Colorado's domination

[McCombo]

They started the season pretty sluggish, (3-3) but are finding their stride now.

I think one of the big keys for Colorado is they don’t have offensive defenceman, they have two-way defenceman.

You need d-men who can consistently skate and move the puck to control the flow of play in games, but often that comes at a cost. Sometimes those types of players are a liability in their own zone, but the Colorado D play well in all 3 zones. They are extremely efficient at getting pucks out of the D zone and all three pairs have a guy who’s skilled enough to support the forwards in the O-zone.

Don't really care what you call them (2way, OFD, PMD). Makar, Girard, Toews and Byram all are great with the puck.

 

[DropTheGloves]

Good team is posting good numbers. Thank goodness we have advanced stats, I never would’ve known otherwise.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

Don't really care what you call them, Makar, Girard, Toews and Byram all are great with the puck.

For sure. I’m just saying that the fact they can play without the puck too is what allows that group to be successful.

It wouldn’t be that useful if you had a bunch of skilled defenceman who couldn’t defend.

 

[Beauner]

Olli Määttä, Brian Dumoulin, Ian Cole, Ben Lovejoy all played a lot of playoff games. Doesn't really seem like a highly skilled defense to me.

Then I question whether you actually watched them play

 

[jetsforever]

Imagine if they played in the "easy" North Division!

 

[ManofSteel55]

I don't think it is news that Colorado has a great team built on puck possession and skill. Good take though.

 

[McCombo]

Good team is posting good numbers. Thank goodness we have advanced stats, I never would’ve known otherwise.

To me it is more baffling that why are most of the teams still icing bunch of defenseman that can't complete a pass or skate the puck out when they are pressured. And when you are in the offensive zone you pass to those players and it is like giving it away.

 

[McCombo]

For sure. Im just saying that the fact they can play without the puck too is what allows that group to be successful.

It wouldn’t be that useful if you had a bunch of skilled defenceman who couldn’t defend.

I think it is more the beauty of having the puck so much, you simply don't have to defend that much. That's the best defense. All are good skaters so they don't get burned either.

 

[Satire]

You heard it here first folks, Colorado is a good team. Would not have guessed arguably the 2nd best team in the League was good.

Also there's lots of teams built well like this. Early to mid 2010s Chicago and the Lightning currently immediately came to mind.

Enjoy the ride while you can. Would love to see that core win a cup.

 

[Nihiliste]

We’ve also been beating up on a bunch of meh teams lately. Let’s see how it goes against Vegas.

The divisional play is annoying because you can’t test yourself against other teams and styles

 

[GirardSpinorama]

Imagine if they played in the "easy" North Division!

We'd probably have the same record +2 except instead of 2-2 with Vegas, we'd be 4-0. No one in the north touches us or Vegas.

 

[McCombo]

Then I question whether you actually watched them play

Can't remember what games I have watched 5+ years ago. Probably watched at least few of those finals. Dumoulin is great, but more defensive minded. But none of these players are known to be wizards with the puck. Anyone have broken 30 points a year?

 

[Pavels Dog]

To me it is more baffling that why are most of the teams still icing bunch of defenseman that can't complete a pass or skate the puck out when they are pressured. And when you are in the offensive zone you pass to those players and it is like giving it away.

It kinda helps when you're drafting near the top so much. Byram #4OA, Makar #4OA, Girard acquired by trading a #3OA. Those guys are in turn passing the puck to #1OA, #2OA, #7OA, #10OA..

They've put a good team together and have obviously made some smart trades to get here, but it's been a long time coming and like every successful "model" it's not easy to replicate.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

We’ve also been beating up on a bunch of meh teams lately. Let’s see how it goes against Vegas.

The divisional play is annoying because you can’t test yourself against other teams and styles

Ya we totally got dominated against Vegas the last game. Overall we weren't as strong but we also weren't fully healthy.

 

[Connor McConnor]

Mack Rantanen Landeskog as a line is just disgusting, especially when the guys feeding them are Makar/Girard. But I think the biggest difference has been how damn well their depth guys have been playing. It seems like one of those instances where their best players missing time earlier on actually helped the team in the long term by giving those guys more responsibility/chance to shine.

Avs vs. Vegas is going to be a ridiculous series.

 

[Beauner]

Can't remember what games I have watched 5+ years ago. Probably watched at least few of those finals. Dumoulin is great, but more defensive minded. But none of these players are known to be wizards with the puck. Anyone have broken 30 points a year?

They all had incredible puck skills in terms of making great outlet passes and knowing how and when to activate in the offensive zone. Guys who aren't "visually" active with the puck like a Letang or Karlsson, or Makar or whoever can still be quite skilled with the puck.

Olli Maatta was one of smartest Penguins' defenseman I've ever seen with the puck on his stick. He made breakout/outlet passes that I didn't even realize were available from watching on TV

 

[Mighty Makar]

Ya we totally got dominated against Vegas the last game. Overall we weren't as strong but we also weren't fully healthy.

We also beat Vegas without Makar and Girard. Two big games against them this week. They could potentially be without Pietrangelo and Pacioretty.

 

[Chips]

The Avs mainly are a team with a vision. There’s not just one way to build a winning team, but you need to decide which way you want to go, and acquire the pieces accordingly. So many teams have no vision or they don’t really stick to it, and they just add whatever the best available trade, free agent; etc is available, pieces that don’t necessarily fit together well; I mean maybe in one line combination but then you gotta shuffle guys sometimes.

This is becoming my favorite team. I love that their top 3 Dmen are smaller, shifty, mobile transition D. I actually hadn’t see this thread til I basically posted this same topic in another;

A huge part of why this team is so great is that they always have the freaking puck. A modern team expects EVERYONE (except the goalie) to do everything and they’ve got at least three great Dmen (I actually don’t notice who their bottom 2 are, but I think they were decently high picks? Just young?) who are way the hell more skilled than they are gritty, and these guys happen to be on the shorter side... but they make so many subtle little plays, such small plays and they get the puck and get it out of their zone so quick. Very smart players; and Girard (that little spin move thing) and Makar playing the other teams blueline so close. And that Makar takes wristers or snapshots more than slap shots getting the puck through traffic and on net so quick (never quite understood why so many Dmen literally only slap shot)

yet, Colorado way outshoots its opponents, is top 7 goals for despite MacK being snakebitten and Makar missing half the season, AND they’re second in goals against.

Their forwards have chemistry and are great possession guys, play all three areas. Their forwards and defenseman have great chemistry together. It just works. One vision.

this last little while as they’ve some of their injured back and stepped back up, they’re easily one of the most fun teams by far. THIS is the kinda team I would rather get copied than the Isles or Stars lol. The main weakness of theirs I anticipate this year is simply that two of their best, maybe their two best Dmen are still super young guys.

 

[VinikToWinIt]

The Lightning of the last two years are better.

That's not meant as a criticism of the Avs at all, but to say you've been dreaming of it when we've *been* watching legitimately one of the best teams ever seems strange.

Lightning vs Avs is the only SCF. It needs to happen. It would be the first "big fight feel" SCF in a very long time.

It's criminal that we don't get to see these 2 play this season unless it's in the final 4. This SCF would be incredible.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

They are fun team to watch. A lot of speed and skill. Not soft, unless you are counting injuries.

 

[Machinehead]

It's criminal that we don't get to see these 2 play this season unless it's in the final 4. This SCF would be incredible.

True, but assuming we get that Finals, I'd rather keep them apart until then.

Of course, that's a big assumption. I hope the hockey gods get this one right.

 

[tucker3434]

When things get going in the right direction, it seems like everybody ups their game. The underlying numbers have been good all year. Over the past few weeks, the results have finally started to follow. But now we'll probably lose 6-0 to the Yotes tonight in whoseits debut.

 

[Chips]

Ya we totally got dominated against Vegas the last game. Overall we weren't as strong but we also weren't fully healthy.

Also in fairness the regular season series isn’t entirely indicative of what will happen in a playoff series.

I feel like every year that I’ve watched hockey, and I read the series previews they mention the teams regular season record against each other and it very frequently doesn’t match up at all with the playoff results lol. So many random factors go in. Different day, different game.

I would probably bet money on the Knights in a playoff series right now just because their key guys are all older and more experienced generally, and as a team they’re way more experienced in the playoffs, and they’ve got 2x goalie depth. But the Avs are talented enough to do it as long as Grubauer doesn’t get injured. That would be the biggest playoff disappointment by far as a neutral fan, essentially dooming them without a chance.

 

[PAZ]

They are fun team to watch. A lot of speed and skill. Not soft, unless you are counting injuries.

I also think that's why Bednar is one of the longest tenured coaches in the NHL, and his message still hasn't gotten stale. Players enjoy playing this style of hockey and they've all bought in.

 

[Nihiliste]

It kinda helps when you're drafting near the top so much. Byram #4OA, Makar #4OA, Girard acquired by trading a #3OA. Those guys are in turn passing the puck to #1OA, #2OA, #7OA, #10OA..

They've put a good team together and have obviously made some smart trades to get here, but it's been a long time coming and like every successful "model" it's not easy to replicate.

The Avs are actually on their 4th iteration of the rebuild which involved a decade of sucking. Despite drafting high a bunch of times and having lots of talent in the past, they had horrible asset management, scouting, losing players due to adversarial negotiations, no vision, etc. As recently as 2016-17 we were a garbage team with a bunch of slow anchors and no defensemen. Sakic had to bring in the right help, change his vision for what the team’s style would be, leaned heavily into analytics, finally bring in competent coaching to get us here. So while being bad for a decade definitely helped, it definitely wasn’t inevitable that the team come together like this