GDT: Game 4: Coyotes @ Avalanche: Still Too Soon to Tell; Saturday 7 PM MST (or 9am Sunday GMT+8)

[Tralfamadore]

He's been quite solid. I think it'd be unfair to say he's been a non factor. Except maybe in the Boston game as others have said

Probably a little harsh sure. Just don't like the effort I've seem from him. Seems to be going around the locker room with a few guys to start the season so I'm not freaking out by any means. I think he'll settle in.

I don't see "quite solid" from him though. Even last night before the goal he was losing pucks, getting knocked off the puck, looked almost apathetic at times. Play was just dying on his stick.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

A few takeaways from last night.

1. Most importantly, Makar was a beast. He showed off the explosiveness in his game and played awesome two-way hockey. I feel like the defensive side of his game can be undervalued at times. When he plays the way he did last night the Avs are a very difficult team to deal with.

2. Francouz looks like a NHL goalie. He wasn’t tested a ton, but it was an encouraging outing for a player who is going to play an important role on this team.

3. Bednar’s post game comments. Bednar said he sees that Jost plays better at Centre. And I honestly think it would be a major boost for the Avs if he becomes the permanent 3C. He’ll get more comfortable playing in that role and it will allow the Avs to move Compher up to play with Kadri. I just think it makes our forward group better.

Maybe the second and third line look something like this:

Compher - Kadri - Burakovsky
Donskoi - Jost - Calvert

Calvert’s been good so far this season and deserves to see a little more ice.

Overall, the team hasn’t hit their stride yet, but they are 4-0 and have hopefully worked out some of the kinks in their game before the road trip.

 

[Tralfamadore]

I don't know if Makar was just given more free rein by JB last night or if that's just his confidence rising but boy he was good. Need him to play with that mentality from here on.

 

[AvsMakar08]

I don't know if Makar was just given more free rein by JB last night or if that's just his confidence rising but boy he was good. Need him to play with that mentality from here on.

Wait till you see Byram. Cale is ok, but Byram can be just as good of a prosepct D for us.

 

[LTC Pain]

I'm not going to start with the "all hail Burakovsky" business because of back-to-back game winning goals. But I had completely underrated his shot! Man that is a wicked wrister! And you can sees Burakovsky's confidence growing!

 

[The Abusement Park]

Landy, mack, rant
makar girard

That was hard af

Why the heck would you move Mack from his spot on the PP?

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

I do think we have something down the middle right now.

Mack
Kadri
Jost
Bellemare

That's some quality Center depth and I really think Jost works best right now as a 3C more than a 2W. The question is whether he's a better 3C than Compher, or if Compher can at least be a solid 2W because Jost isn't good in that role.

I kind of wonder soon if the Avs aren't going to have a decision to make on those two kids as to which one is the 3C and which one ends up being used in a trade to get a 2W. As it appears both are better suited for Center than Wing and we dont have 2 Center spots available in the Top 9.

And, since JTC is signed for 4 more years now and at a pretty solid cap hit, I think you kind of give the edge to him getting that spot if it comes down to it.

 

[Freudian]

It feels like MacKinnon is a bit frustrated on the PP so he wanders a bit, forcing others to rotate.

At least he's PPG+ while playing bad (by his standards).

 

[S E P H]

I don't know, just watching him on the bench in the last two or three games and then getting goals like these.... I'm starting to think the Avalanche is the right team for him. And the hockey gods know the Avs needed another sniper.


Generally speaking it's amazing to see Colorado win such a game this year. And the way it went was even better. Donskoi had a bad game, though.

In all fairness, he's been more clutch in 4 games than Kerfoot in 2 years.

I was just joking gentlemen.

It still looks to me like Burakovski is hard to play with. He doesn't win the battles you think he will, he's not great at finding open ice. He is good at skating with the puck and his wristshot has some real pace to it.

I guess Avs just have to be patient and let everyone figure each other out. Donskoi looks like a player that's easy to play with though. Always on the right side of the puck and he's got decent puck skills.

Bura is like that girl who has all the features you love in a woman, except that she's super reserved and it's hard to plan a date...however, once you get past all the obstacles you have an amazing time in the end...but you go over the same stuff again when you try to make a second date.

 

[Hennessy]

Kadri seems to be pretty polarizing. I think he had a pretty good game last night, but up until then hasn't not been playing up to par with where we need him to be. He's has some individual flashes, but that lone wolf attitude has also cost a lot of opportunity (IMO). He's a good player, so even when he isn't playing well, he's still pretty decent, so I'm not trying to suggest the guy is trash, just that up until last night he just simply hasn't produced what we need from him (other than his FO %, which is a godsend).

Right now, Barrie is looking way more effective (and even Kerfy). I don't expect that to stand up the rest of the season, and hopefully last night was a turning point, but it just seems like some people are in love with the potential than the production thusfar.

I'm with you 100%, but it's been 4 games. Perspective.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

Wait till you see Byram. Cale is ok, but Byram can be just as good of a prosepct D for us.

Yeah, Cale is just ok.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

Bura is like that girl who has all the features you love in a woman, except that she's super reserved and it's hard to plan a date...however, once you get past all the obstacles you have an amazing time in the end...but you go over the same stuff again when you try to make a second date.

 

[S E P H]

Quite shocked that people have been saying Kadri has played bad? He's coming from a location and organisation he's known his entire life to a brand new environment everywhere from a new country to a wild west town. I honestly think he's played good in all the games regardless if he's putting up points or not.

Watching the condensed game now. Was this G's first bad game of the year or did he get better as the game went on? Just saw two god awful turnovers that lead to grade A scoring chances for the Yotes in the 1st.

Girard was iffy, but I thought Zadorov has been the worst defender in the past two games. He's biting on moves and pinching in all the zones opening up plays that shouldn't be there IMO. Not all is terrible because I thought he was very good in the first two games.

Graves played his best game last night, EJ has been surprisingly consistent, but Makar was MOTM for me easily. Would've gotten first star if it wasn't Francouz' first NHL win.

 

[the_fan]

The Avs haven't played their best hockey yet but they're 4-0.

MacK has had a slow start to the season by his standards, but he does have 6 points in 4 games.

I'll take that

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

Quite shocked that people have been saying Kadri has played bad? He's coming from a location and organisation he's known his entire life to a brand new environment everywhere from a new country to a wild west town. I honestly think he's played good in all the games regardless if he's putting up points or not.


Girard was iffy, but I thought Zadorov has been the worst defender in the past two games. He's biting on moves and pinching in all the zones opening up plays that shouldn't be there IMO. Not all is terrible because I thought he was very good in the first two games.

Graves played his best game last night, EJ has been surprisingly consistent, but Makar was MOTM for me easily. Would've gotten first star if it wasn't Francouz' first NHL win.

Agree on Kadri. It’s great to have someone who can win draws in his own zone and knock people off pucks.

 

[shadow1]

If they keep Jost as center, Compher needs to be his RW and take a lot of the faceoffs, similar to what Landeskog does on MacKinnon’s line.

Jost is 3-for-19 in the circle so far.

 

[a mangy Meowth]

Jost is 3-for-19 in the circle so far.

That's disgusting

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Was just listening to Bednars post game from last night... Man that dude has such an incredibly smart hockey mind.



Also like hearing him call Girard a top pairing guy. Basically saying how he's developed into this Dman that can do everything from moving the puck well to skating well to defending different areas of the ice the right way and limiting his mistakes on a nightly basis. Calling him a top pairing guy now and one that we're just gonna start using as a top pairing guy because that's what he is.


I know Sam had a couple bad turnovers early tonight but he really has looked extremely good this year, like probably the most improved player on this team by far from last year. If he keeps this consistent play up I really do think its fair to call him a top pairing guy and that's huge for us to have Sam be a #1/2 quality guy already when we still have Makar, Byram, and Timmins developing along as well. We're gonna have a fabulous defense in a couple years.

 

[Patagonia]

Wait till you see Byram. Cale is ok, but Byram can be just as good of a prosepct D for us.

Doubt Byram will be better than Makar. He is better at the same age, but Makar looks special. Byram will likely be the second best DMan which is still really good. Girard and Timmins will solidify the rest of the exciting core.

 

[wayninja]

I'm with you 100%, but it's been 4 games. Perspective.

Yeah, I'm good with that. The sample size is small. And in that small sample size I've seen a good player have 3 so-so games, and 1 decent/good game. We need more from him for what we gave. That's all. 4 games in, I haven't come to any conclusion other than what I've seen so far in 4 games. Hopefully things open up now.

Doubt Byram will be better than Makar. He is better at the same age, but Makar looks special. Byram will likely be the second best DMan which is still really good. Girard and Timmins will solidify the rest of the exciting core.

How lucky are we that we even get to debate this?

 

[Gatorbait19]

Quite shocked that people have been saying Kadri has played bad? He's coming from a location and organisation he's known his entire life to a brand new environment everywhere from a new country to a wild west town. I honestly think he's played good in all the games regardless if he's putting up points or not.


Girard was iffy, but I thought Zadorov has been the worst defender in the past two games. He's biting on moves and pinching in all the zones opening up plays that shouldn't be there IMO. Not all is terrible because I thought he was very good in the first two games.

Graves played his best game last night, EJ has been surprisingly consistent, but Makar was MOTM for me easily. Would've gotten first star if it wasn't Francouz' first NHL win.

Kadri has added an element to our team that we were severely lacking. We’re now able to put Kadri on late game faceoffs in our zone (and other times). His FO ability and physical presence has been key so far and a big reason we’re 4-0. Then add in his offensive ability and boost to the PP, and we’re playoff scary.

 

[Gatorbait19]

If they keep Jost as center, Compher needs to be his RW and take a lot of the faceoffs, similar to what Landeskog does on MacKinnon’s line.

Jost is 3-for-19 in the circle so far.

Practice is the only time he should be taking faceoffs from now on. Once he shows he can win those, then and only then should he be in the dot again.

 

[Avs9296]

Doubt Byram will be better than Makar. He is better at the same age, but Makar looks special. Byram will likely be the second best DMan which is still really good. Girard and Timmins will solidify the rest of the exciting core.

If Byram becomes better than Girard than I'll already be jumping for joy! G is a special player.

 

[Avs9296]

On a side note, people make fun of Ottawa for the Duchene trade or whatever, but Nashville got hosed horribly. At least Ottawa recouped some of the assets when they dealt Duchene to CBJ. Nashville basically traded Girard and Kamenev for a broken down Kyle Turris!

If you think about it Nashville has traded

Seth Jones
Shea Weber/PK Subban
Sam Girard

For

Ryan Johanson
Kyle Turris
2- 2nd round picks

Yikes. I might be missing some guys but it's something like that.

 

[wayninja]

If Byram becomes better than Girard than I'll already be jumping for joy! G is a special player.

Agreed, even if Byram "only" surpasses Girard, that's a win.