Pre-Game Talk: Week of 2020 | vs WPG, vs STL, @NJ

[Pokecheque]

I wouldn’t call Kadri young.

Eh...whatever. He ain't 30 yet.

I think he's still a good player and a solid get, but the Avs are quickly learning that he's one of those centers who requires a certain type of linemate in order to work.

Ironically, I think he'd do really well if Kerf were on his left wing.

 

[Avsboy]

Delete

 

[Pokecheque]

Haven't seen this posted:

Dater says the PP units have changed. Top unit now has Mackinnon, Makar, Rantanen, Bura and Donskoi. Second unit has Mackinnon, Girard, Landeskog, Kadri, and probably Nuke.

Go back to page 2 of this thread. TMV has all the details.

 

[the_fan]

Yeah wth, double, triple even quadruple shift MacKinnon

 

[dahrougem2]

He's not young but he's not as smart as many people thought he'd be.

His decision making is pretty damn ****ty for a player with his experience...the way he doesn't use his linemates, the way he doesn't backcheck properly for a center, the way he takes really dumb penalties, the way he constantly gets kicked out of the faceoff dot by the linesman (and keeps arguing all the ****ing time)...he's just not a very smart hockey player.

Couldn't disagree more with the first bolded part.

As for the second part, linesman and officials can't stand Kadri. He isn't doing anything different than other centres, yet he's constantly being tossed. They don't like him, and they make it known.

 

[Foppa2118]

Bednar and Bennett with a massive leap of faith putting Bura on the top PP unit, expecting that to be a positive difference. He's been turning a lot of pucks over lately.

 

[Balthazar]

Bednar and Bennett with a massive leap of faith putting Bura on the top PP unit, expecting that to be a positive difference. He's been turning a lot of pucks over lately.

I'd not call that faith. He's trying to balance the two PP units, moving Bura and Donks up and Landy and Kadri down (w/ Mack playing on both units)... I'm not sure what to think about this.

 

[Avs9296]

Considering Landy and Kadri have been pure ass on the PP it's worth a shot.

Rants probably goes behind/in front of the net and Bura on the right half wall.

Rants on the right half wall hasn't been working maybe he can set stuff up down low and use his big ass to screen the goalie or something.

 

[Foppa2118]

I'd not call that faith. He's trying to balance the two PP units, moving Bura and Donks up and Landy and Kadri down (w/ Mack playing on both units)... I'm not sure what to think about this.

I think he's more trying to shake things up temporarily. Coaches don't usually like to balance their PP units they like to load up on the top unit.

My guess is they go back to the regular units pretty soon but who knows. Maybe Kadri stays on the 2nd unit until he gets his shot back on track.

 

[dahrougem2]

Mikko has been fumbling pucks like crazy, even more than Burakovsky tends to. I don't know what it is but our forwards just cannot seem to keep proper control of a puck without bobbling it.

 

[Hornstar]

Would anyone be opposed to trying Graves on the 2nd unit PP? He's not my ideal choice, not close to it but Girard does nothing for me from the back end. At least with Makar, he's got a lethal shot that opponents have to respect. Maybe we could get some Graves bombs from the point to open up a bit of space and keep the PK forwards honest.

How can we not try it. Muffin man G don't belong

 

[McMetal]

Double shifting MacKinnon on the PP could be dangerous. We all saw what happened to McDrai in Edmonton after they were run ragged the first few months. Lean on Nate too much and he'll be gassed for the playoffs.

I see what they're going for on the PP to try to shake things up, but I don't think personnel is the problem. They basically have two plays on the PP: seam pass from dot to dot or MacK one-timer. If neither of those present themselves, they pass it around until somebody misplays it, then reset and repeat. And teams absolutely sell out to take away the seam pass this season.

Last year they tried a lot of Landy tips, and that one-two-three passing play to the bump man in the slot. It seems like those and other possible modes of attack have been abandoned, and it baffles me as to why they don't try something else once in a while. It reminds me of the Tim Army PPs where he only had one gambit and it never worked.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

I'm a few days late to this post but @Cousin Eddie, that was a great OP.

I'd like to ad my favorite clip from the decade we are closing out....Footer's last shift April 10, 2011. The damn ref's actually did something right in a meaningless game and swallowed their whistles allowing Foote to play his last shift like he did so many complete games before when it was legal to do this stuff. It was truly the greatest final shift I've witnessed.



Edit...for what it is worth, I really grew to dislike Hayes as the PbP guy, but this clip reminds me of when he was on the top of his game. It really was a beauty, you could sense the joy he had for what was happening on the ice.

 

[5280]

I'm a few days late to this post but @Cousin Eddie, that was a great OP.

I'd like to ad my favorite clip from the decade we are closing out....Footer's last shift April 10, 2011. The damn ref's actually did something right in a meaningless game and swallowed their whistles allowing Foote to play his last shift like he did so many complete games before when it was legal to do this stuff. It was truly the greatest final shift I've witnessed.



Edit...for what it is worth, I really grew to dislike Hayes as the PbP guy, but this clip reminds me of when he was on the top of his game. It really was a beauty, you could sense the joy he had for what was happening on the ice.

I still remember the season they let Footer and Forsberg go. I was so pissed...

 

[expatriatedtexan]

I still remember the season they let Footer and Forsberg go. I was so pissed...

The Avs have only just now shown signs of being able to build a team in a salary cap era. God it took so, so long to get here. Holy hell....

So many years of overpaying for vets past their expiration date (it's okay to have a few on one year deals to plug holes and maybe help young guys build their compete level) but yeah, not what we did. Also refusing to pay to get good D...that was the worst. We've had the beginnings of a offensive core several times, none of which were truly exceptional until MacK stepped up...but not giving them a solid Dman outside of Skrastins last ride in the NHL and EJ was just a complete disaster. Not sure McJesus and Drai could've one with our d-corp over the majority of the last two decades. They surely aren't capable of overcoming a horrendous D now.

When I think of that salary cap hell, it was like it was intended to blow up our team. Bonuses to Sakic and Blake counted coming out of the negotiations and not allowed to allow us to pay them outside of the cap. That right there is why we had to lowball both Foote and Forsberg. I don't blame either for leaving but I blame the league for not allowing bonuses that were already on the book prior to the lockout to be paid without effecting the salary cap.

Such a shit situation all around....although, I seriously doubt that at that point we had another cup run in these players. Forsberg's deteriorating health and the fact that obstruction was really cut down made Foote less relevant as a regular #3 dman.

 

[5280]

The Avs have only just now shown signs of being able to build a team in a salary cap era. God it took so, so long to get here. Holy hell....

Yeah, this is the truth

 

[Metallo]

The Avs have only just now shown signs of being able to build a team in a salary cap era. God it took so, so long to get here. Holy hell....

So many years of overpaying for vets past their expiration date (it's okay to have a few on one year deals to plug holes and maybe help young guys build their compete level) but yeah, not what we did. Also refusing to pay to get good D...that was the worst. We've had the beginnings of a offensive core several times, none of which were truly exceptional until MacK stepped up...but not giving them a solid Dman outside of Skrastins last ride in the NHL and EJ was just a complete disaster. Not sure McJesus and Drai could've one with our d-corp over the majority of the last two decades. They surely aren't capable of overcoming a horrendous D now.

When I think of that salary cap hell, it was like it was intended to blow up our team. Bonuses to Sakic and Blake counted coming out of the negotiations and not allowed to allow us to pay them outside of the cap. That right there is why we had to lowball both Foote and Forsberg. I don't blame either for leaving but I blame the league for not allowing bonuses that were already on the book prior to the lockout to be paid without effecting the salary cap.

Such a **** situation all around....although, I seriously doubt that at that point we had another cup run in these players. Forsberg's deteriorating health and the fact that obstruction was really cut down made Foote less relevant as a regular #3 dman.

We got jobbed by those salary cap rules. I don’t think they would have let that happen to an original 6 team. It was all the more absurd to see those ridiculous cap circumventing deals happen after that.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

We got jobbed by those salary cap rules. I don’t think they would have let that happen to an original 6 team. It was all the more absurd to see those ridiculous cap circumventing deals happen after that.

Yep....I can't believe the NHL was dead-set on blowing up a team filled with stars on their last legs and then allowed that shit to happen. That's what happens when you allow lawyers to take over the game. It's unfortunate but I really don't believe PL was in a position to fight real hard anymore and Kroenke was really in hands off mode at the time due to recent successes and didn't step in.

I've never heard of an Avalanche GM, President or Owner having much power within the NHL. Yet I can't stop hearing about teams like Boston, Toronto, Detroit and Chicago being involved in so much of this stuff.

 

[Pokecheque]

Yep....I can't believe the NHL was dead-set on blowing up a team filled with stars on their last legs and then allowed that **** to happen. That's what happens when you allow lawyers to take over the game. It's unfortunate but I really don't believe PL was in a position to fight real hard anymore and Kroenke was really in hands off mode at the time due to recent successes and didn't step in.

I've never heard of an Avalanche GM, President or Owner having much power within the NHL. Yet I can't stop hearing about teams like Boston, Toronto, Detroit and Chicago being involved in so much of this stuff.

The thing that drives me up the wall is that even the league didn't know its own rules. They lost Rob Blake for nothing because the league initially told them a signing bonus he was due wouldn't count, and then came back later and said that it would.

And yeah, it's a badly-kept secret that Jeremy Jacobs had a TON of power in the league. I can't speak about the other teams and their owners but he held a ton of sway.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

The thing that drives me up the wall is that even the league didn't know its own rules. They lost Rob Blake for nothing because the league initially told them a signing bonus he was due wouldn't count, and then came back later and said that it would.

And yeah, it's a badly-kept secret that Jeremy Jacobs had a TON of power in the league. I can't speak about the other teams and their owners but he held a ton of sway.

Let's not forget that comcast owns a Ed Snider's share of the Flyers. They are the majority stake holder. Hmm....who else does comcast own? Oh yeah, that's right, NBC. Who owns the rights to hockey in the USA...Um..the Philadelphia Flyers. But wait....there's no conflict of interest here. Oh wait...who won't negotiate with Altitude? Um...not Comcast? Wrong!

The NHL politics and business is big, boiling pot of shit...but I love the sport anyways. When was the last time the owners, governors, presidents or GMs of Arizona, Florida, Colorado, Minnesota, Columbus or Dallas ever heard of as being influential or even having a strong voice in the NHL? That's the biggest reason why I wanted Marc Cuban to by the Stars years ago. I wanted a disrupter in the system. I'm hoping to see one soon. I don't my some stability in the unified voice of the NHL, but I think a lot of the voices involved in decisions needs to be changed out on a regular basis...just like I think it needs to happen in any political or business group.

In all honesty, the back-door dealing and corrupt shit in the NHL office is not much worse than what was happening under Alan Eagleson role as union boss for the NHLPA. The only difference now is that Gary Bettman has been smart enough to keep driving salaries up to a level where nobody really wants to look under the mat.

Of course, this could just be me....

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

That's certainly... different...

 

[sethro109]

Think it's safe to say Rants has entered the dog house. With good reason too. He's been bad lately. Hopefully this is the kick in the rear end he needs to turn it around.

 

[hooverdam]

Those are some message-sending lines. They obviously won't work long term, but the main thing for me is that Rantanen and Burakovsky need to stay the hell away from each other while they're both in whatever this is.

Actually, the thing I'm worried about with this setup is that it messes up the bottom 6, which had kind of been working.

 

[The Kingslayer]

That's certainly... different...

Well deserved demotions for Mikko and Bura. Both have been trash. Calvert and Nuke work hard so maybe that rubs off on Kadri whose a lazy f***.

 

[SoundwaveIsCharisma]

With how the team has been playing, and how the Blues tend to absolutely break this team, I predict an upcoming mega slump after the Blues completely demoralize the team tomorrow.

I’m hoping they figure things out and dummy the Blues, think that would go a long ways to making them feel like a legitimate contender...but I just don’t see it.