GDT: Game 2: Avs @ Devils | Saturday, October 7th, Noon MT | Bernie's Angels

[hawk30]

Waiting for the shot counters to show up and tell us how great the Avs played today.

 

[AnimalMother73]

It wouldn't change anything. New players come in, look good for two or three games and then start to get bad. It's been this way for many years now. This franchise hasn't had a good coach since Q left and it naturally shows. I had hoped Bednar just had a tough start and had to go through a little bit of a learning process but my goodness it's almost worse than it was last October.

a good coach could help but honestly if/until the Kroenke's care about putting a winning franchise together the Avs will be playing a man short
there's no culture, no vision, inept GM who gets a pass b/c ownership doesn't care or know enough or both
a poster said it earlier only chance Avs have is to land enough high drafts picks to offset this organization's handcuffs on most teams 1-2 get you there but given how Avs works its going to need to be 4-5 at least

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Waiting for the shot counters to show up and tell us how great the Avs played today.

Lol nobody is saying they played great.


But anyone who thinks the Avs got dominated 5 on 5 are just being dumb. It was a close game even strength. The Avs just got outworked on special teams and our PK setup is pure trash that has to be changed.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Gabe Landeskog was atrocious today. Probably add Andrighetto, Mack, Rantanen and Compher to the "awful" list as well.

 

[klozge]

a good coach could help but honestly if/until the Kroenke's care about putting a winning franchise together the Avs will be playing a man short
there's no culture, no vision, inept GM who gets a pass b/c ownership doesn't care or know enough or both
a poster said it earlier only chance Avs have is to land enough high drafts picks to offset this organization's handcuffs on most teams 1-2 get you there but given how Avs works its going to need to be 4-5 at least

I can't disagree.

 

[the_fan]

Tell me how this team is the same compared to last year? I am going to do my review post, but nothing how Avs lost last year contributed to the team this year.

It's very easy to see how they are exactly the same team as last year, except this year it's starting to show earlier only 2 games in. Nothing is clicking defensively specially, horrible system, specially the PK. No mental toughness, no leadership. The only player who might make this team look somewhat better than last year's team is Varly if he stays healthy, but even with healthy Varly this team probably won't even get 70 points.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

Gabe Landeskog was atrocious today. Probably add Andrighetto, Mack, Rantanen and Compher to the "awful" list as well.

Compher line was brutal defensively. Didn't expect that. There was a lot of bad today. I hate afternoon games.

 

[Crease Master]

Man, watching this game on tv they made a big deal in the post game interview with Will Butcher about his decision to pick New Jersey and I truly felt for you Avs fans. 3 points against you in his debut is a bit of salt in the wounds, I hope your ownership smartens up and does what needs to be done. Joe Sakic once tried to unplug a snowblower with the hands that earned him millions of dollars a year playing hockey, he's not exactly the smartest guy around. If I was an Avs fan I'd be hitting Sakic hard with signs in the arena or chucking Sakic jerseys on the ice in protest of him keeping a job. That was effective in Toronto with letting ownership know that things needed to change. I think you guys need to help it along a bit more.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Man, watching this game on tv they made a big deal in the post game interview with Will Butcher about his decision to pick New Jersey and I truly felt for you Avs fans. 3 points against you in his debut is a bit of salt in the wounds, I hope your ownership smartens up and does what needs to be done. Joe Sakic once tried to unplug a snowblower with the hands that earned him millions of dollars a year playing hockey, he's not exactly the smartest guy around. If I was an Avs fan I'd be hitting Sakic hard with signs in the arena or chucking Sakic jerseys on the ice in protest of him keeping a job. That was effective in Toronto with letting ownership know that things needed to change. I think you guys need to help it along a bit more.

Avs fans are not upset about not signing Will Butcher.

 

[JoemAvs]

Avs fans are not upset about not signing Will Butcher.

Some are and always have been...

Hope he does well with you guys.

I blame Roy on that one...

 

[JLo217]

First, the refs were f***ing awful. The Devils weren't called for shit. Not that it matters.

Second this team sucks from top to bottom. They look like a pee wee team.

 

[UncleRisto]

Not overly optimistic about what Andrighetto can do this season.

Man, watching this game on tv they made a big deal in the post game interview with Will Butcher about his decision to pick New Jersey and I truly felt for you Avs fans. 3 points against you in his debut is a bit of salt in the wounds, I hope your ownership smartens up and does what needs to be done. Joe Sakic once tried to unplug a snowblower with the hands that earned him millions of dollars a year playing hockey, he's not exactly the smartest guy around. If I was an Avs fan I'd be hitting Sakic hard with signs in the arena or chucking Sakic jerseys on the ice in protest of him keeping a job. That was effective in Toronto with letting ownership know that things needed to change. I think you guys need to help it along a bit more.

Don't really care one way or the other about Butcher to be honest. Feels like when people got pissed about the Michael Bournival trade.

 

[S E P H]

I would count this loss as a systemic loss over player personnel loss. You guys can disagree with me, but that 48 point season was more of personnel than it was over anything else.

I and all of us except losses and definitely more losses than wins, but it was frustrating in how the Avs lost. They lost by allowing 3 powerplay goals, 1 shorthanded goal, and scoring on ZERO powerplay's for. This is a recipe for failure in any organization with any talent pool.

I consider this good news, but I honestly cannot pinpoint which player(s) looked truly terrible tonight. Everyone in the Avs organization mention how they're going to be more aggressive this year. Well, that aggressiveness is going to contribute to these "wild-west shootouts" we've seen in these two games. If you want to put blame on something, it's more on Bednar's than anything else. Avs did run around in their zone a lot, but it's hard to put that on the players, individuals, system, or if Devil's were feeding on the energy for their home opener. Hischier did demand a win for this game and they might have had extra determination. So far none of us can answer that question, however we can answer in how the Avs lost tonight....

- The penalty kill is sooooo bad because of Bednar's desire to play every ****ing player. Jost in particular was a disaster and was responsible for two of the Devils PP goals. Avs penalty kill would be better if he didn't play forwards like Rantanen, Andrighetto, Jost, Compher, Soderberg, etc. But to grow, sometimes you gotta go through these growing pains like Jost did. Likewise with the defenders, Barrie doesn't even come close to a good defenceman in the defensive zone, constantly playing him that much on the PK is asking for goals. Likewise with Bigras.

- I mentioned here two years ago that Avs desperately need a prime penalty killer like Gordon. Someone who would block shots, reads the play well defensively, but a player you wouldn't care if he gets injured blocking shots. Avs currently have absolutely ZERO of these players. And that's why we're seeing players who should never touch special teams, have consistent minutes on them. Gabriel Bourque would be perfect for this, but Avs consider him depth cannon fodder.

- I quite like the powerplay, but only when they get setup and start moving the puck. We saw on the four-minute advantage, that when Avs can't setup it up, it looks like a disaster on the counterattack. And considering we play one defender, that will contribute on teams taking advantage of it. It's a work-in-progress, but I do see light at the end of the tunnel.

- When it comes to some of the personnel here are my thoughts; Bernier is here to stay. Everybody wanting to trade for Pickard the last couple of days was quite confusing for me because Bernier was always an upgrade. He just played on some **** clubs like Maple Leafs, similarly to Beauchemin, which destroyed their reputation around the league through the fans' eyes.

- Andrighetto, though not terrible, hasn't been very good either. He's getting in good shooting lanes, but the bounces haven't been coming. Likewise with Landeskog.

- Comeau is soooooo ****ing reckless and such a useless player. I want him off the team so ****ing much.

- Zadorov was very good, really liked his game. Actually, it seemed much more mature and composed compared to last season.

- MacKinnon probably won't ever come around to his 1st overall offencive hype, but man he has become such a solid two-way player with a great defencive game.

- Wow, Devils shocked me in how fast their team speed was. That wasn't the Devils I knew going all the way back to 1995. Oh and Hischier is the best player in the past draft.

 

[dahrougem2]

Man, watching this game on tv they made a big deal in the post game interview with Will Butcher about his decision to pick New Jersey and I truly felt for you Avs fans. 3 points against you in his debut is a bit of salt in the wounds, I hope your ownership smartens up and does what needs to be done. Joe Sakic once tried to unplug a snowblower with the hands that earned him millions of dollars a year playing hockey, he's not exactly the smartest guy around. If I was an Avs fan I'd be hitting Sakic hard with signs in the arena or chucking Sakic jerseys on the ice in protest of him keeping a job. That was effective in Toronto with letting ownership know that things needed to change. I think you guys need to help it along a bit more.

Will Butcher is not going to make or break this team. We could say the same thing about you guys and Alex Kerfoot

 

[JLo217]

Man, watching this game on tv they made a big deal in the post game interview with Will Butcher about his decision to pick New Jersey and I truly felt for you Avs fans. 3 points against you in his debut is a bit of salt in the wounds, I hope your ownership smartens up and does what needs to be done. Joe Sakic once tried to unplug a snowblower with the hands that earned him millions of dollars a year playing hockey, he's not exactly the smartest guy around. If I was an Avs fan I'd be hitting Sakic hard with signs in the arena or chucking Sakic jerseys on the ice in protest of him keeping a job. That was effective in Toronto with letting ownership know that things needed to change. I think you guys need to help it along a bit more.

Thanks captain obvious. Where did anyone ask for your 1 game assessment opinion?

Go home.

 

[StayAtHomeAv]

Well, that was pathetic. Same shit as last year. Terrible d, sloppy with the puck and no God damn mental fortitude. Who would have guessed it with the same coach and core.

Thank you Bernier for that very entertaining two minutes. Beautiful sequence of saves.

 

[Pokecheque]

Was hoping Butcher would succeed in the NHL...but I didn't want it to start today.

This was a tough one to watch for sure, but there were actually some things to look forward to. I thought the move to switch out Jost and Wilson was good, I hope it continues.

And yes, I'll admit it, Soderberg looked good out there. Really good.

Also continue to be impressed with Chris Bigras. Lindholm looked good IMO despite the fact his underlying numbers still don't look great. Nemeth still looks like a decent pickup.

Duchene, MacKinnon, and a lot of other stars looked horrendous.


Anyhow, coaches should be ROASTED for today. The team looked completely unprepared and disorganized. The constant rotation of d-pairings is especially grating.

I really thought the firing of Army and Farrish would lead to reasonably better special teams and defensive zone play. The schemes I'm seeing are even worse than they were under Roy. Inexcusable.

I get it, it's only two games thus far, but Bednar and crew had more than ample time to be ready for this, and it doesn't look like that's the case.

 

[the_fan]

This is a 60 or 65 point team with healthy Varlamov

 

[S E P H]

Man, watching this game on tv they made a big deal in the post game interview with Will Butcher about his decision to pick New Jersey and I truly felt for you Avs fans. 3 points against you in his debut is a bit of salt in the wounds, I hope your ownership smartens up and does what needs to be done. Joe Sakic once tried to unplug a snowblower with the hands that earned him millions of dollars a year playing hockey, he's not exactly the smartest guy around. If I was an Avs fan I'd be hitting Sakic hard with signs in the arena or chucking Sakic jerseys on the ice in protest of him keeping a job. That was effective in Toronto with letting ownership know that things needed to change. I think you guys need to help it along a bit more.

Kerfoot has been just as good as Butcher. It's just the Avs PK has been a disaster dating back against last season.

Don't get me wrong, I valued Butcher more than other Avs fans around here who called him "nothing more than an AHLer". He proved to be more than that, but I argue that Kerfoot is already the better player and will be the better player in the long run. I take that *trade* 10 out of 10 times for me as an Avs fan personally.

 

[Balthazar]

Ghetto doesn't have that much leeway from his 22 games with us last year. Hopefully he's not going back to his Habs form after signing that contract.

There's a scary trend with players that are great at first when they arrive here but get into the AVS "culture" and start to suck the following year: Beauchemin, Soda, Nieto? Ghetto? Barberio?

 

[Freudian]

It almost feels like they are playing Jost on the PK to compensate him for getting lesser ES minutes.

 

[the_fan]

It's good to see Devils fans see Butcher as Bobby Orr

 

[Ceremony]

Easy up there lads, no need to be tetchy because we gave up the next Brian Rafalski for nothing.

 

[Joe Sakic]

The issue is team defence as a whole. Too much chasing, not enough puck pursuit.

 

[Pokecheque]

I was going to humor the troll for a moment but decided not to.

I again maintain the Avs screwed things up with Butcher royally, but it's not like his presence would have made the Avs infinitely better today. Butcher found a great fit in NJ, hope he continues to make the best of it. It's only one game but he didn't look out of place at all today.

I just DO NOT understand how the Avs can somehow roll out a PK that's even worse than last year's. They have the horses, especially up front, to play an aggressive style, yet all I see is the same passive, collapsing, shot-blocking bullshit the last guys did. At least those guys had an excuse, Bednar doesn't. I'm not expecting Jost to pick everything up overnight but FFS how hard is it to go after the shooter on the point on the penalty kill!?