Avalanche Roundtable: Remembering the season that was

With the NHL season currently on pause, we decided to look back at the 70 games that actually got played and remember the things that have already happened.

This roundtable features the primary three faces of the DNVR Avalanche in AJ Haefele, Evan Rawal, and Nathan Rudolph.

Best moment

AJ: Colorado’s “other” win against Nashville , a 3-2 road win, stands out to me as my favorite moment. The beatdown in Denver was cathartic and memorable on its own (see below!) but there was something about the Avs beating a desperate Predators team in Nashville for their sixth straight win and second straight Saturday in which they won the second game of a back to back.

They were beaten up and coming off a physical win over the Hurricanes the day earlier and the injuries had already mounted to the point of ridiculous. It was a classic “character” win, one of those games that said more about the players in the room than on the ice. They were proving themselves to be one of the league’s premier road teams and their ability to scrape wins, especially against opponents with everything to play for, provided plenty of encouragement for believing this was a team that could accomplish something special come postseason.

This was one of my favorite moments of the year because they were exhausted, physically and mentally, and toppled a hostile environment in a game that wasn’t particularly important to them but it sure was to Nashville. They had just gotten into the habit of winning and weren’t interested in giving it up.

Evan: The Avs are a team full of star players, but how about one for the lesser name guys? Or better yet, your third goaltender? On November 12, in the first minute of the game, Pavel Francouz was knocked out, and Adam Werner had to come into a hostile environment and play his first NHL minutes. At this point, the game is a write-off, right?

Not so fast. Werner saw some easy shots to get him into the game in the first, and then in the second and third periods, played lights out, making multiple fantastic stops, including some one-timers from Patrik Laine, on his way to a 40 save victory. The only reason he didn’t get a shutout on the stat sheet was because he didn’t play the first 31 seconds of the game, but you know what? We’ll give it to him here. It was one of those moments that showed the depth and resiliency of this team, to overcome any obstacle that stood in their way.

Rudo: Man on a mission Nathan MacKinnon. When Nathan MacKinnon decides he wants to get something done he has that uncanny almost supernatural ability to go out and do it. That was on full display in mid-November during the Avs 5 – 4 overtime win over the Vancouver Canucks.

The Avs were tracking for a straight forward 4 – 2 win late in the third period with MacKinnon having added a goal and an assist to his totals. Then came what could be argued as the worst moment of the season and certainly the most dangerous. Matt Calvert the heart and soul player that he is wouldn’t give up on a block attempt and ended up taking a slap shot right to the head. As he writhed in pain and blood started to come from his helmet the play continued on eventually leading to a Vancouver goal. The goal would count and the Canucks would tie the game with a minute left thanks to the extra attacker and a game that looked over was suddenly headed to overtime.

Losing this game was a timeline that simply could not stand, not for Matt Calvert, not for the Avs, not for the NHL, not for the concept of justice. The Vancouver canucks had no business making it to overtime and it was Nathan MacKinnon to play the role of executioner. Twenty seconds into overtime, he swung the axe.

Best game

AJ: Back to Nashville, but the 9-4 win in Denver was striking for so many reasons. It wasn’t just that Colorado was outplaying the Preds so thoroughly, it was such a special combination of elements that made the game memorable beyond just its final score.

It was Matt Duchene scoring in the second period to give the Preds a 3-2 lead and the Avs seemingly getting defiant and clamping down hard in their pushback. It was six goals in eight minutes. It was the awesome display of talent up and down the lineup. It was Pavel Francouz playing arguably his worst game of the year and it did not matter one damn bit. It was Nashville giving up nine goals for the first time in franchise history.

But more than any of that, it was the symbolic passing of the torch. Just two years earlier, those two franchises met in the playoffs with Nashville the easy top seed and the Avs scraped in by one of the thinnest margins imaginable as a Cinderella eight seed. It was a more competitive series than many expected but ended up being a preview of what was to come: Nashville a power at its zenith, Colorado an emerging force. The 9-4 beatdown felt like the transition had been completed. Colorado had taken over as the team nobody wanted a piece of (alongside St. Louis, for sure) and Nashville was the frustrating disappointment nobody understood. Boy, was it a fun day at Pepsi Center, too.

Evan: If I remember correctly when the Avs went into Boston in early December, the Bruins had not lost a single game at home in regulation. The Avs put an end to that.

This was a night where the Avs didn’t have Nazem Kadri or Erik Johnson, and Philipp Grubauer got hurt early in the first period, so Pavel Francouz had to come in cold and shut down an elite team. The best part about this game was the Avs playing, to that date, their best defensive game of the year, giving the Bruins absolutely no room and it was kind of a thing to come for later in the season, as the Avs would quickly become one of the better defensive teams in the league. Nikita Zadorov played the game of his life that night, logging over 27 minutes and shutting down Pastrnak and Marchand.

While it wasn’t a big offensive showcase or anything like that, it was a sign that the Avs could hang with the elite teams in the league, and win games with their defense.

Rudo: Skating into Vegas and blowing them out 6 – 1 early in the season. With the hot start, it was clear the Avs were good, but that was the first game of the season where I realized this team was for real even when they were missing a key piece like Rantanen.

The seemingly endless depth showing out with multi-point nights from both Bellemare and Calvert. Cale Makar notched his first goal of the season off of a back door pinch. Nathan MacKinnon began to show flashes of not just being a superstar but raising others to new heights as well. Even the Avs special teams were clicking with both a powerplay and short-handed goal. This was just before the injuries really began to hit hard and the Avs hit their first slump of the season. In hindsight, this blowout was the signal that this team would be just fine on the other side.

Most surprising moment

AJ: Tyson Jost’s hat trick at Tampa Bay sticks out to me. It wasn’t just what happened after where scoring goals became Jost’s number one nemesis but it was the second night of a back to back against one of the NHL’s top teams. This was a perfect storm where all of Jost’s potential showed up in one game before he would turn into the “process over production” player that defined his third NHL year. It came out of nowhere and he scored just eight goals on the abbreviated season.

Evan: Valeri Nichushkin scoring a goal after 90+ games without one. At that point, after hitting multiple posts and getting stopped on several breakaways, I just assumed it was never happening. Given his reaction after the puck actually went into the net for him on November 23 against Toronto, I just have to assume he never thought it was going to happen again either. But it did, and from there, he seemed to gain a ton of confidence.

Rudo: Gabe Landeskog’s neutral ice goal against Pittsburgh on January tenth. This game probably came in the peak of his slump if you could call it that where he just wasn’t playing like himself. Sometimes a little luck is all you need, as Landy would never go scoreless for two straight games the rest of the season. These types of plays happen around the league a few times every year but it is still shocking when it happens. A bounce like that has to be some good karma for all the posts the Avs hit this season.

Most disappointing moment

AJ: This might have been the one I thought the longest about. It was a tough call but I’m going with the Matt Calvert situation in Vancouver. When he went down to block an Elias Pettersson shot and it ended up going off his face, he laid on the ice for over 10 seconds bleeding and writhing in pain. The officials allowed play to continue and the Canucks ultimately scored with their sudden two-man advantage. The league was heavily criticized following the incident and, to their credit, officials were much quicker the rest of the season in blowing plays dead when it appeared a player might have been hit in the head with a puck.

Evan: The December 19 loss at home to the Carolina Hurricanes. It kind of began a stretch of games where the Avs would blow leads in the third period and give away points, but this one felt the worst because it all turned so quickly. The staff benched Nikita Zadorov in the third period (but never gave a reason why), and the Avs, who had played the night before, started to look tired, rolling only five defensemen. They would give up the tying goal with less than three minutes left in the third, and just a shift later, the game-winning goal, as Ian Cole inexplicably pinched in the offensive zone, giving up an odd-man rush the other way. The Canes would add an empty netter, and what looked like two points in the bag ended up being none.

Rudo: The third period of the game against Chicago immediately following Evan’s selection on December 21st. That game should have been squarely secured with Calvert’s goal late in the second to put the Avs up 3 – 1. The loss before to Carolina was a SEGABABA and against a playoff competitive team. Against Chicago, the Avs were at home with a day off beforehand facing a bottom ten team. There are no excuses for giving up four goals in the final nine minutes to lose that game, they were even essentially fully healthy for it.

Most surprising player

AJ: Anybody that doesn’t answer Valeri Nichushkin is trying to get too cute with this. Even the most ardent defenders of his didn’t reasonably expect this kind of season from him and had an NHL team had this level of performance in their sights, it would not have taken until August 21 for him to sign a contract. All of that plus his zero-goal, 10-assist season in Dallas last year made this an easy answer.

While 17 of his 27 points came in November and February, those were also two months in which the Avs faced some of their worst injury issues and needed him to step up. He did and became a revelation for the Avs and certainly a player who they should be quick to re-sign this summer when he is an RFA.

Evan: Quite a few surprises this year, but mine would be Andre Burakovsky, simply because I was not a believer when the trade happened. He quickly made me look dumb. His shot instantly became a huge weapon for the Avs beyond the top line, and given their struggles with secondary scoring the prior seasons, having a guy like Burakovsky who could make a goal happen out of absolutely nothing was a real breath of fresh air.

Injuries started to derail his season a bit before the league shut down, but he was on pace for 28 goals over an 82 game season and over 60 points. Considering his career-high before this year was 38 points, he was really on pace to blow all his career highs out of the water.

Rudo: The correct answer is Nichushkin but for the sake of having something different I will say, Ryan Graves. He had a solid end to the 18-19 season and had the inside track to a starting position on the Avs defense for opening night but he has done much more with the opportunity than I expected. Had he played a full 18-19 season he was on pace for 15 points, he posted 26 points in 69 games as we sit here for 19-20 season. On top of that, he became the regular partner of Cale Makar. The incredible oddity of his plus-minus aside, he went from “here’s your chance to prove it” to everyday NHLer going forward.

Most disappointing player

AJ: This was the other tough one. Basically all of Colorado’s moves worked out to some degree and very few players coming back from last year’s team have really disappointed. I was inclined to go with Vladislav Kamenev because he’s had a real chance to cement himself in the league and stumbled doing so but my real answer here is Philipp Grubauer. Colorado gave up a top-50 selection and gave him a three-year commitment to become their answer in net.

After floundering the first half last season, Grubauer flexed in the second half and took the job and seemed like Colorado’s surefire number one. It just didn’t quite work that way as his play was again uneven throughout and his last injury came when his play was the strongest but also gave Pavel Francouz plenty of opportunities to steal his job. Frankie played great and undoubtedly gave the Avs something to think about.

Not taking anything away from Frankie, but this felt like a disappointing year from Grubauer, who finally was looked at as the real number one netminder for the first time and stumbled his way through the season.

Evan: Let’s be honest, there weren’t a lot of disappointments on the Avs roster this year. Almost everyone stepped up and made progress, whether it was the young guys who were already here or the new guys they brought in. If I had to pick one, it would probably be Nikita Zadorov. Every year, you usually will get good Z in the second half of the season, and the staff will realize that he’s too valuable and needs top-four minutes.

That just didn’t happen this year. Other than about a 10 game stretch when Erik Johnson was out where Zadorov was shutting down the opposing team’s best players, he has struggled to find any sort of consistency. Given he’s now over 300 games in his NHL career, it’s disappointing that the battles with consistency are still there, and at this point, likely will be. If the NHL does not return to finish out the season, it’s entirely possible Avs fans saw Nikita Zadorov’s last game in an Avs uniform.

Rudo: Alright I’ll say it; Tyson Jost. The ten-game stretch after the deadline was great. Throw the hat trick game and maybe a few others on top of that and that still leaves a good 55 games where Jost is not producing the desired results. The process can be amazing but it just doesn’t matter if the results never come.  The scoring consistency across the year just needs to be better. Maybe he gets there and it all clicks at the start of next season and he can put a full 82 game season together, or maybe it doesn’t happen and the status quo continues.

That’s not to say it is all bad with Jost, he does a lot of things very well and is absolutely an everyday NHLer. The Avs using him on the PK is also a good sign that he may transition into a role that starts to make more sense. Ultimately though, the last bit of hope that he would live up to where he was picked pretty much died across the course of this season.