruins remained quiet on the July 1 opening of unrestricted free agency, three former members of the Black and Gold squad opted to sign elsewhere on Sunday. First up was defenseman Joe Corvo, who inked a new one-year pact worth a total of $2 million dollars with the Carolina Hurricanes. The 35-year-old [...]
Hockey’s Christmas: 10 Predictions For 2012 Free Agency
In many ways, July 1 and the opening of unrestricted free agency is much like Christmas for hockey fans. Puck heads wake up early and rush to their living rooms early in the morning. But instead of checking underneath a Christmas tree, they’ll make a beeline straight towards the nearest computer. As the clock strikes [...]
Hockey Independent Offseason Predictions: Does Alex Semin Have An NHL Future?
Members of the Hockey Independent crew have come together again for another series of offseason articles for your reading pleasure. The contributing authors to today’s piece will be Cris Cohen (New York Rangers), Seth Levin (New Jersey Devils), Alex Muscat (Detroit Red Wings) and myself, Benjamin Woodward (Boston Bruins). Each of us have taken on [...]
2012 Hockey Independent Mock Draft: Final Wrap-Up
The Hockey Independent crew has come together again; this time to piece together a 2012 NHL Mock Draft for your reading pleasure. The contributing authors to today’s piece will be Cris Cohen (New York Rangers), Seth Levin (New Jersey Devils), Alex Muscat (Detroit Red Wings), Bill Philp (Tampa Bay Lightning) and myself, Benjamin Woodward [...]
Looking Back: Avs Trade Deadline Day History
Being a fan of the Colorado Avalanche around this time of year has not been for the faint of heart. Former GM (and current team president) Pierre Lacroix has never been terribly shy about pulling the trigger on a trade that he feels will improve his club’s chances. Today, we take a look back at [...]
CONCUSSIONS KILLING HOCKEY
Speed and offense are now the kings in the present day NHL. A focus on players with those very attributes took over drafts and team on-ice strategies. Slower skaters have slowly been fazed out, especially those pugilistic specialists who all too often didn’t quite have the same skill sets and strides of their respective teammates. [...]
What’s the Answer to the Avs Problems?
The Colorado Avalanche can’t win at home. And it may be worse than that but we will have to wait till the current home stand is over to be sure. But it’s looking more and more like a fluke that the Avs started the season off with the best road record in team history. Since [...]
GOON: The Hockey Movie Preview
GOON: In our support of the lack of hockey movies, comes this info from the movie company to us. “We have a great throwback hockey movie coming out and we would love to get your support. Its violent and insanely funny.” Starring Seann William Scott, Jay Baruchel, Alison Pill and Liev Schreiber Written by [...]
Rask’s 35 Saves Not Enough, As B’s Fall 1-0 To Avs
On Monday afternoon, the Boston Bruins (1-1-0) played host to the visiting Colorado Avalanche (0-1-0) , for a Columbus Day Matinee contest at the TD Garden. Boston’s 24-year-old Finnish net-minder Tuukka Rask got the start for the B’s, his first of the 2011-12 campaign. In net for the Avs was young Russian goaltender Semyon [...]
PAT LAFONTAINE AND STEVE WEBB TO RIDE 550 MILES FOR CHARITY
We here at HI support this effort by Pat LaFontaine and Steve Webb, and personally implore you to give just anything you can in support of this…. HOCKEY LEGENDS PAT LAFONTAINE AND STEVE WEBB TO RIDE 550 MILES FOR W20 FOUNDATION AND COMPANIONS IN COURAGE FOUNDATION NEW YORK (September 19, 2011) –NHL alumnus Steve Webb [...]
Moore’s Lawsuit Against Bertuzzi, Canucks Could Start In Fall Of 2012
It’s been more than seven years since one of the darkest moments in recent hockey history took place—but former Colorado forward Steve Moore will have his day in an Ontario Superior Court next year. Moore filed a $38 million lawsuit against current Detroit Red Wing Todd Bertuzzi, the Vancouver Canucks and Orca Bay, which owned [...]
Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (KHL) plane crashes; 43 people dead, many former NHLers ***updated***
Forty-three people have died in a Yakovlev Yak-42 passenger plane crash near the city of Yaroslavl in Central Russia. The majority of victims were members of the local ice hockey team Lokomotiv of the Kontinental Hockey League. The plane crashed on take-off after hitting an air traffic tower at the airport and witnesses are reporting [...]
