2021 Avs mid season grades

[forsbergavs32]

We’re exactly halfway through the regular season so I stole this idea from the main boards. How would you grade our players (and coaching staff if you’d like)?

MacKinnon: B
Rantanen: A
Landeskog: C+
Saad: B+
Kadri: B+
Burakovsky: C+
Nichushkin: B
Jost: B
Donskoi: B-
Calvert: B (when healthy)
Bellemare: C-
O’Connor: B+
Compher: Is there anything lower than an F?
Sherwood: B-

Makar: C+
Byram: B-
Girard: A+
Toews: A+
Graves: D
MacDonald: A-
Renouf: B
Timmins: C
Pateryn: F

Grubauer: A+
Miska: F (Not his fault he’s been stuck in the NHL when he’s not ready though)

Click to read more...

 

[Mackinnonen]

Mack: B-
Rantanen: A
Landy: C+
Kadri: B
Saad: B
Bura: B
Donskoi: B+
Nuke: B
Jost: B-
Bellemare: C
O'Connor: A
Calvert: A-
Compher: F

Makar: B
Girard: A+
Toews: A+
Byram: A
Graves: C
Timmins: D-
Macdonald: A
Renouf: B
Pateryn: D

Grubauer: A-
Miska: F

 

[95snipes]

Tough critics on Makar. He was basically leading the Norris race before his injury.

For me Girard is clearly an A, the rest are debatable depending on the grading method (e.g. in comparison to each player's individual expectations? compared to how they compare to league average? are we comparing MacKinnon to other 1Cs?)

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Relative to expectations

Mackinnon A- (he’s doing everything I expected but finish. Which is why he gets the -)
Rantanen A
Landeskog B-
Burakovsky B
Kadri B
Saad B+
Donskoi B+
Jost B+
Nuke B
Calvert C (he’s living off reputation. I’d consider him our most overrated player now that people finally understand Compher isn’t good)
Bellemare B
LOC A
Compher B-

Makar A
Girard A+
Toews A+
Byram B+
Graves C
Timmins C
McDonald A
Reneuf B

Grubauer A
Miska L

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

To expectations:

MacKinnon: B+
Rantanen: A
Landeskog: B
Kadri: A
Burakovsky: A
Saad: B
Compher: D
Nichushkin: C+
Donskoi: A
Jost: C
Bellemare: C-
LOC: B
Calvert: C

Makar: A
Girard: A+
Toews: A+
Byram: B
MacDonald: A+
Graves: C
EJ: Incomplete
Renouf: B+
Timmins: C

Grubauer: A
Francouz: Incomplete
Miska: F

 

[dahrougem2]

The only grade that matters is J.T. Compher is an F- and if I could somehow go lower I would.

 

[Avsboy]

Rantanen has a chance at the Rocket

 

[LOFIN]

Rantanen has a chance at the Rocket

He shouldn't have given those two empties for MacK lol

 

[Spleenless Wonder21]

He shouldn't have given those two empties for MacK lol

He wouldn’t be The Big Moose if he didn’t, though.

 

[CobraAcesS]

Only thing I disagree with ya'all on is Saad. I'd go A- and just because of his start where he was adjusting. Really can't ask for much more from a player than to be exactly what he is supposed to be.

 

[Spirits]

Kadri B

I'd make this a C personally, but I tend to agree with the rest of the list except...

Graves C

This is an F with the exception of today.

 

[22FUTON9]

Kadri and Burakovsky are hard to rate. They play like shit half of the time and on some nights they look like all stars. I’d say they still deserve a B overall.

 

[Hornstar]

Girard and Toes to me are the highest rated for me. Never been a huge Sammy fan but he played a ton of minutes and kept the team from getting blown out when our defense was hurt. I would give these two A++

 

[MonsterMack]

Never been a huge Sammy fan

But...how? Why? He has been arguably as valuable to our team as Makar.

 

[tigervixxxen]

To expectations but not just scoring imo. I’m not rating anyone 10 games and under, I don’t give AHLers points for try hard either.

MacKinnon: B+
Rantanen: A
Landeskog: B
Saad: B
Kadri: B-
Burakovsky: B+
Nichushkin: B-
Jost: B-
Donskoi: B-
Calvert: C
Bellemare: C
O’Connor: B+
Compher: D

Makar: B+
Byram: B+
Girard: A
Toews: A
Graves: C
MacDonald: B+
Timmins: C

Grubauer: A

 

[Hornstar]

But...how? Why? He has been arguably as valuable to our team as Makar.

Yeah no argument here.
I like big physical defenders like Rob Blake, Adam Foote and guys like that. But Sammy just gets better and better. He is excelling on this team

 

[S E P H]

Anything less than a B for Donskoi offers the displays that nobody knows what they're talking about.

 

[McMetal]

MacKinnon: A (Good, but not by his standards)
Rantanen: A++ (Hotter than the sun all season)
Landeskog: B+ (Producing, but inconsistent aside from that)
Saad: A- (2nd in goals, what more can you ask?)
Kadri: B+ (Good games and bad games, but the good games have been key performances)
Burakovsky: B+ (He's been evening out the slumps a little bit this year)
Nichushkin: B (Slow start, solid lately)
Jost: C- (Not enough offense. Tries hard, but need to see results)
Donskoi: B+ (He's been consistently producing all season)
Calvert: B- (Needs to start producing more)
Bellemare: C- (Offense needs to start to come in. I don't expect much, but more than this)
O’Connor: B (Aside from not producing much, he's been a gem of a player)
Compher: F (Invisible)
Sherwood: C (Good 4th liner, not much else)

Makar: A- (Now that he's back, let's get that back up to an A+)
Byram: B (Little bit of rookie syndrome, and the offense isn't there yet, but he's been great on D)
Girard: A++ (Sammy coming into his own and becoming the world beater we all knew he could be)
Toews: A+ (As advertised and then some, top pair quality all season)
Graves: C- (Hit the f***in net once in a while if you're going to wire it every time)
MacDonald: B (I think he's benefitting from the system, but he's been mostly mistake free and a pleasant surprise)
Renouf: C (He was surprisingly fine, but not a guy I want in every night)
Timmins: C (Inconsistent, but I know he can do better)
Pateryn: D (Fine enough, I suppose)

Grubauer: A++ (Team MVP so far, been a rock)
Miska: F (Sorry, but we need him in the AHL permanently)

 

[henchman21]

Mack: B (Better than his numbers suggest, but he can and needs to do more)
Rantanen: A (debatably A+, he's been great)
Landy: A- (gets a lot of hate for a guy on a 70+ pace with very good defense...)
Kadri: B+ (if we are just talking Feb-on, this move to an A)
Saad: A- (a couple rough games to start, as advertised since, very good)
Bura: B (his bad stretch was real bad, but been great outside of that)
Donskoi: A- (he's played as well as you can really ask of him, just has to hold)
Nuke: C+ (until March he was a black hole offensively and was a slight step back defensively... been great in March)
Jost: C (complete black hole offensively, been good defensively... shouldn't really be on the 3rd line, but not his fault there)
Bellemare: D+ (age has taken a hold of his game... Jost should replace him permanently)
O'Connor: A (been great all season... he's not ever going to put up a ton of points, but great bottom 6 player)
Calvert: C- (maybe not his fault with the concussion, but he's taken a very noticeable step back)
Compher: F (Been terrible)
Sherwood: C (fine for a 14/15 forward)


Makar: A- (needs to stay healthy)
Girard: A+ (as good of season as you could expect from him, been elite)
Toews: A+ (see above)
Byram: B+ (he's making some rookie mistakes and the offense isn't there yet, showing some flashes)
Graves: C (F for the first half, B in the second... needs to keep his game up)
Timmins: C- (typical rookie issues, if the game doesn't slow down in his head, he's gone)
Macdonald: A (has gone from being the 8-9 on the team, to some stints in the top 4. I joke a lot about him, but he's been as impressive relative to expectations as anybody... he's a legit NHL defensemen)
Renouf: C+ (was solid in his time, all that should reasonably be asked from him)
Pateryn: D- (he is ruining #5 for me)

Grubauer: A (one real stinker of a game, been fantastic outside that)
Miska: F (hot garbage)

 

[Metallo]

Why do ratings according to expectation? That’s not how grades are handed out in school.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

Why do ratings according to expectation? That’s not how grades are handed out in school.

Fair point haha.

If I was going strictly of performance I’d probably adjust my rankings slightly.

MacKinnon: A
Rantanen: A+
Landeskog: B
Kadri: B+
Burakovsky: B+
Saad: B
Compher: D
Nichushkin: C+
Donskoi: B+
Jost: C
Bellemare: C-
LOC: C+
Calvert: C

Makar: A+
Girard: A
Toews: A
Byram: B-
MacDonald: B
Graves: C
EJ: Incomplete
Renouf: C+
Timmins: C

Grubauer: A
Francouz: Incomplete
Miska: F

 

[henchman21]

Why do ratings according to expectation? That’s not how grades are handed out in school.

I mean... that is pretty much what grading on a curve is...

 

[expatriatedtexan]

My current mid season rankings...

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare - C
Andre Burakovsky - B
Matt Calvert - C+
J.T. Compher - D-
Joonas Donskoi - B-
Tyson Jost - A-
Nazem Kadri - B
Gabriel Landeskog - B
Nathan MacKinnon - B+
Jayson Megna - C
Valeri Nichuskin - B+
Logan O'Connor - A
Mikko Rantanen - B+
Brandan Saad - B-
Kiefer Sherwood - C-
Bowen Byram - B-
Dennis Gilbert - C
Samuel Girard - A+
Ryan Graves - C
Erik Johnson - I
Jacob MacDonald - C+
Cale Makar - B
Greg Pateryn - D
Dan Renouf - B-
Conor Timmins - D
Devon Toews - A
Pavel Francouz - D
Phillip Grubauer - A+
Jonas Johansson - N/A
Adam Werner - C+

 

[PAZ]

Taking the whole season into account:

MacKinnon - B/B+: He's putting up points and most nights effort, but he hasn't looked exactly like himself yet
Rantanen - A-: His play of late deserves A+, but taken the whole season into account he had some very mediocre games
Landeskog - B-: Still producing and great defensively, but still makes plenty of questionable plays and doesn't always put in a full effort
Saad - B/B+: His first 5-10 games he was one of our worst forwards. Once he got use to the system, he's been very, very good and one of our most consistent forwards
Kadri - B: He's been inconsistent as well, but he's been pretty clutch this season
Burakovsky - B+: Streaky scorer and when he goes invisible he doesn't do much, but that's to be expected
Nichushkin - B: Solid defensively, took awhile to find some offense
Jost- B: Expected more offense, but exceeded my expectations defensively
Donskoi - B+ - for such a streaky, inconsistent scorer he's been pretty damn consistent, outside of the start of the year
Calvert - B/B-: Not producing, but he's the heart of the bottom 6 and consistently drives play
Bellemare - C-: He's looked quite a bit better lately, but he's clearly one of our worst forwards most nights
O’Connor - A: Absolute gem of a find. Works his ass off, drives play, and is willing to fight for his place on the team
Compher - F: Relative to expecations and that contract, he's been abyssal.
Sherwood - C+: Pretty good plug and play taxi-squad depth

Makar - A-: Needs to stay healthy, also wish he wasn't so casual on the PP
Byram - B: Exceeded my expectations defensively, not producing but rarely makes mistakes (which i'll happy accept to keep his cap down)
Girard - A+: Absolute rock and crucial to this team's success
Toews - A+: 2nd pairing defenseman, my ass
Graves - C+: Had to adapt to a new role, had some rough games at the start but is a bit more steady. Still makes occasional brainfarts.
MacDonald - B+: He lucked out being able to shine in the Avs system, but getting better each game. Close to earning a permanent spot.
Timmins- C: Going through rookie mistakes and slow adapting, but to be expected. Injuries are a big concern at this point of his career.

Grubauer - A+: Making his contract year count and proving that he can handle a starter workload.
Miska - F: Hopefully he can regain his confidence and find himself a nice AHL/overseas career.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

It's so funny how we all see Mikko at different levels. PAZ sees him A-, I see him as B+. I don't know what goes into PAZ's thinking, but mine is that Mikko needs to drive his own line at the money he's being payed. It's that simple....we can afford Mikko as a winger for Nate until Nate's contract is done. After that we might very well have to make a decision. Nate would be the guy I protect first and foremost. Rants is a luxury...and will always be one until he can demonstrate over a full year that he can carry a line.