Confirmed with Link: Avs sign MacKinnon to 7-year deal ($6.3M AAV)

[AvsMakar08]

That 2006 Canes team did get some absurd breaks, though.

In their series vs Montreal they went down 2-0, then IIRC there was a major high stick that took a Canadiens player out of the series and the Canes turned it around (I want to say it was Markov).

In the Conference Finals vs Buffalo, 4 of the Sabres' regular 6 defensemen missed time with significant injuries and all missed game 7.

Then in the Finals the obvious Dwayne Roloson injury that forced the Oilers' backups into goal, even though the Oilers still managed to take it 7. But the Canes won, and I can't take that away from them.

That's off topic though lol.

Canes also had a hot goalie that was standing on his head, just like when the Avs were a favorite to win back in the day and advance in the playoffs, we were facing against a hot goalie. If I can remeber correctly, i think it was the oilers and Curtis Joseph was in the net.

 

[Thepoolmaster]

I wonder if Mack just needs a defensive guy on his line. Landeskog seemed to open Mackinnon up to do his thing offensively since Landy can cover for him. Doesn't matter if he's a winger or a center so long as he's not the best defensive player on his line.

I'd like to see them keep that top line together for now. Maybe in the future try Mack with Compher.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Yeah I don't want them to break up that Landy/Mack/Mikko line at all. Especially since Ghetto meshed well with Duchene.

Landeskog brings a lot of unseen qualities to that line. Keep him there. The most important part of this team's future is giving Mackinnon everything he needs to succeed.

 

[avsfan09]

Yeah I don't want them to break up that Landy/Mack/Mikko line at all. Especially since Ghetto meshed well with Duchene.

Landeskog brings a lot of unseen qualities to that line. Keep him there. The most important part of this team's future is giving Mackinnon everything he needs to succeed.

I strongly agree. We've been stuck in Limbo for a long time because our good players havent had proper support. I think Duchene could have developed better if they had have found him a proper linemate aswell.

 

[cgf]

I wonder if Mack just needs a defensive guy on his line. Landeskog seemed to open Mackinnon up to do his thing offensively since Landy can cover for him. Doesn't matter if he's a winger or a center so long as he's not the best defensive player on his line.

I'd like to see them keep that top line together for now. Maybe in the future try Mack with Compher.

Before MacK & Mikko clicked last season I kept talking about a Landy - MacK - JTC line in the future. I like when MacK gets truculent, and being flanked by Landy & Compher would certainly bring that out of him.

 

[Pokecheque]

Whatever is needed to convince Nate he can't play soft in order to succeed, I'm all for it.

 

[CobraAcesS]

Yeah I don't want them to break up that Landy/Mack/Mikko line at all. Especially since Ghetto meshed well with Duchene.

Landeskog brings a lot of unseen qualities to that line. Keep him there. The most important part of this team's future is giving Mackinnon everything he needs to succeed.

I'll be curious to see how that line does on the road when Bednar can't control their matchups. If we can use that line against other teams best players on the road with them still having respectable numbers then I'm all for it. That keeps Duchy's line freed up and the offensive line, and still gives us a good bottom six with Compher, Greer, Soda, Wilson, Kerfoot, Comeau, etc that should be able to pitch in offensively.

If they still get caved in like Mack's line has done in the past, or barely hold on against poorer teams, then they may need to split it up on the road.

 

[PAZ]

Good call on Bleackley and where we would have picked instead. Even if we ended up with the same pick we probably don't go with the safe pick (God he fooled so many people) since without MacK we could use another scorer at forward.

Even if we picked in the 10-15 range of the '14 draft, I think it would've been a very high chance of being Ritchie, Perlini, or Fabbri based on Pracey's preferences.

Any of them would be better than Bleackley, but Fiala is the only one so far who has shown much.

 

[Thepoolmaster]

Even if we picked in the 10-15 range of the '14 draft, I think it would've been a very high chance of being Ritchie, Perlini, or Fabbri based on Pracey's preferences.

Any of them would be better than Bleackley, but Fiala is the only one so far who has shown much.

I thinks Fabbri has done well. I like his game a lot but man that was a devastating injury for his development

 

[Foppberg]

A shame Fabbri is out for the season, before that he looked like a promising player.

Still could be but you never know after an injury like that.

 

[Thepoolmaster]

Before MacK & Mikko clicked last season I kept talking about a Landy - MacK - JTC line in the future. I like when MacK gets truculent, and being flanked by Landy & Compher would certainly bring that out of him.

I agree. I think that the debate between center vs winger for Mack (not that this is being argued right now) generally comes back to if he has a guy that's better than him defensively on his line. When he moves to wing (where I think he looks better) he is usually paired with a "defensively responsible center" like stastny, rnh

 

[CobraAcesS]

I agree. I think that the debate between center vs winger for Mack (not that this is being argued right now) generally comes back to if he has a guy that's better than him defensively on his line. When he moves to wing (where I think he looks better) he is usually paired with a "defensively responsible center" like stastny, rnh

Mikko was supposed to be that defensive presence, but his goal scoring ability has made him cheat a bit this year. Hes become a bit inconsistent in all zones in his sophomore year trying to figure out what kind of player he is I think. So it makes sense that role was missing to start this year.

Hopefully it works out. Especially once Compher comes back, and with Soda playing a bit better in all zones.

With how young this roster is, I guess it shouldn't be surprising some of these guys are going to go through areas of hot and cold in how they play the game. It should be interesting to see how much of themselves they get figured out this year. It could take most of the season, or we could see guys settle into obvious roles by January. They could get a lot better in the second half, or we could still be tossing coins to bet on how the team is going to look from night to night lol.

Is there anyone on this roster we can for sure say is going to play at the same level all season? If Tyson's last season was just an off year. He might be our most consistent player this year lol.

 

[McMetal]

With how young this roster is, I guess it shouldn't be surprising some of these guys are going to go through areas of hot and cold in how they play the game. It should be interesting to see how much of themselves they get figured out this year. It could take most of the season, or we could see guys settle into obvious roles by January. They could get a lot better in the second half, or we could still be tossing coins to bet on how the team is going to look from night to night lol.

What bothers me is that Bednar isn't letting the young guys play through their mistakes this year. Two scratches in a row for Z, especially after the team lost 7-0 without him the first night, is outrageous. He needs to play and work on his game, because he's going to hopefully be here a lot longer than Nemeth and Barberio.

 

[AvsMakar08]

Mikko was supposed to be that defensive presence, but his goal scoring ability has made him cheat a bit this year. Hes become a bit inconsistent in all zones in his sophomore year trying to figure out what kind of player he is I think. So it makes sense that role was missing to start this year.

Hopefully it works out. Especially once Compher comes back, and with Soda playing a bit better in all zones.

With how young this roster is, I guess it shouldn't be surprising some of these guys are going to go through areas of hot and cold in how they play the game. It should be interesting to see how much of themselves they get figured out this year. It could take most of the season, or we could see guys settle into obvious roles by January. They could get a lot better in the second half, or we could still be tossing coins to bet on how the team is going to look from night to night lol.

Is there anyone on this roster we can for sure say is going to play at the same level all season? If Tyson's last season was just an off year. He might be our most consistent player this year lol.

The only player so far this season that has been consistant to what he is, is Varly. Varly was injured when he played last season and we could clearly see that. With Varly healthy and fully recovered from his injuries he can be a top 10 goalie in NHL. I am not even sure if he has given up a single soft goal this season.

 

[AvsMakar08]

What bothers me is that Bednar isn't letting the young guys play through their mistakes this year. Two scratches in a row for Z, especially after the team lost 7-0 without him the first night, is outrageous. He needs to play and work on his game, because he's going to hopefully be here a lot longer than Nemeth and Barberio.

McMetal, it bothered me too. I have no idea why Big Z was scratched. He has not played the same way that he played last season before he got injured, made a few horrible defesnsive zone coverege errors but still you gotta give him a chance after chance to learn from those mistakes. It should be interesting to compare him next game that we play against Hanifin and Slavin.

 

[Balthazar]

. I have no idea why Big Z was scratched.

Because he just had a horrible, horrible game.

He has not played the same way that he played last season before he got injured, made a few horrible defesnsive zone coverege errors but still you gotta give him a chance after chance to learn from those mistakes. It should be interesting to compare him next game that we play against Hanifin and Slavin.

Hanifin OK but it would be better for us to not compare him to Slavin.

 

[Foppa2118]

Rubbish. The storyline was that we were loaded at center, and had absolute crap in our D and Jones was ranked #1 throughout the season until Nate outplayed him in a single tournament.

This is incorrect. MacKinnon was the unanimous #1 in the preseason rankings, and held that position in the December rankings. It wasn't until Jones played well in a bigger role at the WJC, that he overtook MacKinnon as the consensus #1 pick among the fans as well as the scouts in McKenzie's midseason rankings in late January.

Then after the MemCup MacKinnon ended up taking back the #1 spot with 8 of the 10 scouts giving him the top spot.

They were all over the place in the rankings, because the top four in 2013 were all really close.

Last September, in a TSN pre-season survey of 10 NHL scouts, it was unanimous, all 10 ranking the Cole Harbour, N.S., native as No. 1.

Just prior to the World Junior Championship in December, Jones' play in the WHL had convinced three of the 10 scouts that he, not MacKinnon, was the No. 1 prospect.

A month later, after brilliant performances at the WJC and CHL Prospects' game, Jones was declared the new No. 1 on TSN's mid-season draft rankings, with seven of the 10 scouts choosing Jones over MacKinnon.

When the scouts were surveyed in late April for TSN's Draft Lottery edition rankings, eight pegged Jones at No. 1, with MacKinnon and Drouin getting only one first-place vote apiece.

And four of those 10 scouts ranked Drouin ahead of MacKinnon on their list.

And in the span of about one month -- from late April to late May -- MacKinnon went from having one first-place vote from scouts surveyed by TSN to getting eight of 10.

"There's usually not that much movement at the top of the draft over the course of a season," one scout told TSN. "But what you have to understand is it's always been really close between the top three or four guys. They all have their attributes and they're all really different in terms of their skill sets. It's a really good draft, for both high-end players and depth, too."

http://www.prosportsdaily.com/articles/mackinnon-tops-bob-mckenzies-final-draft-rankings-255950.html

 

[Cynthesis]

I strongly agree. We've been stuck in Limbo for a long time because our good players havent had proper support. I think Duchene could have developed better if they had have found him a proper linemate aswell.

Ya, but you can't say they didn't try. Just terrible luck with Fleischmann and Mueller

 

[Pokecheque]

Ya, but you can't say they didn't try. Just terrible luck with Fleischmann and Mueller

Well, they could've tried harder than THAT. Picking up a bargain-bin deadline guy and a busted prospect doesn't exactly get an E for Effort from me. Even Parenteau was a pretty half-assed measure.

Where they ultimately failed is in developing talent beyond the first round. There's where you find proper linemates and, more importantly, depth players who make the stars' jobs easier. The subsequent regime valued "veteran leadership" over actual hockey ability and managed to make an even more egregious mistake.

 

[dahrougem2]

Well, they could've tried harder than THAT. Picking up a bargain-bin deadline guy and a busted prospect doesn't exactly get an E for Effort from me. Even Parenteau was a pretty half-assed measure.

Where they ultimately failed is in developing talent beyond the first round. There's where you find proper linemates and, more importantly, depth players who make the stars' jobs easier. The subsequent regime valued "veteran leadership" over actual hockey ability and managed to make an even more egregious mistake.

Fleischmann had 51 points in 69 games the previous season in Washington, and Mueller was a 21-year old former top-10 pick coming off of 54 and 36 point seasons in Phoenix. Those moves were very, very shrewd moves if you ask me.

 

[Pokecheque]

Fleischmann had 51 points in 69 games the previous season in Washington, and Mueller was a 21-year old former top-10 pick coming off of 54 and 36 point seasons in Phoenix. Those moves were very, very shrewd moves if you ask me.

I don't argue those moves at all, in fact I'd agree they were pretty shrewd. But they did little, if anything, beyond that, meaning those two players had extremely short-term impact and nothing more. Worthy gambles, sure, but ultimately what do they have to show for them?

 

[Cynthesis]

Well, they could've tried harder than THAT. Picking up a bargain-bin deadline guy and a busted prospect doesn't exactly get an E for Effort from me. Even Parenteau was a pretty half-assed measure.

Where they ultimately failed is in developing talent beyond the first round. There's where you find proper linemates and, more importantly, depth players who make the stars' jobs easier. The subsequent regime valued "veteran leadership" over actual hockey ability and managed to make an even more egregious mistake.

Fleischmann had 21 points in 22 games for the Avs. Mueller put up 20 points in 15 games in his first season with the Avs before that concussion. They were both quality pickups.

I certainly don't disagree with your second paragraph.

 

[Cynthesis]

I don't argue those moves at all, in fact I'd agree they were pretty shrewd. But they did little, if anything, beyond that, meaning those two players had extremely short-term impact and nothing more. Worthy gambles, sure, but ultimately what do they have to show for them?

That was my point. The Avs got incredibly unlucky. Blake ended Mueller's career, and Flash had a freak medical condition.

 

[dahrougem2]

I don't argue those moves at all, in fact I'd agree they were pretty shrewd. But they did little, if anything, beyond that, meaning those two players had extremely short-term impact and nothing more. Worthy gambles, sure, but ultimately what do they have to show for them?

Incredible bad luck is what they have to show for them. Whose to say players like Fleischmann and Mueller don't go on to play 3-5 years with us if they didn't have their respective health issues, issues which no team could have predicted?

 

[Pokecheque]

That was my point. The Avs got incredibly unlucky. Blake ended Mueller's career, and Flash had a freak medical condition.

The Avs knew what they were getting in Mueller. If it wasn't Blake it would've been someone else. I agree the Flash thing was just plain bad luck, but it doesn't justify their supreme lack of efforts beyond that. Once those plans failed there should have been others. And that's my #1 issue with this organization. There has never been a coherent vision or plan as to how to build a winner. Just a throw-it-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks process.