Hot Take: The Avs are not that good

[Nihiliste]

This is my attempt of an anti-jinx thread and hopefully they go on a 10-0 run, but in all seriousness.

1 crap game against the Blues
1 dominate game against the Blues
2 crap games against a bad Kings team that they should have dominated and ended up 1-1 against them sneaking one out and losing another late.

All while Vegas is doing their jobs mopping up the Ducks and Yotes to start 4-0.

As an Avs fan I agree they aren’t that good. National media should stop hyping the team

Kadri looks disoriented to start the season, Saad isn’t what he was. No 3C, a pretty meh bottom 6. On the blue line, Byram is unproven and EJ’s health is always a question mark. Goaltending performance and health are both question marks.

If not for the flat COVID cap I think they were positioned to fix a couple of those holes and might be the force people imagine. But with the cap limitations that hasn’t been the case

 

[Nihiliste]

A team with Lando, MacK, Kadri, Nuke, Graves and previous Zadorov and Cole... soft? They lost two tough defenders... but I wouldn't call them soft.

They’re pretty soft, and softer this year. Dallas took their lunch money in the playoffs last year

 

[klozge]

They’re pretty soft, and softer this year. Dallas took their lunch money in the playoffs last year

If the Avs hadn't been injured that much the series possibly would have looked very different but I agree, toughness was a big problem. Strangely I'm not sure it still is such a big problem although they got softer on paper but it's still too early to tell.

 

[Nihiliste]

Passing up on Hall in favor of Saqd was really stupid. I have a feeling they'll miss Zadorovs physicality as well

Not enough cap for hall. Avs couldn’t even afford to sit EJ after he was cleared to play at the beginning of the season due to lack of cap

 

[Nihiliste]

If the Avs hadn't been injured that much the series possibly would have looked very different but I agree, toughness was a big problem. Strangely I'm not sure it still is such a big problem although they got softer on paper but it's still too early to tell.

Well I think part of why they got injured is because the series was physical. Even the goalies for example, maybe don’t get hurt if not caught up in so many goalmouth scrambles as a consequence of the Stars bullying their way to the front of the net

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

They will be. Tampa was awful to start last year. Ottawa was near first after 10 games last year...

Have people not realized the first ten games or so are the most meaningless in determining what teams will look like?

 

[PaulD]

This is my attempt of an anti-jinx thread and hopefully they go on a 10-0 run, but in all seriousness.

1 crap game against the Blues
1 dominate game against the Blues
2 crap games against a bad Kings team that they should have dominated and ended up 1-1 against them sneaking one out and losing another late.

All while Vegas is doing their jobs mopping up the Ducks and Yotes to start 4-0.

Vegas lost to Coyotes 5-2 last night.

This early is another run of Covid schedule. Time off, no camps, no practicing. Follow the bouncing puck. Anyone can and will beat anyone on any given night.

Oilers beat leafs. Leafs beat Oilers.
Canucks beat Habs Habs beat Canucks.
Canucks beat Oilers Oilers beat Canucks.
Sens beat leafs . Leafs beat Jets. Jets beat Sens.

and on it goes.

Come play offs. (With a healthy goalie) Aves are the favorites.

 

[slobbergob]

Can't wait to read back on this one at the end of the year. The Avs are a better team today than the one that finished the season 2 pts behind STL for 1st in the West last year.

They're playing like garbage for long stretches so far, but they'll figure it out.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

How could anyone seriously claim they are not good. The hype has been too much, but this is clearly one of the best teams in the league.

 

[tucker3434]

Last night the Avs were able to pull off a win in a game where they generally played pretty poorly. Anaheim probably deserved to win that one, but Grubauer had a great game. Good teams tend to steal more games than they blow. We’ll see how that trend holds up in the long run.

Still have a pretty terrible 5v5 shooting percentage. I’ll be really surprised if a team like the Avs is anywhere close to bottom 5 in shooting percentage at 5v5 by season’s end. Being around there now and still managing to be 3-2, things could be worse.

 

[PaulD]

As an Avs fan I agree they aren’t that good. National media should stop hyping the team

Kadri looks disoriented to start the season, Saad isn’t what he was. No 3C, a pretty meh bottom 6. On the blue line, Byram is unproven and EJ’s health is always a question mark. Goaltending performance and health are both question marks.

If not for the flat COVID cap I think they were positioned to fix a couple of those holes and might be the force people imagine. But with the cap limitations that hasn’t been the case

and every team in the league has those holes ...........most have more.

Compared to the 2001 Aves these guys are "not that good". Sure. But compared the other 30 teams 2021. This is a top 3 team with a Cup (or Cups) in the near future.

 

[PaulD]

Can't wait to read back on this one at the end of the year. The Avs are a better team today than the one that finished the season 2 pts behind STL for 1st in the West last year.

They're playing like garbage for long stretches so far, but they'll figure it out.

Yep!

 

[Goulet17]

Vegas lost to Coyotes 5-2 last night.

After last night, it is clear that Vegas has been overrated and is not a legitimate contender.


(Sorry, I just thought I would jump in on the fun.)

 

[John Eichel da GOAT]

Grubauer stole one for the Avs last night and it was refreshing to see them actually win a 3v3 for once.

Kadri-Saad-whoever has been horrible and rather demote Kadri or Saad, JB has been shuffling around that third guy.

Byram seems to have already taken a huge jump and obviously that will only help.

In shortened season (10% done for the Avs after Sunday), it is a little (and I emphasize "a little") concerning that we arent blowing out crap teams. Sure, NHL parity makes it so any team can win on any given night, but I expect to go at least 7-1 or 6-2 against the Ducks, Kings, and Yotes specifically. Probably the Mild too. Save the struggles for the Knights and Blues.

The pure skill of Mikko, Mac, and Makar will will us to wins, but the team looks pretty bad overall and the pp still has not changed.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

Bo Byram is so nasty. He took over the game in the third period last night but aside from Rantanen, Grubauer and the 4 puck moving D, they were awful last night.

 

[Goulet17]

They don't have a lot of talent but Beds is a great coach and Mackinnon and to a lesser extent Rantanen are good. The D sucks besides Makar (he does too in his own end).

Weren't you the same poster emphatically stating that McDavid is the greatest of all time recently? The hot takes are strong with you.

 

[John Eichel da GOAT]

Vegas lost to Coyotes 5-2 last night.

This early is another run of Covid schedule. Time off, no camps, no practicing. Follow the bouncing puck. Anyone can and will beat anyone on any given night.

Oilers beat leafs. Leafs beat Oilers.
Canucks beat Habs Habs beat Canucks.
Canucks beat Oilers Oilers beat Canucks.
Sens beat leafs . Leafs beat Jets. Jets beat Sens.

and on it goes.

Come play offs. (With a healthy goalie) Aves are the favorites.

I get that. NHL parity is what it is, but in your example all of those North teams are pretty bad, specifically defensively. They will beat up on eachother. The Avs are supposed to be a rock from top to bottom, with goaltending being the exception and so far goaltending has not been the issue at all.

I want them to figure it out and they have time to do it, but please beat up on these garbage teams already. Use those as your camp and practice.

 

[Goulet17]

I would say that the Avs look disjointed so far. They have had a few injuries that have contributed to their slower start (Burakosky, Erik Johnson, Francouz). We'll see how it all turns out. The Avs are still young an learning.

It may be a strange year in which we see a number of unusual results. We are already seeing some surprising starts on an individual level from some talented young players (Pettersson, Dahlin).

The fact is that we do not have overwhelming cup favorites any longer in my mind, you just want your team to build to a point that you can be one of the better 4-6 or 6-8 teams in the league. At that point, you hope that you have health and you can get on a roll at the right time for a cup run.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

If we're going to have one of these threads every time that a team loses to the LA Kings, we're going to have at least four of them by the end of the season.

They're just lucky we only play 7 total teams this season, or we could make the main board an utter wasteland!

Clearly, the Minnesota Wild are the class of the division, if not the league, with their revolutionary, "No Center, No Problem!" style of hockey.

Dean Lombardi liked to build from the net-center out; Wild are building from the boards in!

To be honest the Avs have some major flaws.

The bottom-9 forwards are a bit of a mess right now. They are not playing well at all. Kadri at 2C could be a problem too if he’s doesn’t turn it around.

They have too much talent to not make the playoffs though imo.

Also... they just released the Byram.

Kadri needs to try to keep playing hockey on his feet instead of swiveling his head looking for light contact that he can flop on. Way more effective that way. Not gonna have Tim Peel calling the reaction every night, you know.

 

[LudwigVonKarlsson]

I just dropped Kadri for Kevin Hayes in my fantasy league so expect a big game from him and Colorado coming right up.

 

[John Eichel da GOAT]

I would say that the Avs look disjointed so far. They have had a few injuries that have contributed to their slower start (Burakosky, Erik Johnson, Francouz). We'll see how it all turns out. The Avs are still young an learning.

It may be a strange year in which we see a number of unusual results. We are already seeing some surprising starts on an individual level from some talented young players (Pettersson, Dahlin).

The fact is that we do not have overwhelming cup favorites any longer in my mind, you just want your team to build to a point that you can be one of the better 4-6 or 6-8 teams in the league. At that point, you hope that you have health and you can get on a roll at the right time for a cup run.

Pretty spot on and exactly what the Avs are. Theyre still good enough to barely try and get into the playoffs. Can they turn it on when they get there? Well see.

I guess more disappointing than anyhting to not come out the gates hot.

 

[ProjectPanthers]

i don’t get what you mean here? Buffalo has been actually really good, for 1-3-1 they’ve been in every single game until the last minute of the third. Empty netters make it seem worse like the 3-0 game after they thrashed philly 6-1 that was 0-0 then 1-0 u til the very end then two empty netters by the flyers. They’ve played two teams in 5 games both potential cup candidates and have 3 pts while being in every single one. To say they’re the only team in the league that isn’t good is ridiculous.

It was just a joke man. I could've typed a bunch of different teams in (mine included). Don't take it so cereal friend

 

[AvsFan29]

Some of these comments are laughable. The team needs time to adjust to the new players in the lineup. The defence is absolutely stacked. The bottom 9 has disappointed so far, and I’m honestly surprised how badly they are struggling. These issues will be worked out over time.