Colorado's domination

[Mez]

Part of it is 12 of their last 14 games have been against weak teams that are under .500...they are 3-3 against STL + VGK and 4-2 against Minny. They dominate weak teams, and that's what good teams do. Now that they have found their stride it will be interesting to see how they do against the other top 3 teams in their division.

 

[Crossfire Hurricane]

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.

They owe us one for '96.

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

Drafting high has definitely been a major factor, but not the only one. Kadri, Burakovsky, Grubauer, Byram, Girard, Toews, Graves, Saad, Macdonald, and Graves were acquired via trades. Donskoi, Bellemaire, Nichushkin, and O'Connor were free agent signings. Drafting outside the first round hasn't yielded much during Sakic's tenure, but that's in part because he's traded a ton of picks to add to the roster.

 

[These Are The Days]

Leave the Avalanche alone. I want them to be all skill and possession because the Lightning are a grit n' grind team.

I NEED THIS

Who wins the Big Fight? I got Tampa in 6

 

[Miri]

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.

Agreed about this, unfortunately, simply based on the fact Tampa´s core players are more experienced. I mean, Makar is indeed one of the best Ds currently, but naturally, Hedman is still on another level to him.
I am fairly positive though, that Avs are going to win a Cup with this group eventually, even if it takes five more years to get there.

 

[Machinehead]

Who wins the Big Fight? I got Tampa in 6

Tampa in 7. Avs in 2022.

 

[jsalz16]

Part of it is 12 of their last 14 games have been against weak teams that are under .500...they are 3-3 against STL + VGK and 4-2 against Minny. They dominate weak teams, and that's what good teams do. Now that they have found their stride it will be interesting to see how they do against the other top 3 teams in their division.

I agree the test will be with Vegas and St. Louis but the Avs just destroyed Minny. They had like 97 shots in 2 games. It honestly wasn’t even close.

 

[TippinOn44s]

No they're overrated. Grubauer is a mediocore starter, Makar is injury prone, MacKinnon is not as good as Draisaitl and Rantanen is a product of MacKinnon. They take bad shots from everywhere and their shots totals are inflated.

Not sure if serious.

 

[John Mandalorian]

Not sure if serious.

Reverse jinxing

 

[Spirits]

They were hampered by injuries. 3rd goalie in net and bunch of regulars out. They have a better team this year too. Saad, Toews and Byram in the mix.

I think he was being intentionally stupid as a lark. Or he doesn't watch hockey.

 

[Spirits]

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

Like Quinn Hughes?

 

[TruePowerSlave]

Its almost a miracle what Sakic has been able to accomplish in the last 4 years.

The pathetic 16-17 Avs team went 22-56-4. That team had an awful roster except the 1st line and there were no prospects in the organization worth mentioning except Tyson Jost.

 

[Super Hans]

I dunno. I think they were better when they were the ones getting outshot by 10 every game. Patrick Roy's Jack Adams Trophy agrees with me.

 

[IWantSakicAsMyGM]

Who would have thought Burnaby Joe, who stuck his hand in a snow blower fan while it was running, could construct such a team.

Yeah, who would possibly want him to be their GM?

 

[surixon]

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.

Probably because there is a shortage of those types of players. Many teams don't have the luxury of having a couple of puck moving dmen taken in the top 5 of the draft like Colorado does.

Many coaches also still seem stuck in the past where they want a couple of big physical dmen to clear the net as well.

Not taking anything away from Colorado but being able to draft an extremely strong foundation at the top of the draft has really kick started the team. Sakic has still made a lot of strong moves to surround that core and as a result you have a great team.

 

[McCombo]

Probably because there is a shortage of those types of players. Many teams don't have the luxury of having a couple of puck moving dmen taken in the top 5 of the draft like Colorado does.

Many coaches also still seem stuck in the past where they want a couple of big physical dmen to clear the net as well.

Not taking anything away from Colorado but being able to draft an extremely strong foundation at the top of the draft has really kick started the team. Sakic has still made a lot of strong moves to surround that core and as a result you have a great team.

You have got a point, not every team can have 3-4 elite Dmen. But there are a lot of bad Dmen out there playing and all they can do is give crosschecks and fire the puck glass and out. Those Dmen should be replaced by more capable players with the puck, eventhough they wouldn't be elite. And there is nothing wrong with good defensive defenseman who can supress shots and move the puck well enough not to be anchor.

 

[surixon]

You have got a point, not every team can have 3-4 elite Dmen. But there are a lot of bad Dmen out there playing and all they can do is give crosschecks and fire the puck glass and out. Those Dmen should be replaced by more capable players with the puck, eventhough they wouldn't be elite. And there is nothing wrong with good defensive defenseman who can supress shots and move the puck well enough not to be anchor.

I think a lot of coaches just have blindspots as to what makes a good dmen in the new NHL.

The Jets for instance could be icing more of a new aged defense if they would call up Heinola for instance but our coach is happy to dress bad vet dmen like Beaulieu over some of our younger and more talented players.

 

[McCombo]

I think a lot of coaches just have blindspots as to what makes a good dmen in the new NHL.

The Jets for instance could be icing more of a new aged defense if they would call up Heinola for instance but our coach is happy to dress bad vet dmen like Beaulieu over some of our younger and more talented players.

Feel the same way as an Oilers fan. Tippett is constantly scratching Caleb Jones in favour of Kris Russell. Jones had a rough start to the season, but it is annoying when younger players get scratched for mistakes but veterans don't. Bouchard over Larsson isn't so criminal, but when you 3 of your 6 Dmen are Russell, Larsson and Lagesson it is a bit cringeworthy at times.

 

[Go19]

What has helped on the Avalanche Road To Domination(tm) is the fact that every forward is backchecking like a fiend - it's helped the D out immensely and has kept the big guy teams from pinning in the smaller D corp. Just a quick note on Byrum - he plays extremely smart when working the corners. Rarely is he on the wrong side of an opposing forward during a puck battle, he almost always has the leverage and on the battles he loses the opponent rarely gets much off and in most cases it's the backchecking forward that comes in and finishes the cleanup. Only Compher has been a passenger up to now - he may be getting the message his time is short.

 

[Chips]

Probably because there is a shortage of those types of players. Many teams don't have the luxury of having a couple of puck moving dmen taken in the top 5 of the draft like Colorado does.

Many coaches also still seem stuck in the past where they want a couple of big physical dmen to clear the net as well.

Not taking anything away from Colorado but being able to draft an extremely strong foundation at the top of the draft has really kick started the team. Sakic has still made a lot of strong moves to surround that core and as a result you have a great team.

I think it’s timing too as for why more teams don’t have that style d man;

lower levels developing players look at the NHL and figure out how to develop players best in that current league, how to “solve” this player or that player.

Scoring goes up, scoring goes down; though now it may just go up hopefully as people start molding Heiskanens, Makars, Girards etc (...hopefully)

not at their level, but I mean less good players in that style. Forwards who backcheck, defensemen who skate pass and attack

 

[John Mandalorian]

I saw other teams mentioned for comparison. It’s not just that the Avs have foregone the anchor for PMD. It’s that each of their top 4 is an elite (or near elite) skater. Just saying they have 4 puckmovers doesn’t tell the story.

I know opinions will differ as to what is an elite skater. And I’m not saying the Avs D are without flaw. But skating isn’t one of them. And I’d say the emphasis on skating would be the one thing differentiating this group.

Someone correctly brought up Makar and Byram being high draft picks. That’s true. But where you really see the quality of mgt is how they did their research on Toews and then exploited the opportunity. And if that’s not enough, Barron’s skill set is pretty much the epitome of what the Avs have been about in terms of how they built this defense.

Part of its luck (if you want to call it that). The Avs awful season saw us only get the 4th pick. But we picked Makar at 4 so it worked out ok. I’d be interested in knowing if they took Makar with this end game in mind.

At one point the Avs had MacKinnon, O’Reilly, and Duchene. But during this time, they’d routinely get trapped in their own zone because our D was absolutely awful. They couldn’t clear the puck. So it wouldn’t surprise me if the frustration from this time served as the impetus for how they put together this defense.

 

[Total Bender]

They did beat them in the playoffs and their captain is a drunk that run into Timmies and their goalie is a spaz.

A drunk with a ring. Good luck winning the covid cup!

 

[Avsavsavsavsavs]

Missing a very good #2C and an elite goalie to be the best in the league

lol.

 

[NikF]

Not sure how it will play out in playoffs but I think they are easily the best team in the "western conference".

 

[DearDiary]

Not sure how it will play out in playoffs but I think they are easily the best team in the "western conference".

Easily? Big reach there

 

[MrThomas]

If Colorado wins now 3 straight or even more cups in a row im not even surprised. They got everything and not creedy contracts like in toronto. Also they are gonna be better in every year. Lets go moose!