The Fifth Liners

This week's question is about the Colorado Avalanche's young superstar: "Statistically Nathan MacKinnon is having a better rookie season that Wayne Gretzky, is this kid the future of Colorado hockey? Or is this just beginners luck?" When the Avs snapped up MacKinnon at the 2013 Draft, they knew they had something special. MacKinnon, tore the junior leagues apart with his incisive and unselfish play. He may only be 18, but his hockey brain is fully developed. He knows when to shoot and when to pass. MacKinnon takes chances, but will happily provide assists when a colleague has a better chance. It's no surprise he was the first overall draft pick. So far, MacKinnon has 58 points from 75 games (0.77 per game). If this stays the same and he plays all 82 regular season games, then he'll finish on 63 points. This is a pretty good total for a rookie season, although it doesn't quite match up to Sidney Crosby (102) and Alexander Ovechkin (106). Still, ...

Today the Olympic Ice Hockey rosters for the upcoming Sochi 2014 games have been officially confirmed, after much speculation surrounding them there has been some interesting selections made and no doubt this will spark furious debate among hockey fans, let's take a look at the main contenders. Canada  The 25 man Canadian squad certainly isn't lacking in depth, and this year they will be the team to beat and 11 of 2010 Gold Medal team will make a return journey! The defensive selection is one I highly commend as they have mixed youth of players like PK Subban along with defensive quality like Jay Bouwmeester. The St Louis pairing of JB along with Pietrangelo could well be a wise selection! Offensively the star count is ridiculously high with Crosby, Toews, Perry, Stamkos and Kunitz among others being featured and Canada will rely on this goal power to see them through! There are few surprise selections with Marc-Andre Fleury missing out in favour of Roberto Luongo and the ...

Happy New Year of Hockey to all fans! Hope we are beginning to recover from the festivities in time for tonight's Winter Classic showdown between the Red Wings and the Maple Leafs- The Big House will be rocking! To start 2014 I thought I would give some acknowledgement to the young men who will soon become the future of this game! Here are three men who have stood out: Tomas Hertl (San Jose Sharks): Ever since achieving the incredible feat of scoring four goals against the New York Rangers in only his third game, young Czech player Tomas Hertl has been on everyone's radar! Right now 'Hertl Power' is driving the San Jose Sharks forward and he currently sits as the NHL's top scoring rookie with 25 points! This is one young man who has the ability to excite and I will be keeping a close eye on this one- though his absence through injury will rob him of a chance to shine at the Sochi Olympics! Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche): Picked 1st overall at last yea...

The Colorado Avalanche have been on fire recently. So far this season Patrick Roy's men have won all six of their games. Mostly down to Semyon Varlamov's heroics between the posts. The Detroit Red Wings are also in a good place. Having got over their slightly shaky start, the team is settling in to life with Daniel Alfredsson and life without Valtteri Filppula. Expectations for the Red Wings' visit to the Pepsi Center were high for both teams. Mike Babcock's men are desperate not to repeat last season's chase for a playoff spot while the Avs need to prove that they're serious contenders. The Avalanche got off to a bad start when Cody McLeod was assessed a game misconduct and a boarding major penalty after his push on Niklas Kronwall left the big Swede with concussion and cuts. Kronwall was stretchered off the ice but not taken to hospital. The resulting powerplay allowed Henrik Zetterberg to set up Johan Franzen who then put the first goal on th...

The Colorado Avalanche clearly have faith in their 20 year old captain Gabriel Landeskog and have now inked him to a seven year extension worth a reported $39 million. A second overall pick in the 2011 NHL draft, Landeskog won the Calder Trophy in 2012 after a successful rookie season and in September last year he was made the youngest ever Avalanche captain at just 19! He also proved to be one of the few bright spots in an otherwise horrific season for the Avs last year and finished the season with nine goals and eight assists. Upon signing this deal for the left winger, Joe Sakic was quoted as saying "Gabe is and will continue to be a large part of the foundation of this hockey team for many years to come,"