Avs Weekly Mailbag: The Central Division, Annunen, Circling the Sharks, and more

Welcome to the weekly Avs mailbag, where we answer whatever Avs questions you have on your mind. If you have any questions for the mailbag, leave them for Evan Rawal on twitter or respond in the comments.

https://twitter.com/GeorgeTalksAvs/status/1213942591353311233?s=20

This is a good question, because looking at the Central Division, it is generally an older division. Going off the statistics to start the season, the Central had four of the nine oldest teams in the league. The Avs started the season off as the youngest team in the NHL, but as things move along, that may have changed a bit. The next closest team in the division, in terms of youth, is Winnipeg.

If you look at the Blues, it is an older team that is going to face a cap crunch sooner or later. Heck, it may happen sooner rather than later. Pietrangelo is a UFA this summer and he’s either going to get a long term extension for a lot of money, or leave for nothing. Either way, they have to make decisions based off that and adjust. Jaden Schwartz is a UFA in a year as well, and Binnington in two years. They still have a good base, so I’m tempted to lean towards them as the top competition moving forward, but this league changes so quickly, you just never know. Three years ago, the Avs were in the midst of their dumpster fire season, so that shows you how quickly it changed here.

I think Nashville is going to be on the downswing here soon. Winnipeg has a lot of good pieces up front, and they’ve got a good young goalie locked up long term, but that defense is iffy. Dallas is an older team with a few good young pieces. Minnesota is in need of a rebuild. My default here is to say that the Blues will still be the top competition in the West in a few years, but I would say Winnipeg is right behind them, just due to their high-end talent up front and in net.

The Sharks look officially cooked. Anyone on the Sharks worth a trade offer? I know they don’t want to tank, but they don’t seem to have much of a choice, and may want to shake things up.

— Aaron Halvorsen (@aaronmhalvorsen) January 5, 2020

Well, we talk about older teams…and that’s an older team right there. The Sharks are likely the next team that will need to go through a retool and find some younger players. They trade away their draft picks seemingly every year, so it may be a lean few years for them.

As for their roster, I’m not so sure there is much to trade for, because the guys I could see the Avs being interested in just have big-ticket contracts. Timo Meier is one of their few young guys, so I don’t see them dealing him. Tomas Hertl is no longer young at 26, but I think he’s someone they will want to keep around. It’s not a name Avs fans may want to hear, but if there was any way to get them to retain anything, Evander Kane is a guy who wouldn’t be a bad fit on the Avs. He’s on pace to score over 30 again this year and would bring some grit to the lineup. Beyond that, everyone else is too old or too expensive to be of interest to the Avs.

https://twitter.com/Chynes101/status/1213950755033382912?s=20

Annunen will be 20 in two months, so the Avs have plenty of time here. I could definitely see the Avs talking to Annunen and seeing if he’s interested in coming over to the AHL next year to form a tandem with Adam Werner, who is having a strong season for the Eagles. That would give the Avs an exciting 1-2 punch down there for fans to keep up with.

That being said, I could see the Avs wanting to be a little patient and giving him another year in Finland to develop. As good as he’s been in the Finnish Elite League, he isn’t even the starting goalie for Kärpät, as Patrik Rybar has started the majority of the games. If the Avs feel he may get more playing time next year, I don’t think Finland is a bad option. If it doesn’t look like that will happen, getting him over to North America should definitely be the next option, as he can get used to the North American ice and longer schedule.

Whether he comes over to North America this summer or next summer, it sure is nice to have a few good looking young prospects in net with Annunen and Werner. The Avs seem to be in a good position there.

Will the Avs trade for a 3-4 D-man before the trade deadline?

— Rick Sallee (@ltcpain75) January 5, 2020

My gut says no. It would appear the Avs are more interested in adding a legit top-six forward than adding a defenseman at this point in time. I think part of it is that we’re already starting to see Andre Burakovsky and Joonas Donskoi kind of come back down to earth a little bit. They’re still producing, but just not at the absurd rate they were to start the season. I think the Avs may want to find Kadri a winger that has a bit more proven scoring history than those two do to bolster the lineup heading into the postseason.

IS COACH BEDNAR TWEAKING THE LINES TOO MUCH? Seriously it does seem like he’s tinkering lots more than I would’ve expected given the team is a top tiered team

— Thick and thin Avs fan! (@orig_rockiefan) January 6, 2020

Not necessarily. Watching other teams around the league, they do it quite frequently as well. I think Bednar knows he ultimately wants to keep the top line together and is trying to see what combinations might work beyond that. The fact of the matter is that it would take a monumental collapse for this team to miss the playoffs, so testing some things out now isn’t the worst thing in the world. For example, Washington moves things around in their top six all the time during the regular season. You have to keep some things fresh in the season rather than sticking with the same lines over and over. Building chemistry with different players doesn’t hurt and should hopefully help in the long run.

@DNVR_Avalanche someone has to ask the obligatory Girard question, right?

— Jackie Kay (@tigervixxxen) January 6, 2020

I TOLD EVERYONE HE WOULD BE FINE.

Give the team a New Years resolution

— Meeqs (@Meeqs) January 6, 2020

Take care of your business at home. The Avs have been very good on the road this year, but at home, just okay. They learned how to do it down the stretch last season and into the playoffs, but for some reason, it hasn’t really carried over into this season, so that’s the one thing I would want them to resolve. If they can figure out how to win at home more so than they have this year, than they will be deadly come April.