GDT: Aves @ Queens | 6pm MT | Sending out an S.O.S.

[The Kingslayer]

Looking at ice time, the only players to play less minutes than RyJo were the 4th line and Tatar. I've been patient but the 2nd line needs to be address sooner than later. You just can't sustain playing your 2nd line less than 14 minutes a night.

CMac cant just sit on his hands like last season unless he wants another early playoff exit. Its clearly not working with RyJo as 2C because Jared cannot trust him at all.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

Yup. Mackinnon crying on the first goal created that shot for Anderson, Second goal neither he nor Val want the puck they turn it over kings come back and Kopitar beats Mackinnon to the slot causing Manson to front him taking him out of position. Rantanen standing watching. Toews lets another pass get through and its a tap in for Byfield. Thats the GWG. Final goal of the game Mackinnon has time and space makes a stupid dump in into Talbot and Doughty scores. Mackinnon almost by himself gave this game away.

Precisely.

Plus, the King's size and speed was too much for the Avs D to handle. Finally wore them down in the 3rd.

RyJo was a slug tonight. He has some value but he's no Kadri.

The Kings play the Avs sticks in the close in battles while the Avs play (and lose) the puck. They line up on the puck so well on the D and block/deflect passing attempts and shots. That's good coaching and repetition.

I figure they apply a lot of small area games when they practice because that teaches players how to control play in tight spaces. Maybe Bednar needs to give that approach a whirl?

 

[S E P H]

Dogshit road trip. 2/10 would not bang.

Every road trip has redeeming qualities, you just ain't seeing them

 

[forsbergavs32]

CMac cant just sit on his hands like last season unless he wants another early playoff exit. Its clearly not working with RyJo as 2C because Jared cannot trust him at all.

I really wanted to see him succeed here, but its clear he doesn't work in Bednar's skate your ass off system. If we can get Lehk back soon it will help get Tatar out of there, but RyJo just isn't working.

 

[Balthazar]

CMac cant just sit on his hands like last season

I think he'll do exactly that.

 

[dahrougem2]

As opposed to goalies like Georgiev/Kuemper/Grubauer?

Talbot isn't worse than what the Avs had since Varlamov.

Kuemper for his career up until the Avs was better than Talbot, yes.

Talbot is not good. Don't worry, I'll still be here in May to remind you, again, that the Kings have no goalie and are Pacific division fodder.

 

[BaconNater]

Hi I am new to avalanche hockey and My favorite player is #90!

 

[The Kingslayer]

I really wanted to see him succeed here, but its clear he doesn't work in Bednar's skate your ass off system. If we can get Lehk back soon it will help get Tatar out of there, but RyJo just isn't working.

Yup. You tried and its not working. Dont sit on your hands and wait it out. Get aggressive. I know alot of people hate him and chances are he wasnt going to come back here but how good would ROR look right now on this team honestly. Throw the hatred away and just compare RyJo with ROR and ask yourself who would you rather have right this minute. Its an easy answer for me. Elias Lindholm.

 

[Spilot23]

I knew this outcome was coming when I saw Makar out considering how Mack and Rants have been playing lately. Let's just hope they gonna turn it up soon because right now it's hard keeping up to watch games (coming from eastern time fan).

 

[JoeSakic13]

Dogshit road trip. 2/10 would not bang.

Yet somehow you’d still need Herplex.

 

[Heyduke]

One thing is for sure, the reason Nate isn't scoring is he's not doing that backhand spin move enough.

 

[RECKLESS]

Tired against a stacked and healthy contender.
Without Makar, Lehky, G and Landy (if he even counts).

Yeah, no surprises here.

Get rested and rock the homestand.

 

[The Moops]

Re-watching the cup run, and it's crazy apparent how much Landy is missed. Even just outside of the leadership he did so many little things in the game.

 

[Pokecheque]

Scheduled loss ended up being a loss.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Re-watching the cup run, and it's crazy apparent how much Landy is missed. Even just outside of the leadership he did so many little things in the game.

That run was also the best version of Devon Toews. I miss that Toews.

 

[dahrougem2]

Avs now have a five game homestand against four non-playoff teams and the Jets.

There's no reason this team shouldn't be winning - at minimum - 3 of 5 games here. I'd still probably be disappointed with that given the quality of teams coming into Denver.

The expectation should be no less than 4-1-0, especially after this bad road trip.

 

[Grigowski]

Scheduled loss. End of story.

 

[VILARGOD]

Kuemper for his career up until the Avs was better than Talbot, yes.

Talbot is not good. Don't worry, I'll still be here in May to remind you, again, that the Kings have no goalie and are Pacific division fodder.

Let's see Talbot's numbers since he entered the league, in chronological order

.941
.926
.917
.919
.908
.893
.881
.919
.915
.911
.898
Up to today .930

So it legitimately can be argued that his .893, .881, and .898 were the outlier seasons. It should be noted that two of those sub .900 seasons were behind some dreadful Edmonton Oilers defense, and the last season of sub .900 was playing behind the Ottawa Senators (no additional context needed).

It can be absolutely be said that when Talbot gets behind some serviceable defense, he succeeds. Just look at his numbers. And this Kings team may be the best team that's played in front of Talbot

"Talbot is not good" Seems to be a comment made out of ignorance. The pacific divison fodder comment is pretty funny too.

 

[The Merchant]

Let's see Talbot's numbers since he entered the league, in chronological order

.941
.926
.917
.919
.908
.893
.881
.919
.915
.911
.898
Up to today .930

So it legitimately can be argued that his .893, .881, and .898 were the outlier seasons. It should be noted that two of those sub .900 seasons were behind some dreadful Edmonton Oilers defense, and the last season of sub .900 was playing behind the Ottawa Senators (no additional context needed).

It can be absolutely be said that when Talbot gets behind some serviceable defense, he succeeds. Just look at his numbers. And this Kings team may be the best team that's played in front of Talbot

"Talbot is not good" Seems to be a comment made out of ignorance. The pacific divison fodder comment is pretty funny too.

 

[Arch angel]

Reading some reports online of the game today - most seem to say the team was gassed or just tired at the end. I just disagree. Their play, playmaking and decision-making has not been top-of-league much of the time. Certainly not reflective of the salaries being drawn - imho. They need to regain creativity and desire to win as much as just getting rested. Wonder who is speaking up in the locker room ?

 

[henchman21]

Avs now have a five game homestand against four non-playoff teams and the Jets.

There's no reason this team shouldn't be winning - at minimum - 3 of 5 games here. I'd still probably be disappointed with that given the quality of teams coming into Denver.

The expectation should be no less than 4-1-0, especially after this bad road trip.

I stated about a month ago the expectation on Jan 1 should be 48 points. Which mean 16 points over the next 13 games and the schedule is really soft to close out. Jets are the best team coming up and they play the Avs twice. Say a split there 1-1. Coyotes twice as well, another split there 1-1. Leaves the Blues and Flyers as the only other over .500 teams... say 1-1 there. The rest should be wins, but a loss wouldn't be that unexpected... puts the Avs at 9-4... which would be slightly above what should be the expectation.

So yeah... they really only have a single mulligan on this homestand (or really for the rest of the month). Minimum should be 3-2.

 

[Ceremony]

Johansen needs to go because if he's still here by the end of his contract he'll weigh three hundred pounds and I'll have died from an aneurysm.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Thr problem with Johansen is, well there's two problems I would say:


1. He wasn't brought in for the regular season. He was brought in for his playoff performance and that's what he's going to be judged on most by our management. Which means almost 100% they aren't going to pivot and go in a different direction this season with him. He will get a chance to show what he can bring for us in the playoffs in April.

2. The cost to dump him. Right now at $4M for this year and next year, you're talking a 1st round pick to dump him. Maybe a 2nd would get it done, but we don't have a 2nd until 2026. So it would take a 1st. Avs so far have shown an extreme reluctance to dump bad contracts outright.



I would love to be wrong on this and see the Avs go get a legit 2C, as I have long maintained that the 2C spot is the one area on this roster preventing us from being a top tier cup favorite again.


But I really don't see it happening. They will sink or swim(Very likely sink) with RyJo and then re-evaluate in the summer.

The only thing I can see them doing is maybe grabbing another Top 9 winger to add to the fold. But even then, I bet they only do that if Landy won't be back in time for the playoffs and/or uncertainty around Kovalenko.

And again, where I would like to see them get a legit Top 6 winger, they probably end up getting more of a middle 6/3rd liner type.

 

[dahrougem2]

Let's see Talbot's numbers since he entered the league, in chronological order

.941
.926
.917
.919
.908
.893
.881
.919
.915
.911
.898
Up to today .930

So it legitimately can be argued that his .893, .881, and .898 were the outlier seasons. It should be noted that two of those sub .900 seasons were behind some dreadful Edmonton Oilers defense, and the last season of sub .900 was playing behind the Ottawa Senators (no additional context needed).

It can be absolutely be said that when Talbot gets behind some serviceable defense, he succeeds. Just look at his numbers. And this Kings team may be the best team that's played in front of Talbot

"Talbot is not good" Seems to be a comment made out of ignorance. The pacific divison fodder comment is pretty funny too.

Cute of you to list his seasons where 7 of the 11 he has been a backup goalie.

And yes, the Kings are Pacific Division fodder. Until you get a real goalie (Cam Talbot isn't a real starting goalie), you'll continue to lose in the divisional round(s).

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

I mean we can sit here and blame 29 and 96 all we want but they are far from the problem.

The real problem is they're is just no scoring depth. You have a good 1st line usually at least they put up points consistently. And you have a decent 3rd and 4th line.

But if you have no 2nd line you are f***ed. The 2nd line is supposed to provide some insulation for the top line. Right now other team just match our top line with their best guys and then take 3 shifts off rest up then rince, repeat.

29 and 96 are being blamed because they are the Avs best players and not playing that way. They are playing dumb and stupid and their efforts are lackadaisical.

A couple games back Colton was on fire. Johansen - the JTCompher of the Avs according to this board - had a really nice game. 1st star in fact. Even Drouin scored and frankly, he is skating well right now.

Sorry but in this league your best players have to be your best players. Makar is the only one who has performed as per expectations. His loss showed last night as the Kings consistently outmanned and out positioned the Avs D on the forecheck eventually overwhelming Jones, beating Manson physically by attaining inside positioning and gave Bo all he could handle in terms of puck possession and control.

Yeah, I'd like to see a stronger 2nd line too. Kadri would have been more happy and successful here if he stayed. It might have been possible and I blame Johnson for not retiring after the Cup year.