Avalanche series discussion thread!

The original thread link is here:
https://hfboards.mandatory.com/threads/ ... s.2823029/

Page number: 1

Must win game 1

Same with my model.
Note: Reference to the second post of the thread with the following tweets:
“avs vs. blues would be the most lopsided series my model has ever had, so it was pretty easy to write from that lens”
“COL / STL will be the most lopsided matchup in the first round per our model. By a lot. We should have the preview up on EH early Saturday morning.”
Avs in 3.

Bring it on

Play Jost between Landy and Rantanen and Mackinnon between Nuke and Donskoi. Confuse RoR.

Avs in 5.

This is an example of where models really dont tell very good stories IMO.

Blues are a dangerous team, they've won a cup recently already with a lot of the same guys still on the team. They played much better down the stretch and really since the deadline have looked a lot better

I still think the Avs are just too deep not to win and win fairly quickly... But it wont be a cake walk by any means either. I think the value of home ice for us will really push this series in our favor. Bednar gets his preferred matchup and keeps the top line away from ROR as much as possible.

We'll get ahead 2-0, split the road games in St. Louis and clean up the series back at home in game 5.

Let's roll the blue filth in 5 boys

Honestly... I think Bednar has to at least look at that as a possibility if the top line gets neutralized at any point.

Jost goes to work along the boards and really drags a guy like Landy into the trenches as well. And we know what Mikko can do when he gets that extra space as well.

I'd put Nuke and Bura and Macks wings though.

Something like....
Nuke - Mack - Bura
Landy - Jost - Rantanen
Saad - Kadri - Donskoi

My god our Top 9 is ridiculous.

Expecting RoR and Parayko out against the top line every shift. Gotta get some depth scoring in this one. Big question to me is Binnington. If he is not good this could end pretty early. If he's good, who knows.

The Blues are 4-4 in May? What the hell are you guys talking about the blues clicking?

They're a better team than their record, but the Avs played them very good this year. The Avs actually had an XGF over 60% against them this season. I like the Avs chances but it won't be easy.

I'll say Avs in 6. At least 2 games go to OT.

Those games they won against us recently were fluky. If we're healthy, we'll curbstomp them. If Mack isn't back to normal and a few other guys are hurt, then all bets are off

But we have Jost and Compher!

Avs in 3. The Blues had their fluke run 2 years ago and followed it up by getting speed-bagged by a "play-in" team. The Avs are the hungrier team.

Is it true Mackinnon wants out of Colorado? I've heard he's fed up with it?

Let's get the real season started off on a good note by sending the Blues packing! I still think this will be a tough out but I'm confident in our boys!

Yes. He doesn't want to go through another rebuild and would rather go to a contender like Buffalo where he can serve as Captain, Coach, and GM once Eichel leaves.

But I thought he was in the playoff and on a contender in Colorado? Buffalo isn't even good.
edit: I'm stupid and high as f***

Page number: 2

Reading over at the blues board - sounds like the only way they can possibly lose is if the officiating steals it for the Avs.
Sounds like all the bases are already covered.

Excited for Stan Kroenke to stomp all over the ugly ass city of St Louis again

And some Cameroonian kids getting some sweet Vegas Golden Knights Presidents Torphy t-shirts tomorrow.

This one is going to 7. We shall see if home ice really mattered in the end.

Jost has made Mack expendable. Mack healthy scratch for game 1.

I think it's cute how confident Blues fans are in this series, as if they didn't utterly sh*t the bed against Vancouver in the playoffs last season in the 1st round and ended up closer to Arizona in the standings than Minnesota this season.
Are there players on that team that scare me? Sure. Ryan O'Reilly is always a gamer, especially vs the Avs. David Perron is almost unstoppable when he gets on a hot streak. We know what Tarasenko is capable of. Jaden Schwartz probably wants to play his heart out if this is in fact his final season in St. Louis.
However, their team as a whole doesn't scare me one bit. You get going early on Binnington and he will fall apart. Happened last playoffs.
Do I expect the Avs to win this series? Of course. Do I think it will be easy? No, nothing is easy in this league unless you're playing Buffalo or Anaheim. But will it surprise me if the Blues beat the Avs? Yes, very much so. We are better in every way possible. Forwards, defence corps, goaltending, special teams, 5v5 play. Top to bottom we are better than St. Louis. It would be a royal disappointment to lose to a team like this in the 1st round.

I, for one, can't wait to spank the bLose so hard they go into a decades long rebuild, only to absolutely spank an upstart Wild, who think their one godsend rookie who beat Vegas, so hard that they just ship their entire franchise out of the "state of hockey" to Quebec.

f*** the Blues

A series loss couldn't be considered anything less than a choke.
The talent difference is very clear. The Avs score more, are much more effective at keeping the puck out of the net and have superior goaltending.

Now with all of this said, if Nathan MacKinnon resembles the player he looked like in Vegas a few nights ago, then I think the Blues are 100% going to win this series.
Him playing hurt is a huge blow to this team.

Unless Grubauer shits the bed I have a hard time seeing the Blues taking the series.
The Blues don't have the defense or goaltending to shutdown the Avs.

Avs in 6

Hello, Blues fan reading over HFAvs thoughts on the series. As a heads up, I'm sure you'll see that poster coin some phrases like Reforado or something when a penalty they disagree with is called against us this series.
Other than that, this should be a fun series. As I said in our HFBlues series discussion I can see the Blues in 6 as equally as the Avs in 5. The Avs definitely have a higher powered offense that has to be respected at all times, but I think a mostly healthy Blues squad now still has the ability to defend in their own end extremely well and take away that offense, even though we've swapped some players in and out from 2019.

What curse? The playoffs haven't even started and you are already posting this defetist BS.

I don't think it's bulletin board material to say you think your team will win a series.
Guaranteeing a win in an individual game might be, but that's far from what ROR did.

I'd definitely want to see the lines get switched up quick if the top line is getting neutralized. Jost has looked really good with Lando and Rants too.
Nuke-Mack-Bura
Lando-Jost-Rants
Saad-Kadri-Dong
Newhook-PEB-JTC
Going with Avs in 7. The Blues are a better team than their record indicates even if their D isn't as good now without Pie

Wow even game 4 is TBD it looks like. Avs in 3.

I actually think this matchup is a piss poor prize for getting 1st place. Binnington always plays us well for some reason, and the Blues team defense is tight as a drum. They're going to try to turn this series into a grindfest, and the Avs have had a lot of difficulty against that type of play this year. LA didn't have the personnel to do that to us these last few games with all their rookies, but STL not only has the players, they have the experience. I would have felt much better about a round against Minnesota.
The confidence last year going into the series against AZ was warranted, but this level of smugness going into the series is setting us up for a big reality check. I think we can win, but it's going to be a bitch and a half to accomplish, especially given that ROR plays like McDavid against us.

The last time Binnington played the Avs well was in the bubble when Kadri scored the last second goal. Not saying hes not capable but the Avs really havent had much trouble scoring on him the past 2 seasons.

We've ventilated him a couple times in the regular season, but he's been on his game lately, especially those two losses we just had. He's hot and cold as a starter, but if he goes on a heater against us this will be a nasty series.

Do we still these guys?

The two losses where DD was playing? Hard to take anything away from those games. Its unfortunate that both teams were injured everytime they played each other this season. I think this series goes 6-7.

Page number: 3

I definitely think this series goes 6-7. It's not going to be a cakewalk at all, I'm expecting a slog to four wins that's going to have us clenching our butts 90% of the way. Like I said, I think this is winnable (as long as we're done with f***ing injuries to key players), but this isn't going to be easy even if MacKinnon gets back to 100% by Monday.

Clean 4 game sweep.
4 straight shutouts.
Bulldoze the Enterprise Center and build a Walmart.

Perhaps not, but another quote he gave was "I want to beat them bad." This obviously means something to O'Reilly, moreso than the usual playoff series. Feels like he wants to prove something to the Avalanche organization even though he's got nothing to prove.

I´m pretty sure those quotes from the captain of the other team will be very popular on ours by tomorrow.
Oh boy, this is going to be a good one......

then the Avalanche beat Tampa in the conference finals, spank the Leafs for the Cup, and I die from pleasuring myself too much

Hasn't Binnington gone a couple of years without winning in Denver?

Byram responding:

Well, well , well.... O'Reilley doesn't like to lose. Well neither does Mackinnon

Nice, you took an article about the 15-16 Avs with Duchene quotes... Lol.. Well done.

I think we take this one in 5. We're gonna need to be significantly out-goalied to lose a series like this, and Binnington isn't that guy anymore. Maybe Avs luck strikes again and he goes supernova again or Grubauer has a meltdown. I just don't see them out-chancing us.

One things for certain, I'm going to hate David Perron by the end of this series.

Not quite. A different ex-Avalanche though...

There have been so many disruptions with covid and other injuries, it's hard to keep track of the chronology of the season.
But am I wrong in saying that there was a stretch of 10-15 games where the key players were mostly healthy and the Avs were routinely beating teams 4-1, 5-1, etc and were extremely difficult to beat and play against? The defense was owning the puck and games were mostly played at one end of the ice.
I don't remember the details of how that run came to an end but I'm guessing it was probably influenced by covid/injuries?
I guess my question is, when we lost those last couple of games against St Louis, was this during or after that stretch of 10-15 games?
I'm asking because I'm hoping the defense during that stretch of games will assert itself again like it did during that 10-15 games.

Ryan O'Reilly is one hell of a hockey player, but he ain't Nathan Mackinnon.
David Perron is a great hockey player but he ain't Mikko
Landy vs Schenn = W
Makar vs Parayko = Unless its Hedman that's always a W for the Avs.
Grubauer > Binnington
Depth aside from these pieces drastically favor the Avs.
Don't take them lightly but if the Avs play their game and stay healthy they win this series.

I don't understand where the "Blues will grind the Avs down" talk comes from.
The Blues were 16th in the NHL in hits. Are we going to assume every single team in the NHL is going to wear out the Avs because they all out hit them?
Apparently the Avs average size is 6-1, 198 lbs. The Blues average size is 6-2, 200 lbs.
The Blues gave up 35 more goals than the Avs, and also average 4 more shots against per game.
Both fairly middle of the pack for the NHL.
Nothing about them screams stingy defensively other than they used to own the Avs, and they won the Stanley Cup 2 years ago with a completely different defensive core.
As for being pushed around, I just don't see it. The days of Backes, Reaves, Ott, Edmunson, are long gone.
Of course the Blues could upset the Avs, they have some great players, but I don't see how the Avs are anything but heavy favourites.

It's entirely based on reputation. This Blues team is significantly worse than the cup winners and has lost a lot of their defensive ability and grit.

Not to put the cart before the horse, but if the boys hoist the cup this year, I feel really bad that EJ, who stuck with us throughout the dark years, won't get his name etched.

Looking forward to this series bois. Should be fun. Blues had a metric ton 0f injuries this season. Its a win-win for this Blues fan. Good luck. You guys have a good team but this series could go either way.

Congrats on the president's trophy. I'm sure you all have seen the video game reaction to winning it? If you haven't its pretty funny. Blues might be up to this challenge folks and I expect a tougher series than their record would indicate. I'll be watching every game of this series.

Avs in 6

No doubt the Blues are better than their record indicates. It wouldn't surprise me if this series went 6/7 games. They're a good veteran team.
Despite O'Money guaranteeing victory, I like the Avs chances. I think they'll try to match the O'Reilly line with Colorado's top line and lose that matchup.
The Avs will still be a little banged up when the series starts, but it should be the healthiest they've been in a long time.

Page number: 4

I can't see this series going more than 5 games unless the Avs have to play DD or JJ again. Avs are rolling right now, motivated, and as healthy as they have been since the 17-1-2 run. Binnington would have to go full 18/19 to make this a series imo. I understand why some here are thinking back to that three game set right around the 2nd COVID break and worrying that the Blues are a tougher matchup than Minny would have been. But the number don't lie, the Avs crushed the Blues in every single advanced metric this season.The Avs just went 5-0 to end the season with the depth stepping up big time, if they keep playing like that and we get at least the lowest level of Playoff Mack.... how are the blues going to stop that?
But overall, just win please.

The Avalanche will petition the league and the league will accept.

The regular season numbers go out the window at this point. The 800 Fenwicks and corsis against Phoenix don't mean anything.
Time to get it done against a forward core that knows how to win.

I'm sensing a lot of bravado coming at us from ROR and Blues fans. I wonder if the two recent losses is the reason for it. Or maybe its that they know game management will prop them up? Let's face it, the officiating in the playoffs typically favors teams like the Blues regardless of whether its good for the sport.
But if the Blues get the Avs' defense from that dominant stretch of games, St. Louis could be in trouble.
Too bad there are so many variables though.

The Avs are a well built modern hockey team. They can all eat shit.

Dave's a mess wrote: Fri May 14, 2021 11:59 am The Avs are a well built modern hockey team. They can all eat shit.

Let's not mince words here Dave. How do you really feel?

My boy Jake Hahn on NHL radio gave his predictions today...him and Boom do the series in terms of points. The series that you think is an absolute no brainer gets you 8points and the next series gets you 7points...provided you pick the right team. Well his 8 pointer was Carolina over Nashville but his 7 pointer was Colorado. I reached out to him and told him messed up because the Blues are gonna roll the Lanche and he responded right away laughing about it saying he would love to see the Blues win...he wants some upsets.

NHLTIM wrote: Fri May 14, 2021 5:13 pm My boy Jake Hahn on NHL radio gave his predictions today...him and Boom do the series in terms of points. The series that you think is an absolute no brainer gets you 8points and the next series gets you 7points...provided you pick the right team. Well his 8 pointer was Carolina over Nashville but his 7 pointer was Colorado. I reached out to him and told him messed up because the Blues are gonna roll the Lanche and he responded right away laughing about it saying he would love to see the Blues win...he wants some upsets.

You mean you called in and was on the show? Cool

If Blues split first 2 games, they’ll win series.
That’s my take.

BillP. wrote: Fri May 14, 2021 5:29 pm

NHLTIM wrote: Fri May 14, 2021 5:13 pm My boy Jake Hahn on NHL radio gave his predictions today...him and Boom do the series in terms of points. The series that you think is an absolute no brainer gets you 8points and the next series gets you 7points...provided you pick the right team. Well his 8 pointer was Carolina over Nashville but his 7 pointer was Colorado. I reached out to him and told him messed up because the Blues are gonna roll the Lanche and he responded right away laughing about it saying he would love to see the Blues win...he wants some upsets.

You mean you called in and was on the show? Cool

No...just sent him a tweet and he replied

Defense wins championships, if Faulk plays the way he can, and Parayko is healthy (big if) i like our chances.

Second part of the Avalanche thread up to page 18:

I'm excited

I think the Blues match-up better against the Avalanche than the Wild would have. The Blues play a tighter checking style, which is more disruptive to Colorado's style.
Though I think the Avs will prevail, I think the scores will be close. Colorado ended up finishing 1st in goals, so Binnington - who had an up and down year, but finished strong - will need to bring his "A" game every night.
I'll predict Avs in 5, but Avs in 6 might be more realistic.

If the Avs bring their A game then I don't think the Blues are good enough at their best to win an even series.

Honestly the more I think about this the more I like it.

Or just let the top line continue to get the better of O'Reilly and let the middle 6 matchup against their middle 6. Our team is deeper than theirs and has the advantage of having 3-4 Dmen who can really tilt the ice possession wise.

Somebody needs to beat the f*** out of Todd Bortuzzo this series

Yeah I like those lines a lot as well. Is Saad going to be back for Game 1?

I follow both teams closely and am excited for this matchup as are my friends and family in FOCO. I think the Blues will try to bully the Avs like they did against SJ a couple of years ago. Get on D and hit them and then crowd Grub looking for the dirty goals. It's a formula they have had success with in the past and proves effective against more skilled teams. That said, Blues aren't talentless. They outscored Avs in season series 5v5 15-13 (each team with an EN) and have a slightly higher PP%.
I think fans for either team thinking this will be an easy series are going to be disappointed. Should be fun!

If they win the cup, I would bet my house they find a way to get EJs name on it. EJ deserves it more than anyone on this team.

I just hope the boys don't read the media and let it go to their head...

The Blues D can't match up vs our forwards and speed. Especially at home when we will have last change.
ROR should be up against the Mackinnon line which means we will need other lines to step up. We have the depth to do it.
In the Vegas game where we got outplayed Bednar moved Landeskog with Kadri and Donskoi and moved Burakovsky up. Those lines worked well.
A Saad, Jost, Nuke line looks good too.

They just need to read the main boards and realize the Blues are going to walk all over us if the check doesn't clear for the refs in time

Went to read the series thread on the mains and im convinced now. STL in 3. Not even sure why the Avs even bother showing up for this one.

Yes, but you don't get that on Blues board.

St.Louis fans think they have the same team as two years ago. That defense is gonna need to be on it's a game every night for them to make it a series.

I'll tell you one thing, the Avs better stay out of the box. Their PK is horrendous, and according to NHL Network last night, the B-Lose have been scoring at nearly 40% on the PP the last month.

Page number: 5

This really should be one of the more lopsided series in the first round. On paper, it just doesn't look good for the Blues, and I can't see where people are coming from that say otherwise.
Obviously, injuries/goaltending are the x-factor. If we can get .915 goaltending, it could be a sweep. If we get .900, it'll be a series.

They're living in 2019. It's the only reason to believe in the current Blues as much as people do.

The only caveat I'll add is Grubauer has only given up 17 PP goals against this year (39 starts). Five of those were in back-to-back games against Minnesota (4/5 & 4/7), one of which was the blow out 8-3 loss.
Meanwhile...in their time with the Avs - 12 starts - Dubnyk and Johansson have combined to allow 9 (6 from Dubnyk ).

Google is your best friend.

It's them then it's likely Vegas...so no luck here.

Yeah, real freaking curse. Only 8 out of 33 won the Stanley Cup

Good point. The PK hasn't been good since Calvert/LOC went out.

They call it a curse because the last time that the best (regular season) team won the cup was in 2013. It means nothing though, chill out.
Also, don't be an ass. It helps.

Maybe you should stop posting fearmongering BS moments after our team secured the best record in the NHL? Curses aren't real.

That was obviously tongue in cheek and everyone but you knew about that curse.
Also I said don' t be an ass. You aren't listening.

"Most lopsided series of the past decade"
Yeah thats total bs. Just last season the Avs had a much softer series against Arizona.

I don't think anyone expected the Avs to beat them as badly as we did. They're saying it's the most lopsided >prediction<

I'm not buying into these predictions...St Louis is peaking at the right time. They're likely to be a big handful for the Avs.

The Blues can put up a flight. Arizona was dead even before the series began. They were heavily outplayed by Nashville before even making the 1st round.
This is clearly a tougher opponent no matter what the stats say.

I agree the blues are tougher. The blues have terrible advanced stats though. They aren't nearly as tough as some people seem to believe.

I hate Ryan O'Reilly, I hate David Perron, I hate Saint Louis and am going to take great delight in them losing. No mercy. Get them f***ing rinsed.


See you all on Monday.

I also think MacKinnon is going to own O'Reilly. Watching O'Reilly trying to back check MacK in the Colorado altitude is going to be painful.
When you think MacKinnon and Crosby training almost leads to blows, I just don't see him letting one of his best friends getting the better of him in a 7 game series.

Try explaining that to leafs fans.

My biggest fear is the amount of retaliation penalties the Avs will take when they get frustrated with the clutch/grab/between the whistle garbage Perron and the Blues will do.

If the Avs can implement their style of play and bring a consistent effort I think they should be able to handle the Blues pretty comfortably. I'm still not convinced that they can/will bring that until they show me it in the playoffs, with my biggest concern being that the Blues are going to get the benefit of the doubt from the refs in the playoffs. They know how to impeded and interfere, and the Avs need to show that they can fight through it or adapt and change how they attack.
Hopefully MacK is healthy and Saad is ready. I'd like to see a forward unit of:
9296
Saad-Kadri-Bura
Nuke-Jost-Dong
Newhook-PEB-Sherwood

I wonder if the Avs are going to consider putting Newhook at centre instead of Kadri.

The Avs can win but with MacK not being completely healthy and against a motivated ROR it won't be easy.

Everybody so scared of O'Reilly and the ghost of past Christmas. We have MacKinnon, Rantanen, Landeskog, Makar, Burakovsky, Girard, Kadri, Jost, Toews and many more who are absolutely excellent at what they're supposed to do. Every player breathes Bednar's system now, and although it has some weaknesses it's a great one for this team in almost all game situations. We have a very good goalie and two good enough backups. Honestly, it's always the right thing to respect your opponent and obviously everything can happen in the playoffs but the Avs should absolutely be able to solve this Blues team.
Edit: The only thing which worries me is the circumstance that there won't be any Avs hockey for the next few days. And of course Timmins' status. And what will happen to the world when Girard starts or stops doing drugs.

Page number: 6

Match our #1C Jost against ROR !!

At the end of the day the Avs are the best team in the division. If they play well they win the series regardless of which Blues team shows up.

We are the favorites to win the Stanley Cup. In theory, we should be able to solve any team we face.
But there is a reason most regular season champs don't win the Stanley Cup as well.
Playoff hockey is a different animal.

I think it is very beneficial that we got to see that Jost can play with Landy and Rants and thrive there. I honestly hope Bedz will consider going with that in order to spread out the talent. MacK between Nuke and Dong could be awesome.

He might be motivated, but him coming out and saying he's going to win is going to motivate MacKinnon even more in a head-to-head matchup.
Players use that kind of stuff. It's what Michael Jordan did his entire career.

If Kadri can score more than 1 goal in 2 months I think they might have a shot.

Everything depends on health, as usual in the playoffs

For me, it comes down to two things:
1) Can our pp score enough to alleviate the inevitable goals we allow on the pk?
2) Will our defencemen be able to keep calm under consistent and heavy forecheck?
These are my big concerns personally. Our depth on forward is decent and also compensated by the great offensive support from the D and our goaltending when healthy is good enough to get it done. But if we get into a heavy special teams battle I am very concerned we come out on the wrong end. As well, we know St Louis's gameplan will be to dump it in and target our D. This has been going on all season but will be ramped up big time in the playoffs and it's one area I can nitpick on that they weren't overly great.
They need to figure out a way to get the puck to a safe area with a guy right on them; weather it be changing defensive zone schemes or just outmanning guys in the corner I'm not sure but they can't throw it blindly along the boards every time someone is on them.

I see that the Avs are set for 8 pm MT starts in Denver. Not liking that.
I hope that Pierre McGuire is the analyst for the Avs games. I want to learn more about ROR.

Any word on Byram recently? I'd love to see him play in over Nemeth in this series at some point

All of those saying wait until the playoffs for guys like Kadri and to some extent Saad. Now is their time. No more of this "Hes playing well just not scoring" business with Kadri. Its time to shine starting Monday.

If Kadri coasts through the playoffs like he did the season he needs to be shipped out this summer.

It really sucks not to have foot soldiers like LOC and Calvert for this series.

How many more ways can they tell us how hard he works? We get it, he's an NHL GMs wet dream, except for when he plays on crappy teams and loses his love for the game.

Yah everyone is convinced he can turn on a switch in the playoffs. Im a little more skeptical based on his play this season. I hope im wrong because like it or not if the Avs are going to get through two rounds Kadri has to be integral in that.

Last we heard from Bednar he was on and off skating. Getting him in over Nemeth would be huge but I'd imagine Bednar would want to give him plenty of time to get back to game speed before dumping him into the postseason.

I don't think he has a switch. I have no clue what happened but he's slow and makes stupid plays consistently. It's bizarre the difference one off-season made with him.

He's been playing fine for a while now just like Bura and a few others. These guys know when the playoffs start. Don't you worry.

Kadri is really better since a few games but not quite good enough yet. I thought he was real good on Newhook's wing, hope we'll see him there again when Mack comes back

Real test will be Vegas next round.

I honestly don't hate this at all

I really hope these extra few days off gives the guys the well earned break they need for a stretch run. We need playoff Mack to show up!

The puck just stopped going in
Yeah he's slower and making more stupid plays but he was doing this last year too

Page number: 7

That fourth line did absolutely nothing with Soderberg on it--it actually generated chances (and capitalized twice in two games) with Megna on there.

I don't think they would have any issues scratching Soda. He was a depth addition and is mainly there to be a competent NHL vet in case of injuries. I think after these games you have to play Newhook, he just adds too much skill and jump to the top 9 to replace him.

Not to say Newhook also played on the PK and he was certainly as good as Soda there, much better in fact

Maybe sit Belly? Anyway gotta hope Mack is back to full health, as well as Timmins, Saad, Byram, and even EJ. This is the year to win the Cup.

Put Dubnyk in for the first faceoff to get inside Binningtons head.
Then put Grub in after the first whistle assuming Dub didnt let one in yet

We wont see Vegas in Round 2.

I agree. If the Blues try to do some sort of "œhard counter" to our top line, shake it up early in the series and see what happens.
Mack @ 90% on potentially a 3rd line matchup would be fun to watch.

Fun fact: Ryan Orielly is the only pro hockey player to have driven his truck through a Tim Hortons coffee shop!

Was anyone able to snag a Presidents' Trophy shirt? I saw it in the header image on the NHL shop last night, but it's been removed
Edit: Nvm found it on Fanatics

They don't ship till May 28 when I checked last night...which is slightly irritating.

Real test starts Monday. The Avs shouldn't look past the Blues. Av fans shouldn't either. Everyone knows this teams terrible injury history. No need pissing off the hockey gods.

I have reservations about Newhook playing a 4th line role, but he seems to be working pretty well with Compher and he can provide a lot of speed for that 4th line. Besides, we have Bellemare/Jost/Nichushkin/Donskoi/Compher that are being used as PK'ers, we don't need the services of Soderberg/Sherwood/Megna right now.
If O'Connor is ready to go soon (big if), then I'd happily pull Newhook out for him because he was so ****ing good for us pre-injury. But I think Newhook should start the series in the lineup. If you really want more speed you can take Bellamare out and have Newhook centre Compher and Megna/Sherwood, but Bellemare is arguably our most important PK'ing forward.

Who is looking past them?

I'd say this thread has more than a few posters looking past them. St Louis won't be an easy out

He was taking the term Drive Thru to the ultimate level.

Unfortunately the exec is Benning, the coach: Krueger and the scout: Pracey.

I wonder if there'll be taxi squads next year. I'm guessing the AHL is praying there won't be.

Instead of suffering the Blues plan against MacK and our defense, Bednar should have a plan to stop ROR, stop him effectively and we will win in 4

Understandable, but if he's used in any capacity it's still better than not at all IMO. If he can play an effective bottom 6 role and maybe help to kill penalties I call that a win for his development. Any more is an added bonus to me. At this point I'd rather see him in over Soda or any of the other AHL'ers but I'm not sure he's shown enough to supplant any of the regulars, including Bellemare as you alluded to.

I wanna have LOB around, Lando to play like a true power forward and wouldn't mind to see Kadri get under their skin.
They will come hard and AVS better respond, if they touch Grub run over their goalie, just stand for each other.Go AVS

Considering the product on the ice this year, yeah. Kinda luck they didn't have fans because it was pretty poor hockey.

If Bednar really wants to "stop" O'Reilly, then he has the one weapon that can actually do it--Valeri Nichushkin. Seriously the only player I can think of who just knows how to completely fluster that guy.
That said, Bednar isn't much of a matchup guy these days. The best way to "stop" O'Reilly is simply just...play your game. Don't f*** up too much. He's an elite two-way player, one of the best in the league. You're not gonna "stop" him really. Score more goals than he can and instead of worrying about their greatest strength, go straight at their biggest weaknesses.
People are kinda looking way too much into that one game against the Blues where the Avs blew the lead and Cale Makar admitted he had one of his worst defensive games ever. The Avs won the season series and for the most part were vastly superior in almost all of the games. And in almost all of those games, O'Reilly still played well. But he alone wasn't enough to turn the tide. Avs are the better team and it's not even close--they just need to play like it.

Page number: 8

I think this is probably the starting lineup for game 1, barring injuries.
I think Newhook probably would have drawn in ahead of Compher though without that hat trick game. But now I think Bednar probably goes with the vets for game 1.
Soda will probably have a short leash though. Newhook just played too well, while Soda didn't impress much, and hasn't been great in the playoffs historically. I like LOC's game a lot, especially in the playoffs, but I think Newhook deserves to play ahead of him, unless the Blues are punishing the Avs physically.
Newy just has too much skill, speed, and smarts to leave on the bench for too long though, and he's shown he's pretty responsible defensively too. The Blues probably haven't seen much of him either. He's the the type of guy that could slip under the radar in the playoffs and be a clutch game breaker with his skill.

I 100% agree with this. Our game has led us to being the best team this season. Bednar isn't going to switch his tactics solely on playing against a great defensive player unless they get a ways into the series and struggle. Let the top line hem him in his zone and we'll negate their biggest factor (I love puns) on the team. There will be times they fail and O'Reilly's line gets the best of them but my money is on them succeeding more than failing.
We have the best five man unit in the league and if we lose this series it won't be because O'Reilly beat us, rather we beat ourselves.

if any game is a blowout, I want dubnyk in after the game is decided to fight binnington

A lot of people are.

You can do both, it's not either play to your strengths or stop ROR. So naive to think that Bednar will not adapt his tactics to the opponent, no good coach do that

Bednar hasn't been a matchup guy much defensively, but he has shown to be one offensively. Especially against ROR on the Blues, and especially lately.
He's tried to get MacKinnon and the top line out there a lot lately against other lines besides the ROR line. Even on the road. I would imagine he'll probably continue to do this in the playoffs.

You don't change the system that got you to where you are just to accommodate an O'Reilly level player, when going into game one of a series. If your gameplan is unsuccessful over time, then yes but not off the hop. That's all I'm saying.

Realistically speaking St Louis is a good team, but the Avs are better.
This series will come down to two things.
1. what kind of effort level do the Avs bring? If they bring their B level effort or lower, which unfortunately this team has a tendency to have lackluster games it will even this series out. Because St Louis will bring a quality effort every night. If we match or exceed their effort levels, it could be very difficult for St Louis, as they simply don't have enough depth or speed to keep up and they will wear down over the course of the series. If we don't bring the A game and let them sit back and play their slow it down defensive game, we're in trouble.
2. How well does Binnington play. We'll get our chances, if Binnington constantly bails them out it could be trouble. He's one of those guys, that if he's hot, it's trouble. If he is just normal, they will have issues. We're going to have to be willing to get greasy goals early on, to shake his confidence a bit. We do that, it will bode well for us.
Outside these factors not seeing much else. We have the 3 biggest game changers on our team in 29, 8 and 96. ROR is a factor but just deal with it and try to not let him dictate. Play our game and wear them down.

The one thing that gives me pause is special teams. Overall, the Avs had the advantage there--however, the Blues, as they have done the last 2-3 years, ended the season red hot, mostly because their special teams were damn near perfect.
It gives me even more concern if Bednar rolls out f***ing Soderberg and Nemeth on the penalty kill, which IMO still isn't very good even without those guys on it.

I concur. IMO we clearly lose the special teams battle at face value. Our pk was propped up by goaltending all season. The pp has had potential all season but has failed to have any consistency. We could turn it around in the playoffs but I very much want this series to be decided 5vs5. This is our strength and we need to play to it.

This is our first playoff series against RoR hey?

The players shouldn't. What we fans do doesn't make a difference on what happens on the ice
It would be a huge disappointment if we lost to the Blues. Vegas, OTOH, are a legit threat.

I shouldn't have said "looking past" since its too loose. If one were to say, "if the Avs were to win", you could technically say that's "looking past". Better terminology would be dismissing a loss - that's where the bad karma is.
I don't saying the Avs should win invites bad karma, though one might perceive that as looking past.

Just saw my absolute favorite nickname for the team on a quick glance at Blues board: the "Reforado Assalanche"
Lots of good posters over on the Blues forum, a few completely idiotic ones too.

I think this will be a tough series, but I think we'll win.

I think there's really just one ridiculously stupid one (theDizee), I mean, there's a few other normal homers, but we have more than a couple of those too, they just happen to have one that's off the rails

St Louis must be made to pay for their desecration of the bagel.

Haha that made me laugh. The Assalanche

I want Kadri to fight Binnington

wait, wtf did they do to the bagel?

Not gonna lie it looks damn good

You can't have processed cheese on pizza. That should be a rule.
The middle pieces would also just be inconvenient to hold and eat, especially when it's really hot.

Page number: 9

this has to be a crime.

f*** St. Louis.

What is the point of that? Plus the pizza looks like delissio or whatever it's called in the states

f*** them in the hole.

Okay, I'll defend the bagel thing. If you're all about the spreads, slicing it like that gives you better spread-to-bagel ratio. It also helps if you like bagels but don't want to eat a whole one.
As for the pizza, that's not a proper pizza. It's basically a flatbread pizza by the looks of it, and the processed cheese? I'm sure it's tasty and all, but that's definitely not what I look for in a pizza.

Hey let's keep this talk PG ok.

Assalanche is funny, but Reforado is stupid and not even a pun.

This is a trap series and I won't feel confident until we are up 2-0, if we are after 2 games that is.

They say the crust is thin and cracker-like. This is just like thin crust pizza from Domino's (they cut it in squares to...it's good and the crust is crunchy so it's not messy).

I don't think it's a trap series. It's not like we dominated the Blues all season. Also, trap series often happen when there's an obvious next opponent - I don't think it's obvious who will come out of Vegas and Minny. I think the media are the ones hyping up a Colorado-Vegas series. I think the Avs will be 100% focused on the Blues.

Just added a poll

Anything but Avs in 4 is a mistake.

It is a trap in the sense that St. Louis is playing better recently and matches up well against us. I'm not saying the Avalanche are looking past them, I'm saying we could lose this series easily with a couple of bad breaks. That said, my vote was Avs in 5.

Super weak :/

Therefore an abomination.

This depth reminds me of some of the Red Wings teams of the past.
Absolutely ridiculous

I now see why kroenke took the rams away from them, that's a crime against humanity

also, Calgary fans already came up with it two years ago

Nothing that Nutella won't fix.

CalGary fans? It seriously took a team of people to come up with this?

I don't think I've ever eaten a bagel.

I loved ROR as a player. But f*** him. Personality is good. If they lose he looks like a conceited ass hat.

I'm scare of St-Louis because of him , he will play his ass off to beat us

My biggest fear is playoff officiating. It favors teams, like the Blues.
But at the same time, if the Avs defense does it's thing, it may not matter.

Page number: 10

I just wish someone would give ROR a big fat check. Somehow that dude avoids contact every single game, he's like a ghost with a ninja stick. Just once I'd like to see him planted into the boards.
Honestly about the only thing I am really worried about is someone running Groobs, you know that it's going to happen. Just praying for no injuries to him and I think we'll be ok.

What do you do with them?

Well the Avs brass dont have a good track record of doing this

Lol Assalanche is one of the best shit on a team names I've seen which is impressive considering some of the good ones around. I also agree that Reforado is dumb and needs more effort.

I'm putting the chances we lose one of Makar, G, and Toews this series higher than 75%

Don't put that evil on us

Who is the best for 2C?
Newhook, Kadri, or Jost?
Newhook isn't even a rookie yet. Is he ready for the playoffs?
Kadri maybe? Before Newhook joined the Avs, he was leaking oil horribly. His recent production is tied to playing on a line with Newhook.
Jost? Some probably still have him written off and o many others are reluctantly trusting whether he's for real. But he's looked good while MacKinnon has been out. Maybe his newly found game is more calibrated for the playoffs?

Kadri was brought in for this moment, he performed well last year in the bubble and I think he is the 2C to start the playoffs. If his play doesn't improve you make a change but to do it at this point would destroy his confidence.

What about Jared's confidence? LOL

We have a 1C and three 2Cs.
I took Kadri in my playoff pool last night on a hunch that we get bubble Kadri.

I'd argue that we are closer to having several 3C than 2C at the moment. Kadri has been playing at a 46 point pace and it's been a very unimpressive 46 point pace. Jost has improved but he's still very far from being a scoring line center.
On the bright side, we do have a good group of middle six wingers that can bring both offense and defense at a reasonably high level.

Never change.

Man, I definitively cannot move to St. Louis. I don't condone senseless violence, but if someone at the office cut all the bagels up like that and then proceeded to cut a circular pizza into squares, we would come to blows.
If your defining culinary technique is "cutting everything up incorrectly" then your food sucks.

Agreed.
ROR and his dad are a special breed of odd though.
He's got an ego. Egos only take you so far. I don't doubt he will be all over the place.

STL will play dirty... if they run Grubs I hope the Avs respond this year. Dallas took all sorts of liberties last year.

Jost has always been a playoff type of a player. Shows up but only for playoffs.

What about a line of Nichushkin-Jost-Burakovsky?

The only thing I'm worried about is injuries. Healthy, this team can hang with any other team. Sure, we could lose any series to any playoff team, a series is a small sample and chance plays a big role in who wins. But I just want to see the boys able to stay relatively healthy and give it their best shot. If we get to see that, then win or lose it's a good show. Sucked seeing the team get decimated by injuries vs Dallas

This is such a huge jinx. Would rather get no media hype

Jinxes aren't real!

When we get swept in 4 and Mackinnon, Rantanen, Makar retire with injury and Gru and Landy leave to sign with the wild or red wings, I'm going to blame you

Normally I'd agree with this. Hubris, tempting fate, whatever you want to call it is something I'd rather not invite or see invited. However, in the case of this Avs team, look at all they went through during the season already. Two covid disruptions, countless injuries and they've still managed to reach excellence.
We've already had a piano fall from the sky enough. It's someone else's turn and who cares what people say anymore?

It's not a jinx, it's just that the teams look at those lists and have extra motivation to beat the favorite, in this case the Avs are favorites on pretty much everyone's list

Page number: 11

"I guess we're the favorites or whatever"

Jost should be 2C, the points will come and he plays much better defensively than Kadri while being a far better play maker. Kadri tends to do some blatant stupid shit that gets him sent to the box and just a general lack of awareness for situational gameplay like leaving his guy open in OT against Dallas while puck watching. I still don't get why Bednar thought he was a good defensive player.
The avs should try to finish off stl fast so they don't get too much wear and tear on them from the first round that could prevent them from winning the cup.

Toasted ravioli are legitimately incredible, to be fair.

Mission 16W. I'm ready to have my sleep deprived weeks starting Monday.

Every single analyst has us winning it. I've never seen predictions so lopsided

Thanks, man!

Since St Louis is the de facto capital of the Ozarks, I was expecting them to have more possum in their diets.

Seriously though, that pizza looked quite good.

Yeah I hate all the praise we're getting.

I like this news!

Great news! If he can get fully healthy and replace Nemeth, that would be huge for this group.

This team could ADD Byram and Saad lol gimme a break

Mack in a full contact sweater

Mac? Timmi? EJ?
I WANT THEM ALL BACK!

Hope he's well rested and in much better shape than he was against Vegas.

You forgot Calvert

Yep, he looked brutal.

Page number: 12

Today is a great day.

Unfortunatly i think we'll never see his sweet ass in an AVS jersey ever again ...

6 day off for him between the Vegas game and the Blues game. Hope it's enough.

Yeah...I don't think he'll play in the NHL again.

Bo has the flow going.

Bo's gonna sit on Monday and there's gonna outrage

He didn't play for about 2 month - and we have options. Of course he's gonna sit for a while.
But it's good to see him smile again

I'd probably be surprised if he plays in round 1 unless the Avs take a good series lead. Him back practicing is big though, a universe doesn't exist where the Avs don't take defensemen injuries.

I'd say Byram plays the 3rd game in St.Louis

I'm not so sure. I can see him sitting for a game or two but I'm gonna wager they want him in as soon as he's 100%. I don't think the Bottom 2 dmen have much leeway and Bryam is already more reliable than any stopgap options we have, including Nemeth.

Hmm. Why is Byram using a tinted visor here? Is this new?

Problem is Bryam and Nemeth play very different roles. If Byram comes in it's probably Timmins coming out.

I think it's new and most likely concussion related.

They're nothing special except if you're from New York where it's serious business, but what St. Louis did to it is a hate crime. It's like putting ketchup on Haggis.

Who comes out when Bo comes back? I wanna say Nemeth.

The first one who get injured.

Sadly!

It'll most likely be Timmins.

Unless there's an injury or two, Bo isn't getting the line-up. He's not strong enough to play in the NHL yet, and ya'll want him to play in the playoffs, where they don't call as much penalties, and vs a big forward team like St. Louis, and then Vegas... not gonna happen.

I think so too. Nemeth was brought in for experience and pk help, which he hasn't provided. Byram didn't wow when he was in but he was very solid defensively and was good at transitioning from our zone. He was better in every facet than Nemeth since he's been here and if he struggles, I don't think they hesitate to pull him out of the lineup.

Page number: 13

Of all STL-style foods I've had, I'd have to put their pizza at the bottom of the list, only one spot above their abomination bagels. It's...fine, I guess. Nothing great. Toasted ravs, Fitz's, and Ted Drewes are all hard to beat, though.

What do Lidstrom, Bourque, Pronger and Doughty have in common? They are all Bowen Byram.

Altitudes press release was very unclear. Can we watch the National broadcast in Colorado or not?

Great news all around today on the injury front. They're as healthy as we could've hoped heading into the playoffs since we already knew a few guys were out long-term.

They need to stop jinksing us.

Anyone have avs in 3? Go avs go!

I'm uncomfortable with all praise the Avs are getting. Sets us up for a gut wrenching upset.

No Soda makes me sad, but not that sad

Ruh Roh. Doesn't that put him out for the series?

Nobody even laugh at this "˜cause it has happened to us and it will come back to haunt us. That's a big loss for the Blues if he misses any games.

This was more south central Illinois in Effingham but I flew into St Louis, breakfast pizza from a Casey's is awesome. They could be in more places but definitely not here in Colorado.

I absolutely will not laugh and wish him nothing but good health, but I think he's missing games with this. Mikko missed games just because he was a close contact. Absolutely terrible timing for the Blues

Yep, sucks for them. It's going to happen again during the playoffs.

I will laugh

Come on, dude. I hate the Blues, too, but this isn't cool. His health is #1.

I believe he'll have to be on the list for a week with no positive tests if it's a contact tracing issue, and two weeks if he tested positive. At a minimum he'll likely miss the first four games. Hopefully it doesn't spread.

Damn! That f***en sucks. I'd be choked if/when it happens to us in the playoffs.

Hopefully most of the guys being fully vaccinated will help. I wonder what Perron's vaccination situation was.

Yeah dude, c'mon.

No laughing, but I'm liking Avs chances even more

Hope it's nothing serious with Perron.

I hope every Avs player is vaccinated by now, no excuse not to be. Most should've gotten their 2nd doses actually.
I'm not accusing David Perron of being an anti-vaxxer and I know you can still get it after being vaccinated but way too many NHLers seem to be getting it.

Big loss for the Blues.

Page number: 14

Wonder if any games will be postponed?

I don't think so. Unless a bunch of Blues test positive tomorrow or Monday.

I wonder if Blues fans want to forfeit games like they wanted us to forfeit earlier due to Covid lol.
Hope Perron is ok. Covid ****ing sucks, I got crushed by it.

Yeah that's awful for Perron and the Blues. But I think everyone needs to be prepared that this is going to happen throughout the playoffs. Teams are going to miss important players. We could lose MacKinnon for all we know.

I'll laugh at the idiot Blues fan who tried to act like the Avs should have to forfeit games for covid protocol saying they weren't following the rules.
Hahahahahahahahahahaha.

That guy is a clown.

Yeah not good news for the Blues. Terrible timing. I for one would have prefer Perron plays. I want the Avs to win against teams' best roster. I want them to deserve it and be prepared for the next rounds.

Vaccinations should result in this happening considerably less. Yes it's still possible for there to be positives, but it should at least dramatically reduce the likelihood of a positive test. As well as all but eliminating the possibility of serious illness. Players should still be taking precautions, hopefully they will take this happening to Perron as a warning.

I'm not doctor but I thought being vaccinating wouldn't impact whether or not you test positive. It will just impact whether or not you actually get sick.

Agreed, winning any other way takes away from the accomplishment.

I'm not a doctor or expert either, but my understanding is the efficacy rates of the various trials was a result of testing for the virus itself... I imagine the tests in those trials are not that different from the tests the players are taking.

Darn. Big loss for the blues

Holy shit he gave a 30 min interview to the RDS (TSN) podcast yesterday and I listened to it just this afternoon in my car, now I get home and I see that.
In that interview he was asked if the players will be extra careful not to get COVID going into the playoffs and he got a little annoyed by the question, saying many guys are vaccinated but going to restaurants and "little things like that" is important for mental health.
That didn't age well.

You can still get COVID when vaccinated but there's a near-zero chance you'll get seriously ill or die. The newer strains like the UK variant (that is now the most prevalent strain nearly everywhere) is more virulent and a little more effective at getting you sick even when vaccinated, but you'd likely be asymptomatic or only present mild symptoms. But you can sure as hell still spread it.

Yeah that will be the shitty part for Perron is sitting at home feeling perfectly healthy but unable to come to the rink because he could spread.

Yea but you still won't be allowed to play.
Is it 10 or 14 days? I don't think Perron will be able to play at all during the 1st round.

Who knows with anything. Mikko didn't have it but was out like a week; STL had some false positives on 2 players and they were apparently able to play immediately after returning negatives.
The rules/guidelines don't seem to be super clear

Hooooooooly shit

Nice to see the team finally getting somewhat healthy.
The key is the second line. I feel pretty good about the 3rd and 4th lines.
Burakovsky is becoming somewhat of a one man second line, but if Kadri can just play decent everything comes together.

If it's tracing I think it's 3 straight negative tests?

I think so. A test every 24 hours. But Rants missed 10 days and he wasn't positive? It's all f***ed up to me. I don't understand how it works.

If it's a real positive you risk it spreading through both teams with anyone that's unvaccinated or only has one dose. Wonder how that would affect the schedule

Bring up their taxi squad. Lol.

Page number: 15

Byram replacing Nemeth would be huge for this team.
Unfortunately Nemeth has been one of the few weak points in the lineup, and Byram is one of, if not the best defenseman defensively on the team. IMO he is the best with EJ out of the lineup.

Did he rub the mics on the way out?

Probably the same as Dubnyk's. They seem like birds of a feather.
Avs apparently have a little more than 85% of the team vaccinated. Hopefully that includes all the Avs key players. Would be so stupid to lose them and possibly lose the series as the Cup favorites, because they're anti vax.

Are the Blues fully vaccinated? If so it shouldn't be concern that other players get covid and postpone games

According to The Athletic, Perron is the 3rd B-Lose player to be added to the COVID-19 List in the last couple weeks. 8 of their players have not been vaccinated, and one of those on the COVID List was vaccinated. So, they could have an outbreak occurring on their team. Article also says that to their knowledge the NHL won't pause any games unless forced to.
We dodon't know how many players on the Avs have been vaccinated, or who they are. Like someone else said, our luck, the Avs will catch this variant too, and it will f*** everything up.

**** em!
Better them than us!

Just because you don't get the vaccine doesn't mean you are an anti-vaxxer it is more a risk analysis move. I hate that this has become political rather than a personal choice issue. Though, as an athlete that knew the risk for not being able to play if infected he is potentially facing the consequences of that choice (can't necessarily assume he did or did not get it but the vaccine should prevent infection). If I was a hockey player on a playoff team I would have absolutely gotten it.
And laughing at the situation is not necessarily wishing him ill, unless there is something we don't know about his health, someone in his age group in relatively good health has an extremely low chance of severe symptoms and even less chance of death. His worst consequence is probably going to be not being able to play in the first round of the playoffs.

I guess going to restaurants is more important than playing in playoffs.
Sorry but some people are just dumb. Restaurants can wait. You'll have a whole offseason to go to restaurants after the playoffs

Stupidest part is McDonald is just sitting there and has been pretty good

I think they will sit Byram. He was good for a rookie in his first few games but he's coming off a concussion and jumping straight into the playoffs.
Bednar has done an amazing job of easing guys into the lineup and getting them into a position to succeed in the long term.
Throwing Byram to the wolves would be cruel.

Toews - Makar
Girard - Graves
Nemeth - Timmins

That's the Defense I would go with for game 1.

Turns out Dater was right...then again, I'm pretty sure he's been tight with Timmy's agent, hence him getting some Timmins-related scoops in the past.
Where did this pic come from.

I just don't see it as throwing Byram to the wolves. He's one of the best defenseman on the team.
It doesn't make any sense to me to keep him in the stands. Especially just to play Nemeth, who has not played well. Byram is significantly better than Nemeth in pretty much all areas.

Bednar has said Nemeth looks rusty. Byram might have this too in spite of being a more talented player.

Bednar said they want to get him up to speed and then he'll become an option. He'll be playing in a few games I assume

For once, we have depth in those depth positions, so why not use it? Nemeth plays game 1, Byram plays game 2. Same thing for the forwards, roll players in and out of the 4th line if you can. Fresh legs. Depth shouldn't be just in case of injury, we can use it to keep fresh legs in our 4th line and 3rd pairing. Let's use that advantage.
A lot of people are still wary of our team vs "hard hitting teams" like Blues and Vegas. We will lose if we play that game. How about playing our game, and skating them to ground? We have the lineup to do it. Obviously guys like Söderberg and Nemeth are not playing then.

were going to have injuries, and guys will get worn down. We have great depth and that's an advantage. I can't think of many teams that are as deep as the Avs.

Not too much different. Byram was played mainly in a 3rd pairing defensive role this year just like Nemeth, and didn't get any real PP time.
The only difference that might keep Nemeth in the the lineup is the PK, but it's not like the PK has been successful with Nemeth on it. They had the 6th best PK with an 83.7% prior to the deadline, and were 15th with an 82.0% after.
Some of that is due to goaltending without Grubauer, but I'm not convinced Nemeth is a better PKer than Byram anyway. They just didn't use Byram much on the PK this year. He's really been under utilized in a lot of areas IMO.

It wasn't Rudy, so I'm guessing no

I wouldn't put Byram that high defensively, but I'm pretty sure we had this argument before, so we probably don't need to get into it again.
I'd like to see him get into the lineup over Nemeth, but I wonder if Bednar will prioritize Nemeth's PK'ing.

Do you disagree he's one of the best defenseman on the team defensively?
Even if you put Toews and Girard ahead of Byram defensively (I don't) then that still holds true.

Bura's IG.

I see putting a rookie who was still getting use to the NHL into a playoff series against a physical team as being thrown to the wolves.
Add to this the rookie coming off a concussion and its even worse.
No matter how good the rookie looked for a 19 year old.

Page number: 16

Where's MacK?

Taking the pic.

All of the big 3 are better defensively than Byram imo. I think Bo has the highest ceiling of any Avs D in that area though.

At defending when the opposing team has already gotten a controlled entry into the zone?
I think he was showing he's tops or very close to it.
But looking at defense as the ability to stop those controlled entries before they happen by making the right read in the offensive and neutral zones I thought he wasn't near the level of G Makar or Toews.

Fair enough, though I definitely disagree.
I can understand an argument for Toews and Girard, though like I probably mentioned in our last conversation, G is just too limited physically with his lack of strength and reach to be super effective defensively. He's as good as he is because he's so smart and has a great stick.
Toews has made a fair amount of mistakes defensively the last month or so as well. He's been great for the most part though, especially early.
I'm a massive fan of Makar, but he's made a fair amount of mistakes defensively this year too. He hasn't been bad, but he's missed more than a few assignments defensively, and it's resulted in some goals, and dangerous scoring chances. Byram was definitely better than him defensively IMO.
I think there's a bit of recency bias with Byram too, as he had some rookie hiccups right before he was injured. He's made dozens of outstanding plays defensively though in his shortened season, and Toews, Girard, and Makar have had periods of time where they made some defensive mistakes as well.

Is there a higher resolution pic of the team picture?

I refuse to believe it until Game 1 starts and he's out of the lineup.

I'm not sure.

I thought he was good at breaking up plays at the blueline, but I guess I can see what you're saying consistency wise.
I think a lot of that is experience playing a system in the NHL though, and he would have ironed that out by now if he had stayed healthy.

Not sure if this was posted before, but Timmins is iffy for Game 1 (Dater)

Burky's waiting for that long term contract before he updates his 10 year old phone.

That's what I wanna know. I don't understand this shit. He needs a negative test in 24 hours and another negative test 24 hours later. What happened with Rants, though? Is this a new thing "˜cause it's the playoffs?

Was it ever confirmed that Mikko didn't get it?

Nothing Dater says makes sense these days.

I've never even heard of Casey's before. I looked it up and, well, damn. Those images alone make me want to eat a full breakfast pizza right now at 11:15pm and another one tomorrow for breakfast. I kind of forgot they existed since I haven't had one in almost a decade.

If he had it he would have been out 14 days. Bednar said he was negative, but was in protocol due to contact with someone who had it outside the locker room.
Maybe it was because he was in Denver and the Avs were in California, and he wasn't allowed to fly commercially? Remember Miska had to come join the Taxi Squad after Duuuuuuuu tested positive, but drove from Loveland to San Jose to join them.
Maybe it's because Perron's positive test isn't from an outside the locker room, and thus, if he tests negative, he can still play? IDK.

We all get sleepy. He just needs a bit more Tim Hortons.

Maybe if they've had vaccinations it could play a part in getting back quicker?

Ehhhhhhhhhh that is a very, very big stretch. To me there is no question Devon Toews is the best defensive defensemen on this team, followed closely by Samuel Girard and then Cale Makar.
Could Byram get there? Most definitely. But he's not close to that now.

I love Makar as a player but I don't see any case for him being better defensively right now than Byram. He made plenty of mistakes this year, and I'm sure he'd be the first to tell you that.
Toews also has made lots of mistakes recently, as did G earlier in the year. Even if I don't agree, I can understand the opinion that they're better, but I don't think it's true at all that they're so much better it's not even close.

Byram has also made his fair share of mistakes, though, and hasn't played as much. Obviously the more you play, the more mistakes you're likely to make. He also wasn't put into the same situation as Toews/Makar/Girard in terms of the competition he'd see on a nightly basis.
Again, he can get there for sure. But I think it's an extreme stretch to say he's better than any of those three right now, let alone the best on the team.

If all the celebrations with the Presidents Trophy t-shirts is the team ironically mocking the insufferable act like you been there before culture in hockey, it's excellent.
If they are actually celebrating the Presidents Trophy like that it's embarrassing and they should act like they been there before.

Can you make an argument for how Makar is so much better than Byram defensively that it's not even close? I honestly don't see one.
And again I'm a huge Makar fan. If I were asked before the season, I would have thought Makar would have been a tad bit better defensively this season than he has been, and Byram would have been a tad bit worse than he was.
But watching them play, it was clear to me that Byram was just better right off the bat.

I agree that Makar is very casual at times with coverage down low and playing the puck in his own end. There's way too many passes without even looking that turn into glaring giveaways.
But from between the bluelines Makar Toews and G are all top tier at making the right read to close the gap and pressure the puck carrier or when they can win the race to the puck. Byram was still getting used to the system and the speed of the big leagues and was playing more conservative.

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Cale has struggled at times this year picking up his man defensively too. He's been caught out of position, or puck watching, or thinking a little too much about getting the puck to score so they can come back in games they're trailing, and it's resulted in a few goals, and even more scoring chances.
It's just sophomore'itus IMO. He'll get more consistent as he gains experience. As will Byram.
But that's why I don't really understand the idea that Makar has been so much better than Byram it's not even close. That would mean Byram was dog shit defensively, and that certainly wasn't the case.

It is not close right now.
Makar is no defensive stalwart and there are aspects of Byram's defensive game that are better than Makar's defense. But Byram plays significantly less minutes against easier competition. Not to mention the times he got his minutes increased were usually in blowout games where Bednar either wanted to get Byram more experience or decided to roll the lines.
If Byram was playing 22 minutes a night, we'd be seeing a lot more mistakes. Byram can close the gap very quickly, but first he has to prove he can play 20+ minutes a night of mistake-free hockey in meaningful games.

I honestly don't think we'd be seeing a lot more mistakes if Byram was playing more. If he was playing more, I think people would realize how good he actually is defensively.
He was just caught in a numbers game as a rookie, with more veteran D men playing well this year, so Bednar leaned on them instead of Bo. Especially early in the year, where they probably wanted to take things slow with him.
And speculating that he'd make more mistakes if he played more isn't proof that he's not close to Makar defensively. You have to go by their actual play on ice for that.

But they haven't been there before? Think about all the dark years some of them have gone through. No reason to not take a night to celebrate. They know the journey isn't done, don't take the fun out of the game

Some of ya'll need to keep it classy outside this forum. No reason to get into a shit throwing match with 3-4 dumbass Blues fans.

Bednar won't let them think the journey is done anyway. I don't think he smiled once in that post game presser after the last game.
It's ok to celebrate the small things in life. Like you say, it's been a long dark road to get here for some of them, and there's no guarantee they'll be able to celebrate anything like this again.

If only Byram played enough and in the same situations to make those comparisons. Not saying he can't do it soon, but for now.

Yes. Bednar confirmed he didn't have it. As a close contact of a positive case you have to do 7 days (I believe). Nylander went through the same thing. This is because it is absolutely confirmed that there is a relatable covid case. Even though Mikko tests negative repeatedly he can't come off the list because there is a confirmed, documented case he came into contact with so there is always a possibility that he has it even without it showing on a test early.
If Perron however hasn't actually come into contact with a positive case it's possible that it was simply a faulty test. So he gets a few more opportunities to test and prove that it was indeed faulty. However with other positive tests on the Blues i have to assume he probably is a close contact so I dunno where this all ends up. My gut tells me he doesn't even miss a game.

I don´t give a f*** about Perron.
I want to teams as healthy as possible to go for it. No excuses.

I hope when the Avs win the cup they engrave Covidrado Refalanche with the biggest asterisk possible. And Bettman gets his name under the roster.

I think Saad is going to be a key contributor in the avs success this year. Good to have him back for the playoffs. Very underrated pickup by Sakic

That 2nd line is going to be key too. Before all the injuries the Saad-Kadri-Bura line was just not clicking. Hopefully that changes but its nice to know now we have someone like Newhook who can move up the lineup if needed.

Yup stay off the main boards/blues board. There's some gems over there.

I won't mind him not diving and whining every play.

Nah, they're dumb and they need to know it.

I wonder what guys are on the bubble and matchup dependant.
And what we are trying to matchup on the other side.

Agreed.
I've never seen such a salty lot. It's almost as if the entire city of St. Louis walks around with sand in their underpants. So many of them have such monstrous chips on their shoulders and work so hard hyping their team, they make it super easy to role-play the Avs as underdogs.
I'm constantly asking myself whether their rage is real or manufactured.
The funny thing is, St Louis Cardinals fans like to see themselves as the "œclassiest" fans in baseball. But you see here what they're really like.

HFBoards would be better if it was a free for all tbh.

Nothing new, but it shows that Bednar will not only play his game, he also cares about matchups and opponents.
Probably also some diplomacy towards his players for his future choices, can't hurt.

So uhh...I just got an introduction to that one Blues poster many have talked about.
He's...something, to say the least.

Byram doesn't even come close to Toews, Girard, or Makar defensively. Not yet at least, maybe he gets there one day.

Yeah Byram is not there yet compare to the other three. He might end up being the best of the four defensively but he still has quite of bit of work to do. This is not to take away anything from Byram accomplishments so far. He has had a very good start to his NHL career. I would have loved to see where he would be at currently if he didn't get hurt so much in his first year.

With a win over 7th seeded Boston...who are resting everybody...today, the Knicks will clinch the 4th seed and a home playoff series against the 1 potential first round opponent we can actually beat. Meaning the Avs could have another 3-4 weeks until they have to worry about overcoming me watching the games live.
Avs in 4.

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The CGY fans from a couple years back were on this level, too, IIRC - at least in terms of sheer hostility, if not delusion. The whole "Avs have the league in their pocket" thing is something else.

Honestly I'd rather Perron be healthy and playing. That way when we curb stomp the Blues, that fan base has no excuse for getting there teeth kicked in and idiots like The Dizee wont be able to blame Covid for getting an ass whooping.

They're already started on the excuse train.