The Colorado Avalanche made one of the most controversial decisions last year in trading Rantanen. What will that mean for them this year?
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11 Comments
I absolutely love this team and the lineup looks fantastic
Not extending rantanen will haunt them I think. Necas not wanting to extend despite having mackinnon to play with seriously baffles me. In my opinion he will not have a better center to play with
Blackwood will be great
Everything lined up perfect for them to beat Dallas last year and they still lost.
Dude, Blackwood was well over 900 on the sharks before he got traded. That only went up when he got to the Avs. Sure, playoff are a big question, but saying Blackwood isn't a starter is just wrong
Mikko wanted the money more than taking alittle less and take a team friendly deal. Look at Florida, those guys want to win again so they stuck together. I have high expectations this year for the Avs.
Every team suffers from the ex player curse, but what Mikko did to us was above and beyond. We still love the big moose tho …
Mack does have help its called Makar. Ross that over rated comment… idk made me think he did rack up points on the first line for many games. He played right with Mack, it takes a special player to do that. At least in game and be effective.
I work at Nugs,& AVS arena,& I loved Mico,& hated to see him go. And it's understandable the narrative last playoffs-as amazing as he was at the end of the series. But I still say that's not why we lost that series,& I don't blame mgt for the trade.(assuming we resign Necas,&/or-get equivalent return in a trade).Avs had the best center depth in the NHL last playoffs & were the better team for more of that series. But the better team doesn't always win in sports-especially in hockey-& that doesn't mean we deserved to win-we didn't. But that's not managements fault.Avs completely blew 2 games they SHOULD'VE won.(games 3,& 7) And lost a game they had 3rd period lead & COULD'VE easily won.(game 2) Dallas gave away zero games,& really only had any chance in 1 of their 3 losses.(game 6 but Avs totally dominated that game analytically). Of course Mico played a huge role when it mattered of Dallas winning-especially game 7. And to be fair-ya have to factor in they were missing 2 All stars.
But considering we have probably been the most injured contender for most of the 2020s-I don't feel sorry about any teams injuries. Give Mico,& Dallas credit-good teams take advantage of other teams mistakes,& Dallas showed amazing resilience & mental toughness. But more than 1 thing can be-& usually is-true at same time. Unlike my Nuggets who just lost to a deeper,more talented,& healthier opponent-though we had our chances with double digit,4th qtr leads in both game 4,& game 5 losses-Avs lost to an inferior team. And I feel like we blew it more than Dallas won it. Some of that maybe was choking but I think it's more lack of familiarity & chemistry. With so many regular season injuries,& trades.You can't put your finger on how much it matters but I TRUELY believe in those tight games-subconsciously our lack of playing together much cost us in the most important & stressful moments.
But coaching, stubbornness,& refusal to make any real adjustments also was a factor. Avs were by far the superior team 5 on 5 but special teams killed us. And while the penalty kill wasn't great,& cost us…RAY BENNETS PP IS WHY WE LOST! And there are no guarantees it would have worked had he made actual adjustments but to keep trying the same thing,& not make any REAL adjustments was my biggest frustration of that series. Not having Nichuskin on PP1 was such a glaring,& obvious adjustment but Bennet refused to even try it much. He wasn't great that series but analytically,& statistically-dude is 1 of the most dominant PP "power forwards"-in the NHL the last few yrs-when not suspended or injured.
He doesn't always play to his size but you can't argue that continuing to put a finesse PP with Lehkonen,& Drouin out there remotely worked. I know Landy was just coming back so I get not putting him up there but even him or Nelson would've been a better option. But for most part they just stick with the same perimeter, finesse strategy that Dallas had totally figured out. Game 3-Landys return-was 1 of my most frustrating experiences as a fan-& I'm 49 yrs old. To go 0 for 6 on PP-i think it was-including ALMOST 4 MINUTES IN OT-& not try anything different was absolutely infuriating. I love Bednar,& wanted them to bring him back for another shot…BUT ONLY IF RAY BENNETS STUBBORN ASS WAS GONE.Im not saying I know more about hockey than Ray Bennet. Maybe Dallas still kills all those penalties,& we still lose -who knows? But to not at least try was so inexcusable-EVEN THE AVALANCHES OWN POST GAME RADIO SHOW WAS ABSOLUTELY KILLING BENNET,& BEDNAR ON AIR FOR EXACTLY WHAT IM SAYING! But that's the key game & moment where as REALLY lost a chance to win that series in probably 6. It's actually kinda amazing we recovered to be able to even get to game 7,& blow 2 goal,3rd period lead,& of course give Mico his shot at ultimate revenge.
But going forward(I'm STILL not close to over it-can you tell-lol?)-I loved the Nelson re-signing -especially at only 3 yrs-not 4. I think the insane deals other inferior guys got in FA(Granlund exhibit A) shows Brock could've got more,& probably a 4th yr had he gone to FA. And I wasn't upset the Avs didn't resign the guys we lost-i wouldn't have matched Drouin or Lindgren deals. And I totally understand the Coyle trade. It allowed us to recoup a few assets, get a somewhat promising prospect in Brindley,& shed Woods ludicrous salary. And Coyle was way overpaid also,& was TERRIBLE in that series. However he was a veteran guy,who I consider an above average 3C.Can Drury handle 3C? I think so but he is an elite 4C-im not sure he will be elite at 3C. And can the new kid handle 4C? That remains a huge question going in. I also love the Burns signing but nervous about counting on Malinski to switch sides. But these are rich team problems or questions. I loved having the best center depth in NHL with Nate,Brock,Coyle,& Drury.(or at least the West) But it left us with no flexibility. Almost no assets or cap space. Now we can fix these minor issues if we have to later before the deadline. I think we will need another veteran 5-7 dman for sure. Of course there will be injuries & while Middletown has improved-hes much more suited as like #8 on a contender than #7.Resigning Kryvanta,& getting Olufson makes me feel much better about our bottom 6. They aren't perfect players but at those low cap hits-I feel much better than a month ago.
But its still very possible we will have to add either 4C,or move Drury back to 4C,& go get a proven 3C at the deadline. But that's a much easier fix than what we had deal with the last few yrs-having 2 replace 2 terrible goalies,& the never ending search for 2C.I think Brock will be just fine there l.In hockey you dont have to have all your holes filled or playoff roster set in October. We should be fine in regular season (assuming reasonable health)-& the Wood/Coyle deal gives us a little flexibility to fix 1 or 2 minor weaknesses before the deadline. As I am confident they will,& big picture I think both the AVS,& Nuggets have as good of chance as anybody in the West of making a Finals run. I worked the 2023 NBA Finals,& started just after the 2022 Cup Finals,& would love nothing more than working both this June as crazy insane as my job would be. And like the Nuggets-assuming reasonable health-anything short of WCFs will be total failure in my opinion.
Neither are a starter? Someone didn't watch a single game of the Avs lol.
The Avs beat the jets in the first round of the 2024 playoffs*