The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly swirling around the Avalanche

The Colorado Avalanche made a trade, rumors continued to swirl, and the team made some quality effort on the ice, without getting the desired result. Yet, there are a lot of interesting bits to consider from the past week with the Avalanche.

THE GOOD

1. Congratulations go out to three former Avalanche players as they were named to the IIHF Hall of Fame – Joe Sakic, Uwe Krupp and Teemu Selanne!

2. Colorado continues their solid faceoff performance, ranking second among all NHL teams with a 53.4% winning percentage.

3. Alternate Captain Matt Duchene celebrated his 26th birthday yesterday – Happy Birthday!

4. Duchene, by the way, continues to dominate in the faceoff circle, second only to Antoine Vermette of the Anaheim Ducks for winning percentage. However, fellow Alternate Captain Nathan MacKinnon has taken over 340 more face-offs than Duchene, winning 52.4%. MacKinnon has become a lion at center and he is only 21. Future looks bright!

5. Shout out to forward Carl Soderberg who seems to be rediscovering some of last year’s ability. He now owns 51.5% faceoff win percent, and has taken nearly as many faceoffs as Matt Duchene. He also has took 13 shots in the last three games. For a guy who was lucky to get a single puck anywhere near the net earlier in the season, that’s an improvement. Next step – score!

6. Matt Nieto earned his first point in an Avalanche jersey on an assist for Captain Gabriel Landeskog’s goal against the Nashville Predators. He now has as many points as John Mitchell and Eric Gelinas. Welcome to the team!

7. Veteran defenseman Francois Beauchemin finally broke through and scored his first goal of the season against the Anaheim Ducks. He now has nine points.

8. Landeskog seems to be returning to mid-season form as he scored two goals in the last three games.

9. MacKinnon earned three points in the last three games with two goals, including an overtime game-winner against the New York Islanders, and an assist. So everyone knows two guys who continue to gut through the trenches.

10. Don’t look now, but Colorado only surrendered one goal in nine penalty kill situations over the past three games. Maybe if no one notices, they will continue to improve?

11. The Colorado Avalanche finally made a trade, sending veteran Cody McLeod to the Nashville Predators for an AHL center man. McLeod was averaging less than six minutes in ice time per game, had registered one goal in his 28 game appearances, and logged 52 penalty minutes. For those counting at home, he served nearly one minute of penalty time for every three minutes of ice time he played. Suffice it to say, McLeod didn’t find a place in Coach Bednar’s system. But his reputation as a character guy in the locker room will be tough to replace.

THE BAD

1. Halfway through the season last year, the Avalanche owned a 20-18-3 record and 43 points. This year they are 13-27-1 with 27 points. Ouch.

2. Goaltender Semyon Varlamov better recover some of his form or he won’t even be valuable as trade bait. He used to be clutch when the Avalanche needed a stand up performance. Not so much this year. He ranks 47th among NHL goaltenders with a .901 save percent. Calvin Pickard placed 41st with .902. Pickard has one more win than Varlamov, with five fewer appearances. Both need to do better.

3. The power play continues to struggle, with the Avalanche scoring only once on 10 chances over the last three games. But hey, at least they got one goal. It’s been awhile.

4. Cody McLeod nearly had a Gordie Howe hat trick in his debut as a Nashville Predator. He scored a goal on his first shot, took a fighting penalty in a half-hearted scrum with Jarome Iginla, and almost notched an assist. He also logged more than 10 minutes in ice time, more time than any game with the Avalanche this year. Good for McLeod but not so good he accomplished these feats against the Avalanche.

THE UGLY

1. The Avalanche’s consistent ability to play inconsistently and make game-losing mistakes is ugly. And frustrating. It has to be worse for the players. Hopefully, the Coach can keep the players from turning on each other and creating a toxic environment. In a situation like they are in, that could be even more devastating.

2. The Avalanche’s Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog continue to be listed as top contenders for a trade. Someone needs to explain how trading two quality forwards locked up for reasonable contracts will help Colorado, especially given the dismal return the speculative trades would garner. Short of getting an Evgeni Malkin (not going to happen), the Avalanche don’t look to profit from either trade.

3. The trade rumors continue to swirl, ramping up to twister like proportions. While it may be an intriguing intellectual exercise and great for sports talk, it has to be ugly for the players to hear their names bandied about and discussed as expendables. For a team struggling to gain confidence, the players are going to have to dig deep to tune out the noise.

THOUGHTS TO PONDER

1. The Avalanche have played fewer games than anyone in their conference. So while their points are still dismal, they have a real opportunity to climb out of the cellar to finish with a decent record if they start to gel.

2. McLeod spent 10 years with the Avalanche and was the longest tenured player currently on the team. He appeared in 659 games for Colorado. Within the Central Division, only six players own a longer current streak with one team – Mikko Koivu (805 games – Minnesota Wild), Patrick Kane (704 games – Chicago Blackhawks), Jonathan Toews (682 games – Chicago), Duncan Keith (879 –Chicago), Brent Seabrook (888 – Chicago), and Patrick Sharp (774 – Dallas Stars).

3. McLeod ranks 122nd among active NHL players for the number of games played. For a man who consistently played a supplementary role, that’s fairly impressive. When one takes into account the NHL average career spans 5.65 years and includes 247.5 games (per Quanthockey.com), McLeod’s tenure with the Avalanche stands out.

4. Considering the caliber of the other Central Division players with longer tenure with their teams, it makes one wonder if Colorado’s issues are the result of a much deeper problem for a much longer time, occasionally covered over by freakishly good play from a handful of players for short periods of time. It could explain why rebuilding the organization from the ground up has proven such a challenge. It could also be a good argument for keeping the core players. Seems to have worked for Chicago.

Either way, it’s a thought to ponder. Thank you to Mr. McLeod for all the great memories and may you (clenches fists and grimaces) prosper in Nashville!

WHAT TO WATCH

1. Ssshhhh – the Avalanche have a chance to go 2-2 at home should they be able to find a way to win in tonight’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks.

2. After the Blackhawks, the Avalanche take their show on the road for two games, facing off against the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks, before returning home to host the Sharks Monday night.

3. For the San Antonio Rampage, the A.J. Greer – J.T. Compher – Rocco Grimaldi line continue to rack up points, earning the nickname the GCG line, and sparking speculation the Avalanche should call the entire line up to the big club. While it’s not likely, it sure looks enticing.

FROM THE “IT COULD BE WORSE” DEPARTMENT, THE COLORADO AVALANCHE COULD LOOK LIKE THESE GUYS –