Five Bold Avalanche Predictions

[RockLobster]

fair enough and I also have heard of Duchene's struggles psychologically and how only people really close to him know the details but he has clarified that he has been over them now and was over them before last year. I know it's not just production. I just see leadership qualities in Duchene. Also, the very fact he is hard on himself may not be good for him being that hard on himself but it could get contagious to the team. Maybe giving him more of a leadership role will only help him? What has Iginla done for the Avs or in recent history to deserve the A over Duchene besides being an old uncle??? So yea I don't undersand how he has singled him out.

ROR cares more about his paycheck than the team. Erik Johnson debatable. I'd say Duchene is a better centre than Johnson is a dman. McLeod - meh. A year ago if you ask people that don't know too much about the avs who their captain is most would probably guess Matt Duchene. I just feel like he's a classy classy dude that's always been treated unfairly by the organization. Now Mackinnon comes along and people act like he is the new Crosby. It's crazy. Mackinnon will be great but is also the new toy right now and people like that. I see no reason why it wouldn't be close as to who's the better player in their prime yet people make mac seem a million times better cause hes the new toy

Matt Duchene has been "treated unfairly" by the organization? Please do tell how you've come to that conclusion. Duchene is one of my favorite players on the team but it's obvious that the team has in no way/shape/form treated him unfairly...if anything they've coddled him. Always made sure he had the best linemates, put in the best position to succeed, etc.

As for ROR "caring more about his paycheck"--I firmly believe that's another thing you're wrong on. Not many more players in the league wear their emotions on their sleeve like Ryan O'Reilly, but you seem to be letting the business side of things cloud what he does on the ice. Has O'Reilly shown to be difficult in Contract negotiations? That would be one way to put it, but he above all else is a proud athlete and doesn't like losing. The same reasons you see leadership qualities in Matt Duchene should also apply to Ryan O'Reilly--he takes losses very hard. Aside from the Post-Game 7 Pic that has been posted here many times, one of the interviews he gave showed a very distraught O'Reilly (looked to have already been in tears) and had him saying that Varly gave them a chance to win that series, but "we" (and he emphasized this a lot, using "we" quite a bit because he is included in that "we") were "embarassing". Made it a point to say "We can't win the Cup if we can't win on the road--we were embarassing"--that sure seems a lot like what you give Duchene credit for being a leader (being hard on himself/the team in hopes that it's contagious) should be considered for O'Reilly as well.

People believe MacKinnon will be the better player for a number of reasons. For me personally it's that as a rookie he nearly matched Duchene's offensive output from the same year and absolutely bested it from Duchene's rookie year. He obviously has all the tools the be one of the best in the game, but it will be about putting it together for him. Matt is a special player, no one has said that he isn't, but in one year MacKinnon showed just as much as Matt had to that point in his NHL Career.

Oh, and when I said that Iginla singled out Duchene (as well as EJ and O'Reilly) as leaders on the team, here is what I meant:

"As you get older it is still an honor and a privilege, but you also realize with this group of young guys, there is so much more to team leadership then 'Cs' and 'As,'" Iginla said. "[There are] lots of young guys that lead on this team that I could already see in training camp. … It's going to be fun to be with the group and to be a part of the leadership group."

NHL Rule 6 states that only three players during a game may wear a captain's letter—with teams having one team captain and two alternate captains or just three alternate captains—but as Iginla learned, there are plenty of players on the Avalanche roster that have strong leadership qualities, both young and old.

The video that went along with that news story on ColoradoAvalanche.com (Click Here for News Story) is where he specifically named Duchene, EJ and O'Reilly (alongside McLeod and Landeskog) as the "young guys that lead on this team".

 

[tigervixxxen]

I fully believe that O'Reilly cares about winning, the team and his teammates. He's going to give it his all, as he and everyone should. It's ridiculous that people think he's just ambivalent about this team winning. However, he could just as easily put his heart and soul into winning for another team down the road, as could anyone else. I also truly believe Duchene has the Avalanche and Denver/Colorado in his heart and that is such a rare thing for a player to care about the franchise and city/state as deeply as a fan does. As someone who deeply cares about both my team and my city/state this truly means a lot and that's why many are such passionate fans of Duchene aside from his incredible on ice talents. I understand why many want to see him recognized with a letter because it will be a great moment for him and it will come someday.

 

[Hocks95*]

Matt Duchene has been "treated unfairly" by the organization? Please do tell how you've come to that conclusion. Duchene is one of my favorite players on the team but it's obvious that the team has in no way/shape/form treated him unfairly...if anything they've coddled him. Always made sure he had the best linemates, put in the best position to succeed, etc.

As for ROR "caring more about his paycheck"--I firmly believe that's another thing you're wrong on. Not many more players in the league wear their emotions on their sleeve like Ryan O'Reilly, but you seem to be letting the business side of things cloud what he does on the ice. Has O'Reilly shown to be difficult in Contract negotiations? That would be one way to put it, but he above all else is a proud athlete and doesn't like losing. The same reasons you see leadership qualities in Matt Duchene should also apply to Ryan O'Reilly--he takes losses very hard. Aside from the Post-Game 7 Pic that has been posted here many times, one of the interviews he gave showed a very distraught O'Reilly (looked to have already been in tears) and had him saying that Varly gave them a chance to win that series, but "we" (and he emphasized this a lot, using "we" quite a bit because he is included in that "we") were "embarassing". Made it a point to say "We can't win the Cup if we can't win on the road--we were embarassing"--that sure seems a lot like what you give Duchene credit for being a leader (being hard on himself/the team in hopes that it's contagious) should be considered for O'Reilly as well.

People believe MacKinnon will be the better player for a number of reasons. For me personally it's that as a rookie he nearly matched Duchene's offensive output from the same year and absolutely bested it from Duchene's rookie year. He obviously has all the tools the be one of the best in the game, but it will be about putting it together for him. Matt is a special player, no one has said that he isn't, but in one year MacKinnon showed just as much as Matt had to that point in his NHL Career.

Oh, and when I said that Iginla singled out Duchene (as well as EJ and O'Reilly) as leaders on the team, here is what I meant:



The video that went along with that news story on ColoradoAvalanche.com (Click Here for News Story) is where he specifically named Duchene, EJ and O'Reilly (alongside McLeod and Landeskog) as the "young guys that lead on this team".

That's a very very biased assessment. If you want to talk about points fine. Duchene had 55 points in his rookie season to mackinnon's 63. Seems like a small bit of a difference. In his sophomore Duchene put up 67 and we don't know if Mackinnon will do the same. It's also very harsh to say Mackinnon "almost matched" Duchene in production this year. You do realize Duchene was pretty hot and then got injured right? He was basically PPG and Mackinnon wasn't.

Im not denying Mackinnon will be a sick hockey player but part of it definitely has to do with him being the new toy. You can't even deny that. It's human nature. We always like the new toy. I don't think the difference between the 2 players is as great as most people make it.

Also, I'm not questioning that ROR cares about winning and once hes signed his contract is the last thing he cares about. But if he really did care about the team it would be logical that he would not try to regularly handicap them asking for insane amounts of money that it's debatable whether he even deserves that much?? Idk, he's not even happy with his current 6mil a year and contracts like that or larger really help reduce depth on a team that is already pinned against the cap.

 

[RockLobster]

That's a very very biased assessment. If you want to talk about points fine. Duchene had 55 points in his rookie season to mackinnon's 63. Seems like a small bit of a difference. In his sophomore Duchene put up 67 and we don't know if Mackinnon will do the same. It's also very harsh to say Mackinnon "almost matched" Duchene in production this year. You do realize Duchene was pretty hot and then got injured right? He was basically PPG and Mackinnon wasn't.

Im not denying Mackinnon will be a sick hockey player but part of it definitely has to do with him being the new toy. You can't even deny that. It's human nature. We always like the new toy. I don't think the difference between the 2 players is as great as most people make it.

Also, I'm not questioning that ROR cares about winning and once hes signed his contract is the last thing he cares about. But if he really did care about the team it would be logical that he would not try to regularly handicap them asking for insane amounts of money that it's debatable whether he even deserves that much?? Idk, he's not even happy with his current 6mil a year and contracts like that or larger really help reduce depth on a team that is already pinned against the cap.

I've said my piece...so I'll just leave it that it looks like you and I are going to disagree on a lot of what we have talked about. No harm, no foul, I'll just move on.

 

[Hocks95*]

I've said my piece...so I'll just leave it that it looks like you and I are going to disagree on a lot of what we have talked about. No harm, no foul, I'll just move on.

cheers buddy