Jost, Nieto, or Calvert

[chessgoon]

Who's the odd man out?

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[Avs9296]

Most definitely not Calvert. He's not even in the discussion.

Jost or Nieto. Maybe Nuke but unlikely. Calvert? Never.

 

[Avs9296]

Personally for me it's a wash between Nieto and Jost. Nieto provides more speed and better PK, Jost can play center and has better hands (sometimes). I wouldn't be upset either way really

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Most definitely not Calvert. He's not even in the discussion.

Jost or Nieto. Maybe Nuke but unlikely. Calvert? Never.

Definitely not Nuke, he's literally the best Defensive forward on this team AINEC.


I'd say Jost should be, but it probably end up Nieto. The beauty of it is with the depth we have, we have a really good 4th liner in Nieto ready to draw into the lineup if an injury hits or a roster adjustment needs to be made.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

If Calvert sees the press-box i’ll vomit.

Jost was playing better than Nieto in the second half of the season, so I’d sit Nieto.

 

[shadow1]

To my knowledge only one of these three has ever been a healthy scratch for the Avalanche, and he’s the answer here.

Easily Jost.

 

[Richard88]

Calvert 100% plays. The last spot is only between Jost, Nieto, and Wilson.

Nieto is on the top PK unit which probably means he's in. But do you really want to tank Jost's trade value by scratching him? Will be intriguing to follow either way.

 

[McMetal]

If you want to ice the best possible team... It's got to be Jost. You can talk about offensive potential with Jost all you want, but he had the same number of goals and only two more apples than Nieto did this season, so their offensive output is a wash. Add that Nieto plays a game better suited to the bottom six and can kill penalties and advantage 83 all the way.

The real question is Nieto or Wilson... Wilson came up big in the playoffs last year as a secondary scoring option, and he's bigger. That's a toss-up for me as to who you want flanking Bellemare depending on if you want offensive punch or speed and defense in your lineup.

 

[Foppa2118]

Here are the locks in a healthy lineup. Compher isn't quite a lock but I don't see him being a scratch until he plays himself out of the lineup.

Landy - MacK - Mikko
Bura - Kadri - Donskoi
XX - Compher - XX
Calvert - Belly - XX

These are the guys in competition for the three openings, in order of likelihood IMO. I think Nieto is almost a lock because of the PK. He also has proven chemistry with that 4th line in the past.

Nieto
Namestnikov
Jost
Nichuskin
Wilson
Kamenev

Namestnikov, Nichuskin, and Jost I think will battle it out for the remaining two spots. Namestnikov may have an edge with his playoff experience with Tampa, and so they can evaluate him a little more before deciding whether to bring him back or not.

Jost may have a bit of an edge over Nuke despite Nuke having a very good season. I think they may want Jost as an option at center. Then they can flip Jost and JTC depending on who's playing better down the middle. Would be tough to scratch Nuke, but they have plenty of offense, and he's behind Landy, Kadri, Belly, Donskoi, and Namestnikov defensively IMO. He'll likely get swapped in for someone after a loss.

I'd be surprised if they went with Wilson after he missed basically the whole season. I know everyone else has been out a while too, but he missed the whole season basically. It's gonna be tough for him to get his conditioning and timing back. He's not Peter Forsberg.

My guess is Nieto, Namestnikov and Jost make the final cuts.

 

[AvsWraith]

If Nuke gets nacho duty, I'll personally drive to the site and kick Bedz in the balls. He has earned his spot a thousand times over this year.

 

[SirLoinOfCloth]

There's no one who is tougher, works harder, and has more heart that Calvert on this team. He's the sort of player every team wants and needs in the playoffs.

 

[forsbergavs32]

no way Nuke sits, he's been way too good to sit. Also don't think Name would sit since they just traded for him

My guess

Lando - Mack - Rants
Bura - Kadri - Nuke
Name - JTC - Dong
Jost - Bellemare - Calvert

 

[95snipes]

Won't happen but both should be

Edit and Calvert's not in the discussion. Not even close

 

[Pokecheque]

Calvert played a top line role, albeit briefly, but he also proved he had another level to his game. Some of that was just percentage-driven but even before he got put on MacKinnon's line he and Bellemare were dominant defensively.

Nieto is a key PK guy and defensive depth forward. And frankly the coach just really likes him.

Jost is more talented than either guy but the lack of skating and inconsistency probably means he's the odd man out.

 

[AegonLeConqueror]

I'm a little surprised that Nuke's name was even mentioned in a few posts - the dude is a big-bodied, defensive machine. Isn't that almost exactly what you need in the playoffs?

 

[TheRarestDangles]

We have a pretty solid team. I almost forgot how deep the roster is.

 

[Foppa2118]

We have a pretty solid team. I almost forgot how deep the roster is.

One of the deepest Avalanche teams ever TBH. A lot of the old lineups weren't that deep, because PL didn't like paying his 4th liners very much.

Avs will have the luxury of some good extra forwards should they need them. On defense too, if Timmins has gotten closer to NHL ready, he could be a great extra D man as well.

 

[Balthazar]

To even suggest that Calvert could be scratched in the playoffs is borderline offensive.

As for Jost vs Nieto, in a vacuum it should be Nieto...but:

1) Nieto is gone at the end of the season
and
2a) Either they want to trade Jost this summer and not playing him would tank his value even more
or
2b) They want Jost to gain confidence and not playing him would go against that

So because of that I could see Nieto sitting and Jost playing. Also Jost was playing better after the trade deadline so that could be the "official" reason.

 

[Foppa2118]

To even suggest that Calvert could be scratched in the playoffs is borderline offensive.

As for Jost vs Nieto, in a vacuum it should be Nieto...but:

1) Nieto is gone at the end of the season
and
2a) Either they want to trade Jost this summer and not playing him would tank his value even more
or
2b) They want Jost to gain confidence and not playing him would go against that

So because of that I could see Nieto sitting and Jost playing. Also Jost was playing better after the trade deadline so that could be the "official" reason.

I don't think they would play Jost over Nieto based on their situations. I think they would genuinely let Bednar make a "who helps the team the most" decision.

Plus it will be really hard to bump Nieto when he leads all forwards in shorthanded ice time per game. Even if he's not playing well 5 on 5, that's not a player a coach would want to lose.

 

[Ararana]

Calvert was money next to PAB, he's probably safe. Jost is most likely the weak man out here, but I agree it probably comes down to Jost/Nieto. Nieto is much better on the PK than Jost, that has to give him the edge.

Knowing the way our season has gone with injuries, they'll both be playing after a game or two.

 

[dahrougem2]

Jost doesn't do anything that someone else can't do. Nieto kills penalties very well. Thus, he gets the edge.

 

[Ceremony]

Calvert

Nieto
Playing a man short
Jost

 

[Perratrooper]

Assuming everyone is healthy we should have:

landy-MacK-Rants
Nuke-Kadri-Bura
Name-Compher-Don
Nieto-Belly-Calvert

There will be switches based on how players are playing/injuries, but Nieto had a very good playoffs last year with 7 points in 12 games. Hard to take that out of the lineup and I ultimately only care about winning not the value of Jost. Short sighted? Maybe, but it’s time to play the players that give us the best chance to win.

 

[El Travo]

It has to be Nieto sitting out unless they plan to ship Jost off next season. Jost was really starting to show flashes of what he could do at the end of the season and was pretty good in last years Playoffs. That said, Jost and Nieto wish they were as important to the team as Calvert.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

Nieto should be sitting. Jost was better last playoffs; will be given at least one more year. However he will be on the shortest of leashes.