It has been an exciting week watching the Colorad Avalanche face their conference and division rivals on home ice. Let’s review some of the highlights (and lowlights) with this week’s edition of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
THE GOOD
1. The Colorado Avalanche tied the Nashville Predators in points for the final wild card spot although the Predators have played one less game, so they are currently ranked ahead of Colorado. The Avalanche hustled for a 3-1 record against Western Conference opponents in the last seven days.
2. Colorado defenseman Tyson Barrie was named the NHL’s third star of the week. He led all NHL defenseman in scoring, racking up six points, including the game-winning goal against the Nashville Predators.
3. The home game against the Nashville Predators was a thing of beauty, featuring playoff level hockey in front of over 17,000 crazed fans. The Avalanche brought their ‘A’ game and proved they could elevate their level of play and inspired their fans to stand cheering for a large part of the third period. The Avalanche have dispelled the gloom and doom which reigned in early November with their ever improving play and ignited hope for an exciting post season.
4. The resurgence of team captain Gabriel Landeskog should encourage everyone. He notched an impressive game-winning goal in overtime against the St. Louis Blues and accumulated four points in the last four games.
5. Forward Matt Duchene had an exciting week as he was named to the NHL All-Star Central Division team. He also added his 20th and 21st goals against the Chicago Blackhawks along with an assist, now ranked sixth among all players in goals scored, tied with Joe Pavelski of the San Jose Sharks. Duchene and fellow forward Nathan MacKinnon lead the Avalanche in scoring with 37 points each.
6. The Avalanche continue to excel at scoring earning 16 goals in their last four games, ranking fifth among all NHL teams, tallying 125 goals to date and averaging 2.91 goals a game. They also continue to spread the points among the lines, with forwards Nathan MacKinnon, Carl Soderberg and defenseman Tyson Barrie tied for the team lead with 22 assists each. Only two current players have no points, and one of them, newly acquired defenseman Andrew Bondarchuk, has only played two games.
7. Defenseman Nick Holden has quietly provided four assists in the last three games. He has also logged a lot of ice time, averaging over 25 minutes as game, as he, Barrie and defenseman Francois Beauchemin cover for the hole left by fellow blue-liner Erik Johnson.
8. Plus/minus statistics always tend to generate controversy but it is interesting to note that forward Cody McLeod leads the team with a plus 10, followed by a plus seven for both Nick Holden and center Mikhail Grigorenko.
9. The Avalanche have turned around their home record, winning three of four games at home in the new year.
10. Winning in overtime against the St. Louis Blues gave the Avalanche season a much needed boost.
THE BAD
1. Let’s face it, the game against the Chicago Blackhawks was bad, and the six minutes in the second period between Landeskog getting a penalty and the Blackhawks scoring three goals was painful to watch. Knowing Chicago owns the best home record in hockey and have won nine of their last 11 games helps offer some relief though.
2. Forwards Jarome Iginla and Alex Tanguay have established themselves as quality hockey veterans. However, seeing them together on the power play against the Nashville Predators showed how age can slow down even the most talented of players. One of them on any power play group might work, but the two of them together really struggled to keep up and looks like a bad idea.
3. The Avalanche allowed three goals in their last seven penalty kills.
THE UGLY
1. The Colorado Avalanche hit their 50 contract limit with the signing of defenseman Andrew Bodnarchuk off waivers on Wednesday. Most NHL teams like to keep at least two or three spots open in case of injury or to acquire a quality player who may hit the waiver wire due to another team’s contract issues. This could be ugly as it hamstrings the team in case of future injuries as well as trades.
2. The second period of the Chicago Blackhawks game, particularly the six minutes when Chicago scored three goals to shut down the Avalanche comeback, proved ugly. While there is plenty of blame to go around, the MacKinnon/Duchene combination should not be overlooked as they were on the ice for three out of Chicago’s four goals.
3. Failing to score on a six on four against Chicago was ugly. Anytime a team fails to score on a two man advantage, they lose momentum and their opponent gains confidence.
WHAT THE HECK?
Would the Avalanche front office please explain why they picked up Andrew Bodnarchuk and maxxed out their contract limit for a perennial AHL defenseman with only 21 NHL games to his credit? Unless they are positioning for a trade, this move doesn’t make much sense. Adding to the confusion, the Avalanche waived defenseman Brandon Gormley who is younger, has twice as many NHL games, played 26 games with the Avs and who seemed to be improving.
If experience was the criteria, as publicly stated, Colorado has better options. Sitting in San Antonio is another defenseman with at least as much NHL experience – Nikita Zadorov – who has 78 NHL games to his name. While the Avalanche have made it clear they want to protect Zadorov’s development, and that’s a good thing after his experience in Buffalo, did they really not have any other option than to sign a 27 year old who couldn’t make the Columbus Blue Jackets? If they wanted something different defensively, what about trying out guys already under contract and in their pipeline? How about Duncan Siemens?
And the key question – was the need so great the Avalanche decided their best option was to burn their last available contract on a defenseman without any record of success? What does that say about their defensive prospects?
