GDT: Game 50: Avs vs. Wild - 7:30PM MT

[Foppa2118]

maybe i'm being too pessimistic after these past months but i think Graves is gonna become Holden where he's good his first couple months but then just becomes terrible. he's been good so far

I don't think Graves plays the same style as Holden, but I think the Avs would take a Holden level player from him. A bottom pairing D man (in Graves case more of a #6/7) who can have good games in spurts if he plays within his limitations.

 

[dahrougem2]

The Avs played a good game against Nashville for the most part, except for their usual 5-10 minutes of breakdowns and unnecessary mistakes that led to goals, along with poor goaltending. The turnovers and poor coverage throughout the game and before the goals showed that.

Tonight was the same thing. They played a good game for the most part, except for 5-10 minutes of breakdowns and unnecessary mistakes that led to goals. This time it was only one turnover but poor coverage and bad penalties on the others.

Turnovers, bad penalties, and bad coverage are what has been haunting this team along with the goaltending for over a month now. If it's not one thing it's another.

I think the game against Nashville compared to the game against Minnesota is night and day difference. They lost to Nashville because of Pekka Rinne. They lost to Minnesota because they were straight up bad for the majority of the game.

 

[Metallo]

As for the goalies. I would bring up Francouz and rotate 3 goalies until the end of the year. If Francouz sucks after 4-5 starts I would send him down however.

 

[Pokecheque]

As for the goalies. I would bring up Francouz and rotate 3 goalies until the end of the year. If Francouz sucks after 4-5 starts I would send him down however.

No, they can't do that. Certainly not for the remainder of the season. The NHL has tried to engineer it so that you can't keep three goalies on a roster indefinitely without great difficulty. The last team to try it was the Islanders and it was an abject disaster. Also, you can't just hoard all the goalies at the NHL level and leave the frickin' Eagles with Joe Cannata and Spencer Martin indefinitely.

If they want to try a three-headed monster for a short time, fine. But if Francouz ends up being The Guy going forward, then the Avs have a decision to make. One of them needs to move (likely Varly) and then they should at least try and find an AHL goalie to plunk in Loveland (they shouldn't be too hard to find...the Marlies lost both their Calder Cup-winning goalies at the beginning of this season and somehow managed to find two more).

 

[Foppa2118]

I think the game against Nashville compared to the game against Minnesota is night and day difference. They lost to Nashville because of Pekka Rinne. They lost to Minnesota because they were straight up bad for the majority of the game.

They had about 10 unnecessary turnovers in bad spots on the ice against Nashville. They had about 2-3 of the same level of turnovers in this game. They made up for the difference by taking multiple bad penalties that they didn't take against Nashville.

 

[CobraAcesS]

I feel like this team needs some of this.

 

[dahrougem2]

They had about 10 unnecessary turnovers in bad spots on the ice against Nashville. They had about 2-3 of the same level of turnovers in this game. They made up for the difference by taking multiple bad penalties that they didn't take against Nashville.

The effort level was the difference. The Avs looked like a team on a mission and fought until the final buzzer against the Predators, whereas they looked defeated after the Wild's 2nd goal.

 

[Metallo]

No, they can't do that. Certainly not for the remainder of the season. The NHL has tried to engineer it so that you can't keep three goalies on a roster indefinitely without great difficulty. The last team to try it was the Islanders and it was an abject disaster. Also, you can't just hoard all the goalies at the NHL level and leave the frickin' Eagles with Joe Cannata and Spencer Martin indefinitely.

If they want to try a three-headed monster for a short time, fine. But if Francouz ends up being The Guy going forward, then the Avs have a decision to make. One of them needs to move (likely Varly) and then they should at least try and find an AHL goalie to plunk in Loveland (they shouldn't be too hard to find...the Marlies lost both their Calder Cup-winning goalies at the beginning of this season and somehow managed to find two more).

I don’t think we have much of a choice, unless one guy goes on a tear. We need to evaluate these guys for next year and create some competition. If Frank or Gruby do well, sure trade Varly and go back to 2 goalies. I don’t care about the Eagles, it’s a god damn farm club that should take the back seat to the Avs needs.

 

[Foppa2118]

The effort level was the difference. The Avs looked like a team on a mission and fought until the final buzzer against the Predators, whereas they looked defeated after the Wild's 2nd goal.

I think the effort level was still there in the 2nd. What I think happened with regard to the motivation was Kerfoot took his bad hooking penalty about six minutes into the 2nd period. Cole took his silly holding penalty about a minute later, and Minny scored about 30 seconds after on the 5 on 3. So they still had another 1:30 or so to kill on the other penalty. After that sequence of events there was a bit of a momentum shift.

Then about three and half minutes later Barrie took his double minor high sticking penalty, so they had to spend another four minutes killing that off. Another big momentum shift. Then they gave up the back breaking 4-2 goal late in the period when everyone was caught puck watching below the goal line.

Then in the 3rd they took two more penalties and gave up another 5 on 3 goal around 8 minutes into the period.

They didn't spend all that time killing penalties against Nashville. They had turnover problems but not bad penalty problems. They had to kill three 5 on 4 penalties for a total of 6 minutes against the Preds. In the Wild game they took six penalties. 9:22 of 5 on 4 and then 0:56 of 5 on 3 which gave up two goals.

All that PK time and the two goals in the second period, especially the one at the end, sapped their momentum. The game felt all but over at that point.

 

[klozge]

Well, you can´t only blame the coach when the players accept losing again...These are grown-up men. The way some of our 3rd or 4th liners, as D-Men are playing and acting I´d say enough of this! Bench or Waiver. Call up some of the youngsters and try them. At least they have more fire and passion.

And for heaven´s sake: Bring up Pavel. I´ve seen enough of this clown-show between the pipes. Varly is mentally gone and Grubauer is not the answer either. Who would´ve thought that our goalies will sink us this season....

Agreed. It's not only coaching. I think without better or maybe more fitting coaching the other problems and weaknesses, except when it comes to the general quality of players, won't go away, though. We can't expect our players to simply become smarter and mentally stronger. There needs to be some guidance and it's not there at the moment.

 

[21]

It's time for Senators to create a #Avswatch thread

This is bad, hopefully the guys manage to turn this around, such a weird season so far. :-(

Some guys having career seasons but obviously the Avalanche don't deliver as a team right now.

The Grubauer experiment/gamble didn't work out, at least not so far but this is not an isolated goalie problem.

The Avs looking a bit like Tampa Bay used to look, full throttle fast hockey but wide open defensively.

 

[Nzap]

It's time for Senators to create a #Avswatch thread

Yup, and they can use that to speculate who we will pick? What would be the point?

Anyway, horrible game. We played well for the most part until 4-2 and then we did nothing.

Grubauer not at fault for this, but again no gamesavers from our goalies.

 

[Muffin]

Anyone think Bednar's special treatment of the top line is affecting team chemistry? Bednar has meetings with only the top line at times. I'd imagine being treated differently isn't good for team chemistry

 

[klozge]

Anyone think Bednar's special treatment of the top line is affecting team chemistry? Bednar has meetings with only the top line at times. I'd imagine being treated differently isn't good for team chemistry

Is this true? And it happened several times? And we're still complaining about our bottom nine and about the regression of most players? Now I understand how Bedsy had success in the junior and minor leagues, though. Good strategy for short time success.
Sakic, please wake up and fire this clown.

 

[S3rkie]

I feel like this team needs some of this.

An experienced NHL coaching staff? Yeah agreed.

 

[Pokecheque]

Is this true? And it happened several times? And we're still complaining about our bottom nine and about the regression of most players? Now I understand how Bedsy had success in the junior and minor leagues, though. Good strategy for short time success.
Sakic, please wake up and fire this clown.

It's not a secret and it's not that big a deal. They're not coddling the top line, they just have separate meetings with those guys because they play a completely different way than, say, Soda's line does.

There are plenty of reasons to be concerned about Bednar's performance that are far more obvious than having to reach for this little narrative. The obvious ones are that the team is floundering badly on special teams and they're taking the most penalties in the league.

 

[klozge]

It's not a secret and it's not that big a deal. They're not coddling the top line, they just have separate meetings with those guys because they play a completely different way than, say, Soda's line does.

There are plenty of reasons to be concerned about Bednar's performance that are far more obvious than having to reach for this little narrative. The obvious ones are that the team is floundering badly on special teams and they're taking the most penalties in the league.

I disagree. It's a huge deal for me. It's exactly what the problem is besides stupid special team systems (more pk than pp), lack of ideas to cross the neutral zone and goaltending. Most of the things I didn't understand are now very clear to me. Bednar better gets fired before the end of the break because he's destroying this team.

 

[Pokecheque]

I disagree. It's a huge deal for me. It's exactly what the problem is besides stupid special team systems (more pk than pp), lack of ideas to cross the neutral zone and goaltending. Most of the things I didn't understand are now very clear to me. Bednar better gets fired before the end of the break because he's destroying this team.

No, the goaltending is destroying this team.

That said, the failure on special teams as well as the PIM rates are inexcusable IMO, so I won't argue with you there. I don't feel much like defending Bednar right now but I don't think he's the #1 problem on the squad and choosing to go over game plans separately with the top line is not a huge deal. If anything it's helped make them be a more cohesive unit. IIRC he meets with lines as they're set regularly, it's not just the top line. That's one reason why he's pretty rigid with his lineup choices.

 

[21]

Yup, and they can use that to speculate who we will pick? What would be the point?

Well, I was referring go the fact that many of us have been making fun of the Senators in the #Senswatch thread.