GDT: Game 6: Preds @ Avs| 4/22, 5pm MT | It Aint Over Yet

[member 116861]

PK can be a jackass on the ice but the guy is pure class off the ice. Hard to hate him compared to the Cookes and Bertuzzis of the world.

 

[Avs_19]

Love P.K, but his antics this series made me lose a lot of respect for Subban the on-ice player.

You know you're going to love him again both on and off the ice.

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

I'm personally not a big fan of Subban. I hate 90% of what he does... but people go overboard with it. Ultimately he is a good guy. Not a bad player on the ice either. I have nothing but respect for him. Even though I'd like for him to be more outspoken about certain things. Considering he loves the limelight he should have no problem using his platform for certain causes.

 

[22FUTON9]

OT but I really hope we stop the trend of having a good year and following it up with a bad year. I think we've been rotating every year from the 08-09 season

 

[lidstromiscool]

Disappointing end, but what a season you guys had. Youngest team in the NHL, with the best turnaround in NHL history, and taking the best team in the league to 6 games without EJ and Varly. Such a bright future, not to mention Mack solidified himself as a top 5 player in the league, Rants becoming a PPG winger and Landeskog is a beast. Add in Makar and a couple 1st round picks this year (thanks Duchene) and you guys will be a powerhouse moving forward. Definitely gonna be watching more Avalanche games next year

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

OT but I really hope we stop the trend of having a good year and following it up with a bad year. I think we've been rotating every year from the 08-09 season

I tried my best not to let that effect how I enjoyed the past few weeks. What ever happens, happens but it would be disheartening to once again not be able to actually progress. Also missing out on Dahlin. Anyway not the time to think about that just yet.

 

[member 116861]

Damn 5 more months until Aves hockey, that just hit me haha. So much fun watching this team, for the first time in a while I will actually miss them and don't want a forced break.

 

[Spleenless Wonder21]

Damn 5 more months until Aves hockey, that just hit me haha. So much fun watching this team, for the first time in a while I will actually miss them and don't want a forced break.

At least there’s the draft & free agency to look forward to. But, I agree, it’s an awesome feeling to be ready for the next season to start ASAP. Haven’t felt this way since the end of the “miracle year” that was 2014.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Yeah, there's an absolute tonne of good things going for the Avs right now.


We have a lot to be proud of with the way this team played this year, and even more to be excited for in the future. It's an amazing time to be an Avs fan. For all of us that managed to stick around through the darkest days of last season this is a great, great feeling.


Here's to the great times ahead everyone!

 

[forsbergavs32]

I have a feeling we wont go back to crap after a good year this time, this feels different. I feel like the team is being built properly now and it's not going to be rushed like before

 

[Nalens Oga]

The dump-ins were pretty soft especially in the first imo where the game was lost, too many pucks lost in the neutral zone. Bednar also didn't adjust the forwards to pressure higher, Nashville dmen had an annoying amount of space to work with and shoot the puck.

Finish rebuilding, get more physical, and stay away from overpaying Stastny.

 

[S E P H]

The handshake line was very interesting...never seen two coaches talk as long as Bednar and Laviolette did. Subban said a lot to MacKinnon and Landeskog. Wilson talked with a lot of ex-Preds for a long time as well. Laviolette said a lot to MacKinnon as well. I am still rooting for the Predators and even though the embellishment stuff was bad, that is what I hope the Aves play like when they eventually get to their talent level (on the edge physically, not diving).

The post-game was also very interesting - I guarantee that it was Kiszla who asked EJ about if he was injury prone or not. Lol and EJ comes back with the best answer..."seems I need to drink my milk this summer". Rycroft was pissed at the journalist who inquired the question, but considering his injury history I think that was a very fair question to ask. Varlamov was a little heartbroken in his interview, got asked a good question about if that play deserves suspension which injured him. Didn't entirely answer the question and hard to suspended players even if Juros did mean it, it seemed it was more unfortunate than anything else. Landeskog sucked it up like a man and had to deal with the loss straight forward with the media, I don't want to get into the "x dude seemed more depressed and cared a lot more than everyone else" nonsense or ROR Syndrome. However, he did seem like the most disappointed in the tone and how he answered the questions.

Bednar was the absolute best though, he answer all the questions with an honest yet no dramatic response. The biggest thing I am scared about is everybody telling us "how amazing of a future we have" or "the future is bright" comments which is probably happening on main HFB. We heard the same nonsense and ended up having disappointing season after another including one of the worst since the Thrashers. He knows this and knows that NHL is becoming a sport where you can finish 13th overall one year and make the playoffs the next. He mentions that we need to build on this because next season we will have many more teams who will be playing desperate for playoff hockey and will respect us much more than this season. He talked a lot about commitment, buying into the program, and having to work even harder next season. He might be throwing a virtual bone, but even said that Avs should be making moving to get better when he was essentially asked what team needs to do to get better and about improving secondary scoring. Chambers asked him if any players did play through injuries and which ones they were. He said yes players did play, but did not wan to say who they were which was FMLUnderstandable.

Barrie was a nightmare throughout the series and MacKinnon was directly responsible for allowing Predators to score three goals tonight, but I am going to forget all about that and say I am proud of the boys. It wasn't fun how it ended, but I wouldn't personally trade this team for any others this season...I loved everyone.

 

[Balthazar]

The handshake line was very interesting...never seen two coaches talk as long as Bednar and Laviolette did. Subban said a lot to MacKinnon and Landeskog. Wilson talked with a lot of ex-Preds for a long time as well. Laviolette said a lot to MacKinnon as well. I am still rooting for the Predators and even though the embellishment stuff was bad, that is what I hope the Aves play like when they eventually get to their talent level (on the edge physically, not diving).

The post-game was also very interesting - I guarantee that it was Kiszla who asked EJ about if he was injury prone or not. Lol and EJ comes back with the best answer..."seems I need to drink my milk this summer". Rycroft was pissed at the journalist who inquired the question, but considering his injury history I think that was a very fair question to ask. Varlamov was a little heartbroken in his interview, got asked a good question about if that play deserves suspension which injured him. Didn't entirely answer the question and hard to suspended players even if Juros did mean it, it seemed it was more unfortunate than anything else. Landeskog sucked it up like a man and had to deal with the loss straight forward with the media, I don't want to get into the "x dude seemed more depressed and cared a lot more than everyone else" nonsense or ROR Syndrome. However, he did seem like the most disappointed in the tone and how he answered the questions.

Bednar was the absolute best though, he answer all the questions with an honest yet no dramatic response. The biggest thing I am scared about is everybody telling us "how amazing of a future we have" or "the future is bright" comments which is probably happening on main HFB. We heard the same nonsense and ended up having disappointing season after another including one of the worst since the Thrashers. He knows this and knows that NHL is becoming a sport where you can finish 13th overall one year and make the playoffs the next. He mentions that we need to build on this because next season we will have many more teams who will be playing desperate for playoff hockey and will respect us much more than this season. He talked a lot about commitment, buying into the program, and having to work even harder next season. He might be throwing a virtual bone, but even said that Avs should be making moving to get better when he was essentially asked what team needs to do to get better next year and about improving secondary scoring. Chambers asked him if any players did play through injuries and which ones they were. He said yes players did play, but did not wan to say who they were which was FMLUnderstandable.

Barrie was a nightmare throughout the series and MacKinnon was directly responsible for allowing Predators to score three goals tonight, but I am going to forget all about that and say I am proud of the boys. It wasn't fun how it ended, but I wouldn't personally trade this team for any others this season...I loved everyone.

Great post SEPH (minus the Preds support going forward, of course).

I didn't see the Laviolette and Mack handshake, but with Bednar it was almost all Laviolette talking. They were also insisting on national TV that Bednar has a lot of respect from other coaches around the league.

 

[Avs44]

The handshake line was very interesting...never seen two coaches talk as long as Bednar and Laviolette did. Subban said a lot to MacKinnon and Landeskog. Wilson talked with a lot of ex-Preds for a long time as well. Laviolette said a lot to MacKinnon as well. I am still rooting for the Predators and even though the embellishment stuff was bad, that is what I hope the Aves play like when they eventually get to their talent level (on the edge physically, not diving).

The post-game was also very interesting - I guarantee that it was Kiszla who asked EJ about if he was injury prone or not. Lol and EJ comes back with the best answer..."seems I need to drink my milk this summer". Rycroft was pissed at the journalist who inquired the question, but considering his injury history I think that was a very fair question to ask. Varlamov was a little heartbroken in his interview, got asked a good question about if that play deserves suspension which injured him. Didn't entirely answer the question and hard to suspended players even if Juros did mean it, it seemed it was more unfortunate than anything else. Landeskog sucked it up like a man and had to deal with the loss straight forward with the media, I don't want to get into the "x dude seemed more depressed and cared a lot more than everyone else" nonsense or ROR Syndrome. However, he did seem like the most disappointed in the tone and how he answered the questions.

Bednar was the absolute best though, he answer all the questions with an honest yet no dramatic response. The biggest thing I am scared about is everybody telling us "how amazing of a future we have" or "the future is bright" comments which is probably happening on main HFB. We heard the same nonsense and ended up having disappointing season after another including one of the worst since the Thrashers. He knows this and knows that NHL is becoming a sport where you can finish 13th overall one year and make the playoffs the next. He mentions that we need to build on this because next season we will have many more teams who will be playing desperate for playoff hockey and will respect us much more than this season. He talked a lot about commitment, buying into the program, and having to work even harder next season. He might be throwing a virtual bone, but even said that Avs should be making moving to get better when he was essentially asked what team needs to do to get better and about improving secondary scoring. Chambers asked him if any players did play through injuries and which ones they were. He said yes players did play, but did not wan to say who they were which was FMLUnderstandable.

Barrie was a nightmare throughout the series and MacKinnon was directly responsible for allowing Predators to score three goals tonight, but I am going to forget all about that and say I am proud of the boys. It wasn't fun how it ended, but I wouldn't personally trade this team for any others this season...I loved everyone.

Excellent post, top to bottom. Especially agree with the bit about 'you have a bright future.' We heard all of that after Roy's miracle season, and we - and the team, I think - bought into it. Hopefully the failure of Bednar's first season here will stick in everyone's minds. If Bednar's on top of that that's fantastic. Now he needs to convince Sakic that continually improving needs to be an organizational mandate this off-season.

 

[The Kingslayer]

Before I forget....Z was everything I expected him to be. Considering this was his first playoffs and he was leaned on to be one of the big game players I thought he did a pretty damn good job on both sides of the puck.

 

[Balthazar]

 

[Pokecheque]

I think there's much more reason for optimism this time around as opposed to 2014. First off, this team is much younger, the youngest in the entire league. Second, they don't stand to lose any core players like they did Stastny that offseason. Third, and this one's important, I honestly think they let unexpected success completely derail whatever plans they had. Way too many multi-year deals handed out to marginal players, absolutely NONE of whom lived up to them. They also went out and got exactly the wrong kinds of players to supplement their core. Fourth, the drafting, save for 2009, was a disaster--there was absolutely no one in the system capable of stepping in. That has changed.

Fifth, that Avs team completely eschewed analytics. Now they have one guy (maybe two I don't know if he's still there) very much part of the front office and another guy who is busy incorporating analytics across the board to all KSE-owned franchises.

Yes, I think 2018-19 COULD be a step back. It's possible The Central is just gonna be a friggin' bloodbath next season. Absolutely none of the teams in this division are going to pull the plug. The ones who didn't make it will be aggressively retooling for next season. The West as a whole will be tough as hell. I don't expect Calgary and Edmonton to be afterthoughts like they were this year. Same with Arizona. The Avs could do everything right this offseason and still struggle to make the postseason next year. No matter what, they gotta stick with the plan. No shortcuts, no insane trades, no mortgaging the future unless you're getting something that also secures the future. And absolutely NO MORE GERIATRICS. They need to remember that they were talented, young, and fast this season. They cannot afford to lose that edge in speed.

All that said I think they know what they're doing. Sakic has earned the benefit of the doubt after last season's disaster. It starts with this year's draft and the next step will be free agency, if they opt to go that route. I don't expect a repeat of 2014's utter disaster, where they pretty much made every wrong move possible, but there are some big questions that need to be answered.

 

[The Kingslayer]

I think there's much more reason for optimism this time around as opposed to 2014. First off, this team is much younger, the youngest in the entire league. Second, they don't stand to lose any core players like they did Stastny that offseason. Third, and this one's important, I honestly think they let unexpected success completely derail whatever plans they had. Way too many multi-year deals handed out to marginal players, absolutely NONE of whom lived up to them. They also went out and got exactly the wrong kinds of players to supplement their core. Fourth, the drafting, save for 2009, was a disaster--there was absolutely no one in the system capable of stepping in. That has changed.

Fifth, that Avs team completely eschewed analytics. Now they have one guy (maybe two I don't know if he's still there) very much part of the front office and another guy who is busy incorporating analytics across the board to all KSE-owned franchises.

Yes, I think 2018-19 COULD be a step back. It's possible The Central is just gonna be a friggin' bloodbath next season. Absolutely none of the teams in this division are going to pull the plug. The ones who didn't make it will be aggressively retooling for next season. The West as a whole will be tough as hell. I don't expect Calgary and Edmonton to be afterthoughts like they were this year. Same with Arizona. The Avs could do everything right this offseason and still struggle to make the postseason next year. No matter what, they gotta stick with the plan. No shortcuts, no insane trades, no mortgaging the future unless you're getting something that also secures the future. And absolutely NO MORE GERIATRICS. They need to remember that they were talented, young, and fast this season. They cannot afford to lose that edge in speed.

All that said I think they know what they're doing. Sakic has earned the benefit of the doubt after last season's disaster. It starts with this year's draft and the next step will be free agency, if they opt to go that route. I don't expect a repeat of 2014's utter disaster, where they pretty much made every wrong move possible, but there are some big questions that need to be answered.

Yup this. No fossils please.

 

[Spleenless Wonder21]

Yup this. No fossils please.

So, Obi Wan is out?

 

[the_fan]

So the comment by Bednar about perhaps improving the secondary scoring by addition means signing Tavares right? We heard you loud and clear coach.

 

[LieutenantDangle]

I think there’s a huge difference between our delusional fan base saying big things were coming after the 14 season, and other teams players and coaches saying this team is headed in the right direction (up). In 14 we thought we could only get better, yet much of the league was screaming REGRESSION in our deaf ears. This is definitely different. There are some holes to shore up, but there is also a lot of room for growth with this group and a coach with his head on his shoulders level and a track record of guiding young players to big games.

 

[Murzu]

 

[Foppa2118]

The post-game was also very interesting - I guarantee that it was Kiszla who asked EJ about if he was injury prone or not. Lol and EJ comes back with the best answer..."seems I need to drink my milk this summer".

That was Frei. He more or less tried asking the same question of Varly. Nice of him to bring that up just minutes after they've been eliminated.

 

[Grigowski]

First of All: Congrats to the Preds.

Although you don´t want to end your season this way, i wanna say "THANK YOU" to this team, coaching staff und Front Office for making this team relevant again.

I´m proud and man they gave the Preds a hard time. No one expected anything and yet they made the postseason an put up a hell of a fight. Who would´ve thought the AVS would be the only team in the west taking the series to 6? Everybody predicted a "sweep".....

But after all, the work hast just begun. We need to evolve. This team needs to grow together. And we need to improve our squad. Be it through our system or FA. You can´t just rely on your 1st line.
And for heaven's sake: Stay away from bad signings/aging veterans.

And most important: We need to stay healthy! The Central will be a "war zone" next season.

So, everybody revocer and rest for a few weeks away from the rink. Get healthy, and then prepare for next season.

It was a great ride...

 

[Grigowski]

That was Frei. He more or less tried asking the same question of Varly. Nice of him to bring that up just minutes after they've been eliminated.

What do you expect from this person? But great respond from EJ. Not everybody would be that calm if he gets asked such a stupid question.