The Avalanche are what the Leafs and Oilers were supposed to become

[PowerMac]

Better core players who can adjust to playing tight physical games.

 

[Zaddy]

I don't really think it's that much about management. The Avs, like most franchises, lives and dies with their core players. They have one of the best, if not the best, line in hockey with Landeskog, MacKinnon and Rantanen, and then on top of that they got a Norris Trophy candidate in Cale Makar who stepped in completely seamlessly to the NHL. The rest of their team is really nothing special. They lucked out in the draft finding the right players, similar to the Hawks with Toews, Kane, Keith and Seabrook. That's really it.

Oilers don't have a core. They have two superstars and nothing else. Hall, RNH, Yakupov were all super disappointing picks despite being the consensus picks in those spots. As for the Leafs, they haven't found that game-changing defenseman to shore up the blueline, and they obviously screwed up big time with their massive deals to their core players. But in the end it comes down to having the right mix of players and the Leafs simply don't have it. They have a bunch of egoistic superstars who are only looking out for themselves. That's not a winning recipe. Avs on the other hand is a team through and through.

Oilers could have been where the Avs are now if Chiarelli hadn't traded away his picks in 2015 for Griffin f***ing Reinhart. They should've had one of Barzal, Connor and Chabot plus a good depth forward in that draft and that would've made all the difference. Oilers would be a different team today and have the depth required to compete. The Reinhart trade set the Oilers back years and they basically have no other option now than to wait until Bouchard, Broberg and Holloway becomes impact players before they can compete.

 

[xoczar99ox]

Colorado get spoon fed by the refs imo

 

[CupsOverCash]

Dude not even close. Avs ran/run their team beautifully. Didn't give out huge contracts to players who didn't deserve it yet. They draft well. Have done a great job in picking up good players in trade or in ufa. Dubas is over here being "modern" or whatever way they rationalized his decisions. Everyone said it was dumb then and it's still dumb.

 

[La Bamba]

The Duchene trade saved the Avalanche. Joe Sakic did an amazing job building them

 

[Llamamoto]

At McDavid's age Mackinnon had appeared in 3 playoffs, McDavid's appeared in 2/3. (Depending on whether you want to consider the play-ins playoffs). Neither players have advanced past the 2nd round.

Obviously the Avs team right now is insane. But both the Leafs and the Oilers are young teams that still have a ton of room to grow. Ovechkin didn't win his first cup until he was 32. McDavid's 24, and this is only the 2nd offseason since Holland took over and we finally have the cap space to improve the team after Chiarelli's mess.

Of course Holland could completely screw our situation this summer, but there's also potential for a legitimate contender next year.

 

[Llamamoto]

Also this might be a hot take but I think Dubas is a top-10 GM in the league.

 

[TheBloodyNine]

No team is supposed to become anything. They are what they are. You might have wanted them to become the Avs but neither are because the Leafs and the Oilers are both poorly constructed teams.

 

[Web In Front]

Also this might be a hot take but I think Dubas is a top-10 GM in the league.

I may have believed this at one point but I'm no longer seeing it. Have the Leafs won a single trade since he took over as general manager? Muzzin is a good player but they paid sticker price. Everyone knows about his record in contract negotiations.

 

[Panda Bear]

I don't really think it's that much about management. The Avs, like most franchises, lives and dies with their core players. They have one of the best, if not the best, line in hockey with Landeskog, MacKinnon and Rantanen, and then on top of that they got a Norris Trophy candidate in Cale Makar who stepped in completely seamlessly to the NHL. The rest of their team is really nothing special. They lucked out in the draft finding the right players, similar to the Hawks with Toews, Kane, Keith and Seabrook. That's really it.

Oilers don't have a core. They have two superstars and nothing else. Hall, RNH, Yakupov were all super disappointing picks despite being the consensus picks in those spots. As for the Leafs, they haven't found that game-changing defenseman to shore up the blueline, and they obviously screwed up big time with their massive deals to their core players. But in the end it comes down to having the right mix of players and the Leafs simply don't have it. They have a bunch of egoistic superstars who are only looking out for themselves. That's not a winning recipe. Avs on the other hand is a team through and through.

Oilers could have been where the Avs are now if Chiarelli hadn't traded away his picks in 2015 for Griffin f***ing Reinhart. They should've had one of Barzal, Connor and Chabot plus a good depth forward in that draft and that would've made all the difference. Oilers would be a different team today and have the depth required to compete. The Reinhart trade set the Oilers back years and they basically have no other option now than to wait until Bouchard, Broberg and Holloway becomes impact players before they can compete.

You contradict yourself when you say that it's not so much about management as it is cores then write about how our management spurned chances to solidify our core. They're related.

Beyond that, Sakic has done a very good job in building up quality be it through trading for Toews and Burakovsky or signing Grubauer and Nichushkin.

The GM's luck is in having MacKinnon, Rantanen and Makar turn out as good as they are, but it's the GMs skill to build around that.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

The Avs are fully committed to their team identity. They draft to it, they sign free agents to it, and they coach to it. They believe in pressuring teams by playing at a high pace and are heavily into analytics. They value puck movement over size on defence.

I agree with some other posters though. The Avs still have a lot to prove. If things go well this year maybe teams look into their model, but it’s too early at this point.

 

[Satoru Gojo]

The Chiarelli really screwed the Oilers

 

[Zaddy]

You contradict yourself when you say that it's not so much about management as it is cores then write about how our management spurned chances to solidify our core. They're related.

Beyond that, Sakic has done a very good job in building up quality be it through trading for Toews and Burakovsky or signing Grubauer and Nichushkin.

The GM's luck is in having MacKinnon, Rantanen and Makar turn out as good as they are, but it's the GMs skill to build around that.

The Reinhart trade was literally one of the dumbest trades in the history of the NHL, that's a complete outlier.

Depth players are highly replaceable. Hawks managed to win three Cups while trading away depth guys every year. How? They had a core of four guys that were good enough to win.

 

[KlefDown]

why are people forgetting Avs were literally a basement team few years ago, even when they had MacK, Landy, Rantanen, Duchene, Barrie, EJ etc etc to the point they got Makar and Byram (from Sens pick but still)

and lets not all pretend MacK's contract was him doing the Avs a favor, he was a 65 point player the time he signed it and blew up the season after

 

[gr8haluschak]

I love the BS brigade out here, "Mackinnon took a discount" really a guy who produced 63, and a pro rated 49 and 59 point seasons was not getting a hell of a lot more than the 6.3 he is getting. Also you fans seem to ignore the years of not doing anything in either being bounced early or not making the playoffs. As someone pointed out, Sakic made one hell of a trade in the Duchane deal, which some of that was luck in that there was no way to think ottawa was going to be that bad that it was either Byram or tkachuk as part of the deal. So before we go out there an anoint the Avs as the blue print for a "rebuild" how about they actually play for a cup, let a lone win one and from there let's watch how they will continue that success with Landeskog and Makar's contract

 

[Spoilers]

Lowe, MacT, and Chiarelli happened. The Oilers haven’t had solid management in years. The new GMs always have to fix the mistakes of the last one and just make it worse.

Joe Sakic used to be a terrible GM. His drafting was poor and the team underperformed. He was given the chance to fix his own mistakes and he improved. Makar and Rantanen were home runs and his trades for Girard and Kadri were huge.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

What happened? Why did one core excel where the others are flailing?

Avs haven't won it all yet so let's chill.

But leafs and Oilers are a tier below us at least.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

The Avalanche have won two playoff series in MacKinnon's career.

He has been in the league for 8 years.

You don't even know how to do math. We've won 3 series.

 

[82Ninety42011]

The Avs have a stacked D core the Leafs and Oilers don't.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

why are people forgetting Avs were literally a basement team few years ago, even when they had MacK, Landy, Rantanen, Duchene, Barrie, EJ etc etc to the point they got Makar and Byram (from Sens pick but still)

and lets not all pretend MacK's contract was him doing the Avs a favor, he was a 65 point player the time he signed it and blew up the season after

I can't think of a team that hasn't really hit basement and won a cup. Except the team we just swept, the blues.

 

[El Travo]

- MacKinnon took off after signing a long-term contract and San Jose picked Timo Meier 9th-overall.
- They cut their losses with the first major rebuild and shipped off O'Reilly, Duchene, and eventually Barrie while they all still had lots of trade value.
- They traded for and drafted excellent puck moving defensemen who can also skate and defend exceptionally well.
- Bednar is a really good coach.

 

[Panda Bear]

The Reinhart trade was literally one of the dumbest trades in the history of the NHL, that's a complete outlier.

Depth players are highly replaceable. Hawks managed to win three Cups while trading away depth guys every year. How? They had a core of four guys that were good enough to win.

You're skipping over an entire tier of players.

Those Hawks teams had Sharp, Hossa and Hjalmarsson on each run. They may not have been the four key players, but they weren't highly replaceable. Two other players who important to the latter two wins were Crawford (who posted 0.924 and 0.926 respectively as the starter) and Saad.

You replace the lot of them with your standard depth players, and the Hawks don't have any cups. Some would even argue Bolland deserves a mention in the group above.

It's only when you get to the Versteeg/Bickell/Brouwer tier where the players can be adequately replaced followed by the Kopecky/Eager tier where they're highly replaceable.

It took skill to assemble the core, have

 

[Hasbro]

The Duchene trade saved the Avalanche. Joe Sakic did an amazing job building them

Imagine if Chia got that kind of return on Hall.

 

[Teasdale]

Combination of McKinnon’s deal and better drafting/signings.

 

[Three On Zero]

Look at Colorado's cap structure VS Edmonton and Toronto's. That's your answer