GDT: Game 54: Stars @ Avs | Thursday, February 4th, 7pm MT | Wake Me Up

[CobraAcesS]

I've never been a Radulov believer, but that does pique my interest a little bit. Bumps my possibility of him coming here from 5-10% to 15-20%.

Yeah neither have I, but when I found that... I thought to myself, **** that's hard to ignore with the roster decisions and the cap outlook for the last year or two.

I do think Barrie producing as much as he is, is a fly in the soup, but it seems they planned for it just enough to still allow them to do it.

Personally, and I wish I could ****ing bet $1,000 on this, but I'm guessing Roy tries something like ;

Duchy - Radulov
Mikko - MacK
Landy - Soda

Fill in the blanks, at the beginning of next season.

Roy keeps trying to run three offensive pairs at the start of every single season, but we have not had the depth for it to work except for the start of his first year here where we had that ridiculous record to start the year. I think Iginla & Comeau were supposed to be strong depth at that point to fill in those blanks. I also think Grigorenko, and Compher were expected to fight for one of those spots as well.

Everyone knows I love the conspiracy stuff, but I do at least try to incorporate more actual logic into it than the usual theorist.

I also think in Roy's mind our defense is set for the future with Bigras and Zadorov, so he won't be trading either one. Who knows what pairings he has in mind though.

Radulov would be so great. He is world class wing and he would add that edge to our team, which we are currently missing(other than Landy going Viking mode time to time). He is a warrior and sometimes it goes over, but sign me up for him. He is entertaining player! Bring him to Colorado!

Personally I think this team could use his passion and pissed off competitive nature with how inconsistent this team is as far as compete level depending on who their playing and what not.

I'm not in the camp that subscribes to the, because hes Russian he does not back check and does not care attitude. He's actually a lot like Roy in the fact that hes ****ing out there when it comes to how over the top competitive he is, and how that gets away from him from time to time.

Which is probably why Roy and him get along so well IMO, they probably both understand each other quite well. You can see how crazy competitive Radulov is just by watching his high light real. Not a lot of fancy ****, but he loves to celebrate like a beast and gets pissed off easily on the ice. That's basically Roy as a forward lol.

 

[PAZ]

Drouin - Mackinnon - Duchene
Landeskog - Soderberg - Rantanen

Yes please.

 

[LazRNN]

Drouin - Mackinnon - Duchene
Landeskog - Soderberg - Rantanen

Yes please.

Drouin's not going to magically appear. Who are you trading? Barrie? Zadorov? Bigras?

 

[CobraAcesS]

Drouin's not going to magically appear. Who are you trading? Barrie? Zadorov? Bigras?

Rantanen?

 

[PAZ]

Drouin's not going to magically appear. Who are you trading? Barrie? Zadorov? Bigras?

I'd be ok with doing something like Bigras +

 

[CobraAcesS]

I'd be ok with doing something like Bigras +

Fortunately so far, only one or two other people on this board and no where else, including management agrees with you to this point.

 

[21]

It would be nice with more lines clicking at the same time...

 

[chet1926]

I'm getting pretty frustrated with management/coaching staff at this point. Sometimes you just have to cut ties with things that aren't working. Tanguay/Iginla/Martinsen/Grigs(even though he really hasn't gotten a fair shot) is not the answer on the 1st line with MacK/Duchene. If they don't address this problem now, we're screwed, and we're just going to fade from playoff contention.

It's also getting very annoying to watch us get outshot by 20+ shots every night. This needs to also be addressed. You're not going to continue winning or even getting to OT while doing this. It's been 3 freaking years now where we constantly get hemmed in our own end and surrender countless shots. How can our coaching staff not figure out a way to get better at this? To me this is just plain unacceptable that they haven't figured this out. The sad part is we've actually made improvements with the quality of players on defense the past 3 seasons, but we still can't make improvements to not getting outshot every single night.

I know shots aren't everything, but let's put it this way I'd like our chances if the roles were reversed and we were out shooting teams by 20 a lot more. Law of percentages works against you as well. You take 20 shots, most goalies save about 91-92% that means you score 1-2 goals, whereas if you take 40, you score 3-4 goals. Take tonight for example Niemi wins with a .875 Sv%, in a game where Pickard posted a .909 Sv% all because we couldn't limit the shots, and get more of our own. I'm not saying we have to out shoot teams, it just needs to be closer. Chances are if the shots tonight had been something like 35-30 for Dallas instead of 44-24 Dallas, we probably come out with a win.

Another thing that is starting to bug me is we never seem to get that big clutch goal. Tonight MacK gets a penalty shot with a chance to put us up 4-2 and doesn't convert, leaving the door open to the tying goal. A couple PP chances wasted to make it a 3-1 game. Then we get to OT, and of course we can't find a way to score a big goal to get an extra point. To me it seems this team lacks a killer instinct. I can't help thinking, if that had been Sakic or Forsberg taking the penalty shot tonight there is no way we don't score, because those guys were money. Somebody on this team needs to start stepping up when it matters most. Somebody that just won't let us lose games like this, and straps us on their back.

 

[Balthazar]

Outshot 44-24 again. Outplayed as usual.

I don't care about the point, win or lose this team sucks.

 

[dahrougem2]

John Mitchell played more even strength minutes than every forward not named Landeskog, Soderberg, or Comeau.

1) Blake Comeau should never play 20 minutes per night, even if I thought he played well tonight.

2) John Mitchell should never, ever, ever play more even strength minutes than MacKinnon. Even if I think MacKinnon looks awful right now, you ride him until he breaks out of it. Same goes for Duchene, though I don't think he looks that bad.

I know Roy is a smart coach, I have faith in him but he's got these blinders on a lot of times where he leaves me scratching my head. He started this game and, I believe for the first half of it, had McLeod-Mitchell-Skille matched up against the Stars' 1st line. That's a recipe for disaster. John Mitchell is a serviceable player but he's a 4th line player who can play on the 3rd line if injuries occur. He is not good enough to play more than 10-12 minutes per night.

Roy needs to call Rantanen up, along with Zadorov. Roll out MacKinnon, Duchene, Landeskog, Soderberg, Rantanen, and Comeau in the top-6. On defence pair up Bigras with EJ and Zads with Beauchemin, since Redmond was also a tire-fire tonight good lord was he bad.

If you have the resources at hand, use them. Ice the best roster possible. It's time now.

 

[chet1926]

John Mitchell played more even strength minutes than every forward not named Landeskog, Soderberg, or Comeau.

1) Blake Comeau should never play 20 minutes per night, even if I thought he played well tonight.

2) John Mitchell should never, ever, ever play more even strength minutes than MacKinnon. Even if I think MacKinnon looks awful right now, you ride him until he breaks out of it. Same goes for Duchene, though I don't think he looks that bad.

I know Roy is a smart coach, I have faith in him but he's got these blinders on a lot of times where he leaves me scratching my head. He started this game and, I believe for the first half of it, had McLeod-Mitchell-Skille matched up against the Stars' 1st line. That's a recipe for disaster. John Mitchell is a serviceable player but he's a 4th line player who can play on the 3rd line if injuries occur. He is not good enough to play more than 10-12 minutes per night.

Roy needs to call Rantanen up, along with Zadorov. Roll out MacKinnon, Duchene, Landeskog, Soderberg, Rantanen, and Comeau in the top-6. On defence pair up Bigras with EJ and Zads with Beauchemin, since Redmond was also a tire-fire tonight good lord was he bad.

If you have the resources at hand, use them. Ice the best roster possible. It's time now.

This X1000!!

We are not icing our best possible roster at the current time. Period. Rantanen needs to be here. He is infinitely better than either Tanguay or Iginla. Zadorov needs to replace Redmond.

You have a shot at the playoffs, stop playing the BS politics game and bench some of these old guys/spare parts and start playing your best possible lineup. Screw feelings or giving vets priority. Get the good young guys on the ice.

 

[PAZ]

Fortunately so far, only one or two other people on this board and no where else, including management agrees with you to this point.

You have no idea what management thinks, besides that Roy would like to get Drouin. Not saying they'd agree, but thanks for sounding like a dick.

 

[UncleRisto]

Outshot 44-24 again. Outplayed as usual.

I don't care about the point, win or lose this team sucks.

Let's hope they suck into the playoffs.


NHL.tv sucks. Viaplay doesn't offer full games in the next morning because their rewind only goes back four hours and there's no GCL available. Then NHL.tv doesn't show a recap of all the goals in one video...

 

[Nzap]

Let's hope they suck into the playoffs.


NHL.tv sucks. Viaplay doesn't offer full games in the next morning because their rewind only goes back four hours and there's no GCL available. Then NHL.tv doesn't show a recap of all the goals in one video...

It honestly is a mess in the department that they were trying to fix.

Thank goodness I never bought the Viasat package. Can believe that they are bombarded by complaintson a matters that aren't their fault and not in their control.

 

[DUHockey]

Calling up Ratanen does NOTHING! IT'S THE COACH.

This is the screwed up defensive system that COACH ROY chooses to play, it is not all the players fault. Ratanen comes up and he's plugged in to this crazy scheme where you stay put in your own end and try to block shots. There is no speed or attack or fore checking to try to create any turnovers. Give this team the system that Chicago played against them the other night and they'd be in much better shape.

This is a COACHING issue and unless that changes, just like all the stats people in the NHL will tell you, the Avalanche will get out shot every single night and cling to a playoff spot based on how well the goalies are able to bale them out.

 

[AslanRH]

People will be so disappointed when that Radulov extension rumor finally becomes official news. So too when the Drouin trade happens and we 2nd guess what the Avs could/should have offered

Minus a complementary piece or two, (3rd RD, maybe a tweener LW) this is the team we are rolling with for the remainder of the season.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Just read through the last few pages of the GDT and noticed no Grigorenko talk. Was I the only person who was really impressed with what he did while on the first line last night?

 

[Avs71]

Not sure Zadorov coming up completely fixes the defence. I don't think he would impact the game enough in the ~13 minutes of ice he would get. What this team needs is Beauchemin playing less minutes, and EJ getting back in his groove. EJ's only played 5 games in the last 32 days. Obviously there is some rust still there. Perhaps Zadorov would help take down some of Beauchemin's minutes, but I think Roy will play Beauchemin even more down the stretch.

It's obvious the coaching staff knows they need a new winger. They aren't stupid. Roy is probably getting sick of rolling whoever out on the top line. Is it Roy's call for Rantanen though? Perhaps Sakic doesn't want to burn a year of his ELC, especially for 30 games.

 

[AvalancheRy]

Just read through the last few pages of the GDT and noticed no Grigorenko talk. Was I the only person who was really impressed with what he did while on the first line last night?

No I thought he did pretty well myself. I noticed him doing well on that line on the third line too. He deserves a shot on the top line. Grigs has talent.

Sidenote: I'm getting so sick of hearing Peter and Mike talk about how great the Avs are at how many shots the Avs block, like it's something to brag about. Our entire organization, including announcers, don't get that possession of the puck is the key. Our entire gameplan should be designed to keep possession of the puck.

 

[The Mars Volchenkov]

One reason why I was surprised that Zadorov got sent down is that they were using him on the PK. Right now, Roy is only using 3 D (EJ, Beauchemin, Holden) on the PK, and that's all he trusts. Those are heavy minutes, and those guys will wear down.

When Beauchemin was in the box yesterday, EJ and Holden played the entire PK, and looked dead. That was the same shift where Beauchemin came out of the box, and Holden moved to forward and had that horrible icing.

The coaching staff needs to find a way to limit some minutes from these guys. Do Holden and Beauchemin really need to be on the PP? That seems like a nice time to rest them a bit.

 

[Tweaky]

Just read through the last few pages of the GDT and noticed no Grigorenko talk. Was I the only person who was really impressed with what he did while on the first line last night?

I noticed. He was finally put with MacK and Dutch the last minute of the 2nd, and most of the third....looked great for those 4 shifts IMO. He needs to be the one they stick with in that spot for a while to get some consistency. Let Wags center Skille and McLeod, Mitchell with Tangs and Iggy, have Grigs be the #1LW, and Comeau with the Swedes (until Rantanen finally gets called up).


I am also a proponent of bringing up Zads to play with Bigs...don't care that they are 20...they can handle 3rd pairing just fine. Even if they get a bit more of the minutes, it would be fine. I posted a while ago a scheme for giving out all the minutes...although a plan never survives contact with the enemy. I think it ended up with the kids getting 16, the rest getting 22...using PP and PK to shuffle who plays what (Zads getting some PP time, Bigras filling in on PK if needed).

Only want to try for a winger trade if the cost is low...like 2nd round pick, plus one/two of not(Zads, Bigs, Rants, JTC, Meloche or Bleakley). Not getting my hopes up for Radulov or any other 1st line winger for next year either (trying not to anyhow).

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Even if Rantanen does get the call I think I'd prefer Grigorenko with Duchene and Mackinnon. I'd then want Rantanen with Soda and Landeskog but I know Roy will never take Comeau away from that line.

 

[henchman21]

People are this upset over that loss last night... yeesh.

 

[NothingLikeAnEJ]

People are this upset over that loss last night... yeesh.

Not upset at the loss. More upset about how terrible the Avs have looked for the last 5 games. Just getting manhandled out there.

 

[henchman21]

Not upset at the loss. More upset about how terrible the Avs have looked for the last 5 games. Just getting manhandled out there.

Teams go through bad stretches... they happen. The Avs are 3 points up on the Wild and 2 up on Nashville. This is their slump and they are still finding a way to get points.

People must be forgetting the teams we just played are some of the best teams in the conference and the Avs pushed through a 2-2-1 record. Not it lightens up for a bit and they can get going again.