Playoffs?

[Avs For Life]

We either need to make the playoffs to attract some FA or we need to tank the crap out of the rest of the season and get a top 4 pick.

doing neither does not help us at all

Thats been our issue....mediocrity...we arent horrid (except defensively) and we arent playoff ready.

So we dont really get better and we dont really get worse...Its time to do one or the other.

 

[JoemAvs]

We either need to make the playoffs to attract some FA or we need to tank the crap out of the rest of the season and get a top 4 pick.

doing neither does not help us at all

Thats been our issue....mediocrity...we arent horrid (except defensively) and we arent playoff ready.

So we dont really get better and we dont really get worse...Its time to do one or the other.

I still want them to tank because with this coach and defense we are not going anywhere. And this is the best draft in a long time. But the problem is that Varly, Duchene and Landeskog won't let that happen. And now we have that much more character. Will be tough. We will finish 9th or 10th and get a solid prospect but no one close to Jones/Mac/Drouin/Barkov. Sucks. We play the best team which is undefeated in the league 3 times in the next 8 games.

The waythis is going this year we will lose 3 times in OT which is good but does nothing in the longterm for us....

 

[CobraAcesS]

I still want them to tank because with this coach and defense we are not going anywhere. And this is the best draft in a long time. But the problem is that Varly, Duchene and Landeskog won't let that happen. And now we have that much more character. Will be tough. We will finish 9th or 10th and get a solid prospect but no one close to Jones/Mac/Drouin/Barkov. Sucks. We play the best team which is undefeated in the league 3 times in the next 8 games.

The waythis is going this year we will lose 3 times in OT which is good but does nothing in the longterm for us....

They need to decide now if they are going to be buyers or sellers.... Jones and ALL OF OUR D... well Zannon, ROB, SOB, Hunwcik... NEED TO GO.

Jones needs to go if we can fork some contender into giving us a 1st for him. (Probably not)

Or we need to be seeing if we can pick up a rental top 6 winger and a defender like Streit or something NOW, not in a month. But go after guys we actually might like on the team longer term (2-4 years) not 'just' complete 'rentals'.

Two things will help this team... Playoff experience (Even just 1 round for motivation), or a top 5 first round pick. We get zilch by doing neither...

 

[cgf]

The last thing we need to be doing now that we've got all 3 of our centers on the ice together, is getting rid of our wingers.

 

[Pokecheque]

I've never agreed with the "all or nothing" philosophy. Yes, I'd like to see this team shed the glut of pylons currently occupying the blueline, but I don't agree with depleting a team of every possible asset just to snag a higher pick. This is a deep draft, chances are we won't be a playoff team, meaning it'll be a high enough pick to get a good player. Maybe not a superstar, but I feel we have enough of those to build around. Now we just need to get some more good players into the fold, focus on maybe getting a solid scoring winger and another defenseman who can eat up serious minutes.

 

[Huis Clos*]

The Avs' next four games are against Detroit, Chicago twice and San Jose. How many points are they realistically going to come away with?

 

[JoemAvs]

The Avs' next four games are against Detroit, Chicago twice and San Jose. How many points are they realistically going to come away with?

WIth how bipolar and frustrating this team is I would want to bet that we atleast win two or atleast get 4-5 points out of it. And than we will lose against EDM and CGY....

I am 100 % sure that we will snap the Chicago streak...

 

[BaconNater]

WIth how bipolar and frustrating this team is I would want to bet that we atleast win two or atleast get 4-5 points out of it. And than we will lose against EDM and CGY....

I am 100 % sure that we will snap the Chicago streak...

Yeah I would probably throw down 100$ that we will beat Chicago in regulation, because I know it'll happen and that will save Sacco's job.

 

[Over the Pants Landy]

The way things are going we'll go something like 1-1-1 over the next 3 games. Get crushed by EDM, then blow a 2-goal lead against CGY and lose in regulation.

 

[Over the Pants Landy]

Oh forgot about the Sharks. Most likely lose to them because I can't remember the last time we beat them.

 

[S E P H]

The Avs' next four games are against Detroit, Chicago twice and San Jose. How many points are they realistically going to come away with?

Avs always come out hard when they play a terrible game previously. So they will look great against Detroit, but it's too close to call who wins. I think we will get at least a point.

Chicago: No doubt in my mind we will go W/L against them and snap the streak. I just don't know if the first game will be a win or not. I also hope that they start Varlamov in this game and Giguere against Detroit.

San Jose: I have a good feeling we will win.

5 points in 4 games.

 

[RoyIsALegend]

When we win and I see this thread, I'm like "**** yeah!"

When we lose and I see this thread, I'm all like "PLAYOFFS!?! Don't talk about playoffs. Playoffs!?! You kidding me?"

 

[Bubba Thudd]

Me, too. ^^^

 

[S E P H]

I see this thread two ways,

1) When we win: Go for 8th!

2) When we lose: Go for Jones!

 

[CB Joe]

Until this team fixes its defense its not going anywhere. Top 10 pick.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

When we win and I see this thread, I'm like "**** yeah!"

When we lose and I see this thread, I'm all like "PLAYOFFS!?! Don't talk about playoffs. Playoffs!?! You kidding me?"

I always see posts like this and go to click "retweet"

Then i realize i'm on hf

 

[JoemAvs]

Until this team fixes its defense its not going anywhere. Top 10 pick.

The problem I have is that there is just such an enormous difference between the 4th and the 8th or 9th pick this year.
With the 4th you get probably a franchise player. With the 9th you get a guy like Zadorov who projects to be pretty similar to Siemens...

In both cases we have played absolutely awful hockey and not made the playoffs.

 

[henchman21]

Until this team fixes its defense its not going anywhere. Top 10 pick.

EJ and Wilson coming back will vastly improve this defense. We go from being the worst defense in the NHL to somewhere around 20-25.

In this setup we only have 1 defensemen playing above their spot (Wilson who is a #4/5):

Wilson-EJ
Hejda-Barrie
Zanon-SOB

 

[henchman21]

The problem I have is that there is just such an enormous difference between the 4th and the 8th or 9th pick this year.
With the 4th you get probably a franchise player. With the 9th you get a guy like Zadorov who projects to be pretty similar to Siemens...

In both cases have we played absolutely awful hockey and not made the playoffs.

That is really most drafts. The top 5 can get you legit 1st line/pairing talent (some will always bust), the rest is kind of a crapshoot. There are players that have really high ceilings in the 5-20 range, they just have a lot more risk associated.

 

[CB Joe]

EJ and Wilson coming back will vastly improve this defense. We go from being the worst defense in the NHL to somewhere around 20-25.

In this setup we only have 1 defensemen playing above their spot (Wilson who is a #4/5):

Wilson-EJ
Hejda-Barrie
Zanon-SOB

Better, but that lineup still lacks puck moving skills and experience.

Most importantly is the coaching. I'm tired of watching the team run around the defensive zone like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut-off. They need to stop collapsing and start protecting the point.

 

[JoemAvs]

That is really most drafts. The top 5 can get you legit 1st line/pairing talent (some will always bust), the rest is kind of a crapshoot. There are players that have really high ceilings in the 5-20 range, they just have a lot more risk associated.

I agree but this time it is a little bit different.
I for one believe that in any other year since maybe 2009 (Tavares was probably a better prospect) Jones, MacKinnon, Barkov or Drouin could have made a legit case to go No.1.

They all scream superstar to me. Avs could really need one of those.
Jones to shore up our defense.
Drouin to give us this unbelievably skilled top line winger that would elevate our offense.
MacKinnon or Barkov could potentially give us a #1 / #2 Center rotation that would only be a step or two or 5 below Forsberg/Sakic if Duchene and Mac/Barkov fulfill their potential.
Given that I believe that both ROR and Stazz might be on their way out of Denver, I would absolutely love for us to get a top 4 pick this year.
This could really be the final piece that might make us a cup contender in the future.
So finishing 8th or 9th after having to suffer through atrocious hockey (lets face it. We are not fun to watch) would really hurt somewhat because it probably only means 3 or 4 wins less and we could have gotten one of those guys.

I realize that most people here don't agree with me but I really believe that it would be in our best interest to suck hard for one more year. If that leads to the firing of Sacco, I could not be more in favor of taking that route.

Playoffs would obviously better but I just don't see it.

 

[Huis Clos*]

I agree but this time it is a little bit different.
I for one believe that in any other year since maybe 2009 (Tavares was probably a better prospect) Jones, MacKinnon, Barkov or Drouin could have made a legit case to go No.1.

They all scream superstar to me. Avs could realy need one of those.
Jones to shore up our defense.
Drouin to give us this unbelievably skilled top line winger that would elevate our offense.
MacKinnon or Barkov could potentially give us a #1 / #2 Center rotation that would only be a step or two or 5 below Forsberg/Sakic if Duchene and Mac/Barkov fulfill their potential.
Given that I believe that both ROR and Stazz might be on the outs, I would absolutely love for us to get a top 4 pick this year.
This could really be the final piece to make us a cup contender in the future.
So finishing 8th or 9th after having to suffer through atrocious hockey (lets face it. We are not fun to watch) would really hurt somewhat because it probably only means 3 or 4 wins less and we could have gotten one of those guys.

I realize that most people here don't agree with me but I really believe that it would be in our best interest to suck hard for one more year. If that leads to the firing of Sacco, I could not be more in favor of taking that route.

Playoffs would obviously better but I just don't see it.

Every loss and empty seat brings us one step closer to removing every person with any kind of management, decision making and/or coaching role. A lottery pick on top is gravy.

 

[marioni]

I agree but this time it is a little bit different.
I for one believe that in any other year since maybe 2009 (Tavares was probably a better prospect) Jones, MacKinnon, Barkov or Drouin could have made a legit case to go No.1.

They all scream superstar to me. Avs could really need one of those.
Jones to shore up our defense.
Drouin to give us this unbelievably skilled top line winger that would elevate our offense.
MacKinnon or Barkov could potentially give us a #1 / #2 Center rotation that would only be a step or two or 5 below Forsberg/Sakic if Duchene and Mac/Barkov fulfill their potential.
Given that I believe that both ROR and Stazz might be on their way out of Denver, I would absolutely love for us to get a top 4 pick this year.
This could really be the final piece that might make us a cup contender in the future.
So finishing 8th or 9th after having to suffer through atrocious hockey (lets face it. We are not fun to watch) would really hurt somewhat because it probably only means 3 or 4 wins less and we could have gotten one of those guys.

I realize that most people here don't agree with me but I really believe that it would be in our best interest to suck hard for one more year. If that leads to the firing of Sacco, I could not be more in favor of taking that route.

Playoffs would obviously better but I just don't see it.

Draft system in North America works that way, you're rewarded for losing. If you're not making the playoffs, you may as well tank and draft a potential star in the making.

But a team has to be clear that they don't have a chance to make the playoffs first before taking this route..

 

[Over the Pants Landy]

I think after the next two weeks we'll have an idea of if this team can REALISTICALLY make the playoffs.

 

[henchman21]

I really don't see this draft with that many superstars. Jones, Drouin, MacKinnon, and Nichuskin are the only ones IMO with that sort of high end talent. Not all 4 of those are going to be elite NHLers when it is all said and done. They all have some question marks when it comes to their game (MacKinnon is probably the safest bet as his game should translate very well).