I'm good with Annunen being the backup goalie. He's earned it I think. I'd like to see a larger sample size of consistent play, like he's doing now, before ever considering Annunen as "starter" .
Otherwise, how, right now, does Annunen as starting goalie with Prosvetov as backup strike you? Just a bit unsettling to me, but can change with consistent play from both these guys. Maybe to start next season?
I like Justus and the last few games, there has been such a calmness about his game. He's just technically in position so much that he doesn't really need to do anything incredible ridiculous, especially with his frame. This is his window though. If he's going to be a starter, I feel this is his one chance to go and take the job away from somebody.
That being said, I don't want to give up on Georgiev either. One year ago today, nobody was questioning our #1. If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times, the problem this year is between his ears. There is still time for Jusse to work with him and his play has been noticeably better since Ryan Johansen was traded. I'm glad CMac buttressed the AVs but didn't replace Alexandar. He's giving him the chance to right himself and prove that he's the goalie he was for the majority of last season.
So weird having people go apeshit after only 1 game and complaining about foot speed and such.
It's like complaining about a 25 year old Paul Stastny. Not the best skater but absolutely an adequate 2C for years and years and years.
Ah who am I kidding? The same people complaining about Mitts after 1 game are the very same who complained nightly about Stastny when we had him and nicknamed him 'Casper'.
AVS were very good tonight...you can tell that 3 days of practice since our last game helped get the new guys integrated.
My favourite part of tonight's game : was a little play in the neutral zone with about 2 minutes left in the 2nd where Mitts and his linemates were about to go off for a change because they had collectively gotten the puck out of their end along the boards and into the neutral zone towards their blue line but the flames handled it quickly and were starting up the ice towards the AVS end and mitts just did a super fast 180 instead of changing and skated quickly back towards his zone to make sure they didn't get an odd-man break. Color me impressed with that kind of defensive awareness. I think Bednar got a boner on the bench when he saw that...
Hey, I lovingly called Paulie Walnuts Casper on occasion, but he was streaky for a bit with his offense and like Mikko had a way of putting in a really quiet night, then you look at the stat sheet and see he had 2-3 points you don't really remember him setting up. And Stas brought a SOLID two way game. He was always defensively responsible. That's what I'm hoping for with Mitts. I know he's not a goal-scorer, but more of a play-maker. Surround him with a one of Lehky/Nuke for the defensive and one of Rants/Nuke for a goal scorer and we should have two lines rolling offensively.
Personally, I'd trust that JD and MacK will find each other at some critical moment. That chemistry just pops sometimes. And it certainly appears like both the players and Bednar prefer playing MacK and Rants together, so I'd do this...
JD-MacK-Rants
Lehky/Parise-Mitts-Nuke (I would like to see Parise given a shot in the top six with a legit center and a goal scorer on the other wing. Not sure if he still has 2nd line minutes/level of play but I'd like to find out)
Parise/Lehky-Colton-Duhaime (If Lehky was bumped down here by Parise, this line is not going to be fun to play against.)
Cogliano-Trenin-Kivi (This is where's LOC's absence will be felt the most. We've got someone in the lineup that maybe we wish was an injury callup for the playoffs instead in Kivi).
I actually think there might be a chance that Koalenko starts in the playoffs. Before LOC getting shut down, I didn't really see the path, but I think he has the chance to beat out Kivi for a spot and to be honest, Cogs hasn't been that great lately. Although, I expect a switch to be flipped with him, once the playoffs start similar to how Darren Helm did it in 21. Dude looked toast all season long and then... well, somebody obviously preferred boss battles to grinding through the levels.
I have a feeling that when Landy is finally given the green-light there is going to be at least one banged up body that is going to silently appreciate getting a night off to recuperate. There will be pain, especially if we go deep enough that Landy can make it in.
The West is going to be fun as hell to watch. Teams loaded up with everything that wasn't nailed down and in the Avs case, maybe even snuck off with a piece that was. Was Buffalo actively shopping Mitts or was this a case of the Avs being persistent like with Lehky?
[edit...Holy brick wall of text, Batman. Sorry about the longish post.]
