GDT: Game 32: Avs @ Blose | 6 PM MT | December 14, 2018 | Bozak + 2nd (2009)

[OwenNolan]

Barrie has been bad since coming back from injury but was good before that. EJ has been bad all year sans 3-4 games.

EJ has been playing smart, defensive hockey. He isn't the one turning the puck over leading to goals ever game.

Once Makar is here we need to trade Barrie.

 

[Pokecheque]

Barrie is the one that needs to go. EJ still has value as a team leader and defensive role.

Barrie on the other hand has been horrific. He has basically singlehandedly lost the last 2 games. I have never seen a worse game by a dman than the one he played vs Edmonton. He gave the puck away every time he touched it. And this one was inexcusable.

Ehhhh, I wouldn't go that far. In fact he was quite productive during the hot streak and was a big reason the power play got back on track for a while there.

I'm not done with EJ either but I'm starting to wonder if age has finally started to hit. Maybe he's not a top pairing guy anymore, I don't know, but if he's not the team's kinda in trouble, at least for this season.

Either way I'm not done with either guy...just frustrated with the quality of play we're receiving from the two guys who should be anchoring this defense right now.

 

[the_fan]

There are only few things I hate in life, and i just added Avs playing in OT to the list. It's just very, very annoying how this team automatically loses in OT when they have the leading scorer and the 2nd leading scorer in the league. I blame this on coaching, this team should not be this bad in over times and lose so many valuable points

 

[The Kingslayer]

EJ has been playing smart, defensive hockey. He isn't the one turning the puck over leading to goals ever game.

Once Makar is here we need to trade Barrie.

You need to rewatch every game before saying that. EJ has not been playing smart defensive hockey. Hes been playing Nate Guenin hockey. Turning pucks over, unable to clear pucks. Hes been reather atrocious this season.

 

[Pokecheque]

EJ has been playing smart, defensive hockey. He isn't the one turning the puck over leading to goals ever game.

Once Makar is here we need to trade Barrie.

I don't agree with that at all. I don't think he's been great defensively at all. He isn't coughing up the puck like he was earlier this season but I'm just not seeing the guy who could eat tons of tough minutes and make big plays. Something's just not right.

Again, I don't really want to see ANYONE traded right now, but I am past the "okay maybe it's just a slow start" point.

 

[JLo217]

This team is just flat out mediocre outside the top line. And they’ll live in that buffer zone for years like CBJ.

 

[Pokecheque]

AJ said it best, Johnson was simply not thinking on that 2nd Blues goal. Just not acceptable play from a seasoned veteran, let alone the guy who's supposed to be the top blueliner.

 

[hooverdam]

I have tomorrow's GDT ready to go; I'll post it before I go to the library tomorrow!

 

[dahrougem2]

Erik Johnson has taken a very big step back in play this season and I sure hope it's not a sign of things to come, because the man still has 4 years and 24 million dollars remaining on that contract with a modified NTC and a NMC.

 

[HartKinnon]

Tonights game was also a perfect example of why you cant always trust stats for goalies. On paper that's a bad game from Grubs with a sub .900 sv%.


But watching the game, he gave up a breakaway goal, a goal his own teammate deflected in, and 2 more unstoppable goals.


Really didn't have much of a chance on any of them and actually made a number of huge saves besides that. He was good.

Second one was unstoppable? Grubauer let that weak pass go right by him. He just watched it go right by him and didn't bother to stop it or slide to the backside post to make a save. Johnson also gets the blame for that one. It's kind of silly that Varly gets called out on goals he gave in his last start but for some reason Grubauer gets away constantly with those weak goals he has given up.

Here are advanced stats for Avs goalies before tonights game:

                   Sv%       xSv%      dSv%   LDSv%    MDSv%    HDSv%   GSAA
Grubauer          90,03     90,28      -0,26   100     89,55    75    -0,9
Varlamov          91,58     91,37       0,2   98,58    90,37   79,43   1,3

There is a relatively new statistic for hockey that has been made available by the folks at Hockey-Reference. It’s similar to baseball’s WAR, and it is called “GSAA” – Goals Saved Above Average. You take the league’s average save percentage and apply it to the amount of shots a particular goalie has faced. You get a number of goals that the average goalie in that league would have surrendered if they faced the same number of shots as the goaltender in question. That number gets compared to the number of goals surrendered by that goaltender, and a plus/minus is created. If a goalie is in the positive, that is how many goals they have saved compared to a league-average goalie. If they are in the negative, then it is safe to assume that they are performing worse than how a league-average goaltender would perform in the same situation.

Statistically speaking Grubauer has been worse goaltender than Varly but for some reason Varly gets all the heat when things don't go well. Grubauer seems to be a system goalie and we dont play that kind of hockey where Grubauer would shine. He can't see puck through the traffic and his lateral movement isn't a starting goalie material.

 

[Freudian]

Gonna be an insufferable 24 hours here after Barrie's game tonight. The trade Barrie camp will certainly have ammunition after tonights game sadly.

Not a good game from him but I'm sure he'll bounce back.

Barrie is a known quality at this point. Anyone following Avs hockey should know exactly what he is.

I suspect every GM knows this as well. Plenty of teams would love a 55-60 point puck mover with warts. Perhaps even Colorado Avalanche in the long run.

 

[AvsFan29]

Barrie has been bad since coming back from injury but was good before that. EJ has been bad all year sans 3-4 games.

I must have missed those 4 games lol

 

[Rumplesnipeskin]

Barrie is a known quality at this point. Anyone following Avs hockey should know exactly what he is.

I suspect every GM knows this as well. Plenty of teams would love a 55-60 point puck mover with warts. Perhaps even Colorado Avalanche in the long run.

I like Barrie, but I think he was better pre-MN Wild injury in the playoffs years ago. He puts up points, and I think he's a good player, but I think many defensemen in the league would put up points if they were out with the first line as frequently as Barrie is.

I used to be in the "heck no, don't trade Barrie" camp, but we need secondary scoring more than an offensive defenseman who can't play defense well. If we had a chance at landing a bona fide top 6 forward for Barrie in a good hockey trade, I'd be 100% down. Locker room be damned.

 

[AvsFan29]

EJ has been playing smart, defensive hockey. He isn't the one turning the puck over leading to goals ever game.

Once Makar is here we need to trade Barrie.

He's been terrible defensively, turns the puck over constantly. He also kills offensive plays by either giving it away or shooting into shin pads. He's probably playing the least "smart" on the whole d core

 

[AvsFan29]

This team is just flat out mediocre outside the top line. And they’ll live in that buffer zone for years like CBJ.

Yah you're right. We don't have any top young prospects or any good picks coming up.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

This team is just flat out mediocre outside the top line. And they’ll live in that buffer zone for years like CBJ.

We are doomed. Eternal bubble team with no hope in sight.

 

[Grigowski]

AVs and OT ==> That´s just ridiculous....

 

[Foppberg]

We are doomed. Eternal bubble team with no hope in sight.

Sarcasm, yes?

 

[TruePowerSlave]

Sarcasm, yes?

Obviously

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Zadorov Girard Barrie and Cole can play big minutes.

Yes they can....until they can't. They all do very well with large minutes and then slowly begin to crumble. EJ has sucked this season so far but I really don't want to write him off yet. Especially considering how hot/cold the others can be.

If we were getting back a steady dman in a swap, I could be okay with it...but then again, why would anyone trade us a steady solid dman for EJ at this point in time?

Moving him right now would be a terrible move unless it was really bringing in a solid 2nd line player....but i just don't see that happening. No GM could be that stupid.

 

[dahrougem2]

I like Barrie, but I think he was better pre-MN Wild injury in the playoffs years ago. He puts up points, and I think he's a good player, but I think many defensemen in the league would put up points if they were out with the first line as frequently as Barrie is.

I used to be in the "heck no, don't trade Barrie" camp, but we need secondary scoring more than an offensive defenseman who can't play defense well. If we had a chance at landing a bona fide top 6 forward for Barrie in a good hockey trade, I'd be 100% down. Locker room be damned.

I see people say this all the time and it just isn't true.

 

[The Merchant]

They won once in the last 5 games (and it was against a ****ty Panthers team that gave them a run for their money).

Blowout in Pittsburgh, embarassed in Tampa, lost vs Oilers and tonight lost vs one of the worst team in the league. So yeah, now is not the time to laugh.

Yep. It's 100% gut-check time.

 

[AvsCOL]

Avs are playing like dog **** lately, no doubt about it. Not sure how they handle this in the locker room, but something needs to change soon. The D have fallen off big time the last two weeks.

 

[The Merchant]

I wonder what he might have said to barrie after that play lol

"What the f*** were you thinking?"

 

[TruePowerSlave]

The Avs have been very successful for a team that has only one line carrying a collection of 3rd and 4th liners for the 2nd season in a row. We have kinda maxed out at this point and in order to take the next step better players are needed.