Avalanche Snowed Under
Last night after suffering a 6-0 to the New York Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum, it appears that the Colorado Avalanche's season is already turning into the thing of nightmares. There were signs of life last season as Patrick Roy's Jack Adams winning debut season propelled them to new heights not seen since the days of Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Roy himself keeping net.
Currently the Avalanche lies stranded in 13th place in the Western Conference with a record of 3–5–5 and the problem seems to be that no one really understands what is causing this slide? Calder Trophy Winner Nathan MacKinnon's slow sophomore season has been making headlines for the wrong reasons but currently he is still joint top offensively with Matt Duchene on 9 points. But Jarome Iginla has so far received the most flack as his age has appeared to have crept up with him. 2 goals and 8 points are not reflecting the $16 million that Colorado were willing to invest in the 37 year old!
The problems of this team do lie in the offensive side because to look at them you would think that nothing was wrong. So far the Avs have scored over 40 goals in the Central Division which is five more than the table topping Nashville Predators. Down the other end though it is a more horrific story as on goal against they have already let 50 goals past them! Defensively this team looks all at sea and despite the brave attempts of the usually reliable goalie Semyon Varlamov it is pretty much open season in Colorado!
On the blue line the lack of quality is firmly demonstrated and the Avs don't appear to have any real clear cut leaders here. Nick Holden is a solid pro but not the sort of man who inspire defense to go above and beyond. Tyson Barrie and Erik Johnson have also been impressive this season and currently ranks as the highest scoring D-Men with 8 points. Past that we are left we with the aging talents of Jan Hejda, Zach Redmond and Nate Guenin. Apart from a select few, there are no real quality names further down and Colorado has to may be rue their decision to focus on offense during the off season!
Mainly though, it is a shame to see Roy's fine work coming undone so quickly because he is without question a fine NHL coach and he has the fiery spirit this team needs to succeed. The trade deadline will play a key part in this season so Joe Sakic should think hard about which names need to go on the block to save this season.
Currently the Avalanche lies stranded in 13th place in the Western Conference with a record of 3–5–5 and the problem seems to be that no one really understands what is causing this slide? Calder Trophy Winner Nathan MacKinnon's slow sophomore season has been making headlines for the wrong reasons but currently he is still joint top offensively with Matt Duchene on 9 points. But Jarome Iginla has so far received the most flack as his age has appeared to have crept up with him. 2 goals and 8 points are not reflecting the $16 million that Colorado were willing to invest in the 37 year old!
The problems of this team do lie in the offensive side because to look at them you would think that nothing was wrong. So far the Avs have scored over 40 goals in the Central Division which is five more than the table topping Nashville Predators. Down the other end though it is a more horrific story as on goal against they have already let 50 goals past them! Defensively this team looks all at sea and despite the brave attempts of the usually reliable goalie Semyon Varlamov it is pretty much open season in Colorado!
On the blue line the lack of quality is firmly demonstrated and the Avs don't appear to have any real clear cut leaders here. Nick Holden is a solid pro but not the sort of man who inspire defense to go above and beyond. Tyson Barrie and Erik Johnson have also been impressive this season and currently ranks as the highest scoring D-Men with 8 points. Past that we are left we with the aging talents of Jan Hejda, Zach Redmond and Nate Guenin. Apart from a select few, there are no real quality names further down and Colorado has to may be rue their decision to focus on offense during the off season!
Mainly though, it is a shame to see Roy's fine work coming undone so quickly because he is without question a fine NHL coach and he has the fiery spirit this team needs to succeed. The trade deadline will play a key part in this season so Joe Sakic should think hard about which names need to go on the block to save this season.
Comments
Post a Comment
Comments are moderated and may take a while to appear. This is because the authors are busy/lazy/away.