Avs Game 13 Grades: It All Counts

Nicolas Aube-Kubel – F

Is this too harsh for the new guy’s first game? Definitely, but welcome to a team that has expectations and standards. He was a total non-factor in the role in which he started and his biggest problem, taking penalties, showed up as he took the first Avs penalty of the game in which the Canucks used it as a springboard for building momentum and taking control of the game. You can argue it was soft, but it was absolutely unnecessary. More is going to be needed if he’s going to hang around.

Andre Burakovsky – D

The upside here is that his shot metrics actually look pretty good but individually Burakovsky is playing the kind of game that I can’t stand from NHL players. He’s not digging the way he needs to be and he’s not playing with a commitment to the details in his game. It’s all very soft from Burakovsky, which you live with when he’s at his best but not when he’s struggling the way he is. With no MacKinnon, the Avs need Burakovsky to tap into his better angels.

Samuel Girard – D-

Hard to believe the Avs won with me grading the first three players so poorly but that’s how it goes sometimes, I suppose. Girard took a huge step back after a great week last week. So many issues. Arguably his most positive contribution was smoking Quinn Hughes, who responded by skating 170 feet to cross-check Girard and put the Avs on the PP where Makar scored the GWG. You’ll take it, but Girard has much better in him than we saw tonight.

Darren Helm – C

He got smoked at even strength. SMOKED. It was one of the rare times Colorado’s AHL fill-in fourth line really looked the part. Helm’s PK work was once again very good, however, and that elevates his grade here.

Erik Johnson – F

Just my personal opinion but I thought this was Johnson’s worst game of the season. So many self-inflicted wounds, especially with the puck, and even some of his better defensive plays only happened as a result of poor plays he made on the other end of the ice. I thought he was absolutely awful offensively.

Jack Johnson – D

Basically nothing happens offensively with this Johnson on the ice. What can’t happen is for the opposing team to have six high-danger chances at 5v5 in just 12 minutes with him out there. The only player who gave up more was the other Johnson.

Tyson Jost – C-

He ended up okay in shot metrics (notably shots on goal), and he did some things across the game that I liked. He was good on the PK and that’s great, but with no MacKinnon and no Compher, there needs to be more from him. He at least threw some pucks on net, which is nice, but where is a great Tyson Jost moment? Where’s the try hard? Just too soft from him right now.

Nazem Kadri – A+

Back in the day, Kadri would’ve gotten an S ranking out of me but I stopped handing them out because the non-gamers were confused so we’ll just move on. This was an all-encompassing great effort from Kadri. Awesome night from him once again.

Darcy Kuemper – A

The only reason he’s not getting the plus is because he essentially scored the second goal on himself, albeit entirely on accident. He stopped Poolman’s shot but then he pushed the puck into the net with two different pieces of gear. It’s funny now because they won but whoops! His blocker save after the game-tying goal in the second period might end up his save of the year. Huge game for him.

Gabriel Landeskog – B-

I really don’t know how to feel about Landy tonight. He whiffed on an empty net but snagged an assist because Kadri slammed it home seconds later, then he got a freebie goal with the ENG. Disregarding the free points, I thought he was good and effective tonight. Very active. Good but not great.

Cale Makar – B

Sometimes, your best players can have “okay” games and then with the swiftness of a thunderbolt, change the game. That was Makar tonight with the game-winning goal. He also smoked a puck off the post right before Rantanen’s goal. Loved his physicality at times tonight. A good night for 8.

Jayson Megna – F

Megna has gotten by a lot this year on the basis of “bad things didn’t happen” with him on the ice. Now, the Canucks didn’t score with him out there but it sure wasn’t from lack of attempts. One of Megna’s worst performances of the year.

Ryan Murray – D

The only guy on the ice for both of Vancouver’s goals, but that was as much a bad luck thing as anything else. I didn’t see anything from Murray that felt good all night. His complete lack of interest in shooting the puck actually shocks me a lot for a guy with as much natural puck skill as he has (which isn’t to say he has a ton, just that he has enough to profile as a good offensive player who doesn’t maximize those skills).

Alex Newhook – C-

Nowhere near the energy he showed last week, but I still saw some things from Newhook I liked. He’s learning that finding ways to be effective in games where you’re not constantly with the puck is an important trick to master in the NHL. I’m grading this purely on a curve of “this is a good experience for his development.”

Valeri Nichushkin – B

It’s the rare negative shot-metric night for Nuke, but I actually loved a lot of his play. He didn’t end up on the scoresheet or anything but I thought his board work and puck retrieval was very good in a game where his teammates were sorely lacking in that area specifically. He’s figured out his best self and seems to be tapping into it more often than not this year.

Logan O’Connor – C

He looked totally out of place on the top line, but immediately showed life both on the PK and later in the game when he got dropped a couple of lines to a more natural-fitting role. Opposing players cannot stand him. I wonder why?

Mikko Rantanen – B

Opened the scoring with a nice shot, ended the game with a great strip of Quinn Hughes and a freebie assist to Landeskog. All good there. He’s clearly not comfortable doing all the heavy lifting of a 1C but given he’s not played much center in the NHL in his life, he’s doing an adequate job making it up as he goes.

Kiefer Sherwood – F

Gave failing grades to all of the fourth-line guys tonight for a reason. They got caved in, provided nothing offensively, and there was nothing intangible for me to lean on in this one. More efforts like this from Sherwood and the Avs seriously look for a call-up option.

Devon Toews – B

I don’t understand how he does it, but Toews just might be Colorado’s best defenseman right now. He’s chipping in offense consistently and playing lights-out defense every night. He’s not perfect, of course, but he raises this Colorado defense a ton. On a night where one of his teammates had a 6% expected goals for at 5v5 (!!), Toews somehow finished at 59%. What in the world?