Are the Avalanche a bit overrated ?

[wildbill97]

Waaaay too finesse for their own good. They play awful against the teams that can physically maul them. Hell, Wild did it to them tonight in the 1st period alone and it took them completely off their game plan.

They're definitely in their window, but they need to adjust some things. They live and die off the 'passing around the perimeter' game on offense. Unless MacKinnon takes it himself, you rarely see the Avs play the puck up the slot and toward the cage.

On the PP, it's the same old shit. MacKinnon comes flying through the neutral zone and for what, more dancing the puck from the wing to point, back to wing...back to point?

They had better make adjustments and make some bolder trades over the next 2 seasons or their window slams shut and they get nothing.

 

[JAS 39 Gripen]

No, but Zuccarello is underrated

First time in forever I actually want to tune in to a Wild-game. Kaprizov's fun too ofc

 

[lawrence]

why are we calling them a weak division? if there is Western and Eastern conference 3 of favorites are there. (Vegas , Avs , Blues).

 

[HabsWhiteKnightLOL]

Colorado will still make playoffs anyways , they will get a chance. They might need to get another goalie tho.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Makar has not looked nearly as dynamic as last season. He’s getting PP assists but he’s not making many wow plays and creating much in terms of offence. Not sure what’s going on with him but Toews and Girard have shown more flash than him this year.

He's literally the early favorite for the Norris right now. There's been multiple montages made by different content creators on Twitter about how much he has created this year.


You really couldn't be more wrong here.

 

[jcs0218]

why are we calling them a weak division? if there is Western and Eastern conference 3 of favorites are there. (Vegas , Avs , Blues).

I think 3 of the 6 primary Stanley Cup favourites are in the division. You named them.

I don't think it is a weak division at all.

 

[Uncle Scrooge]

No i really don't think so.

A bit moody? Sure.

But they've already shown what they can do. 8-0 W against the Blues, 7-3 and 5-1 W's against the Sharks and Wild, b2b wins over Vegas who called them the best team they've seen so far.

There's literally no reason to dominate this division. They know they'll get in playing average hockey by their standards, which can be dangerous later on if they have trouble focusing but for now i couldn't care less if they have the odd loss to lower ranked teams.

I suspect they will play their best hockey when it gets closer to playoffs.

 

[BlueBaron]

You won't know until the playoffs start.

Everyone wants it to be a one or two team league but the reality is half the playoff teams usually have a chance to win.

 

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

I think 3 of the 6 primary Stanley Cup favourites are in the division. You named them.

I don't think it is a weak division at all.

Definitely not weak. It has the highest concentration of legitimate Cup contenders - at least, as we saw things before the season was set to begin - and that's going to make for a bloodbath in the playoffs, if things go according to plan, because, whereas the would-be top Cup contenders from the East are a bit more spaced out (if we're assuming that the East's top teams are, in no particular order, Boston, TB, Toronto, and Washington), the West's are all stuck in the same division. By default, only one of them is still going to be around by the semifinal round.

Then you have the Kings who might be taking some real steps towards being a legitimate playoff team, as well as Minnesota and even Phoenix who don't look bad at all. We probably all agree that the North is the weakest...I'd probably call it a toss-up between the East and the West as far as which division is strongest. The East has more name value but, aside from the Bruins, I haven't been overwhelmingly impressed by anybody to this point. That might be a result of expectations skewing perception, though.

 

[Shinjuku Calling]

When everything is going 100% perfect they are a great team.

If there is ANY adversity, they fold immediately. They'll never win anything.

 

[klozge]

Well, it looks like it.

 

[Hockey Stick]

Overrated sure, but that might only be due to the crazy expectations that were put on them, as well as seeing how good they could be in previous years. They've dealt with injuries and postponed games this year, just like most other teams, so I don't think they've really hit their full stride just yet. I don't think it'd be the worst thing to have people start overlooking them again in favour of some other contenders.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

I thought they would be better. Everyone thought they would beat Dallas next time. I don't know anymore.

 

[jetsforever]

For the trillionth time, Stanley Cup favourites rarely ever win the year everyone chooses them.

Just look at the Lightning, they won the year after getting ridiculed and downgraded in the media circle. I expect Avs will have to go through some tough and challenging situations/time before they actually win since every team does. This run of games could be one of those such times...

Yeah, Colorado was rightfully expected to be good but that doesn't mean they necessarily will be

 

[Avs71]

Extremely

 

[Perratrooper]

Waaaay too finesse for their own good. They play awful against the teams that can physically maul them. Hell, Wild did it to them tonight in the 1st period alone and it took them completely off their game plan.

They're definitely in their window, but they need to adjust some things. They live and die off the 'passing around the perimeter' game on offense. Unless MacKinnon takes it himself, you rarely see the Avs play the puck up the slot and toward the cage.

On the PP, it's the same old shit. MacKinnon comes flying through the neutral zone and for what, more dancing the puck from the wing to point, back to wing...back to point?

They had better make adjustments and make some bolder trades over the next 2 seasons or their window slams shut and they get nothing.

I don’t agree at all that their window is just the next 2 seasons, but I agree with the rest of the post.

 

[Jango Fett]

I don't think they are overrated. They are coming off of a covid break, and two games against Vegas which is not easy. Minnesota is not as bad as it seems. Wait for the playoffs before anyone makes any definitive statements about this team. They are young.

 

[DrMartinVanNostrand]

When everything is going 100% perfect they are a great team.

If there is ANY adversity, they fold immediately. They'll never win anything.

This was true about the Lightning for how many years until they finally didn't fold (and got something of a favorable path)? Plenty of time for the mental side of things to improve for the Avs.

 

[Cotton]

I didn't know the Avs played in the North

The North isn’t the weakest, lol. West by far.

 

[JoVel]

The North isn’t the weakest, lol. West by far.

North has one good team, one team with two good players and that's about it.

 

[Spilot23]

Makar has not looked nearly as dynamic as last season. He’s getting PP assists but he’s not making many wow plays and creating much in terms of offence. Not sure what’s going on with him but Toews and Girard have shown more flash than him this year.

I don't think "Not looked nearly as dynamic as last season" is how I would word it. I think he plays a much more safer so less flashy game which really improved his defense. I like the fact that he's way more responsible defensively. My only problem with the way he has been playing is that he shoot less and doesn't use his speed much more he did some end to end plays last year that resulted in a great chance. He always look for Mack in the PP instead of shooting because Mack throws a tantrum when his teamates miss plays. He should play his game instead Mackinnon's and shoot the god damn puck in the PP he has a lethal wrister but doesn't use it as often as last year.

And yes I think Avs are overrated with their offense Kadri is black hole right now killing plays. Top line has been pretty underwhelming they look slow and out of sync. 3C is starting to be a huge problem for us and having to start Grubauer every game is starting to catch us since we have no good backup.

 

[shadow1]

They were a good team last year and bulked up in the off-season, so people thought they'd be great. But they're still just good.

Their "power" play - which iirc has 1 goal in the last 7 games - and depth forwards are costing them games right now.

 

[Taishici]

Not overrated, really good team that outplayed Vegas in 3 out of the 4 games. One of the top 5 teams in the NHL.

The West is actually a tough division. They have 6 teams that are strong to decent. And the weakest two (Anaheim and San Jose) are not easy wins.

The Avs have Mackinnon's line, even when they don't score they normally dominate with puck possession. And they have great system of team defensive.

Their issues right now for me, is not getting enough offense from other lines. And their young defenseman are a bit naïve in their own zone.

And finally, I think Makar is the best young defenseman in the game. But I would be shocked if he won the Norris this year. Also Byram is going to be special, makes mistakes but his composure is phenomenal.

 

[Foppberg]

Not overrated, really good team that outplayed Vegas in 3 out of the 4 games. One of the top 5 teams in the NHL.

The West is actually a tough division. They have 6 teams that are strong to decent. And the weakest two (Anaheim and San Jose) are not easy wins.

The Avs have Mackinnon's line, even when they don't score they normally dominate with puck possession. And they have great system of team defensive.

Their issues right now for me, is not getting enough offense from other lines. And their young defenseman are a bit naïve in their own zone.

And finally, I think Makar is the best young defenseman in the game. But I would be shocked if he won the Norris this year. Also Byram is going to be special, makes mistakes but his composure is phenomenal.

I'll donate my left nut if it means keeping Girard/Byram/Makar together forever.

 

[GeeoffBrown]

To Colorado: The Flames roster

To Calgary: The Avs roster

Has to happen now to make sense!