Confirmed with Link: Avs sign Ian Cole (3 years, $4.25M/yr)

[DanishAvsfan]

He has been a great addition. He has clearly exceeded my expectations.

 

[Murzu]

Not like this Joe. Not like this.

Boo this man. Such an idiot. Cole is a beauty.

 

[Makkeli]

How is the board feeling about Cole's addition so far? I just thought it might be fun to see what some were saying a few months back. Man what a stretch of games he has had. 26:05 in ice tonight.

Let's just hope that he doesn't need to play those kinds of minutes every night, because what the fans of the previous teams said, he doesn't really handle it that well if he plays huge minutes every night. So let's hope they aren't going to do Nick Holden's to him! But he's been awesome this year, that's for sure.

 

[Tommy Shelby]

Yeah, we really don't want to Hejda/Beauchemin him. Keep him at #4 in TOI and we'll be golden.

 

[Steerpike]

Yeah, we really don't want to Hejda/Beauchemin him. Keep him at #4 in TOI and we'll be golden.

Cole isn't over the hill yet though. Those guys were much older.

 

[Foppa2118]

Cole isn't over the hill yet though. Those guys were much older.

Yeah that is a big difference. Hejda and Beauchemin were both 36 in their final years with the Avs. Cole is 29 and will be 31 in the final year of his deal.

He's been an absolutely stud though for this team. Gives 100% effort on every shift and it leads to some really great defensive plays and a living hell for opposing forwards.

Just an infectious work ethic and attitude too. You can tell why he's been so highly sought after by coaches and GM's.

Hopefully he can play at a similar level for all three years, as opposed to Beauch and Hejda who had one really good year, but then started to fall off given their age.

 

[missionAvs]

I'm too scared to read back to see if I responded to this thread before. I'm just going to own up to it and admit that I was probably wrong and that Cole is the man!

 

[Piestany88]

Yeah that is a big difference. Hejda and Beauchemin were both 36 in their final years with the Avs. Cole is 29 and will be 31 in the final year of his deal.

He's been an absolutely stud though for this team. Gives 100% effort on every shift and it leads to some really great defensive plays and a living hell for opposing forwards.

Just an infectious work ethic and attitude too. You can tell why he's been so highly sought after by coaches and GM's.

Hopefully he can play at a similar level for all three years, as opposed to Beauch and Hejda who had one really good year, but then started to fall off given their age.

I like the fact that he saw how good of an upcoming team the Avs are and really wanted to come to the Avs .

 

[member 116861]

I don't think it is fair to include Francois "Franky" Beauchemin's name in the same category as Jan Hejda.

 

[Chileiceman]

Dude has earned his money so far that's for sure. He seems to be getting more and more confident with the puck on his stick. He's no Erik Karlsson, but he can stay composed under pressure and looks to make a good pass and for the most part tries to avoid just aimlessly flinging the puck off the wall or glass like Zadorov and Nemeth are prone to do when they feel pressure.

 

[Chileiceman]

I was reading an article in the Athletic about the Hagelin/Pearson trade that mentioned that one of the reasons the Pens traded Cole was due to a strained relationship with Mike Sullivan. Does anyone know anything about this?

 

[henchman21]

I was reading an article in the Athletic about the Hagelin/Pearson trade that mentioned that one of the reasons the Pens traded Cole was due to a strained relationship with Mike Sullivan. Does anyone know anything about this?

Cole was aggravated about his ice time early last season. You'll have a very short list of players that do get along with Sullivan though. Pretty common with him.

 

[Foppberg]

I'd prefer Orpik for 1 more year than cole for 3.

Buyout fodder in a year or two.

Legs are rapidly going and can’t make a pass.

Ian Cole doesn’t obliterate anybody. Thinking of the wrong guy maybe?

He has averaged less hits than Tyson Barrie over his career. Wasn’t even at 2 per game last year.

This guy isn’t all that physical. He’s a shot blocking, crease clearing defenseman who struggles to move his feet and make an outlet pass.

That quote makes me wish Sakic wasn't the Avs GM.

Shame.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

Shame.

Can I do the same thing in the Calvert thread?

Funny you choose 2 of the 5 posts as mine when 90% on the first page were negative.

 

[Foppberg]

Can I do the same thing in the Calvert thread?

Funny you choose 2 of the 5 posts as mine when 90% on the first page were negative.

Not really, I just found your posts had the most substance to it vs just 'ugh he sucks' esque comments.

 

[Thepoolmaster]

Wrong thread

 

[larueskee]

Well thanks for participating and here is my post prior to the season.

I have been following Cole since his draft by the Blues and I can offer these items to the discussion. In St. Louis he had his development stalled by the coaching staff for no obvious reasons. In fact he posted better stats in points/ plus minus than the then coveted free agent acquisition Jay Bouwmeister. It almost seemed like the Blues management decided not to play him because he was outperforming a 5.4 million free agent. Then in Pittsburgh during the teams second cup run Cole played more minutes than any other defensemen during the regular season. A stat that has been missed by many so called professional scouts. The Pens signed 3 d men that season to heftier contracts and once again Cole for some reason was the odd man left out. In Columbus I saw the same thing happening. Now I will tell you that I think Cole has more offensive upside that could be discovered. He has virtually gotten zero powerplay time but has a accurate shot, a quick transition ability but playing on the 3rd pairing his partners have let him down. If you want to read through a forum follow up on Cole that goes back to about 2015 click the link. Link: STLtoday.com • View topic - The Ian Cole follow up​

larueskee,

 

[Tommy Shelby]

Shame.

I still think his contract sucks but he's proven me wrong in terms of his play

 

[CB Joe]

Shame.

Cole has won me over. But I still stand by the post of mine that you quoted. Cole is not a "strong puck-moving defenseman"

 

[Pokecheque]

We all know what Cole is there for, and it ain't puckmoving, but I think he's still capable enough with the puck that he's not Patrik Nemeth or Brad Stuart either. Barrie is confident enough that he feels he can pass it to him and it's not going to result in an icing or turnover, which it usually did with some of his previous partners.

 

[shadow1]

This is instantly the worst contract on the team.

I won’t complain too much because this signing does make the Avalanche a better team today. Cole is a veteran guy with lots of experience, and provides insurance in the event guys like Nemeth/Barberio take a step back this year.

But the fact is this deal pays him #4/borderline #3 money. To me, Cole is a guy who I could see being scratched a couple times this year if he’s in a down stretch. Too much money for a guy like that.

Yep, I was wrong. 18 games in I'm questioning whether the Avalanche should protect him over some pretty big names next expansion draft.

 

[Foppa2118]

We all know what Cole is there for, and it ain't puckmoving, but I think he's still capable enough with the puck that he's not Patrik Nemeth or Brad Stuart either. Barrie is confident enough that he feels he can pass it to him and it's not going to result in an icing or turnover, which it usually did with some of his previous partners.

I think he's been fine with his mobility and puck movement. For comparison's sake he's been better in this area than Beauchemin, and Beauch was better than Nemeth, Stuart, and Hejda in similar roles.

I've actually been pleasantly surprised by his ability to move his feet and get open to support his D partner, and get the puck to forwards. I knew Cole was gonna be a strong defensive presence, and great team guy, but I was expecting the mobility and passing to be more of an issue under Bednar. He seems to have adjusted really quickly. That's the sign of a smart hockey player.

 

[5280]

I just like him running over people, everything else is gravy.

 

[The Abusement Park]

I think my favorite part of Coles game has been he knows his strengths and weaknesses and just plays a simple game. He doesn’t try to do stuff outside of his skill set and plays an incredibly simple but effective game

 

[CobraAcesS]

We all know what Cole is there for, and it ain't puckmoving, but I think he's still capable enough with the puck that he's not Patrik Nemeth or Brad Stuart either. Barrie is confident enough that he feels he can pass it to him and it's not going to result in an icing or turnover, which it usually did with some of his previous partners.

Cole reminds me of Coburn at the end of his Philly days and the first few years in Tampa. Having a defender who you can trust against the puck and that moves it just well enough to play up and down the defensive pairs with reliability is very valuable.

You know what you're going to get, and now hes been all the way to the Cup multiple times with prime years left.