Pre-Game Talk: WEEK 28: Last Week of Regular Season "The Continued Suck" at Vegas, vs Oil

[henchman21]

Once again I'm going to have to thoroughly disagree with this viewpoint. You cannot play a rookie with 14 career starts (or maybe 17/18/19 if you played him more) as your starter in the playoffs. Whether you like it or not, George is the starter and Bednar had to try and get him going. There's a reason he refers to him as the starter, its because he's the only one we have. Bednar had no choice. Annunen is not an option yet. It was only what 8 or so games ago last month where George was looking better during our win streak, he had something like a .924%, and a 2.1GAA. Bednar had to see if he could get that out of Georgiev again. If he had gone with Annunen, well he might as well have waived George then and there and brought up Pro, because you think you'll get better stats out of George in the backup position? Bednar 100% had to go with George. Now we wait to see if he can actually return to his level of play from last month or even last year, or not.

Patrick Roy backstopped a Cup champion team as a rookie... and yeah unfair to compare to Roy. So did Ward with the Canes, Murray with the Pens, Binnington with the Blues, Niemi with the Hawks... I'm not saying Annunen is the answer as I clearly don't think he is, but the fact that he's a rookie with limited experience should not be the reason. Teams can and do win with rookie goalies.

George has played like utter shit, and he's not getting going with a game or two at the end of the season. He's going to have to get going during the playoffs. As of now, we have zero clue if Annunen or Prosvetov can even handle good teams consistently. The Avs had a chance to see that down the stretch and chose not to. IMO the main reason is George's volatility about being usurped.

 

[NorthernAvsFan]

Give the team a chance to reset against Edmonton with Annunen in net.

That goal against Vegas where Georgiev moved his blocker away from the shot says it all to me. George is broken. He’s terrified in there. He’s not even backup quality right now.

Personally… I think the risk of starting Georgiev in the playoffs is far greater than starting Annunen.

 

[chet1926]

Once again I'm going to have to thoroughly disagree with this viewpoint. You cannot play a rookie with 14 career starts (or maybe 17/18/19 if you played him more) as your starter in the playoffs. Whether you like it or not, George is the starter and Bednar had to try and get him going. There's a reason he refers to him as the starter, its because he's the only one we have. Bednar had no choice. Annunen is not an option yet. It was only what 8 or so games ago last month where George was looking better during our win streak, he had something like a .924%, and a 2.1GAA. Bednar had to see if he could get that out of Georgiev again. If he had gone with Annunen, well he might as well have waived George then and there and brought up Pro, because you think you'll get better stats out of George in the backup position? Bednar 100% had to go with George. Now we wait to see if he can actually return to his level of play from last month or even last year, or not.

Your more than entitled to have whatever viewpoint you want.

I would tend to agree with you usually, Annunen with minimal NHL experience probably shouldn't be a starter for a playoff series.

However this was a rare circumstance, where the experienced starter has lost pretty much any ability to stop a puck and the team in front of him has absolutely no faith in him and it's negatively effecting the rest of the teams play.

We aren't talking like he's in a bit of a rough patch, it's been an ongoing issue since basically November.

Bednar absolutely misread this situation. Hoping that a guy who's been bad all season would magically figure it out by being coddled, while refusing to look at other options, as limiting as they might have been, was absolutely the wrong decision.

 

[jabubenice]

whats the way forward if we lose in the first round again??

 

[chet1926]

Give the team a chance to reset against Edmonton with Annunen in net.

That goal against Vegas where Georgiev moved his blocker away from the shot says it all to me. George is broken. He’s terrified in there. He’s not even backup quality right now.

Personally… I think the risk of starting Georgiev in the playoffs is far greater than starting Annunen.

Exactly this, he actively moved out of the way of the puck. He's toast, college goalies are better options than him.

 

[henchman21]

whats the way forward if we lose in the first round again??

There really isn't much you can do... just continue to try to tweak around the core to find the right mix. Clearly a move in net, but beyond that, it wouldn't be major. The core is too old to re-tool around, so you have to simply fire as many rounds as you have and hope you hit.

 

[Ceremony]

It's too bad Roy took over the Islanders when he did, because I would have loved to bring our old friend Varly back. Behind this team, he could still be a difference maker I think. Too bad.

Varlamov should never have left.

 

[the_fan]

whats the way forward if we lose in the first round again??

Get a new goalie if that’s the reason we lose.

 

[NorthernAvsFan]

whats the way forward if we lose in the first round again??

There is no way forward. You fold the franchise.

 

[ASmileyFace]

Move the franchise to Kansas City after a 1st round exit

 

[Chiarelli]

back to Quebec City

 

[henchman21]

We have two posts and nobody said Phoenix? Shame!

 

[Murzu]

We have two posts and nobody said Phoenix? Shame!

I wonder how hockey team would do at the desert

 

[NOTENOUGHRYJOTHINGS]

I wonder how a team would do with a competent starter.

 

[henchman21]

I wonder how a team would do with a competent starter.

Woah now... George is not to blame (checks notes) for 183 goals this season.

 

[chet1926]

Varlamov should never have left.

Exactly this.

 

[henchman21]

People really forget the issues Varly had... he had lost the job when he departed.

 

[Avsfan1921]

I couldn’t say ultimately what the right call is on the goalie discussion but I can see very valid points to both sides. And I can also see the logic in bednars insistence on sticking with Georgiev. It’s a tough call to make as supposed Stanley cup contenders to bail on your starter just before the playoffs. Especially if George is as volatile on his outlook as a starter, as been hinted at. His body language also shows to me that he has no confidence and is looking for excuses for goals against. That can create a pretty poor locker room atmosphere to go along with everything else.

I will not blame, or even be mad, at Bednar for starting George in the playoffs but the man needs to play it by the hip. Give him game 1 but he performs poorly and shows signs of melting down you have to switch it up immediately and go to annunen. Do not run him multiple games and cripple the chances of a comeback.

 

[Ceremony]

People really forget the issues Varly had... he had lost the job when he departed.

But he was good and I liked him.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

 

[cinchronicity]

I am going to be a glass half full guy on this, and give Bednar the benefit of the doubt that he is trying to get Mac some points in a meaningless game. It would be nice to see Mac and Makar both get hat tricks, while asisting on the other's goals.

That said, swaping Mikko for Lehky does nothing for the seond line in general, and hurts Mitts' development of chemistry with actual snipers. There are not pure scorers on that line, while Lehky and Nuke play the same roll. If this is an example of the Bednar 'short leash' it is merely another reason that Bednar is doing a poor job.

 

[AvBuff]

For the sake of my mental health, I'm gonna take a hiatus from this board for week - way too much hysteria before Game 1. I will say this:

1. Bednar is one of the best coaches in the league. He was the absolute best coach in the league in 2022/23 - the job he did in December/January/February with most of the team in the hospital was world class. The Avs exhausted themselves getting home ice advantage for the SCP's . . . and had nothing left in Round 1. Bednar didn't forget how to coach in 12 months.

2. In 2022-23, Georgiev played very well (mostly) in front of a depleted line-up most of the year. He was good enough against Seattle. But he is a head case. Most goalies are. He just needs to get back to 2023 form. There's a reason we weren't shopping for goalies last summer.

3. Here's my dime-store, glass-half-full psychoanalysis: 2 weeks ago, Bednar said that while the team would try to win games down the stretch, it wasn't going to "empty the tank (like in 2023)". The message being, "boys, play hard . . . but don't kill yourself trying to win these games" . I have to believe that telling any hockey team to keep to it in 3rd gear and save themselves for the playoffs has to effect the effort level. Has to. Now, it seems like the team took that message to heart - and legs - and REALLY throttled down in April. The effort level was just different when they went on that 9 game rampage after the TDL.

I'm just too much of a fan to buy into doomsday scenarios. Those guys have too much SCP experience for me to believe they don't care and aren't very good. Georgiev just needs to be good enough - not great - for the those guys to play confidently in front of him. If that's too much to ask . . . trouble.

But they need to flip whatever mental switch they have . . . right now.

 

[Chiarelli]

could just be an Edmonton matchup (Lehky/Mit/Nuke). Put together a defensive line for McDavid and an offensive one when he's not on the ice.

 

[ABasin]

could just be an Edmonton matchup (Lehky/Mit/Nuke). Put together a defensive line for McDavid and an offensive one when he's not on the ice.

I believe that if Vancouver gets a point tonight vs. Calgary, they'll have the Pacific wrapped up.

If that happens (or if Edmonton doesn't get 2 points against Arizona tomorrow), I wonder whether Edm sits McDavid for the finale.

Same question regarding Colorado, re: if Winnipeg gets a point tonight vs. Seattle. They'll have Central #2 wrapped at that point. Does Colorado sit guys in the finale? My best guess is no, given how shitty they've played lately.

 

[S E P H]

Not sure why people care about lines so much under Bednar, they get changed five minutes in the 1st period anyway...