Pre-Game Talk: Week of Excellence (STL, PHI, EDM, CBJ)

[AvsRobin]

our bottom 6 would be decent if they were healthy and roy had a brain.

landeskog-o'reilly-mackinnon
tanguay-duchene-iginla
mcginn-mitchell-briere
bordeleau-winchester-talbot

is a pretty good forward group but injuries and underperforming have hurt majorly.

Meh, not a fan. And McLeod would play every day of the week still.

I'm not ruling out Winchester before looking at him more closely. Talbot is an OK but overpaid 4th liner. Mitchell is fine on the 3rd. But neither McGinn or Briere are good enough defensively. I've gone sour on McGinn, I wouldn't mind see him moved in the summer. We will probably have to dump him for free with his recent back injury but I'm not liking him at 2.95M.

 

[tigervixxxen]

McGinn is one of the last guys that need to get upgraded

 

[Skip2myBordyloo]

McGinn had back issues all season right? Don't think his stats reflect him as a player at all, plus he was one of the more consistent player early in the season.

I've honestly liked Cliche better than Talbot lately. Would prefer him on this team than Talbot if it came to cutting one or the other.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

McGinn is one of the last guys that need to get upgraded

Agreed, he's the perfect 3rd liner IMO. Hits, good possession skills, good defensively, can add some offense, good size, etc. And he can effectively play spot duty in the Top 6 if needed.



IMO we have 2/3's of a great 3rd line, in Mitchell and McGinn. Were missing one more guy to fill out that line. Talbot is ok from time to time on that line, but he should be playing 4th line and PK, nothing else. Briere isn't physical enough nor good enough Defensively for that role either. He's better then PAP, but still not good enough.


I also like Cliche as the #4C Personally. I think he plays the role fine. Yes he's a black hole when it comes to offense, but he's great in his own end, and gives it everything he's got every shift. McCleod is garbage, but as a 4th liner, we could have worse players playing.


Ideally, our bottom 6 would look like this:

McGinn - Malkin - xxxx
Talbot - Cliche - Rendulic/Bordeleau


I think the xxxx fill in should be an important task for Roy/Sakic this summer. A few guys on the market capable of playing that role too. If we moved Malkin to Wing, Frolik would be the perfect signing. Stoll, GlenX, Matthias, Ward, Cullen. Not a good free agency for Top 6 forwards, but as of right now a lot of good 3rd line options.

 

[Skip2myBordyloo]

Give me Everberg over Talbot everyday of the week.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Give me Everberg over Talbot everyday of the week.

Yes and no.


I think Roy is making the right decision with Everberg right now, similar to Pickard. Its better to have Everberg playing Top 6 minutes in Lake Erie, and being given lots of opportunities to work on all parts of his game, then it is to play 5-6 mintues a night here on the 4th line, with poor linemates and poor match ups.


I'd rather have Talbot playing the 4th line role then Everberg this year. If it were the 3rd line, or a Top 6 role then yes for sure Everberg. But I like the idea of letting Everberg develop in Lake Erie the rest of the year.

 

[Skip2myBordyloo]

Yes and no.


I think Roy is making the right decision with Everberg right now, similar to Pickard. Its better to have Everberg playing Top 6 minutes in Lake Erie, and being given lots of opportunities to work on all parts of his game, then it is to play 5-6 mintues a night here on the 4th line, with poor linemates and poor match ups.


I'd rather have Talbot playing the 4th line role then Everberg this year. If it were the 3rd line, or a Top 6 role then yes for sure Everberg. But I like the idea of letting Everberg develop in Lake Erie the rest of the year.

I agree with him working on his offensive game a bit, but if he improves on that ever so slightly I think he's more useful on the team for us next year then Talbot is.

Talbot is easily pushed off the puck especially in the offensive zone the puck tends to die on his stick alot, can't tell how many countless times over the last couple of games Mackinnon or Duchene would pass it to him and he just lost the puck. He isn't an overly strong forechecker he does put some good pressure on and finishes his checks, but not until the puck has already been moved he seldom wins battles for the puck, and I think he is overrated(not bad)on the PK the last game against Philadelphia is a good example he collapsed way to far on the box giving Voracek all day to shoot.

A guy like Everberg who's 6'4 who isn't a bad pk'er himself might be able to swing his stick around and have a chance at swatting the puck away or getting a deflection on it.

Talbot is just not strong enough for a desirable role player.

 

[tigervixxxen]

Pretty much if McGinn, Winchester and Bordy never come back (likely) then someone has to round out the forward group and that's assuming no other injuries. Right now that's Rendulic and I can see Everberg being the next call up. I'm not sure Rendulic can stick around the whole season but maybe so.

 

[Ararana]

I think Roy is making the right decision with Everberg right now, similar to Pickard. Its better to have Everberg playing Top 6 minutes in Lake Erie, and being given lots of opportunities to work on all parts of his game, then it is to play 5-6 mintues a night here on the 4th line, with poor linemates and poor match ups.


I'd rather have Talbot playing the 4th line role then Everberg this year. If it were the 3rd line, or a Top 6 role then yes for sure Everberg. But I like the idea of letting Everberg develop in Lake Erie the rest of the year.

I agree. With Briere's contract falling off this year there will be a position in our top 9 to fill. Let Everberg work on his game and earn that spot in training camp.

We'd like to see him challenging the defensemen more (wide)," Roy told the Post regarding MacKinnon. "It's something we're talking a lot about, and he knows he needs to challenge.

This is great to hear. IMO, one of the biggest differences to Mack's game between last year and this year. Someone get EJ and Mack out on some practice ice and let Mack practice getting around him wide. Mack really needs his confidence back.

 

[falconski]

Aulie suspended for tonight

 

[StayAtHomeAv]

McGinn had back issues all season right? Don't think his stats reflect him as a player at all, plus he was one of the more consistent player early in the season.

I've honestly liked Cliche better than Talbot lately. Would prefer him on this team than Talbot if it came to cutting one or the other.

I think Talbot "looks" worse right now just because he is playing on the top lines. His mistakes are really highlighted at the moment. But when they play together on the 4th line Talbot typically shows a lot more skill than Cliche.

Agreed, he's the perfect 3rd liner IMO. Hits, good possession skills, good defensively, can add some offense, good size, etc. And he can effectively play spot duty in the Top 6 if needed.



IMO we have 2/3's of a great 3rd line, in Mitchell and McGinn. Were missing one more guy to fill out that line. Talbot is ok from time to time on that line, but he should be playing 4th line and PK, nothing else. Briere isn't physical enough nor good enough Defensively for that role either. He's better then PAP, but still not good enough.


I also like Cliche as the #4C Personally. I think he plays the role fine. Yes he's a black hole when it comes to offense, but he's great in his own end, and gives it everything he's got every shift. McCleod is garbage, but as a 4th liner, we could have worse players playing.


Ideally, our bottom 6 would look like this:

McGinn - Malkin - xxxx
Talbot - Cliche - Rendulic/Bordeleau


I think the xxxx fill in should be an important task for Roy/Sakic this summer. A few guys on the market capable of playing that role too. If we moved Malkin to Wing, Frolik would be the perfect signing. Stoll, GlenX, Matthias, Ward, Cullen. Not a good free agency for Top 6 forwards, but as of right now a lot of good 3rd line options.

I don't think Briere gets enough credit for his D. Sure, he isn't exactly one to stand out on the defensive end, but he hasn't had that many plays where he did something that led to an opponents goal. Not including the past 3 or 4 games (I have not got around to analyzing those yet), he has only given up 4 goals all year. Only once has he been the main reason for a goal (this is the main thing I look at). This is the best out of anyone on the team who has played more than 20 games. He reminds me a lot of Tanguay last year. Not really noticeable in the D end, in either a good or bad way. which is a good thing because typically the bad stands out.

 

[InjuredChoker]

Aulie suspended for tonight

that might actually hurt the avs.

 

[Foppa2118]

This is great to hear. IMO, one of the biggest differences to Mack's game between last year and this year. Someone get EJ and Mack out on some practice ice and let Mack practice getting around him wide. Mack really needs his confidence back.

Agreed. Defenseman aren't getting caught off guard by his speed much anymore, but he's still got room to beat them wide, and drive to the net, but lacks confidence to make the play. Instead he just takes a shot on net from the top of the circle.

The other thing I'd like to see him do is drive wide, and when the D man makes the move early to keep from getting beat, cut into the middle and take the shot from the high slot or even drive to the opposite circle and look for the pass against the grain. Especially when he's skating down the left side.

He's a bit too predictable in his approach down the wing. Duchene has the same problem right now.

 

[bohlmeister]

I think I could get around EJ wide. Probably one of his worst attributes.

But to the point, Mac needs to start taking it to the net. The worst thing that happened was that goal he got a couple games ago from the top of the circle. That won't work again for the rest of the season.

 

[Frenchy]

Imagine we lose vs. the Oilers...

it's possible , they had a lot of success against us in the past .

 

[Avs71]

I think I could get around EJ wide. Probably one of his worst attributes.

Minus Giroux taking it through the middle last game, when has EJ even been beaten wide this season? His reach makes up for occasionally being flat footed.

 

[The Shermanator]

I want Landy to make a bold statement to the media saying we will make the playoffs.

 

[Freudian]

Two games in a row where Roy start Rendulic on the fourth line and shift him with Talbot during the game. Hopefully next game he starts with Talbot on the fourth line and trust them to start a few shifts in the defensive zone, giving the skill lines more offensive zone starts. It doesn't make sense to give the players with zero offensive ability the juiciest starts. It's not the main reason for the offensive struggles but everything counts.

 

[Nzap]

Expect a GDT a few hours before the game.
Before that we can probably talk here about the game against the Jackets.

 

[TheStranger]

Why is Dater reporting on the Avs again on twitter? Just for fun or?

 

[tigervixxxen]

Why is Dater reporting on the Avs again on twitter? Just for fun or?

I'd call it more commenting than reporting. I'm sure he'll get a new gig at some point but for now yeah.

 

[TheStranger]

I'd call it more commenting than reporting. I'm sure he'll get a new gig at some point but for now yeah.

Just kind of surprising to me since he's not even an Avalanche fan and now has no official ties to them. Expected to see him talking about Boston instead or baseball.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Big game for the Aves tonight.

A W tonight, and we're north of .500 for the first time all season. It would also move us to just 5 points out of the 8th and final playoff spot. We're currently 7 but with a game in hand against SJS.


6-2-2 in our last 10, slowly making progress. We need to keep that pace up fro another 20 games in order to really get back in the picture though.

 

[forsbergavs32]

Cbj played last night, so the boys need to come out flying and challenge them physically all night. Very winnable game If they play a full 60 and get a couple bounces.

3-2 Avs

 

[tigervixxxen]

Just kind of surprising to me since he's not even an Avalanche fan and now has no official ties to them. Expected to see him talking about Boston instead or baseball.

He still has all those followers, he knows his audience. He'll need them when he gets his hockey buzz account or whatever.