MILE HIGH: A Shamelessly Optimistic Look at the Avalanche
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MILE HIGH
<p>September has finally arrived to, as Stephen King once wrote, “kick summer out on its treacherous ass as it always does.” August, the most boring month in a hockey fans life, has been kicked to the curb and hockey is soon upon us, thankfully. In just a day or so the Prospects Tournament will begin in Penticton and Traverse City and just a few days after that training camps will start. Teams will take to the ice with their young guns from this most recent draft and new faces they’ve brought in over the offseason and at this point in the year the fans of absolutely any team can think of something to be excited about for the coming year and can convince themselves that there team is playoff bound. Each fan can look at their team’s roster for training camp (likely released by now or soon to be) and find an old player they’re excited to see back, a new player they’re excited to see begin his time with their team and a rookie who they think might surprise them. In short, this is the time of year where hockey fans can feel shamelessly optimistic about their team and I’m no exception.
<p>With that in mind it’s time for an optimistic look at what the Avalanche could do this season and how everything is going to come together just right for this team. It’s a new season with new management and a new coach and a new future star to be excited about. I’m pumped about absolutely everything to do with this team right now, even the problem areas.rnrn<p>As for the goaltending, I know a lot of people are looking at the goaltending with a sceptical eye but I’m really not worried. We have a great, athletic up and coming young goaltender and one of the league’s most experienced and talented backups to help him. Semyon Varlamov is athletic and capable of making some highlight reel saves and watching him work for Russia during the World Championships the last two years (2012 especially) was a real eye opener for me as to just how good of a goalie he can be. I was also watching classic series the other night watching some of his work back when he was with the Capitals and that was enough to get me pumped about the young man. On top of that the Avs have brought in the maestro himself, Francois Allaire, to work with him. That is going to work wonders for the young man’s game. It will help J.S. Giguere as well, a former student of Allaire’s in Toronto and a very public proponent of Allaire’s work. I feel better about the goaltending going into this year than I have since Craig Anderson was traded.
<p>As for the defense, hey, they can’t get any worse right? Okay, if I’m going to be optimistic I can do better than that! The defense is going to be amazing this year… okay maybe I’d better find a middle ground. The defense is going to see improvement for a couple of reasons. One, new coaching staff bringing new systems, which can only be a good thing for this group. Two, the addition of Adam Foote to the coaching staff in particular is a great way to improve this group. Who could possibly be better to teach the Avs up and coming defensemen how to play a hard-nosed game than the master of shut down defense himself? Three, the young defensemen on the team, namely Stefan Elliot and Tyson Barrie, are going to have a big time breakout this year. Elliot has been shuttled back to the AHL enough times and those of us who saw Tyson Barrie at the end of last year saw what great work he was putting in. For much of the last part of the season he was the best defensemen on the team and no that’s not saying much but since this is an optimistic blog I won’t dwell on that. Elliot, meanwhile, is going to benefit from the mentorship he gets from Patrick Roy (who has proven himself to be great with young players in the QMJHL) and Adam Foote, who will help him round out the defensive part of his game. Let’s face it, when Elliot struggled last year he didn’t exactly have the best coaching staff in the NHL to turn to for guidance. This year he’ll have a better go of things, just you watch!
<p>Another reason the defence will be better this year is that Ryan Wilson and Erik Johnson will finally be healthy again. Johnson may never live up to his billing as a number one overall pick but watching him play, with the skill set he’s got and the massive frame he has, you get the sense a lot of his problems are with his head, not his body. This is another example of where a revamped coaching staff will do a world of good and watching Johnson since he has arrived with the Avs there is one trend as far as his game goes that I’m genuinely optimistic about: his physical game is improving. For a while there it was kind of sad how a guy that big wouldn’t hit anyone but now he’s got a bit more of a mean streak built up and he’s going to have a whole year to develop it since this year he’s going to get healthy and stay that way. As for Ryan Wilson, now there’s a man that doesn’t need any help developing a mean streak. This guy is in the same bracket as Niklas Kronwall and Johnny Boychuck when it comes to devastating open ice hits and since he’s going to stay healthy too he’s going to give a major boost to the blueline. His open ice hits a-la Rob Blake can stop a rush dead in its tracks and make it much harder for teams to enter the zone which was a real problem last year. He’s also not a bad puck mover. This is going to be the year he stays healthy and earns the league wide recognition he deserves as a big hitter.
<p>As for the forwards it’s easy to be optimistic about these guys. Let’s start with the first line. How cool will it be to see Ryan O’Reilly playing wing? The guy was on pace for another great season offensively last year and this year there’ll be none of that contract holdout nonsense weighing him down. On an equally promising note he gives the Avs another centerman on this top line if Matt Duchene gets kicked out of the faceoff dot (that seems to happen a lot more than it used to these days). He’ll also ensure that the top line has a defensively conscious presence. Furthermore, O’Reilly is an underrated shooter and I’ll be excited to see what he can do with a passing wizard like P.A. Parenteau on his other side. Couple him with Duchene and Parenteau and this is just a terrific offensive line. Duchene brings some blazing speed to the table and what excites me is that when he was interviewed in the off season he said one of his goals this year was to get faster. I’m trying to imagine Matt Duchene getting faster and it’s making me grin from ear to ear. P.A. Parenteau meanwhile, one of the better signings of last years’ free agency period by any team, actually tied his career high in goals in the shortened season last year. Look for him to beat it this year. He and Duchene were both on pace for thirty goal seasons last year so don’t be surprised to see them hit 30 this year. I’ll be surprised if all three members of this line don’t score at least twenty five goals.
<p>The second line makes me feel optimistic too. I know Paul Stastny didn’t have a great year last year but he had a wildly successful World Championship and last year he was forced to play with the enigmatic (read: useless) David Jones most of the time. Now he’s got Gabriel Landeskog to pass to. Landeskog is going to see big rises in his point totals this year. That awful concussion is a thing of the past and the shorthanded goals he was scoring towards the end of last year were things of beauty. He’s going to use his speed and physicality to generate chances and his tenacity and drive to the net (coupled with a great shot) to bury those chances. Now he’s going to have two great set up men, Stastny and Alex Tanguay giving him the puck for those big, heavy slapshots of his. Tanguay, meanwhile, is going to love playing with the intelligent Stastny and the bullish Landeskog. Fifty points from all three members of this line is by no means out of the question. In fact I would say I expect it.
<p>This third line is perhaps the one I’m most excited to see. With McGinn, Downie and MacKinnon this is going to be one fast third line, maybe the best third line in the NHL. MacKinnon, who will be the center of attention (and the centerman) on this line will be putting up some big numbers and will see some powerplay time too. Do you guys remember Matt Duchene’s rookie season? I do and let me tell you have seen MacKinnon play many times he is ahead of where Duchene was at that age. He’s faster, his shot is better and he’s more physical. That’s one reason this line is going to be so fun to watch: they’ll be hard to play against and will forecheck like demons. You don’t often think of MacKinnon as a big hitter but he hits hard and he himself says his game is as much about hounding the puck on the forecheck as it is about finesse. He’ll hit right in with Downie and McGinn, two fast, physical players who are all about the forecheck. If you’re worried about them keeping up with young MacKinnon, don’t be. McGinn spent time with Matt Duchene last year and looked pretty good and Downie had some of his most successful seasons playing alongside one Steven Stamkos. Just you watch, this line is going to terrorize goalies and defensemen alike and give the Avs 3 scoring lines.
<p>The Fourth line will be fun to watch too. I’ve missed watching McLeod drive people hard into the boards or watching Bordy huff and puff before blowing someone’s house down. I’ve missed watching Mitchell and his calm under fire play and his surprisingly quick wrist shot. I’ve missed the hard to play against style they all play, missed watching Bordeleau beat the tar out of people, and missed watching McLeod yap his way to the penalty box after a fight. I’m looking forward to watching all of that very many times over an 82 game season.
<p>One last reason for optimism? The coaches. I’ve mentioned this before in this blog but it bears repeating one more time. Patrick Roy is going to work wonders on this team. His time in the Q proves he’s good with young players and this is indeed a young team he has to work with. It’s so refreshing to see how obviously excited he is to work with this group. It’s fun to watch him get giddy at the thought of being able to coach Nate MacKinnon (really, who among us ever thought they’d see Patrick Roy giddy?) and it’s fun watching MacKinnon be so obviously excited in return. I can’t wait to see the fire Patrick Roy will light under this team. His hate to lose attitude will rub off on the rest of the team and carry them into the playoffs maybe as soon as this season. No one hates losing more than St. Patrick and his team will hate to lose, so to avoid that I guess they’ll just have to win.
<p>That does it for the shamelessly optimistic blog. I hope some of that optimism rubs off on you guys. Personally I’m pumped for this season and as glad as I am to be shot of August I think September can’t possibly end fast enough.
<p>September has finally arrived to, as Stephen King once wrote, “kick summer out on its treacherous ass as it always does.” August, the most boring month in a hockey fans life, has been kicked to the curb and hockey is soon upon us, thankfully. In just a day or so the Prospects Tournament will begin in Penticton and Traverse City and just a few days after that training camps will start. Teams will take to the ice with their young guns from this most recent draft and new faces they’ve brought in over the offseason and at this point in the year the fans of absolutely any team can think of something to be excited about for the coming year and can convince themselves that there team is playoff bound. Each fan can look at their team’s roster for training camp (likely released by now or soon to be) and find an old player they’re excited to see back, a new player they’re excited to see begin his time with their team and a rookie who they think might surprise them. In short, this is the time of year where hockey fans can feel shamelessly optimistic about their team and I’m no exception.
<p>With that in mind it’s time for an optimistic look at what the Avalanche could do this season and how everything is going to come together just right for this team. It’s a new season with new management and a new coach and a new future star to be excited about. I’m pumped about absolutely everything to do with this team right now, even the problem areas.rnrn<p>As for the goaltending, I know a lot of people are looking at the goaltending with a sceptical eye but I’m really not worried. We have a great, athletic up and coming young goaltender and one of the league’s most experienced and talented backups to help him. Semyon Varlamov is athletic and capable of making some highlight reel saves and watching him work for Russia during the World Championships the last two years (2012 especially) was a real eye opener for me as to just how good of a goalie he can be. I was also watching classic series the other night watching some of his work back when he was with the Capitals and that was enough to get me pumped about the young man. On top of that the Avs have brought in the maestro himself, Francois Allaire, to work with him. That is going to work wonders for the young man’s game. It will help J.S. Giguere as well, a former student of Allaire’s in Toronto and a very public proponent of Allaire’s work. I feel better about the goaltending going into this year than I have since Craig Anderson was traded.
<p>As for the defense, hey, they can’t get any worse right? Okay, if I’m going to be optimistic I can do better than that! The defense is going to be amazing this year… okay maybe I’d better find a middle ground. The defense is going to see improvement for a couple of reasons. One, new coaching staff bringing new systems, which can only be a good thing for this group. Two, the addition of Adam Foote to the coaching staff in particular is a great way to improve this group. Who could possibly be better to teach the Avs up and coming defensemen how to play a hard-nosed game than the master of shut down defense himself? Three, the young defensemen on the team, namely Stefan Elliot and Tyson Barrie, are going to have a big time breakout this year. Elliot has been shuttled back to the AHL enough times and those of us who saw Tyson Barrie at the end of last year saw what great work he was putting in. For much of the last part of the season he was the best defensemen on the team and no that’s not saying much but since this is an optimistic blog I won’t dwell on that. Elliot, meanwhile, is going to benefit from the mentorship he gets from Patrick Roy (who has proven himself to be great with young players in the QMJHL) and Adam Foote, who will help him round out the defensive part of his game. Let’s face it, when Elliot struggled last year he didn’t exactly have the best coaching staff in the NHL to turn to for guidance. This year he’ll have a better go of things, just you watch!
<p>Another reason the defence will be better this year is that Ryan Wilson and Erik Johnson will finally be healthy again. Johnson may never live up to his billing as a number one overall pick but watching him play, with the skill set he’s got and the massive frame he has, you get the sense a lot of his problems are with his head, not his body. This is another example of where a revamped coaching staff will do a world of good and watching Johnson since he has arrived with the Avs there is one trend as far as his game goes that I’m genuinely optimistic about: his physical game is improving. For a while there it was kind of sad how a guy that big wouldn’t hit anyone but now he’s got a bit more of a mean streak built up and he’s going to have a whole year to develop it since this year he’s going to get healthy and stay that way. As for Ryan Wilson, now there’s a man that doesn’t need any help developing a mean streak. This guy is in the same bracket as Niklas Kronwall and Johnny Boychuck when it comes to devastating open ice hits and since he’s going to stay healthy too he’s going to give a major boost to the blueline. His open ice hits a-la Rob Blake can stop a rush dead in its tracks and make it much harder for teams to enter the zone which was a real problem last year. He’s also not a bad puck mover. This is going to be the year he stays healthy and earns the league wide recognition he deserves as a big hitter.
<p>As for the forwards it’s easy to be optimistic about these guys. Let’s start with the first line. How cool will it be to see Ryan O’Reilly playing wing? The guy was on pace for another great season offensively last year and this year there’ll be none of that contract holdout nonsense weighing him down. On an equally promising note he gives the Avs another centerman on this top line if Matt Duchene gets kicked out of the faceoff dot (that seems to happen a lot more than it used to these days). He’ll also ensure that the top line has a defensively conscious presence. Furthermore, O’Reilly is an underrated shooter and I’ll be excited to see what he can do with a passing wizard like P.A. Parenteau on his other side. Couple him with Duchene and Parenteau and this is just a terrific offensive line. Duchene brings some blazing speed to the table and what excites me is that when he was interviewed in the off season he said one of his goals this year was to get faster. I’m trying to imagine Matt Duchene getting faster and it’s making me grin from ear to ear. P.A. Parenteau meanwhile, one of the better signings of last years’ free agency period by any team, actually tied his career high in goals in the shortened season last year. Look for him to beat it this year. He and Duchene were both on pace for thirty goal seasons last year so don’t be surprised to see them hit 30 this year. I’ll be surprised if all three members of this line don’t score at least twenty five goals.
<p>The second line makes me feel optimistic too. I know Paul Stastny didn’t have a great year last year but he had a wildly successful World Championship and last year he was forced to play with the enigmatic (read: useless) David Jones most of the time. Now he’s got Gabriel Landeskog to pass to. Landeskog is going to see big rises in his point totals this year. That awful concussion is a thing of the past and the shorthanded goals he was scoring towards the end of last year were things of beauty. He’s going to use his speed and physicality to generate chances and his tenacity and drive to the net (coupled with a great shot) to bury those chances. Now he’s going to have two great set up men, Stastny and Alex Tanguay giving him the puck for those big, heavy slapshots of his. Tanguay, meanwhile, is going to love playing with the intelligent Stastny and the bullish Landeskog. Fifty points from all three members of this line is by no means out of the question. In fact I would say I expect it.
<p>This third line is perhaps the one I’m most excited to see. With McGinn, Downie and MacKinnon this is going to be one fast third line, maybe the best third line in the NHL. MacKinnon, who will be the center of attention (and the centerman) on this line will be putting up some big numbers and will see some powerplay time too. Do you guys remember Matt Duchene’s rookie season? I do and let me tell you have seen MacKinnon play many times he is ahead of where Duchene was at that age. He’s faster, his shot is better and he’s more physical. That’s one reason this line is going to be so fun to watch: they’ll be hard to play against and will forecheck like demons. You don’t often think of MacKinnon as a big hitter but he hits hard and he himself says his game is as much about hounding the puck on the forecheck as it is about finesse. He’ll hit right in with Downie and McGinn, two fast, physical players who are all about the forecheck. If you’re worried about them keeping up with young MacKinnon, don’t be. McGinn spent time with Matt Duchene last year and looked pretty good and Downie had some of his most successful seasons playing alongside one Steven Stamkos. Just you watch, this line is going to terrorize goalies and defensemen alike and give the Avs 3 scoring lines.
<p>The Fourth line will be fun to watch too. I’ve missed watching McLeod drive people hard into the boards or watching Bordy huff and puff before blowing someone’s house down. I’ve missed watching Mitchell and his calm under fire play and his surprisingly quick wrist shot. I’ve missed the hard to play against style they all play, missed watching Bordeleau beat the tar out of people, and missed watching McLeod yap his way to the penalty box after a fight. I’m looking forward to watching all of that very many times over an 82 game season.
<p>One last reason for optimism? The coaches. I’ve mentioned this before in this blog but it bears repeating one more time. Patrick Roy is going to work wonders on this team. His time in the Q proves he’s good with young players and this is indeed a young team he has to work with. It’s so refreshing to see how obviously excited he is to work with this group. It’s fun to watch him get giddy at the thought of being able to coach Nate MacKinnon (really, who among us ever thought they’d see Patrick Roy giddy?) and it’s fun watching MacKinnon be so obviously excited in return. I can’t wait to see the fire Patrick Roy will light under this team. His hate to lose attitude will rub off on the rest of the team and carry them into the playoffs maybe as soon as this season. No one hates losing more than St. Patrick and his team will hate to lose, so to avoid that I guess they’ll just have to win.
<p>That does it for the shamelessly optimistic blog. I hope some of that optimism rubs off on you guys. Personally I’m pumped for this season and as glad as I am to be shot of August I think September can’t possibly end fast enough.