Pre-Game Talk: Enter if you're a masochist. VGK/WIN/@CHI/@NSH

[forsbergavs32]

To be fair, we could lose every game for the rest of the year and he still likely wouldn't be fired. It's a pointless move now. Should have been done 15 games ago

I know it likely doesn't fix the season, but even if they just go with one of the assistants as interim the rest of the season there's still a change it at least wakes some guys up a bit. I just want Sakic to do something to show he has a pulse

 

[Pokecheque]

I mean, there's no way a coach can survive 2/3 losing seasons, especially when one began with the team top 5 in the league and then collapsed down the stretch, and another was record-settingly bad. Not when there's this much talent on the team.

At least I hope and pray that can't be the case.

I would think Sakic would have to admit defeat and realize that yes, he cannot have a coach with that much losing under his belt and expect the players to follow him any further (and it sure seems like he's either losing or has completely lost the room already). But I also know this team absolutely HATES to fire a coach with term remaining. I'm pretty sure they didn't technically "fire" Joe Sacco...they just let his contract expire and didn't renew it. I could be wrong of course.

 

[McMetal]

I know it likely doesn't fix the season, but even if they just go with one of the assistants as interim the rest of the season there's still a change it at least wakes some guys up a bit. I just want Sakic to do something to show he has a pulse

I think we would all have been furious about the price if we had brought in a guy like Hayes earlier in the season. Sakic isn't the kind of GM who will overpay to get what he wants, remember how that worked out for Dorion? I expect a few long term moves at the deadline, but I'd rather the patient approach than an aggressive, mortgage-the-future type of trade just because I as a fan want something to happen just for the sake of shaking things up.

Just imagine how this team's would look if Sakic had traded Duchene for the proposed Murray/Abramov/1st package instead of the one we got. Patience worked once, I'll give it a chance to work again.

 

[McMetal]

I would think Sakic would have to admit defeat and realize that yes, he cannot have a coach with that much losing under his belt and expect the players to follow him any further (and it sure seems like he's either losing or has completely lost the room already). But I also know this team absolutely HATES to fire a coach with term remaining. I'm pretty sure they didn't technically "fire" Joe Sacco...they just let his contract expire and didn't renew it. I could be wrong of course.

It's not as if they're paying him top dollar, after all. He was a rookie coach and I'm sure his salary reflected that.

 

[forsbergavs32]

I think we would all have been furious about the price if we had brought in a guy like Hayes earlier in the season. Sakic isn't the kind of GM who will overpay to get what he wants, remember how that worked out for Dorion? I expect a few long term moves at the deadline, but I'd rather the patient approach than an aggressive, mortgage-the-future type of trade just because I as a fan want something to happen just for the sake of shaking things up.

Just imagine how this team's would look if Sakic had traded Duchene for the proposed Murray/Abramov/1st package instead of the one we got. Patience worked once, I'll give it a chance to work again.

Its not that I don't trust Sakic but I would have liked to have seen even just a little something to stop this slide. I'll wait and see what he does in the offseason though before I worry.

 

[Pokecheque]

I don't think putting Bennett in charge would change anything. I sure as hell don't think putting fricking Pratt in charge would do so either. That leaves Cronin and...hell no.

They just gotta ride this out. There's no fixing this. They might have had a shot at doing so in December and chose to do absolutely nothing. At season's end they'd better clean house and go out of their way to get the best coach they possibly can.

 

[McMetal]

I don't think putting Bennett in charge would change anything. I sure as hell don't think putting fricking Pratt in charge would do so either. That leaves Cronin and...hell no.

They just gotta ride this out. There's no fixing this. They might have had a shot at doing so in December and chose to do absolutely nothing. At season's end they'd better clean house and go out of their way to get the best coach they possibly can.

It's too late to change coaches now, might as well give Bednar enough rope to hang himself.

 

[Pokecheque]

It's not as if they're paying him top dollar, after all. He was a rookie coach and I'm sure his salary reflected that.

Oh, I know...but that's just how cheap I think this team is.

 

[SniperOnTheWing]

The PP wakes up and you guys go 3-1 in this stretch.

One win down, two more to go.

Powerplay heater to follow shortly.

 

[billybobjoe2112]

I've watched every Avs game since Jan 1st, and also have season tickets to the P.G. Cougars who are currently on a 16 game losing streak, and judging by their schedule, could go winless for the rest of the year. Shoot me now.

 

[MarkT]

This is the beginning of the playoff push.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

I’m certainly not expecting it, but an Anaheim win over Minnesota tonight would be massive for the Avs. Keeps Minnesota stationary in the standings. A loss against a disaster like Anaheim helps the mindfrane of Fenton as well who apparently wants to sell.

Plus that win will give Anaheim another 2 points on Ottawa.

 

[Freaky Styley]

Just beat Chicago and win 1 of the NSH/WPG games please

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Honestly I'm starting to think we'll make playoffs again.


I've maintained even through these struggles that the team has played better on the ice then the results showed, by a pretty significant margin. For the longest time it looked as though goaltending and some bad luck were going to do us in on the season. But Varly really does appear to be back, he's put up 3 straight top notch games and even in his games before that he didn't look bad either.


If Varly is back to being starter quality we shouldn't have much difficulty going something like 14-7-2 over our last 23 games and that's probably good enough to get in. Especially with our softer schedule.


Keep playing like we are right now, and as along as the goaltending holds up we'll grab a wild card spot. Probably still means a first round exit but I mean that would still be a successful season and could help a little in our quest to grab a good UFA this summer. It would also make moving our 1st at the draft a lot easier to do for help right now knowing the pick is going to be ~16th overall instead of 8th.

 

[Babel Salamander]

I need to see at least a two game winning streak if I'm going to invest any optimism in this team.

 

[AvsFan29]

Honestly I'm starting to think we'll make playoffs again.


I've maintained even through these struggles that the team has played better on the ice then the results showed, by a pretty significant margin. For the longest time it looked as though goaltending and some bad luck were going to do us in on the season. But Varly really does appear to be back, he's put up 3 straight top notch games and even in his games before that he didn't look bad either.


If Varly is back to being starter quality we shouldn't have much difficulty going something like 14-7-2 over our last 23 games and that's probably good enough to get in. Especially with our softer schedule.


Keep playing like we are right now, and as along as the goaltending holds up we'll grab a wild card spot. Probably still means a first round exit but I mean that would still be a successful season and could help a little in our quest to grab a good UFA this summer. It would also make moving our 1st at the draft a lot easier to do for help right now knowing the pick is going to be ~16th overall instead of 8th.

We aren't trading our pick for help...that would be a brutal move.

People would lose their minds if Sakic traded our pick right now lol

We still have a shot at the playoffs, and that win last night was huge, but if we lose a few games, It's over, and we've lost a ton of games lately.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

The Avs have been playing really good hockey for almost the entirety of the bad stretch. We were victims of abysmal goaltending and then when goaltending started coming around we ran into a few hot goaltenders on the other side.

The Avs lack in various areas but they are a playoff caliber team. People have been getting mad at me for suggesting they’ve been playing well but they really have and I continue to give so much credit to Bednar because of that. His ability to keep his team motivated through that awful stint and put a system in place to have the Avs pretty much dominating the play every night is so impressive.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

The Avs have been playing really good hockey for almost the entirety of the bad stretch. We were victims of abysmal goaltending and then when goaltending started coming around we ran into a few hot goaltenders on the other side.

The Avs lack in various areas but they are a playoff caliber team. People have been getting mad at me for suggesting they’ve been playing well but they really have and I continue to give so much credit to Bednar because of that. His ability to keep his team motivated through that awful stint and put a system in place to have the Avs pretty much dominating the play every night is so impressive.

I'm in the same boat. Mind you a few lineup decisions were quite questionable and the 3 on 3 stuff is a major concern.


But yeah we've generally been a strong defensive team all year. We're among the best in the league at shot attempts against, scoring chances against, and high danger chances against.

 

[The Abusement Park]

The Vegas game last year was the pivotal game that lead us to the playoffs. Let’s hope history is repeating itself.

 

[The Abusement Park]

We aren't trading our pick for help...that would be a brutal move.

People would lose their minds if Sakic traded our pick right now lol

We still have a shot at the playoffs, and that win last night was huge, but if we lose a few games, It's over, and we've lost a ton of games lately.

He said move our pick at the draft.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

We aren't trading our pick for help...that would be a brutal move.

People would lose their minds if Sakic traded our pick right now lol

We still have a shot at the playoffs, and that win last night was huge, but if we lose a few games, It's over, and we've lost a ton of games lately.

It wouldn't be brutal at all. If the pick is Top 10 then yeah you hang onto it and try to get a high impact player. But at #16 after making playoffs this year, and after already picking top 5 in the draft it would make a tonne of sense to move the pick for a legit 2nd liner.



My prediction is we move Col 1st(#16) + Bowers + Meloche to the Rangers at the draft for Kreider, and then sign Kreider to an extension on July 1st.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

The Avs have been playing really good hockey for almost the entirety of the bad stretch. We were victims of abysmal goaltending and then when goaltending started coming around we ran into a few hot goaltenders on the other side.

The Avs lack in various areas but they are a playoff caliber team. People have been getting mad at me for suggesting they’ve been playing well but they really have and I continue to give so much credit to Bednar because of that. His ability to keep his team motivated through that awful stint and put a system in place to have the Avs pretty much dominating the play every night is so impressive.

Feel the same way. I'm still in the Bednar's camp for that exact reason. Guys keep coming out hard every game. The only time they kind of give up is when they are down by three goals and those goals were very deflating. Last night was a good indication of that. Mack loses both his wingers and gets put on the 2nd PP unit and he still came out very hard. I kept saying during that stretch that with above .900 SV% this team can make the POs and possibly win a PO series. Once you are in you never know.

The last two OT were a lot better as well. Much more possession out of the guys because he split the "dangerous" guys (Mack and Barrie).

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Going so long without hockey during the all star break/bye week made me forget how good Nathan Mackinnon is. All the games post-break I never really thought anything about Mackinnon’s play. He was better than everyone else for the most part so I was just assuming he was playing the same as he always had been. But then last night I saw him playing with that extra gear that I kinda forgot he had.

Nathan Mackinnon playing hockey like he did last night is way more important to this team’s success than any goaltending, secondary scoring or defense ever can be. He used his legs to create everything last night and he was a monster.

 

[AvsFan29]

He said move our pick at the draft.

Oh ok that makes more sense

 

[The Abusement Park]

Going so long without hockey during the all star break/bye week made me forget how good Nathan Mackinnon is. All the games post-break I never really thought anything about Mackinnon’s play. He was better than everyone else for the most part so I was just assuming he was playing the same as he always had been. But then last night I saw him playing with that extra gear that I kinda forgot he had.

Nathan Mackinnon playing hockey like he did last night is way more important to this team’s success than any goaltending, secondary scoring or defense ever can be. He used his legs to create everything last night and he was a monster.

If only Rantanen could get his swagger back.