Sunday at the Rink

Happy Sunday and welcome to a revamped version of the (article formerly known as) The Weekly 5-on-5. We have changed up the format a little bit to bring you something that we hope will bring you more in-depth coverage, while also providing more perspectives than before. 

Diehards will get access to this piece every Sunday morning, and each week it will feature five thoughts and observations from myself, Jesse Montano, as well as five thoughts and observations from Meghan Angley. Meghan and I see and hear so much each week while we’re at the rink, and we are really looking forward to have a weekly home to be able to talk about all of that.

In addition to that, most weeks will also feature observations, breakdowns, and analysis from our other DNVR Avalanche colleagues, AJ Haefele and Nathan Rudolph. Sundays at the Rink really will be your go-to piece for any and all things happening with the Colorado Avalanche.

Like The Weekly 5-on-5, this piece may also feature news and notes from around the league, just to make sure you’re all caught up on what is happening in the NHL.

Lastly, each Monday, you can also expect a brand new podcast that digs further into some of the things that we talk about here in this article. That show features more locker room audio and video than ever before, and we think will be a game-changer for us. 

Let’s get it all started!

Jesse’s Observations:

Jean-Luc Foudy – Just want to start by talking a little about speedy #93 out there for the Colorado Avalanche. Let’s go back to September and an Avalanche training camp that was shining a spotlight on Colorado’s top prospects in a way that it hadn’t been in several seasons. Even with multiple NHL roster spots up for grabs, one of the names I didn’t ever seriously consider for making the team was Jean-Luc Foudy.

A smaller player, just 20-years-old, and has lots to learn. That’s not to take anything away from Foudy. After all, he capped off his first year of pro hockey last season with a great postseason performance and promising displays of speed and skill.

Based on his up-and-down showing in the preseason and training camp, I had pretty much penciled in a full AHL season for Foudy before it would even be a consideration that he gets a call-up.

The Avs’ injuries are well documented, so we don’t need to talk any further about that, but those injuries meant the organization had to dig deep into the prospect pipeline, and that meant an unexpected look for Foudy. 

After playing through some nerves right out of the gate, Foudy has rocketed up the prospect pipeline and has made the most of his time and role that he’s been given. 

Now, he was reassigned Saturday night after the Avs beat the Nashville Predators 3-1 at home, but there’s a decent chance it was just a paper transaction for salary cap purposes. However, if that’s not the case and Foudy’s first NHL stint is over, that’s ok too. He did a lot of good for the team and himself, and for my money, has completely changed the conversation surrounding him as a prospect. 

The role he has been playing is not the role he’s used to being in. Jared Bednar has been looking for his line to really be more of an energy line. Hunt pucks, crash the net, and skate your legs off. Despite him being asked to fill a bottom-six role, I think Foudy found a way to be effective and engaged in almost every game he has played at the NHL level. That’s what it takes. 

That’s what it takes. It takes consistency and a high compete level to stick on a Jared Bednar roster. In talking with some folks who would have knowledge on the matter, I can tell you for sure that the organization is really high on Foudy and what he’s been able to bring to this lineup at the NHL level. If you haven’t already, put him in contention for an NHL roster spot going forward. 

Bowen Byram – Ok, that first one was pretty long-winded, so I’ll try to show some brevity with this bullet point.

Byram last played on November 4th in Tampere, Finland. He skated in the first of two games in Finland, but sat out the second one and was labeled as week-to-week with a lower-body injury. 

Fast forward to the first week of December and he had started to get on the ice, then we were told that he was expected to start working with Skills Coach Shawn Allard while the team was away on a road trip.

Well, the team returned from the road about 10 days later, and the update was that Byram had not continued to work on the ice. The team is claiming there wasn’t a setback, but clearly something changed. 

I re-confirmed with Bednar this weekend that it is in fact lower body and not anything related to his past concussion issues, and the Avalanche bench boss verified that. So if nothing else, that is a positive.

“He’s still week to week,” Bednar said. “There’s nothing significant going on there. He’s making progress for sure, but he still hasn’t moved ahead in his timeline.”

We’ve seen him around the rink, but always just for off-ice workouts. 

Avs Tandem – Francouz had to miss a game this past week with a non-COVID-related illness, but he’s back at it now. I just wanted to stop and give a quick thought on what Colorado’s net minding is looking like as we approach the end of the Calendar year.

Go back about two or three weeks and Alexandar Georgiev was having himself a Vezina Caliber start to the season. Just elite performance after elite performance. It became a huge reason why this team was able to bank as many points as they did early in November, despite the massive pile-up of injuries.

While Georgiev had really solidified himself as the true #1 in net, Pavel Francouz was giving high-quality starts pretty much every time he was called upon. 

With maybe one exception, I would say that Francouz’s play has held pretty consistently, turning in multiple quality starts in his last three starts (winning two of them). Georgiev has been a little bit of a different story. 

I’m definitely not going to say he’s been bad. Not even close. He just hasn’t had that same presence in net that he had for all of November. While there certainly is some context to the fact that his dip in play has lined up with the Avs being at their most injured, Jared Bednar even acknowledged that Georgiev has to be a little better for this team right now. It’s why you pay a goalie, to help bail you out when they need you. 

The Avs will do plenty to support their goalies once they are fully healthy, they were among the best at insulating their goaltenders last season, so this is the time when their goalies need to return that favor and help keep them in the hunt while they slowly get back to full health. 

One thing I will say though before you even ask… No, I don’t see Francouz replacing Georgiev as the #1 at this point. Things would need to go WAY more off the rails for Georgiev before that would happen I think. 

Trade Rumors picking up – Once we get into January, we’ll be less than eight weeks from the trade deadline and we’ll be talking about this stuff every other day, so I’m not going to dig too much into it right now, but I just want to give you a sense of what I’m hearing, in addition to what is out there on some of the national reporters’ radar. 

The Avs want a center. I, for one, do not think the Alex Newhook experiment has been a disaster. Has he taken the step they were hoping for? Probably not… but we all knew it was going to be a long shot for a 21-year-old sophomore to make the leap from exciting prospect to a full-time top-six center.

That doesn’t mean he’s a bad player, and it honestly doesn’t even mean that he won’t be that for this Avalanche team in the future. Right now though, it sounds like Chris MacFarland and company would like to see if they can possibly land a solidified star-caliber player for their bid to repeat.

I have been told that the Avs like the two guys that could potentially be on the move in Chicago. Both Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are guys that they have checked in on. I’ve been told that Kane is the real focal point for them there, but with the alleged emphasis on a center, would Jonathan Toews make more sense? While likely costing significantly less in terms of assets.

There have also been some rumors swirling that the Avs could have an interest in the Vancouver Canuck’s Bo Horvat.

Team statement from Vancouver #Canucks captain Bo Horvat made on Tuesday…

Story from Monday: https://t.co/lwmIz5YGkB#TSNHockey pic.twitter.com/2l8nli7aHv

— TSN Hockey (@TSNHockey) December 13, 2022

That statement obviously doesn’t mean that Horvat is done in Vancouver, but it’s hard to look at that situation and not feel pretty confident about the direction it’s heading. I don’t think the Canucks want to lose him for nothing, and I think it’s obvious that they are going to need to change something in order to truly become competitive.

I think there’s a great chance he’s available by the March 3rd deadline, and I think the Avs will do their due diligence on the possibility of acquiring a player of Horvat’s ability. 

The chase for Gr8ness is on – Finishing up for me, appreciate the history we’re witnessing. Ovechkin is less than 100 goals away from breaking what many thought was an unbreakable record. He’s cleared the 800-goal mark, and the chase is on for 802 to move into sole possession of 2nd place all time. I find myself asking “is Ovechkin playing tonight?” recently, which is exactly why we watch. We want the must-see TV. The moments that become historic. Ovi-watch is officially on.

ALEX OVECHKIN'S 8️⃣0️⃣0️⃣TH CAREER GOAL 👏 pic.twitter.com/IvurRAhCVt

— ESPN (@espn) December 14, 2022

Meghan’s Observations:

Ottawa’s three-on-zero – Filed under “something you just don’t see every day”, during Ottawa’s game against Anaheim on December 12th, the Ducks allowed a 3-on-0 opportunity. Anaheim got caught in the middle of a change and Ottawa’s d-man sent the puck to the offensive blueline to a streaking Mark Kastelic. Kastelic had Brady Tkachuk and Claude Giroux in with him all alone but failed to convert after a cross-crease pass to Giroux pinged back to him.

Those three would be an offensive nightmare to defend against, but 22-year-old goaltender Lukas Dostal was able to make the save. Dostal’s heroics still were not quite enough. Ottawa shutout the Ducks 3-0. Dostal, who has posted a 0.916 save percentage through 20 games with the San Diego Gulls in the AHL this season, was recalled just two days before. The young netminder scored a memorable goalie goal in Loveland last year and has yet to hit 10 total NHL games. He’s just come off a solid victory over the Edmonton Oilers on December 17th earning 46 saves.

Dostal robs Kastelic on a 3-on-0 attempt. pic.twitter.com/ncvXTMZzkA

— Everyday Sens (@EverydaySens) December 13, 2022

Lukas Sedlak returns home – On December 17th, the Philadelphia Flyers placed forward Lukas Sedlak on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract so that he could return to Czechia. It was speculated in the days leading up to the announcement that he would like to return to the Czech league to fight for a title with HC Dynamo Pardubice. The 29-year-old centerman started the year with the Colorado Avalanche. He was placed on waivers on October 18th – a much healthier iteration of the Avs made this possible. Philadelphia claimed Sedlak and Colorado picked Dryden Hunt off waivers the next day as if in direct response to the loss. Hindsight is 20-20. Sedlak found a solid role for himself in Philly’s bottom six, often centering their third line.

He earned 8 points in 27 games with the Flyers. Compared to Hunt’s single point in 24 games with the Avs and seeing the increased need for center depth as injuries piled on, there may have been room to wonder what could have been with Sedlak. His decision to return home can lay any longing to rest. Understandably, the Czech native wanted to be closer to family.

Lukáš Sedlák confirms he’s going home to “probably” play for Pardubice.

He said it has nothing to do with the Flyers. Playing in the NHL didn’t bring him the joy he expected. At his age, it’s about being near family and having fun with however many hockey years he has left.

— Giana Han (@giana_jade) December 17, 2022

Martin Kaut – After becoming the subject of last week’s episode, Martin Kaut continues to be a relevant topic of discussion. The 23-year-old right wing cleared waivers for a second time this season on December 9th. Kaut returned to the Eagles in their weekend series against the Henderson Silver Knights. Though the Eagles dropped both games in a close fashion, he has played as an alternate captain in every game since his return. He scored a goal in his first game back and led the team in shots on net. During the Eagles’ weekend series against San Jose, Kaut notched another goal in their 4-3 win. The Eagles would get back in the win column with a two-game sweep.

His production is compelling alongside the message given to Kaut when he was reassigned.

“It’s all-encompassing. It’s effort on every play. It’s playing with confidence with the puck, and it’s awareness. Take his game as a whole. It’s got to get into that window on a regular basis in order to be an everyday NHL player. That’s the difference between being a call-up player and an everyday NHL’er,” Jared Bednar said.

Keep an eye out for a feature piece with exclusives from Greg Cronin and Martin Kaut to delve deeper into his mindset and what the path back might look like.

Jayson Megna claimed off waivers – A departure that rocked the Colorado Eagles came about when their captain, 32-year-old centerman Jayson Megna, was claimed off waivers on December 6th by the Anaheim Ducks. The claim surprised the entire organization who hoped he would clear. Megna spent 14 games up with the Colorado Avalanche to round out a wounded Avs forward group. His 14 games this season were far from perfect.

He struggled to produce offense going pointless through those 14 games and earning a Corsi for percentage of 43.11%. Despite the recent struggles, Megna was a key contributor for the Colorado Eagles. He had his highest point-per-game total of his career last season and pushed the Eagles forward in the Calder Cup playoffs. Additionally, he was brought up with the Avalanche as a Black Ace during their Stanley Cup Playoff run.

Greg Cronin reflected on the loss of Jayson Megna saying, “He’s just an unbelievable person.” Brad Hunt, a new addition to Colorado’s defensive depth, has worn an “A” in Loveland and described the situation as having “huge shoes to fill.”

Greg Cronin on Jayson Megna: "He personifies the Colorado Eagles organization. We hear him speak in public, and the way that he carries himself for the organization, [he was] on billboards and in the locker room – he's just an unbelievable person. That hurts."

— Meghan Angley (@megangley) December 14, 2022

“I hope he finds his way back. [He has] a wife and a young kid here, so from a family perspective, it’s gonna be stressful for him,” Cronin added. As far as the Eagles next captain, entering his fourth season with the team, Ryan Wagner looks good for the honor.

Penalty kill success – The Avalanche began the season with a bottom-of-the-pack penalty kill. It was ranked 29th overall at the end of October with a 69.7% success rate. In the month of November, the kill improved to 83.3%. Now, Colorado sits at 21st overall with a 76.5% kill for the season – 75.9% in the month of December alone. The steady incline and stabilization of the kill has been a welcome and necessary strength of an Avs team trying to weather the injury storm. Leading the charge has been defensemen Cale Makar and Devon Toews who have taken the most shifts on the kill. Close behind them is a trio we’ve come to expect: Andrew Cogliano, J.T. Compher, and Logan O’Connor. Andrew Cogliano specifically has not only been a key contributor on the penalty kill, but an important buffer to the Avs’ leadership group with Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon out.

“I think at the end of the day, everyone pays their weight early,” Cogliano said. “We’re missing guys. Veteran guys want to step up and show the way and do their best in terms of playing the right way. You have to take a little bit more on having those guys out, but we have guys who have been in tough positions before.”

“The culture here is probably the best I’ve seen in terms of the work ethic, the dedication, and the willingness to want to win and what guys are willing to do. For myself, as a player, I’ve always been like that. That’s why things have gelled so well for me here with the guys,” he added.

Rudo’s Observations:

AJ’s Observations:

This is already really long so I’ll keep this quick. Just a quick nod of appreciation to Cale Makar, who had a quiet-ish week overall but did two things that stood out to me as uniquely Makar.

In the first clip, Makar had already been on the ice for about a minute as the Avs killed off a 5-on-3 last Sunday versus the St. Louis Blues. Despite that, Makar turns defense into offense better than any defenseman on the planet and here we see him tired after defending but seeing an opportunity to go.

No other defenseman in the world would even think to attack like this while still on the penalty kill after having been out there as long as Makar had been. The conventional play is to dump it out of the zone and change for a fresh skater. Instead, Makar attacks. What’s remarkable is the respect Makar demands because not only does Makar think to attack, but the Blues player sees who has the puck and attacks him  in an attempt to get Makar to get rid of the puck. Makar dances him and creates a short-handed scoring chance.

The second clip is Makar’s empty-net goal last night versus Nashville. In that one, he sees a loose puck, steps up to it and attacks. Protecting a one-goal lead in the final minute of a game, the vast majority of defensemen would simply hang tight and play it safe, making sure nobody got behind them. Not Makar. 

He sees the puck, attacks, and nails the empty-net goal from inside his own blueline. It’s not as flashy as the first clip, but both speak to Makar’s natural killer instinct and one of those nuanced things that makes him “just different.”

Even when he’s not dominating, we’re seeing that unicorn stuff that makes Cale Makar so special.