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

[Gurglesons]

Which team is that? The leafs shouldn't be compared to the Avs. They are like a tier down.

The Avs are a fantastic team. The Leafs were a fantastic team.

The playoffs suck and don't really show who is the best team. They show who had the best series. Anyone that has watched the playoffs for a long time knows that.

 

[Lunatik]

Cap and contracts. Look at the AVS best players AAV. It allows them to build a stronger team around their stars.

Exactly this it was the same advantage Chicago had when they had during their run, their stars put the team first and took bridge deals when their ELCs ended.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

The Avs are a fantastic team. The Leafs were a fantastic team.

The playoffs suck and don't really show who is the best team. They show who had the best series. Anyone that has watched the playoffs for a long time knows that.

I don't see a fantastic team with the leafs and have been calling that out all year. They were always within range of being able to lose to a team like the Canadiens when things to go 100% their way. If Avs had lost to Arizona, you'd have a better point.

 

[Gurglesons]

I don't see a fantastic team with the leafs and have been calling that out all year. They were always within range of being able to lose to a team like the Canadiens when things to go 100% their way. If Avs had lost to Arizona, you'd have a better point.

I'd suggest waiting for your chickens to hatch before declaring the Avs impenetrable to losing to an underdog.

But what do I know. I only root for the Penguins.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

I'd suggest waiting for your chickens to hatch before declaring the Avs impenetrable to losing to an underdog.

We're not impervious. But we haven't proven to be chokers like the leafs. We have to deal with a real contender like vegas first. And if we do face Montreal and lose, I'll definitely give you a shout.

 

[Gurglesons]

We're not impervious. But we haven't proven to be chokers like the leafs. We have to deal with a real contender like vegas first. And if we do face Montreal and lose, I'll definitely give you a shout.

The Leafs have been the favorite in one playoff series in the last five years. They lost their # 2 C in the first period of game one and entered without their # 1 goaltender. They then proceeded to lose their # 1 D in G6.

"choking".

What is different from what happened this year to the Leafs then what happened last year to the Avs against Dallas aside from the Avs being in Round 2?

And Dallas was way more beat up against that Avs squad than the Canadiens were against the Leafs.

 

[The90]

The Leafs have been the favorite in one playoff series in the last five years. They lost their # 2 C in the first period of game one and entered without their # 1 goaltender. They then proceeded to lose their # 1 D in G6.

"choking".

They still should’ve won unfortunately. Would be nice to have our superstars be superstars in the playoffs instead of the regular season. I get a bad playoff or 2, but when you fail to elevate your game time and again, you call that a pattern. Not sure how that’s fixed. A knee jerk reaction trade ain’t it, and neither is selling low on marner. Sucks.

 

[The Blunder Years]

Oilers and Leafs don’t even scratch the surface of the Avs in the last few years. They never were “supposed” to be like them because the Leafs and Oilers supporting cast, defense, and goaltending is pretty weak in comparison.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

The Leafs have been the favorite in one playoff series in the last five years. They lost their # 2 C in the first period of game one and entered without their # 1 goaltender. They then proceeded to lose their # 1 D in G6.

"choking".

What is different from what happened this year to the Leafs then what happened last year to the Avs against Dallas aside from the Avs being in Round 2?

And Dallas was way more beat up against that Avs squad than the Canadiens were against the Leafs.

1.) I can't believe you are even calling Anderson the Leafs number 1 goalie. I'd like to ask how many leaf fans here agree with that.
2.) The leafs not being favorites over Columbus. I'd like to ask how many leaf fans here agree with that.

That is A LOT of manipulation of the facts.

I also don't really care as much as most Avs fans about how we lost last year. We still lost and thats why its too early to compare us to someone like Tampa. I'm not gonna declare the Avs champs like some people here might. But we ARE a tier better than the Leafs. Its actually insulting to drag us down to that level; as much as folks who try to elevate us above Tampa (which if I was a Tampa fan, would also find it annoying).

 

[EdAVSfan]

The Avs are a fantastic team. The Leafs were a fantastic team.

The playoffs suck and don't really show who is the best team. They show who had the best series. Anyone that has watched the playoffs for a long time knows that.

I don’t think the Avs were a great team last year. They were a very good team, but one who couldn’t withstand injuries. Very similar to Toronto this year. Although it’s difficult to say because Montreal, IMO, stinks.

this year, I think the Avs are a great team. Added 2 more significant pieces to last years team along with natural progression from their younger players in Jost, Makar and Girard.

i understand that you keep saying winning is what’s required to make this a successful rebuild but just look at the roster composition.

when you look at the leafs, what issues do you see with their roster?
What issues do you see with a Colorado’s?
The avalanche are even playing without EJ and Calvert.
This roster is very well constructed with close to no holes when healthy.

 

[Voight]

There should be a limit to what you'd spend though, because the cap exists. Signing Tavares to $8 million per year makes sense because a]it's a more manageable number and b]it's more in line with how good he is as a player. When you sign him for what they did, you reduce the ability to add quality depth (less cap space to work with) and you need him to perform like an $11 million player and not a $8 or $9 million one.

There was also the trickle effect on Matthews and Marner's contracts. Signing Tavares to $11 million meant both those young guys had a bargaining chip. Both produce as good or better than Tavares, so there's no way their agents would be fine accepting $3 or $4 million less than what Tavares got. If Tavares had signed for $8 million, then suddenly Matthews and Marner asking for $11 million or so would seem out of whack.

And if Tavares wouldn't sign for that, then don't sign him. He wasn't a need. You don't just blow up your cap structure just because a good player is available. That's where smart cap management comes in. I'd love the Pens to add Taylor Hall in the off-season, but that doesn't mean I'd want them to do it if Hall insists on making $10 million per year. At some point, a player's salary has to match their contributions on the ice while not destroying your ability to bolster the other 19 roster spots.

I disagree on your 2nd point. Once Eichel got 10 million/year, there was a fat chance either of them were signing for less than that. Especially Matthews who's clearly a superior player and was from Day 1.

 

[Northern Avs Fan]

I like how everyone says "hockey can't win with just one player" but the Avs fans were all saying they lost the last two years because Mackinnon wasn't 100%.

The Avs lost to San Jose because they weren’t good enough and got outplayed.

They lost last year because they were playing a 3rd string goaltender. I’m not sure how for they would’ve gone if Grubauer was healthy. Only the hockey gods know.

 

[Beerfish]

It also helps which years your team sucks in relation to the draft talent.

 

[Divine]

How many series have you won and when's the last one?

How many playoff games have you won and when was the last one?

 

[Pucklington]

Wait, so the Leafs that finished higher than the Oilers and won more playoff games (with an $11M player injured 9 mins into the series) are behind the Oilers?

Probably 5 years ahead of Buffalo and 7 ahead of Edmonton.

I was just talking about when they drafted their foundational players (McDavid and Matthews).

You can get sensitive about it if you want. I really don't care.

 

[El Travo]

The Leafs have been the favorite in one playoff series in the last five years. They lost their # 2 C in the first period of game one and entered without their # 1 goaltender. They then proceeded to lose their # 1 D in G6.

"choking".

What is different from what happened this year to the Leafs then what happened last year to the Avs against Dallas aside from the Avs being in Round 2?

And Dallas was way more beat up against that Avs squad than the Canadiens were against the Leafs.

Choosing not to play Andersen is not the same as being without him.

 

[Hoochi Papa]

No they're not. Avalanche is what Oilers or Maple Leafs could've been if Chiarelli and Dubas hadn't been around.

 

[king89]

Leafs fans are already back to normal huh?

 

[Asinine]

I just think it is funny that a team that was knocked out due to injuries the past two years is now being lauded as an extremely different squad than the one that got knocked out due to injuries this year.

The difference is Colorado made it to game 7 of the second round against the Stanley Cup finalists...on the back of yet another Conn Smythe-calibre run from MacK.
Toronto couldn't close out a 3-1 lead against the worst team in the playoffs and while Mitchie Marns and Pornstache McGee scored one goal between them.

 

[OilerSuperstar17]

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

The Avs got MacKinnon to sign his current contract coming off his ELC of 63, 38, and 52 points. When his contract began in '16-'17, he still didn't break out as he put up only 53 points. It wasn't until the 2nd year of his current contract, and 5th season that he broke out offensively with 97 points.
Landeskog signed his current contract that started in the '14-'15 season, after his ELC produced seasons of 52, 17, and 65 points. It wasn't until year 5 of his contract where he put up a PPG season.

At the time they signed the contracts, you could argue that they were overpaid a little bit based on their production and because they outproduced those contracts, they became viewed as "steals" and "value contracts" and because of that, they were able to go out and fill out the roster.

Now they've got MacKinnon to re-sign in 2 years and he'll be making a MINIMUM of $10 million per year. Makar is due this off-season, and if he signs for say 8 years, that's minimum $8 million per year. Landeskog as well, he'll get a raise most likely, prolly around $6.5 million per year. Take the $14.5 million for Landy and Makar, and the Avs are left with roughly $5 million to re-sign Grubauer, and find replacements for Saad and some bottom-6 forwards and depth dmen.

And let's not forget, that it's taken the Avs 10 years to get here, from when they drafted Landeskog in 2011 and Mackinnon in 2013. They had dark times along the way, namely the '16-'17 season

The Avs are gonna be tested here in the next few years with their contracts.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Please @Gurglesons please detail the third best goalie winning in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 , and 2015

I dunno, Niemi in 2010 is pretty close. Cristobal Huet was the high dollar starter at the beginning of the season. Niemi and Crawford were pretty close and Crawford was probably better given pedigree and all, but Hawks were out of options to send Niemi back whereas they could send Crawford down without fear of losing to him Waivers, so Niemi stayed up, he took over when Huet struggled and the Hawks won the Cup that year. Goalies are weird, on the one hand they can singlehandedly steal a Series, on the other you can sometimes plug a random guy who is a fringe AHL-type in that gets really hot and goes on a run.

 

[Sweetpotato]

How many playoff games have you won and when was the last one?

2020 vs Chicago, 2017 vs Anaheim.

Is this supposed to be some gotcha moment?

 

[DuckyGirard]

I like how everyone says "hockey can't win with just one player" but the Avs fans were all saying they lost the last two years because Mackinnon wasn't 100%.

This is sports talk bro, you can't use simple logic in these conversations.

You have to appreciate the inverse matrix multiplier sineplex cascade typologphicia.

Where depending on the day of the week everything you know gets inverted.

 

[UED]

In fairness to everyone involved, MacKinnon makes 6M less than he should and Makar 8-9M less. However, the Leafs and Oilers did absolutely nothing during their stars' ELCs, and that's something for their GMs to be embarrassed about.

 

[BB88]

It took Sakic 7 years to get them to this point.

How is it going to get any easier for Toronto with minimal cap space and plenty of wasted 1st round picks?