GDT: Avs vs Vegas 7:30 MST Phone Edition.

[The Kingslayer]

I dont think that shot goes off Toews at all. Wow.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

How many posts have we hit the last 4 games? It has to be close to 20.

Tells me the goalies are giving our guys nothing net/twine wise to shoot at because they are in line with the puck at the top of their crease.

 

[Avs425]

At this point is would rather have 2nd place and play the Wild (f*ck em) then the Blues. Either way home ice or not, a healthy Avs team beats Vegas. If not for MAF we would have likely beaten them in most games this year.

 

[The Kingslayer]

For anybody who said we should let Saad go in order to keep our defensemen, this recent stretch of games should make you re-think that. The 20 game point streak was all thanks to Compher getting injured forcing Bednar to roll the proper lines which resulted in this team being able to roll out at least 3 if not 4 loaded lines attacking in waves that negated any strategy that the opponent might be able to counter with so Bednar really didn't have to do too much coaching.

As usual I see Girard getting a complete pass for his ineffectual play, it seems like people around here are quicker to blame things on Makar or even Mackinnon.

Had that play been somebody else like Timmins it'd be like send him down he's not nhl caliber. The first goal was just another result of Girard having slow reflexes and not so great hands. Why is his play so casual in these situations? It seems like the only defensive plays he makes are the ones where the opposition just happens to throw the puck into his stick. Tired of Girard giving up free zone entries, he allows the skaters to carry the puck into the zone with possession too much. Tired of his usage offensively when his offensive skillset isn't that good. I had to laugh when he ignored a wide open Makar a couple of games ago so he could take shot himself. I don't know why people are suggesting we trade Byram before Girard.

Bednar really isn't a good evaluator of talent, sending Kadri and Compher out their in big roles is on him and a detriment to this team that the other more capable players around them have to compensate for and that can only be kept up for so long before things break down. I don't like this team's chances to win the cup at all as long as Kadri is the second line center. He had Nichushkin wide open for an easy tap in goal here but decided to shoot instead. Just kills too many plays.


I suppose Jost could play the second line center role but I'd think it would greatly increase the team's chances to win the cup if they could roll out 3 loaded lines. They need to try Rantanen as a center again. The only reason he was brought as a RW was cause of the team's center depth at the time, but that's no longer the case and the team could really use a big two-way C. That's the missing piece imo.

Nah man. Girard has been grilled the last 4 games by me.

 

[chet1926]

We were never going to beat a team like Vegas with subpar goaltending and our 2nd line center playing like an AHL call-up.

The 1st goal should never have happened, the 4th goal certainly should never have happened, that was all on Kadri and the 2nd goal was a shitty deflection from our own guy. We still made a game out of it, even though a large portion of team didn't play well and seemed out of sync.

With 9 games left, I think it's time to call-up Newhook. He had a pair of assists tonight and is over a PPG (6GP 3G 4A 7PTS) in the AHL to start his pro career. With 4 more games against SJ and 4 more against LA, this would be the perfect time to see if he could be a sparkplug for our offense.

* I think the Liam O'Brien experiment should end. He started out great - hitting everything in sight - and then he made a couple of decent plays and seemingly started thinking he was a skill player or something?? If he's not going to hit the opposition at every turn - he should go back to the AHL.

* I'm not expecting much of out Kaut especially as a 3rd or 4th liner but I've noticed he is really often out of position in the defensive zone - he needs more time in the AHL.

* What the hell has Compher done to warrant 1st line PP ice-time for the past 4-5 games?? Why does Bednar keep putting him on as the C in the defensive zone when we are down on a 5-on-3?? He sucks at faceoffs... 42% on defensive zone faceoffs. How is he not getting that he's just not a good PK option???

* Nemeth has been really bad. I don't know if he's still injured but Jacob MacDonald was much, MUCH better than Nemeth has shown so far.

Luckily, with the way the schedule has worked out, the Avs still have a good opportunity to get that top spot in the division. We have 8 games against teams that are out of the playoffs and 1 left against Vegas. The Golden Knights have the opposite schedule with 7 games against teams still in the playoffs (or in the hunt - 2x Ari, 2x STL, 2x MIN, 1x COL) and 1 game against SJ.

Agree with everything especially the Newhook part. Got to get some secondary scoring again. What's the harm in giving him some minutes? He can't be any worse than some of the shit players we are rolling out there. He is proving transitioning pro hockey isn't too tough for him by playing well in the AHL.

If we want to win the Cup , you've got to put the players out there that give you the best chance, I think Newhook is one of those guys.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

I get ya. But why is Kadri allowed to play what appears to be his own game?

There was a sequence in the 2nd where he should have hit Nuke with his stick down at the crease in behind Fluery and shot instead. Later Nuke gives him a drop pass after attacking through the bottom left circle and runs interference for Nazem. Who proceeds to hit Fluery right in the chest with his shot.

Nuke is the team player. Kadri is an individualist.

There’s no changing Nazem Kadri as a player.

When he’s on, he’s a force. When he’s not, he’s awful. There’s not much in between. You just have to hope you get good Kadri and not bad Kadri.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

For anybody who said we should let Saad go in order to keep our defensemen, this recent stretch of games should make you re-think that. The 20 game point streak was all thanks to Compher getting injured forcing Bednar to roll the proper lines which resulted in this team being able to roll out at least 3 if not 4 loaded lines attacking in waves that negated any strategy that the opponent might be able to counter with so Bednar really didn't have to do too much coaching.

As usual I see Girard getting a complete pass for his ineffectual play, it seems like people around here are quicker to blame things on Makar or even Mackinnon.

Had that play been somebody else like Timmins it'd be like send him down he's not nhl caliber. The first goal was just another result of Girard having slow reflexes and not so great hands. Why is his play so casual in these situations? It seems like the only defensive plays he makes are the ones where the opposition just happens to throw the puck into his stick. Tired of Girard giving up free zone entries, he allows the skaters to carry the puck into the zone with possession too much. Tired of his usage offensively when his offensive skillset isn't that good. I had to laugh when he ignored a wide open Makar a couple of games ago so he could take shot himself. I don't know why people are suggesting we trade Byram before Girard.

Bednar really isn't a good evaluator of talent, sending Kadri and Compher out their in big roles is on him and a detriment to this team that the other more capable players around them have to compensate for and that can only be kept up for so long before things break down. I don't like this team's chances to win the cup at all as long as Kadri is the second line center. He had Nichushkin wide open for an easy tap in goal here but decided to shoot instead. Just kills too many plays.


I suppose Jost could play the second line center role but I'd think it would greatly increase the team's chances to win the cup if they could roll out 3 loaded lines. They need to try Rantanen as a center again. The only reason he was brought as a RW was cause of the team's center depth at the time, but that's no longer the case and the team could really use a big two-way C. That's the missing piece imo.

Girard's been terrible. Glad to see you saw the Kadri non-pass to Nuke as well. Very astute comments. Thanks for adding to the conversation!

 

[Bender]

Returning to Kadri, I'll sum up my thoughts. He's a selfish player who is getting more selfish as his play deteriorates. He's a lot like Matt Duchene in that when he struggles, he thinks he needs to make a big play or score a big goal to get out of it. He thinks if he stands in front of the net and it goes in off his rear end, it's not as good as if he toe-drags somebody and rips it top shelf. He unfortunately, and I've known this for a long time, lacks hockey sense. He rarely seems to make the right plays (offensively or defensively) unless it's a one-on-one situation. The second you add another player to the mix (or heaven forbid 8 other players!) he can't figure it out. This is why he isn't able to use his teammates better. It's not just that he's selfish, it's that he is too hockey stupid to figure it out. All of this is forgivable when he's scoring, but when the scoring dries up the flaws in his game are magnified.

I think Kadri can turn it around but Bednar has to stop being stupid. Either BENCH HIM because his play has been atrocious for at least 1 month - 4 points in his last 20 games played is ABYSMAL for a player getting that kind of ice-time - OR put him back on that 1st PP unit so that he might have the chance to get out of this massive slump. What the hell is Compher doing there anyways?? It's almost like Sakic told Bednar to put him on there the rest of the season to pad his stats so he'd be able to trade him or he'll look more attractive to Seattle or something - it's certainly not based on merit, JT has been awful all year long.

I will say this about Kadri, if the Avs don't win the cup this year my expectations are that he won't be here next season. They'll get an upgrade.

 

[chet1926]

I dont think that shot goes off Toews at all. Wow.

I don't think it did either. And if it did is was very sightly. Puck didn't move that much. It was a trash goal let in by Dubs no matter what. He was not very good tonight.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

There’s no changing Nazem Kadri as a player.

When he’s on, he’s a force. When he’s not, he’s awful. There’s not much in between. You just have to hope you get good Kadri and not bad Kadri.

I hear you. And am guessing you've seen way more of him over the years than I have.

I will admit I absolutely hated coaching players like Kadri.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

Grubs hasn’t played in over two weeks? How will he look when he is back. Guess we will find out this weekend

Rusty. He wasn't very good the last couple weeks before he went out either. I'm expecting the Avs will have to score at least 5 the first couple games vs. SJ to win.

 

[Bender]

Girard's been terrible. Glad to see you saw the Kadri non-pass to Nuke as well. Very astute comments. Thanks for adding to the conversation!

Agreed. Sammy G is usually a lot better but he seems off the past little while. I'm not too worried about him though as there isn't much clicking right now with the rest of the team which certainly doesn't help.

 

[chet1926]

Girard's been terrible. Glad to see you saw the Kadri non-pass to Nuke as well. Very astute comments. Thanks for adding to the conversation!

Girard has been trash for quite some time now. Knew there was no way he was going to continue his torrid pace from the beginning of the year.

Love how so many posters around here we're trying to tell me he might be better than Makar because he was on a heater to start the year and Makar started slower then got hurt. Reality is G is a 2-3 dman who is streaky, nothing wrong with that. But Makar is an elite 1. No comparison.

Girard will get better, he looks exhausted. But between him and Toews not sure who is playing worse right now.

 

[Avs_19]

Overall I’m still not worried because of how many key players the Avs are missing. They competed, were in it for a while, and ultimately came up short. Vegas was better and Fleury was pretty lucky.

However, other than Timmins, this could be the defense going into the playoffs and that’s a bit concerning. They can’t afford Girard and Toews having off nights. Girard had a hand in three of Vegas’ goals tonight. Credit to Graves for being solid tonight.

MacKinnon was great.

Kadri wasn’t good once again and took another bad penalty. He also could’ve had a couple of points if not for Fleury and bad luck. Still, even if he wasn’t robbed or if Jost doesn’t hit the post off his set up, his game still wasn’t good enough.

Third line pitched in with a goal but the secondary players and depth still need to be better.

O’Brien came in and provided a bit of a spark. He was also fine when the team was healthy and it was him, Bellemare, and Compher together. It might be time to end this experiment though. He isn’t doing anything positive, has taken some penalties now, and can’t be on the ice when the team is down. He played less than 4 mins today.

Same goes for Kaut, who only played slightly more than O’Brien. Limited minutes or not, he was on the ice for 1 CF and 9 CA.

Avs badly need some guys back and/or need call ups who actually fit how the team wants to play so they can roll their four lines.

 

[dahrougem2]

Just watching the highlights, holy **** is Devan Dubnyk bad. I know he was probably one of the only options, if not the only option to trade for but he honestly looks just as bad as Johansson. His lateral "movement" on Pacioretty's 2nd goal was hilarious to watch.

Not a single one of Vegas' goals tonight was a difficult save. He wasn't even close to be ready for William Karlsson 10 seconds into the game. The Pacioretty PPG was horrific. Stone banking it in on him after he failed the first time is laughable. You'd think the guy would be trying to recover his net but he just sat there hoping it wouldn't hit him and go in.

I don't know if the Avs played poorly tonight, but based on the highlights Dubnyk did not give this team a chance to win at all.

Speaking of highlights, Soderberg and Sherwood were all over them in a positive manner. I take it those two had a good game?

 

[nammerus]

I think Kadri can turn it around but Bednar has to stop being stupid. Either BENCH HIM because his play has been atrocious for at least 1 month - 4 points in his last 20 games played is ABYSMAL for a player getting that kind of ice-time - OR put him back on that 1st PP unit so that he might have the chance to get out of this massive slump. What the hell is Compher doing there anyways?? It's almost like Sakic told Bednar to put him on there the rest of the season to pad his stats so he'd be able to trade him or he'll look more attractive to Seattle or something - it's certainly not based on merit, JT has been awful all year long.

I will say this about Kadri, if the Avs don't win the cup this year my expectations are that he won't be here next season. They'll get an upgrade.

Sakic has sat on JTC and Jost as top 9 C’s for the last 3-4 years. He has ignored multiple chances to cheaply get another top 9 C for the last 2 years. As per his actions, he appears to be quite happy with our C situation.

It will probably be the main reason we don’t win a cup during Macs contract window.

 

[Avs9296]

Sakic has sat on JTC and Jost as top 9 C’s for the last 3-4 years. He has ignored multiple chances to cheaply get another top 9 C for the last 2 years. As per his actions, he appears to be quite happy with our C situation.

It will probably be the main reason we don’t win a cup during Macs contract window.

He got Kadri last year.

Too bad he turned out to be shit this year.

 

[nammerus]

He got Kadri last year.

Too bad he turned out to be shit this year.

A 1 year reprieve. Sakic and half measures..a beautiful thing.

 

[Avs_19]

Just watching the highlights, holy **** is Devan Dubnyk bad. I know he was probably one of the only options, if not the only option to trade for but he honestly looks just as bad as Johansson. His lateral "movement" on Pacioretty's 2nd goal was hilarious to watch.

Not a single one of Vegas' goals tonight was a difficult save. He wasn't even close to be ready for William Karlsson 10 seconds into the game. The Pacioretty PPG was horrific. Stone banking it in on him after he failed the first time is laughable. You'd think the guy would be trying to recover his net but he just sat there hoping it wouldn't hit him and go in.

I don't know if the Avs played poorly tonight, but based on the highlights Dubnyk did not give this team a chance to win at all.

Speaking of highlights, Soderberg and Sherwood were all over them in a positive manner. I take it those two had a good game?

Yeah, Dubnyk was brutal.

The entire third line was fine and that includes Compher. Nothing special but they weren’t a liability. Sherwood has quietly been solid whenever given a chance. He has been much better than Kaut and O’Brien.

 

[the_fan]

Why do you want to put asterisk next to SC every year? SC is SC.

In a normal year you don't have pandemic destructions screwing things up for teams that's why.

If Avs face Vegas in the 2nd round and lose in game 7 again because they didn't have home ice,, don't tell me people won't look back to the Avs covid destruction when they were on a roll and it looked like there were gonna win the division.

Vegas didn't pass the Avs and gonna take the division from them fairly. They doing it thanks to covid. How that's not deserving of an asterisk? I mean even if the Avs win the cup, I said it before and will say it again, it's just not gonna feel like a normal cup championship.

 

[dahrougem2]

Yeah, Dubnyk was brutal.

The entire third line was fine and that includes Compher. Nothing special but they weren’t a liability. Sherwood has quietly been solid whenever given a chance. He has been much better than Kaut and O’Brien.

This team needs to play with so much pace and Sherwood has that. If you don't have pace, you have to have some redeeming quality that allows you to stay in the lineup. Soderberg is a big body and he knows how to use it tremendously in terms of puck retrieval, positioning, protection, and driving the net. He's the last guy in the league I think of when I think of "pace" but he finds a way.

A player like Martin Kaut, to me, is not long for this organization and is primed to be a summer trade candidate to upgrade the team. He doesn't seem to have the pace to play with this team (doesn't mean he can't play in the NHL) and he does nothing else to warrant staying up here.

O'Brien just sucks. Guy has been useless after the first couple of games.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

Just watching the highlights, holy **** is Devan Dubnyk bad. I know he was probably one of the only options, if not the only option to trade for but he honestly looks just as bad as Johansson. His lateral "movement" on Pacioretty's 2nd goal was hilarious to watch.

Not a single one of Vegas' goals tonight was a difficult save. He wasn't even close to be ready for William Karlsson 10 seconds into the game. The Pacioretty PPG was horrific. Stone banking it in on him after he failed the first time is laughable. You'd think the guy would be trying to recover his net but he just sat there hoping it wouldn't hit him and go in.

I don't know if the Avs played poorly tonight, but based on the highlights Dubnyk did not give this team a chance to win at all.

Speaking of highlights, Soderberg and Sherwood were all over them in a positive manner. I take it those two had a good game?

Sherwood was very good, in terms of what you’d expect from a 4th liner. Soderberg was up and down. Credit to him for making the good play on the Toews goal.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Yeah, Dubnyk was brutal.

The entire third line was fine and that includes Compher. Nothing special but they weren’t a liability. Sherwood has quietly been solid whenever given a chance. He has been much better than Kaut and O’Brien.

100

 

[BleedWell]

Avalanche ppg this season with Rantanen in the line up:
1,5
Without him:
0,5

 

[drhiii]

Not. Good. Enough.

That sort of glass half full thinking never wins ya anything........

Exactly. All this "we'll git when...", nope.