Post-Game Talk: Coyotes at Avalanche 7PM MST | Please sir, may we have some goals?

[Foppa Frossa]

Hopefully this is the game we turn our anemic offense around. Wait, we're playing Phoenix, so noooope!

We don't have a massive advantage in terms of games played against the Coyotes, and are only up by a few points so this should be a....wait for it...Must Win Game(tm).

DMo and Doan may be out for the Yotes. But then again we have Guenin as our #2D. Try not to give the puck to the other team so much this game, eh Nate?


Go Avs!

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[Nzap]

what the hell, I didn't think we had a game today cause we didn't have a Pre-game thread.

Blasphemy!

Anyways, hoping Roy changes the lines and let's hope Tangs is back before Xmas.

 

[raistlin76]

I think Roy should come back to
O'Reilly-Dutchy-Pap
Gabe-Staz-MacK

for this game. MacK and Gabe with Duchene just doesn't work. Also O'Reilly with Staz is not the best combo. It may resurrect our offence.

 

[Taak19]

Good lines.

W/ McGinn - Mitchell - Talbot as the third and McLeod - Malone - Bordy as the 4th, imo.

 

[klozge]

Good lines.

W/ McGinn - Mitchell - Talbot as the third and McLeod - Malone - Bordy as the 4th, imo.

Why Malone? He's terrible.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

Why Malone? He's terrible.

No he's not. He's a big guy whose physical and has good speed. He's also solid defensively. I think Roy likes him a lot and I expect him on the team soon as a 4th line guy. He was a tank in preseason and earned a spot but the Cliche pickup kind of screwed him.

Cliche is solid defensively but provides nothing else. He's not physical, he's not fast, doesnt provide any offense and he struggles on faceoffs. He's out as soon as Tanguay returns but I wouldn't mind seeing Malone replace him until then.

 

[NothingLikeAnEJ]

Need the 2 points here big time.

 

[henchman21]

It amazes me how much Malone discussion is on these boards. He is a low grade 4th liner... nothing more, nothing less.

 

[Lonewolfe2015]

ROR - Duchy - PAP
McLeod - Staz - Landy
McGinn - Mack - Talbot
Malone - Mitchell - Bordy

That's what I'd prefer to see. I want those 4 centers, that 1st and 3rd line and roughly those 2nd/4th (could live with McLeod swapping with any of the 3 wingers).

Barrie - EJ
Benoit - Sarich
Holden - Guenin

Mitchell on the 4th line makes too much sense, along with Guenin and Barrie swapping spots. So neither will happen.

 

[Tobi Wan Kenobi]

Hey guys when's Tanguay back?

 

[Wintersun]

Time has come for Matt Duchene to wake the **** up. Thanks.

 

[Freudian]

It amazes me how much Malone discussion is on these boards. He is a low grade 4th liner... nothing more, nothing less.

So is Cliche. He's about as invisible as they get. Five hits in 22 games. Really bad at faceoffs. No real skill. He's just there. Decent on the PK and good speed, I guess.

I think if he wasn't a waiver 'find' of Roy and Sakic, he'd get much less love from the coach.

 

[henchman21]

So is Cliche. He's about as invisible as they get. Five hits in 22 games. Really bad at faceoffs. No real skill. He's just there. Decent on the PK and good speed, I guess.

I think if he wasn't a waiver 'find' of Roy and Sakic, he'd get much less love from the coach.

I don't disagree, just saying there is an awful lot of discussion on players that are far down the depth chart. People seem to love Malone for some reason and want to put him in the lineup over more useful players all the time.

My guess is Cliche is in the lineup simply as a PK forward and Roy doesn't trust Malone to be one of his PK forwards. Cue the Malone lovers commenting on how good Malone is on the PK...

 

[the_fan]

I wish Avs had players like Getzlaf, Perry etc....examples of consistent players rather than streaky players.

Say what you want about Duchene and the good season he is having, but he is still a streaky player. This recent injury proves that, he was on fire before getting hurt, but now he can't do anything because he was taken off his groove. So he's either hot or cold, there is no middle. And he didn't even miss whole lot of games.

Consistent players should be able to come back from injuries and pick up where they left off or at least take only game or two to get going again. It's taking way too long for Duchene to get it going again, and that's not a good sign for your best player.

I think Avs will have just one player in the future who wont be a streaky player and will be a consistent player, and that's MacKinnon.

 

[CobraAcesS]

Anyone else having a really hard time feeling good about any upcoming games since Hejda went down?

De ja vu when it comes to seeing guys like Guenin on our top pairing... Just make Guenin grow a big stupid beard, and we can get right back to the old tradition.

I also get the feeling that Roy's 'finds' in Cliche, Holden, and Guenin, are getting far too much leeway. Yeah it's great that these guys work hard, but a lack of talent will always be there.

All three of these AHL caliber players should not be in the lineup at the same time EVER.

I think we might be seeing Roy's stubborn nature come to the surface.

edit

I wish Avs had players like Getzlaf, Perry etc....examples of consistent players rather than streaky players.

Say what you want about Duchene and the good season he is having, but he is still a streaky player. This recent injury proves that, he was on fire before getting hurt, but now he can't do anything because he was taken off his groove. So he's either hot or cold, there is no middle.

Consistent players should be able to come back from injuries and pick up where they left off or at least take only game or two to get going again. It's taking way too long for Duchene to get it going again, and that's not a good sign for your best player.

I think Avs will have just one player in the future who wont be a streaky player and will be a consistent player, and that's MacKinnon.

I do think exchanging O'Reilly and PA for Landeskog and Mackinnon (Particularly Landeskog) has contributed to this a bit. Why O'Reilly is not playing with Duchene right now is beyond me. It's been obvious for a long time now that Landeskog and Duchene do not work together outside of special teams. (They were dangerous on the PK together)

I'm finding myself disagreeing with quite a few of Roy's lineup decisions lately...

 

[Huis Clos*]

It amazes me how much Malone discussion is on these boards. He is a low grade 4th liner... nothing more, nothing less.

Yep. I don't understand the love Malone gets or any of the love for the forwards in Lake Erie. Hishon is made of glass and Sgarbossa is no savior either.

 

[Huis Clos*]

Anyone else having a really hard time feeling good about any upcoming games since Hejda went down?

With Hejda hurt the Avs are icing a defense full of AHL/third pairing guys. Except Johnson, of course.

 

[hockeyfish]

Hey guys when's Tanguay back?

Probably sometime early next week.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

Yep. I don't understand the love Malone gets or any of the love for the forwards in Lake Erie. Hishon is made of glass and Sgarbossa is no savior either.

Since when does saying Malone should get a look on the FOURTH line qualify as love? It's not like anyone is hyping him up to be anything more.

 

[The Kingslayer]

4-1 Phoenix

 

[the_fan]

I do think exchanging O'Reilly and PA for Landeskog and Mackinnon (Particularly Landeskog) has contributed to this a bit. Why O'Reilly is not playing with Duchene right now is beyond me. It's been obvious for a long time now that Landeskog and Duchene do not work together outside of special teams. (They were dangerous on the PK together)

I'm finding myself disagreeing with quite a few of Roy's lineup decisions lately...

Most of Duchene's early success came from him using his speed, blowing by D, pretty much creating chances on his own, it's not like ROR and Duchene had super chemistry where they had super passing plays together or whatnot.

I don't think changing lines has anything to do with Duchene's struggles, it's just that like i said, Duchene is a streaky player and i hope in few years he will become more consistent.

 

[CobraAcesS]

With Hejda hurt the Avs are icing a defense full of AHL/third pairing guys. Except Johnson, of course.

Yeah but Roy promotes Guenin instead of Benoit, and I can't help but think that passing on Klesla was a mistake. We already had major injuries, yet Roy seems to think the world of his two AHL defenders.

The fact that so much is being said of Barrie's poor play, yet Roy continues to praise Guenin and Holden, on top of giving them more ice time makes me worried. The same way I used to worry about Sacco favoring his bottom six players.

 

[Huis Clos*]

Since when does saying Malone should get a look on the FOURTH line qualify as love? It's not like anyone is hyping him up to be anything more.

Love might not have been the right word, but it's just arguing semantics in the end. I think most fourth line players are borderline AHL players anyway. Malone at this point is nothing more than an AHL player, though.

Yeah but Roy promotes Guenin instead of Benoit, and I can't help but think that passing on Klesla was a mistake. We already had major injuries, yet Roy seems to think the world of his two AHL defenders.

The fact that so much is being said of Barrie's poor play, yet Roy continues to praise Guenin and Holden, on top of giving them more ice time makes me worried. The same way I used to worry about Sacco favoring his bottom six players.

If Klesla was any good he'd be on the team.

 

[CobraAcesS]

If Klesla was any good he'd be on the team.

You're telling me you believe he wouldn't be an upgrade over Holden or Guenin? Hes an experienced top 4 defender that got pushed out due to depth and some injury issues.

Even if they picked him up and gave him a week or so for conditioning and practice before playing him, it would have made a hell of a lot more sense than forcing 6/7 guys up into a top 4 role.

I think Klesla would have been a good partner for Barrie, considering the fact that we're hurting for left handed shutdown guys.

 

[Nzap]

I'd like to see

Lando-Staz-ROR
McLeod-Duchene-PAP
McGinn-Mack-Talbz
Bordy-Mitchell-Cliche

For the love of God Roy put Mack back at C.