Ville Isopaa
Registered User
Part I: Season review and a look ahead.
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For starters, it might not have been a very realistic goal to go from 30th to 1st, but well, it wasn't that much of a reach.
After finishing well behind the rest of the teams last year with a mere 16 wins and 44 points in 05-06, who would have guessed that the Avs would win 46 games, pick up 97 points, win the divisional title and advancing to the 2nd round in the playoffs. This must be one of the most impressive feats in the history of the league.
While the goals against stayed about the same at 249 compared to 258 last season, the Avs scored 116 more goals this season (272 compared to 156 in 05-06).
A lot happened to the team during the year. Gone from the season ending lineup are all but one forward, Mikael Samuelsson, 3 defensemen Lubomir Visnovsky, Mike Komisarek and Martin Grenier and 1 goaltender Marc Denis. Rumors are that there might be a lot of changes comming to the current lineup as well, but it would be hard to imagine that the changes would be as big as they were in 06-07.
Already widely known since during the season, forwards Anson Carter and Todd Marchant were not on Mr Isopää's list of players to re-sign as both players were demanding substantial raises to their currently high salaries. Especially Marchant's demands of close to 2,5 million was generally considered rediculous. There have also been rumours of scoring leader Jason Allison hanging up his skates after the season. With three holes to fill up front, Mr Isopää will primarily be looking to fill those holes from inside the organisation. Rostislav Olesz and Samuel Påhlsson both seems ready for a bigger role on the team, while Alex Burrows and Krys Barch should be ready for a little more action on the 4th line. On defense Keith Ballard and Paul Ranger are looking to push out a defenseman or two from the top 4. The likely candidates to be moved would be Derian Hatcher and Mathieu Schneider.
One need that the 06-07 season outlined for the franchise was a stronger starting goaltender. While Marc Denis has been with the team since he was drafted, the organisation has to sadly admit that he might never be the goalie that wins the Cup as a starter. Therefore one of the bigger tasks of the summer is to find a starter who can carry the team deep in to the playoffs.
Part II about the playoffs and Part III about the future of the organisation comming up..
--------------------------------------
For starters, it might not have been a very realistic goal to go from 30th to 1st, but well, it wasn't that much of a reach.
After finishing well behind the rest of the teams last year with a mere 16 wins and 44 points in 05-06, who would have guessed that the Avs would win 46 games, pick up 97 points, win the divisional title and advancing to the 2nd round in the playoffs. This must be one of the most impressive feats in the history of the league.
While the goals against stayed about the same at 249 compared to 258 last season, the Avs scored 116 more goals this season (272 compared to 156 in 05-06).
A lot happened to the team during the year. Gone from the season ending lineup are all but one forward, Mikael Samuelsson, 3 defensemen Lubomir Visnovsky, Mike Komisarek and Martin Grenier and 1 goaltender Marc Denis. Rumors are that there might be a lot of changes comming to the current lineup as well, but it would be hard to imagine that the changes would be as big as they were in 06-07.
Already widely known since during the season, forwards Anson Carter and Todd Marchant were not on Mr Isopää's list of players to re-sign as both players were demanding substantial raises to their currently high salaries. Especially Marchant's demands of close to 2,5 million was generally considered rediculous. There have also been rumours of scoring leader Jason Allison hanging up his skates after the season. With three holes to fill up front, Mr Isopää will primarily be looking to fill those holes from inside the organisation. Rostislav Olesz and Samuel Påhlsson both seems ready for a bigger role on the team, while Alex Burrows and Krys Barch should be ready for a little more action on the 4th line. On defense Keith Ballard and Paul Ranger are looking to push out a defenseman or two from the top 4. The likely candidates to be moved would be Derian Hatcher and Mathieu Schneider.
One need that the 06-07 season outlined for the franchise was a stronger starting goaltender. While Marc Denis has been with the team since he was drafted, the organisation has to sadly admit that he might never be the goalie that wins the Cup as a starter. Therefore one of the bigger tasks of the summer is to find a starter who can carry the team deep in to the playoffs.
Part II about the playoffs and Part III about the future of the organisation comming up..
