will Avs be better defensively 2015-16?

[Steerpike]

I wonder how much Barrie's injury in the wild series went into shaping our current size fetish.

We were unable to make a great physical impression on the Wild when we needed to, so we went out and got:

Stuart, Beauchman and Zadorov, who are all capable of crushing people.

That aspect probably won't make us all that much of a better regular season team. However it makes us so much more difficult to deal with in the playoffs when everyone is doing a subtle (or not so subtle) amount of headhunting.

Just in terms of height we've also added,

6'5
6'4
6'4
6'3
6'3

players who can all really play. Bordeleau was never going make a difference in the playoffs because he can't really be out there crushing the players we really need crushed. He's also not a good enough skater to land many hits on agile stars.

 

[tigervixxxen]

I wouldnt say it's Barrie. It's getting constantly beat up against big teams like Anaheim, St Louis, Winnipeg. We looked like a bunch of little kids sometimes and especially against those teams.

 

[Ivan13]

Barrie's injury showed them that we need puck movers on the back end if anything, as we were left with EJ and a bunch of stiffs, not that we need to have a D whose average height is >6'3''.

 

[DarioinDenver]

The most curious part of the Avalanche defense to me is Dave Farrish as the new defensive coach. It's not because I think he will coach up the D system or even the individual players. I want to see how he runs his matchups. I wanted to scoop my eyes out with an icecream scooper when they shifted Guenin out against Kane and Toewes. Yes, the Avs need better back end talent but they need to match their best defenders against the top lines and shelter their bottom pairing.

 

[Matheus]

we are way better than last year but this not means much...
Now we have a good depth on D but our top 6 is pretty exposed.. depends a lot of Tangs and Iggy this is too risky

 

[21]

we are way better than last year but this not means much...
Now we have a good depth on D but our top 6 is pretty exposed.. depends a lot of Tangs and Iggy this is too risky

Hopefully Rantanen turns out being the real deal already this season, this would balance the team very well.

Lots of people here being very, very high on him, let's hope for the best.

Soderberg delivering would help a lot too.

 

[freeboy]

we are way better than last year but this not means much...
Now we have a good depth on D but our top 6 is pretty exposed.. depends a lot of Tangs and Iggy this is too risky

I do not see it that way.. we have a bunch of offensive depth...

 

[Matheus]

I do not see it that way.. we have a bunch of offensive depth...

no man.. we have a bunch of forwards that suit well on 3rd or 4th lines, only Rantanen have a real potential to become a real top 6 winger. Maybe. Maybe Bleaks but i dont know... suit better to 3rd line player who can play on top if necessary.

Martinsen, Evenberg, Cliche, Hish, winchester, Bordy, Rendulic, Agozzino, Smith, Bourke??
unfortunately i dont see a NHL top 6 player here

 

[spiller19]

no man.. we have a bunch of forwards that suit well on 3rd or 4th lines, only Rantanen have a real potential to become a real top 6 winger. Maybe. Maybe Bleaks but i dont know... suit better to 3rd line player who can play on top if necessary.

Martinsen, Evenberg, Cliche, Hish, winchester, Bordy, Rendulic, Agozzino, Smith, Bourke??
unfortunately i dont see a NHL top 6 player here

Greer is a project but he and Compher have top 6 potential IMO

Edit: plus Grigorenko could very well end up a decent top 6 player too

 

[Matheus]

Greer is a project but he and Compher have top 6 potential IMO

i don't know.. anyway this guys are 2 or 3 years away

 

[tigervixxxen]

Pretty much need to draft a forward high or get lucky to get a top 6 guy.

 

[freeboy]

no man.. we have a bunch of forwards that suit well on 3rd or 4th lines, only Rantanen have a real potential to become a real top 6 winger. Maybe. Maybe Bleaks but i dont know... suit better to 3rd line player who can play on top if necessary.

Martinsen, Evenberg, Cliche, Hish, winchester, Bordy, Rendulic, Agozzino, Smith, Bourke??
unfortunately i dont see a NHL top 6 player here

ok think now and tomorrow
top six skills
Bleakley
Hishon
Rantman
Rendulick... soft hands skates well, needs to learn howto play ie raise hockey iq...
thats four that could help now, plus Mitchel as a winger...

 

[Matheus]

yeh Grigorenko have the tools IF he find his game with AVS that would be a great help.. especially if we think that Soderberg game fit better on 3rd line and Iggy and Tangs are gettin old

Our D definitely better now and the future looks bright for the following years( Bigras, geersten, Siemens etc..)
we have a young core of forwards but out of NHLers we dont have much more.

we are one draft away to fix our forwards prospect pool

 

[tucker3434]

no man.. we have a bunch of forwards that suit well on 3rd or 4th lines, only Rantanen have a real potential to become a real top 6 winger. Maybe. Maybe Bleaks but i dont know... suit better to 3rd line player who can play on top if necessary.

Martinsen, Evenberg, Cliche, Hish, winchester, Bordy, Rendulic, Agozzino, Smith, Bourke??
unfortunately i dont see a NHL top 6 player here

Short term, our offensive depth is pretty solid, not great. It's definitely better than last year, but we are going to be relying on some young guys to step up. Long term, I'd say we're pretty good too. Landeskog, Duchene, and MacKinnon are pretty solid as is. I'd bet Rantanen is at least a second liner. Then you have Bleackley and Grigorenko as possible top 6ers. Compher could be a solid 3rd liner. Obviously we could certainly use some more wingers in the system, but overall I doubt there are many teams that have that much potential in the top 6. Not everybody in the top 6 is going to be a young superstar, and that's fine.

 

[McMetal]

On paper - yes. The moves in the offseason have boosted the blue line by miles, and if everybody stays healthy we should be really solid back there. But paper is one thing and games are another. I'm going to make a bold prediction and say that things will be rocky back there for the first couple of months. We've got all-new pairings across the board and that's bound to take some time to gel. Everybody's going to panic and the pundits are going to say I-told-you-so for the first 20-30 games, and then things will solidify.

Losing ROR hurts, and Soderberg is going to only be an adequate replacement. The biggest pain will be felt on shorthanded play. We're definitely going to regress in that area after how good it was last year, and there's no real solution for that unless an individual player steps up his two-way play to pick up the slack. It's anybody's guess whether that happens.

 

[McMetal]

Short term, our offensive depth is pretty solid, not great. It's definitely better than last year, but we are going to be relying on some young guys to step up. Long term, I'd say we're pretty good too. Landeskog, Duchene, and MacKinnon are pretty solid as is. I'd bet Rantanen is at least a second liner. Then you have Bleackley and Grigorenko as possible top 6ers. Compher could be a solid 3rd liner. Obviously we could certainly use some more wingers in the system, but overall I doubt there are many teams that have that much potential in the top 6. Not everybody in the top 6 is going to be a young superstar, and that's fine.

Agreed. Grigorenko has the talent to play top 6, but he needs to make some real strides if he wants to get there, and I'm still skeptical that he'll make it. He has one year on this bridge contract to produce real numbers, or he's out. Bleackley has the potential too, but he's not there yet. Long-term our top 6 looks pretty good. Iginla and Tanguay are the only imminent departures due to age, and Raantanen's a lock to take one of those spots. Having Grigorenko and Bleackley fight for the last spot is a good scenario for us in the long term.

 

[StayAtHomeAv]

I'm thinking we will be worse defensively. More mistakes and guys just getting beat for easy goals. But we will be better at possession which will limit the opportunities for said mistakes/poor play and ugly goals scored from being hemmed in our zone. Because of the better puck possession we will have a better GAA. I'm thinking 2.5 (down from 2.72)

 

[Pokecheque]

It all depends on a number of factors. The two biggest are:

1. Roy's lineup
2. Roy's defensive system

I'm somewhat confident they will be better. But I just don't know. If Nate Guenin and Nick Holden log serious minutes then no, they'll be a disaster. If the team relies on a passive shot-blocking system instead of being aggressive, particularly in the corners, and getting the damned puck out of the zone effectively, then no, they'll be atrocious.

If they utilize the speed the team clearly has up front, and if they acknowledge that guys like Guenin and Holden should be either in the press box or playing VERY scant minutes, if they use a more aggressive system, then yes, this team will be far better defensively.

Bottom line, they don't have a single two-way player anywhere near as good as Ryan O'Reilly. BUT, they have more two-way players, all of whom look to be decent. That was a problem stemming all the way back to the Daniel Winnik trade. They also definitely upgraded the blueline with the additions of Beauchemin and Zadorov.

Overall, I think they will be better, but I sure as hell hope we see more 1st year Roy and none of 2nd year Roy. We need the guy who put his balls on the table, not the guy who played it safe.