Speculation: How has Ryan Graves looked?

[Oak]

My son loves Makar so we have been watching most of your games recently and I think Graves has been pretty good. His skating has impressed me for a guy his size, he has been solid on D and his offensive game has also been pretty good.

 

[Bender]

Hmmm... I don't see Colorado enough, but I have been wondering about many Avalanche fans mentioning Graves as someone they'd like to trade... and looking at the game tonight and his numbers.... I find that hard to understand.

Is it just because he doesn't skate as well as many of your other players? I mean, he is just about leading the league in plus/minus and produces extremely well for a third pairing D-guy.

As has been mentioned, Graves has been pretty up and down so far this season. I think the reason most Avs fans wouldn't mind getting something in return or including him in trade proposals is because he makes some pretty glaring errors on a nightly basis that haven't been costing him so far... essentially, he's been lucky on that end but the tide is bound to shift at some point where it's going to make him look really bad.

I think he's probably a #6 or #7 guy who can play a strong game or a weak game at any given time. If some team wants to give us an "Eric Gelinas-like" return, I think most Avs fans would take it.

 

[Flanagan]

Always interesting that it's these guys who end up getting some obscene plus-minus ratings on their respective teams. Last year it was Nemeth, right?

Last year was Zadorov at +19, and EJ was the next highest D at +8.

Two years ago Nemeth was +27, which was ridiculous compared to the next best D (Barberio at +6).