GDT: Game 27: Avs @ Lightning|12/7, 5:30pm MT|Insert witty comment here

[StayAtHomeAv]

Dater says Avs are going with 7 D tonight. Siemens and Yakupov scratched.

I'm okay with Yakupov being scratched, he's been quite bad. But I don't get the 7 D thing. I'll never understand any coach ever doing it. Not only does it make an incredibly strange imbalance in lines, but in this situation it doesn't even benefit the Avs when it comes to players abilities.

We have more defenseman worthy of being scratched than we have forwards. What could his reasoning possibly be "Uhh well I've been trying to decide which two of our complete mess of hockey player's we should scratch on defense. We have Barbario, Siemens and Lindholm back there. Ya know what **** it let's just play them all".

He has to get his precious Barberio back on the ice.

 

[Murzu]

Seems like...

Zadorov-EJ
Nemeth-Barrie
Girard-Lindholm/Barb?

Personally, I love it.

Me too. I just hope that less ES minutes for Girard means a little more PP minutes.

 

[Freudian]

Top teams have a high performance floor. Teams like Avs are all over the place. Varlamov still has the ability to steal games so here's hoping.

 

[the_fan]

When you know you're last name is Koekkoek, you don't name your kid something crazy like 'Slater'
You name him Koko!

Koko Koekkoek!!!

Now we are talking

 

[Piestany88]

Right, only a cup contender. Easy match.

Tampa gets a lot of cheap points playing in the worst division, we beat Winnipeg who are better than Tampa. Never said it would be easy , just possible, we play teams as good as Tampa all the time in the Central

 

[Balthazar]

Yakupov's NHL career is pretty much over. He couldn't afford to be a healthy scratch, it was his last chance to prove that he belongs in the NHL.

He's not getting re-signed here nor elsewhere.

 

[SaltySkywalker]

I'll still bet on Washington or Pittsburgh in the east , easily

Lol, why would you bet on Washington? Haven’t you learned anything? Personally, they’re shit in post season until they prove me wrong.

 

[dahrougem2]

Tampa gets a lot of cheap points playing in the worst division, we beat Winnipeg who are better than Tampa. Never said it would be easy , just possible, we play teams as good as Tampa all the time in the Central

You must know your hockey

 

[dahrougem2]

Dater says Avs are going with 7 D tonight. Siemens and Yakupov scratched.

I'm okay with Yakupov being scratched, he's been quite bad. But I don't get the 7 D thing. I'll never understand any coach ever doing it. Not only does it make an incredibly strange imbalance in lines, but in this situation it doesn't even benefit the Avs when it comes to players abilities.

We have more defenseman worthy of being scratched than we have forwards. What could his reasoning possibly be "Uhh well I've been trying to decide which two of our complete mess of hockey player's we should scratch on defense. We have Barbario, Siemens and Lindholm back there. Ya know what **** it let's just play them all".

The only reason I can come up with if I was coaching would be to get MacKinnon playing on two lines so he gets as much ice time as possible, since he's the only player doing anything these days.

 

[Pokecheque]

They've been pretty rigid on forward lineups but very fluid on defensive pairings. Shouldn't be a huge issue.

 

[CobraAcesS]

I don't know about you guys but comparing that to ottawas it looks awesome. Makes me want to watch a game there.

Going to a hockey game in shorts this time of year, and having your drink on an open balcony during intermission is quite the experience as well.

 

[Werewolf]

Tampa gets a lot of cheap points playing in the worst division, we beat Winnipeg who are better than Tampa. Never said it would be easy , just possible, we play teams as good as Tampa all the time in the Central

We've only played 2 more games against the Atlantic Division than Colorado so far in the season while having accumulated 14 more points. Additionally, Tampa is 3 - 0 - 0 vs Central Division and 7 - 1 - 0 against the Western conference (wins over St. Louis, Blackhawks, Dallas, Sharks, Kings, etc.) only loss vs the Ducks. Just some info in case you wanted to inform yourself.

 

[UncleRisto]

We've only played 2 more games against the Atlantic Division than Colorado so far in the season while having accumulated 14 more points. Additionally, Tampa is 3 - 0 - 0 vs Central Division and 7 - 1 - 0 against the Western conference (wins over St. Louis, Blackhawks, Dallas, Sharks, Kings, etc.) only loss vs the Ducks. Just some info in case you wanted to inform yourself.

Even after that show of faultless logic?

 

[AvalancheFan19]

Tampa gets a lot of cheap points playing in the worst division, we beat Winnipeg who are better than Tampa. Never said it would be easy , just possible, we play teams as good as Tampa all the time in the Central

......

 

[AvsWraith]

I predict Landy crosschecks someone in the face out of frustration for being down 6-7 goals and goes for the all-time suspension record.

 

[Freudian]

I'd rather have Yakupov than Barbeiro, but I doubt it will make a big difference either way.

 

[Avsavsavsavsavs]

Yakupov's NHL career is pretty much over. He couldn't afford to be a healthy scratch, it was his last chance to prove that he belongs in the NHL.

He's not getting re-signed here nor elsewhere.

Guy is terrible defensively but I could see him signing somewhere for the same minimum contract and playing a 4th line - 2nd power play role. His numbers are up this year despite him playing like trash who knows.

 

[Balthazar]

Guy is terrible defensively but I could see him signing somewhere for the same minimum contract and playing a 4th line - 2nd power play role. His numbers are up this year despite him playing like trash who knows.

Nope. It was now or never.

 

[Freudian]

The thing with Yakupov is that it's so hard to read the guy. Outside of him taking shots, is there any area in the game where you would have him over a Toninato?

 

[Vaslof]

I'd keep Yakupov as a lower line depth forward. Not sure if he would want a role like that though.

 

[Balthazar]

I'd keep Yakupov as a lower line depth forward. Not sure if he would want a role like that though.

I'd rather have a more defensively responsible guy as a depth forward. Not like Yak's numbers make up for his lack of everything else anyway.

 

[McMetal]

I'd keep Yakupov as a lower line depth forward. Not sure if he would want a role like that though.

I'm sure he'd be very happy to stay here in any capacity. He clearly loves it here. And for all the hot take "career over" people, just keep in mind that he still has 7 goals this year and is 5th on the team on that regard. More than double what he did last year in just over half the games. So it's not like he contributes nothing on the ice. As a cheap secondary scorer/PP specialist he does provide value even aside from his clearly infectious locker room attitude. Considering that we spent 5.3 million on Iginla last year to do literally the exact same job, I'm still very happy to have him here even with the occasional scratch.

 

[the_fan]

So many Avs players are like running on batteries. They have one good game run out of battery and have to be put to charge (scratched) rinse and repeat.

 

[Bubba Thudd]

I'm going tonight!!!!!*














*going to make nachos, that is...

 

[Piestany88]

You must know your hockey

Everyone knows the Atlantic is weak , Why don't you ?