Avalanche Game 17 Grades: Cale Makar is Lone Star

Jack Johnson – D

Pretty average Jack Jonnson night, honestly. The Avs were sloppy all night,  he got beat out from behind the net for the first goal, and that bumped him down grade-wise.

Erik Johnson – D-

The sharp decline is here. Erik Johnson has become problematic for this team when he plays like he did tonight. The play just dies on his stick.

Devon Toews – B-

I liked him, amongst really bad play from most of the team, I thought he did a good job of pushing the play and making good decisions.

Cale Makar – B+

The Avs Best player by a pretty wide margin tonight, in my opinion. Was one of the few players not being completely careless with the puck. Another goal for him, just give this kid the puck. His ability to create his own space is borderline unbelievable.

Jayson Megna – D+

He gets the “+” because I thought his feet were moving. His line got caved in early on and is part of what led to Dallas getting off to such a strong start.

Valeri Nichushkin – C-

Thought maybe he would have an extra jump in his step tonight, being back in Dallas and all. Alas, he did not. Was very average all night.

Nicolas Aubé-Kubel – D

The big knock against NAK coming from Philly was that he takes bad penalties. I thought the first two he’s had in his time with the Avs were kind of iffy calls but tonight he barreled into Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger and put his team down a man, where they eventually gave up the third goal to Dallas.

Tyson Jost – C

He’s working his tail off. I thought he was fine tonight, basically dead even from a corsi-perspective.

Alex Newhook – C

I can’t remember anything he did outside of drawing a penalty in the first. Tonight is one of those games where getting a goal from him when your top guys obviously didn’t have it, would have been huge. He came in with goals in back-to-back games, so you can’t be too mad.

Logan O’Connor – C-

Lots of line blending tonight led to LOC coming off that top line in the third period, but his effort was there as it always is. 

Ryan Murray – D+

He just made some decisions that honestly didn’t make sense to me. Was a big part of the Avs’ poor puck management all night.

Darren Helm – C-

He was fine for the most part after that first period that saw his line get crushed. I liked him on the PK tonight. 

Kiefer Sherwood – C-

I dare you to tell me one thing that Sherwood did that stuck out to you. Positive or negative.

Sam Girard – C-

Actually liked him in the offensive zone tonight. Thought he did a good job of keeping plays alive when it seemed like, at times, his teammates were actively trying to kill offensive opportunities. He was pretty sloppy in most other areas though.

Nazem Kadri – C

Tonight did not look like the last 10 games we’ve seen from Kadri. Did a good job of wining face-offs when his team was struggling to get possession.

Gabriel Landeskog – D+

A disappointing effort from the captain. Personally, I think Landeskog is a great captain, but it’s nights like tonight where he earns criticism. Just not good enough from the emotional leader of the team.

Andre Burakovsky – D

As great of a shooter as he is, he really can’t shoot sometimes. Just missing the net and wrapping pucks around to breakout the Stars. Has become somewhat of a problem for him this season.

Mikko Rantanen – C-

“You’re supposed to be the best player on the team, and you can’t be a ghost” – Rudo.

Thought that was spot on, what else can you say.

Darcy Kuemper – C+

His skates stayed in one piece. So that’s a win. He maybe would want that third one back, but I thought he was good otherwise.