Pre-Game Talk: Week of Hall visiting his new home (Cgy, Phi, NJ)

[Avs9296]

Nobody can beat Danskoi and Berakowski as McNabb calls them

 

[AvsGuy]

I feel like Moser never has any idea of what's going to come out of his mouth next

It's not offensive or anything, I'm just surprised at the amount of inarticulate disjointed nonsense that falls out of his face in this profession. He's way too excitable and not composed enough for pro broadcasting. Sometimes his reaction is literally just a handful of mouth noises.

 

[HugeMetalFan]

Any one know on Francouz?

Bednar: Fran-coo.
Moser: Fran-sows.
Others: Fran-soos.

My estimation: Fran-kjrewjrewr?

Proper Czech pronunciation is Frahn-tsows (with sharp r)

 

[Pokecheque]

I agree he's ideally a 4th liner, but I disagree about the finish. Nieto consistently scores goals that other 4th liners would whiff on - he's particularly great on rebounds and one-timers

Wouldn't surprise me nope, I love Nieto

When we inevitably lose Long Beach and Zadorov, we are going to feel both losses more than we realize right now, they're great fits on this team

Okay, fair, I shouldn't say the man has NO finish to his game, just not much. He's a very good 4th liner who works the PK well, and in a pinch (and boy have the Avs had "pinches" during his time in Denver) can play higher in the lineup. Anyway, I think, despite his very solid play, he's a replaceable player, and as others have said, O'Connor appears to be the heir apparent to his role. But I'm not opposed to the Avs retaining him for another year or so if they choose.

 

[flyfysher]

He has the smarts to be an effective player. But his physical tools do not suit this team at all.

Agreed. Jost is an NHL'er. But someone pointed out he isn't fast enough for the way this team is built. Compher is another player that I might look at upgrading in the offseason.

 

[Pokecheque]

Was Bednar critical of Frankie's performance last night? He certainly wasn't the problem to me, not elite but I didn't think he gave up any bad ones either, and came up huge in a few instances.

 

[21]

Yeah, that's because he's Russian and we're never not going to mispronounce his Russian name. Likewise, all the Finnish names are pronounced wrong, but they're as right as they're going to be.

Americanized names sound kind of cool, I have given up a long time ago anyway, they are doing their best. Rantanen is not that hard pronouncing though? ;-)

 

[UncleRisto]

Rantanen is not that hard pronouncing though? ;-)

Sure, except for all the sounds save for [n], and the word stress placement.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Nieto is so smart. Makes a ton of little plays. Look at Nuke’s goal last night. Nieto has the puck on the wall and draws the forward in to him before dumping it back to Graves, who has a clear shooting lane because of it. He does that all the time.

Ya, Nieto has been solid all year. Nothing flashy, just great little plays consistently and very rarely has there been a goal against this year where you look at Nieto and say that's on him. In fact I'm not sure if I remember any.


Honestly I think that's a big reason for our success this year that is getting underrated a lot. Not specifically Nieto, but just in general how much smarter our bottom 6 is defensively. Bellemare is a pure genius on the ice sometimes, the defensive creativity and plays he makes that are so subtle but also important to the team are huge.


Nieto, PEB, Calvert, and even Nichushkin are 4 guys I really think you can point to for the teams success as being quiet, big time contributors. They give you good, hard forechecking, responsible defensive minutes every night while also chipping in a surprising amount offensively.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

I also dont think enough good things are being said about Donskoi.

27 points in 30 games now. Dude is just blowing away all expectations placed on him before the season. And perhaps the most significant thing about his game, is how quickly he has built chemistry with Mackinnon and just how well those two are working together. He's basically developed a really quick understanding of simply getting the puck to Mackinnon with speed through the neutral zone, and then finding the soft areas on the ice in the offensive zone. Mack will find him if he's open and Donny has been getting open a tonne and getting some real quality shots off in that open space. Like we saw last night on that game tying goal.

But he's also doing some good things even without Mackinnon. He made a great play on Gravy's goal last night as well.


Looking like possibly the best value signing of the entire summer last year. Another A+ move from Joe.

 

[The Abusement Park]

Agreed. Jost is an NHL'er. But someone pointed out he isn't fast enough for the way this team is built. Compher is another player that I might look at upgrading in the offseason.

I wish I could put Josts brain in Compher's body. Compher just really seems like a chicken with his head cut off at times and reacts to the play instead of anticipating what will happen. Jost I think has a pretty good understanding of what is happening, he just isn't fast or big enough to do anything.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

2½ hours is never enough time for games. You just know that Caps/Bruins game will go OT, and we'll end up missing the 1st period of the Avs game.

 

[forsbergavs32]

Injuries updated in OP

Let me know if you guys like having the injuries updated in the weekly thread OP so i know if I should keep it going, hoping it’s helpful to have it all updated in one spot)

 

[S E P H]

I’m done with both.

Nah, Kamenev is the better player and I don't think it's close.

E: Not that Kamenev is a worldbeater, but unwanted hate here. He fits the bottom 6 better, has a better frame, and plays the centre position better. He's been fine, he hasn't played bad at all.

 

[Avs9296]

Nah, Kamenev is the better player and I don't think it's close.

Both are pretty bad tbh.

 

[S3rkie]

Nah, Kamenev is the better player and I don't think it's close.

E: Not that Kamenev is a worldbeater, but unwanted hate here. He fits the bottom 6 better, has a better frame, and plays the centre position better. He's been fine, he hasn't played bad at all.

He's starting to pick up some decent puck protection elements to his possession game. And he's using his body a lot more. He always had a decent ability to slow things down in the o zone. Anyone who hasn't seen growth in his game isn't really watching him close enough.

 

[S E P H]

He's starting to pick up some decent puck protection elements to his possession game. And he's using his body a lot more. He always had a decent ability to slow things down in the o zone. Anyone who hasn't seen growth in his game isn't really watching him close enough.

Totally and not only that, but to simplify things; I just don't know how the mates can say that a lad who plays 8 minutes a game as "bad".

 

[CB Joe]

I'd really like the Avs to split up the big 3. They just don't have the magic that they did last season and I think they would be more effective apart. MacKinnon and Donskoi seem too work well together.

 

[Foppberg]

Love everything about Donskoi thus far. I had a feeling he'd hit new career highs here but never expected this.

 

[MonsterMack]

I feel like Moser never has any idea of what's going to come out of his mouth next

It's not offensive or anything, I'm just surprised at the amount of inarticulate disjointed nonsense that falls out of his face in this profession. He's way too excitable and not composed enough for pro broadcasting. Sometimes his reaction is literally just a handful of mouth noises.

He gets paid to do radio for 3 hours basically every morning from 7 - 10 where everyone involved just says the first thing that pops in their head. That can be mildly entertaining for a radio show, but way too much of that bleeds into his play by play.

 

[dahrougem2]

Was Bednar critical of Frankie's performance last night? He certainly wasn't the problem to me, not elite but I didn't think he gave up any bad ones either, and came up huge in a few instances.

I don't think any breakaway should ever be called a "bad goal", but boy, on that Monahan OT goal he sure gave him a TON of the net to shoot at.

Being small and playing that deep in your net is a recipe for disaster.

 

[the_fan]

No matter how you look at it, defense is the most important position in the NHL. All the injuries to forwards, Avs still find ways to win. Injured goalies, Avs still won. Injured EJ and Makar, Avs lost. Although just one game loss in OT to Flames, but still D is the most important position

 

[Pokecheque]

I don't think any breakaway should ever be called a "bad goal", but boy, on that Monahan OT goal he sure gave him a TON of the net to shoot at.

Being small and playing that deep in your net is a recipe for disaster.

Yeah I wasn't thrilled with that one but was so flabbergasted at how bad the three skaters the Avs had on the ice played that led to that breakaway and poor defense of it that I couldn't fault the goalie there.

 

[Balthazar]

I'd really like the Avs to split up the big 3. They just don't have the magic that they did last season and I think they would be more effective apart. MacKinnon and Donskoi seem too work well together.

If Kadri clicks with Rants and Landy then go for it. Mack doesn't need anyone so Donskoi and Bura are more than adequate.

If we could split the top 6 production 50-50 between these 2 lines that would be great.

 

[Asinine]

Any one know on Francouz?

Bednar: Fran-coo.
Moser: Fran-sows.
Others: Fran-soos.

My estimation: Fran-kjrewjrewr?

Fran-chise