Are the Avalanche a bit overrated ?

[RogerR]

“In the division”. Idk how many non-leafs fans/media would consider the leafs defense among the best in the league, not to say they’re among the worst when there’s 31 teams

And I was trying to be as general as possible. Many, not necessarily all the teams are top heavy. But their top guys playing against a team with two, maybe just one really good line and some plugs who can’t defend or put the leafs guys on defense, or the other teams top guys are only good when they have the puck, will (and has) compound the bad-to-average defense/goaltending issues for some teams

Oh I believe in the media and amongst non Leaf fans people still believe the Leafs to be one of the worst NHL defenses. I still read it. Doesn't make it accurate. Many of the things said about the Leafs agreed by most don't seem accurate.

 

[Newusername]

easily the most overrated team in the league. Overrated "best player in the world" Mackinnon, overrated "best defenseman in the world" Makar, Overrated 3rd liner landeskog, overrated goaltending duo, Overrated defence core, overrated coaching, Even Joe Sakic himself is Mr. Overrated. Does it spread into ownership you ask? yes they also have overrated ownership.

 

[Stephen]

First one saying Avs + Bolts implies they’re specifically best in the west, not that they couldn’t have meant 2nd best team but only one east team can make the final anyway, and the East generally has been way stronger with more top tier teams

second one says MacKinnon himself says they’re the favorite, which..

last one says “a” cup favorite, pretty open ended borderline click-baity article

Just like the bubble threw everything out of wack (teams that were great before the stoppage ended up sucking; teams that were sucking and quite possibly would have missed the playoffs in the first place went deeper; etc), this season is just weird.

Based on normal times I’d agree the Avs are one of, and in contention for best in the west when healthy.
But a number of teams who’ve had covid issues or other stoppages have been super inconsistent, on top of overall lack of prep, and the usual slow starters/fast starters (on its own, and which could be exacerbated by the lack of prep) etc

Teams aren’t always super transparent of players health, but a few have said themselves they had really bad symptoms that scared them;
Then some people, even with “mild” or moderate symptoms have long lasting symptoms for months.. we don’t know for sure, but the fact some players we know were sick that are back now have been absolutely atrocious. Who knows if that’s primarily their health or prep or the all around conditions the league has to be in

Tl; dr

there are so many new variables generally, that aren’t even all affecting each team equally; technically still pretty darn early in the season even if it’s shorter and less room to mess up;
I believe people were legit calling the Avs great cup contenders, and I’m not putting too much stock into the results rn for any team

Well, the Vegas odds that were published would suggest the Avalanche were the odds on favorites as the other poster had suggested.

Not understanding why we need to walk back the idea that the Avalanche were considered cup favorites just a month and a half ago. The season is early enough and things could change for them in a hurry for them to still win the cup. Seems kind of curious to hedge on this at this early stage if the idea was to be bullish on the Avs for 2021.

 

[nightonthesun]

A little bit overrated but they are just a couple pieces away. Let's not act like great teams don't underperform sometimes. Better to revisit this question when we're closer to the playoffs

 

[apocalypse]

I like the Avs. they fly up and down the ice with skill. Something to be coveted. I dont know about being a favorite to win the cup but they are certainly top 5 to top 3.

 

[Chips]

Well, the Vegas odds that were published would suggest the Avalanche were the odds on favorites as the other poster had suggested.

Not understanding why we need to walk back the idea that the Avalanche were considered cup favorites just a month and a half ago. The season is early enough and things could change for them in a hurry for them to still win the cup. Seems kind of curious to hedge on this at this early stage if the idea was to be bullish on the Avs for 2021.

I guess I thought OP and some people were overstating to what extent the Avs were considered the best odds, whether “best odds” meant people thought they were miles ahead or just “better”,
and that the results so far are some “proof” when as you said it’s early

 

[S E P H]

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

The sooner you stop spreading lies, the better your life will be.

 

[Stephen]

I guess I thought OP and some people were overstating to what extent the Avs were considered the best odds, whether “best odds” meant people thought they were miles ahead or just “better”,
and that the results so far are some “proof” when as you said it’s early

The Avs made an impressive run in the playoffs last year with a lot of injuries to key positions, have young star power in multiple positions with tons of growth potential and cap space so I don’t think it would be unreasonable to have projected them as cup favorites to start the year if they got healthier, improved at a reasonable rate and or got some help.

They’ve had a slower start than people may have expected, but I think it’s funny to pretend like they weren’t odds on favorites in some circles or that they still aren’t strong contenders. Or that people won’t be pumping them up again in 10 days if they hit a hot streak.

The Colorado fanbase also seems to like picking on the North Division. I suppose the Leafs and Oilers are having the kind of high octane offense people expected out of the Avalanche so I can understand why.

 

[Chips]

The Avs made an impressive run in the playoffs last year with a lot of injuries to key positions, have young star power in multiple positions with tons of growth potential and cap space so I don’t think it would be unreasonable to have projected them as cup favorites to start the year if they got healthier, improved at a reasonable rate and or got some help.

They’ve had a slower start than people may have expected, but I think it’s funny to pretend like they weren’t odds on favorites in some circles or that they still aren’t strong contenders. Or that people won’t be pumping them up again in 10 days if they hit a hot streak.

The Colorado fanbase also seems to like picking on the North Division. I suppose the Leafs and Oilers are having the kind of high octane offense people expected out of the Avalanche so I can understand why.

That last paragraph, it’s probably a combination of Avs fans being disappointed + leafs and oils hyping up their stars

the number of sarcastic quoting by leafs fans along the lines of— “the north division is easy to score” followed by stating Matthews goal totals, as if him scoring a ton of goals in any way refutes the idea that a really weak division makes it easy to score, lol.

 

[Connor McConnor]

Let's recap the Avs season so far:
- Start/stop of COVID postponements may have been a factor (even though you could easily argue that the break was a positive since it minimized the games Mack/Rantanen lost)
- Injuries to key players
- Depth players not producing like they did last year
- MacK just isn't playing like the Superstar we all know he is

The weirdest part is that their Special Teams have actually improved quite a bit from last year (CY: 12th ranked PP & 1st ranked PK / PY: 19th ranked PP & 13th ranked PK).

I still think this is likely just a bump in the road, once Mackinnon/Rantanen start taking over more games they will bounce back to an upper echelon team.

 

[Tryblot]

All four of those guys are in their primes/haven't reached them yet. Why is this a surprise?

If Corey Perry was having a career season, yeah I'd be a little suspect.

Thornton is ppg. Matthews has 18 goals in 20 games. Toffoli has 12 goals in 18 games. Petry is almost ppg. Mark scheifle is having the best start to his career. Nikolai ehlers is ppg. Brady tkachuk is having the best start to his career.

 

[JarvisFunk]

Thornton is ppg. Matthews has 18 goals in 20 games. Toffoli has 12 goals in 18 games. Petry is almost ppg. Mark scheifle is having the best start to his career. Nikolai ehlers is ppg. Brady tkachuk is having the best start to his career.

So Joe Thornton is playing with 2 of the top 4 scorers in the league, all he needs to do is touch the puck to get points, and the rest of the guys you named are some of the best young players in the game. Plus Petry who has been great for a few seasons now.

Wow what a shit division...

 

[John Strachan]

Leafs are the best defensive team in the division and the "top heavy" crap about them is looking very wrong. People said that beacuse 4 players 40 million without no thought into the other 40 milion.

It’s hard to imagine a team giving up over 3 goals/game (17 in 5 games) to the Ottawa Senators and losing 2 of those games giving up 5 & 6 goals as being very good defensively.

 

[ViewsFromThe6ix]

It’s hard to imagine a team giving up over 3 goals/game (17 in 5 games) to the Ottawa Senators and losing 2 of those games giving up 5 & 6 goals as being very good defensively.

Leafs have a lower GA/60 than the Avs. What are you talking about?

 

[The Abusement Park]

I think the media definitely over hyped the Avs this year. I think they’re one of the favorites this year, but I don’t think they’re the overwhelming favorite like the media was portraying. We still have holes that need to be filled pretty desperately like 3C, but when the team is clicking there are few teams who are better.

 

[Three On Zero]

They have one of the best forwards in the league, the have one of the best up and coming defenceman in the league, they have a good supporting cast in the top 6.

 

[bukwas]

The media started the season with over the top mad Av's love. I never bought it and had them in a group below Tampa and Vegas.
So sticking with my pre-season opinion I don't think I overrate them and the media seems to have hit the brakes on the hype train as well. They might be reasonably rated now.

 

[John Strachan]

Leafs have a lower GA/60 than the Avs. What are you talking about?

By 0.1% or a tenth of a percent? And having only played 3/4 the games? Avs are an offense first team so they aren’t particularly tight on defense and I wouldn’t consider them to be one of the top defensive teams (like you claim the Leafs are) but I suspect their GA/60 will go down as they approach 20 games.

 

[John Mandalorian]

Last year Toronto and Edmonton had their teeth kicked in by Columbus and Chicago, respectively. This was before the playoffs technically started. Toronto and Edmonton had the same forwards then as now. Columbus and Chicago then lost in the next “round”.

The current set up has led to a lot of false bravado by fans of teams from the Canadian Division. But it’s the division of midgets. Of the lot, Toronto is probably the tallest midget.

 

[JarvisFunk]

Last year Toronto and Edmonton had their teeth kicked in by Columbus and Chicago, respectively. This was before the playoffs technically started. Toronto and Edmonton had the same forwards then as now. Columbus and Chicago then lost in the next “round”.

The current set up has led to a lot of false bravado by fans of teams from the Canadian Division. But it’s the division of midgets. Of the lot, Toronto is probably the tallest midget.

Edmonton was 9th in the NHL at shutdown last year, and Toronto was what 11th or 12th? They were both casualties of a glorified exhibition series that never shouldve taken place.

 

[John Mandalorian]

Edmonton was 9th in the NHL at shutdown last year, and Toronto was what 11th or 12th? They were both casualties of a glorified exhibition series that never shouldve taken place.

Congratulations!

If you disavow the legitimacy of last years post season, you should have no problem doing the same with this entire season.

 

[lawrence]

They are like the Leafs. Elite team on paper and during the regular season, and shit the bed in the playoffs

avs have won more playoff rounds last year than the leafs did in 17 years. Not even close. Lol l.

 

[Connor McConnor]

Last year Toronto and Edmonton had their teeth kicked in by Columbus and Chicago, respectively. This was before the playoffs technically started. Toronto and Edmonton had the same forwards then as now. Columbus and Chicago then lost in the next “round”.

The current set up has led to a lot of false bravado by fans of teams from the Canadian Division. But it’s the division of midgets. Of the lot, Toronto is probably the tallest midget.

Using this logic, the Avs lost to the Sharks who might be one of the worst teams in the West so where does that put your team?

 

[John Mandalorian]

Using this logic, the Avs lost to the Sharks who might be one of the worst teams in the West so where does that put your team?

You’ve used no logic.

Try again.

 

[Super Hans]

Leafs have a lower GA/60 than the Avs. What are you talking about?