The Fifth Liners

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 p...

Ever since long time star, Jarome Iginla packed his bags and said goodbye to the circus, fans of the Calgary Flames have endured a bleak season in Alberta. Last season was truly one to forget because aside from surprising yet massively amusing line brawl that broke out against Vancouver, they finished only 6th in the Pacific Division with a depressingly low goal total of 209 and a whopping 241 goals against! Along with the retirement of hero goalie Miikka Kiprusoff , the atmosphere at the Canadian Tire Centre had turned barren and many experts wrote the Flames off as a lost cause. But in this off season, a few key acquisitions have paved the way for a possibly brighter 2014-15 season. The first step was drafting young star centre Sam Bennett fourth overall at the 2014 Draft. Touted by many as 1st overall pick, Bennett surprisingly was passed over by Florida in favour of defense-man Aaron Ekblad . Although he may have been disappointed at being denied this distinction, the Flames h...

Last night, Florida Panthers fans were given rare positive news when it was announce that they won the first overall pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft after their name was picked from the Draft Lottery. After another  poor season last year, the Panthers management should already been looking towards the next superstar of the franchise- and this draft year there is a lot of quality on show such as Canadian centre Sam Bennett, defenseman Aaron Ekblad or Sam Reinhart. Plus lets not forget top European prospect Kasperi Kapanen. But does one play change an entire franchises luck? In the case of the Colorado Avalanche the answer to that question is indeed yes as last years number one pick Nathan Mackinnon has proven to be an excellent choice and is one of the favourites for the Calder Trophy this year after an excellent rookie season. However, there is a flipside to that coin, and some teams have failed to raise their game even after more than one first overall picks- yes I am referri...

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, ...

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...

Patrick Roy's enjoyed the perfect start as head coach of the Colorado Avalanche last night as they routed the Anaheim Ducks 6-1 at the Pepsi Centre! Given a rapturous standing ovation before the game start, Roy repaid his fans faith with a stunning performance. But there was another debut that also caught the headlines as number one overall draft pick Nathan Mackinnon chipped in with two assists to help his team to a big win. Ryan O’Reilly got the party started in the first period when he seized on a defensive mistake to make the score one to nothing. The second period however was when the Avs really caught their stride as Stevie Downie and John Mitchell pushed their advantage to 3-0 mid way through the period. But with 17 minutes gone, Mackinnon was finally given his chance to shine as his pass set up Jamie McGinn for the teams fourth! The pair then combined again early in the second to incredibly push Colorado 5-0 ahead before Matt Duchene capped off an impressive ...

It's here everyone!! The NHL regular season schedule has been officially drawn up and come October the great sport of hockey shall again be gracing our world! This season promises to be one of the best yet as the Chicago Blackhawks aim for Stanley Cup number 4 and sees the arrivals of Nathan Mackinnon , Seth Jones and Aleksander Barkov as well as the departure of Ilya Kovalchuk . It also see the new division realignment which ensures that all 30 teams will play each of the 30 arenas at least once this season. The playoffs will start from April 16th onwards. Between February 9-25 will see an Olympic break as the 2014 Winter Olympics commence in Sochi, Russia (which once again the British Hockey Team will not be invited to) with the Canadians aiming to defend their gold medal from Vancouver 2010. Ironically the Vancouver Canucks begins where the last one ended away to San Jose Sharks at the newly named SAP Center on October 3rd with our home opener against the Edmonton Oiler...

Alex's question of the week was "out of the top four draft picks, which team will benefit the most?" Damn good question Alex, so let's have a look. First of all, no team did badly in the draft. At least on paper. So who went where? 1st: Nathan MacKinnon - Colorado Avalanche 2nd: Aleksander Barkov - Florida Panthers 3rd: Jonathan Drouin - Tampa Bay 4th: Seth Jones - Nashville Predators Colorado Avalanche The Avs need several good forwards and several good defencemen to be successful. MacKinnon definitely adds strength to Colorado's forward line but one man does not make a team. I think MacKinnon will struggle to post the sort of numbers he's currently scoring in the lower levels.  Florida Panthers Aleksander Barkov has already played against the big boys in the Finnish SM Liiga so he'll have an advantage when he lines up for the Panthers. Tampa Bay Lightning The Lightning will expect to do well with Drouin. With Stamkos and F...

Nathan Mackinnon was selected as the 1st overall pick by the Colorado Avalanche in New Jersey last night, after an impressive season with the Halifax Mooseheads in the Quebec Major Junior League it came as little surprise to many and capped an impressive comeback after a knee injury during the World Junior Championships had threatened to lower his ranking. Young Finnish centre Aleksander Barkov was chosen as the second selection by the Florida Panthers and Mackinnon's Halifax team mate, Jonathan Drouin was picked as the third overall choice by Tampa Bay Lightning . Biggest surprise of the night came when original number one prediction Seth Jones was only selected fourth by the Nashville Predators . Swedish centre Elias Lindholm was the fifth choice for the Carolina Hurricanes while Sean Monahan was added to the Calgary Flames at sixth overall. There was a shake up at  the 9th overall pick as the Vancouver Canucks unexpectedly traded Cory Schneider to the New Jersey...

With the NHL Draft only 11 days away in New Jersey, the Colorado Avalanche still appear to be hanging onto the top pick in the draft after days of 'will they- won't they?' speculation- but according to NHL.com, Avalanche Hockey President Joe Sakic has dropped a bomb shell and announced they will not select Seth Jones in the upcoming draft as they favour a power forward and will instead focus on choosing either Nathan Mackinnon , Jonathan Drouin or top European prospect Aleksander Barkov ! Last season Colorado conceded 152 goals in the regular season and finished bottom of the Western Conference, a top defensemen is required to give stability at the back, but also the Avs struggled offensively last year and long gone are the days of goal machines Sakic and Peter Forsberg so a forward come in useful. Colorado will need to use this pick carefully because this draft promises to be one of the deepest in years!

A mesmerising offensive display by Nathan Mackinnon and Jonathan Drouin has guided the Halifax Mooseheads to their very first Memorial Cup win after a 6-4 win over the Portland Winterhawks at Credit Union Center in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan last night! Mackinnon bagged an impressive hat trick to finish as tournament MVP with to add more fuel to the speculation he will be selected first overall come June 30th! Drouin is also looking an impressive prospect and he added 5 assits to their win and seems set to follow his team mate in the first round! This year's draft will be a very exciting one and I for cannot wait to see Mackinnon hit the big league next season!

With the 2013 NHL Draft in New Jersey just over a month away, the media will be betting among themselves as to whether Nathan Mackinnon , Seth Jones or Finn Aleksander Barkov will be the first name called out by the Colorado Avalanche ! The draft system can be a tricky one and sometimes the first picks go onto the great things. But sometimes things don't quite go to plan and other times, future stars may go un-noticed in the later rounds. Here is a look at some of the great draft successes and failures from years gone by. Top 5 Draft Steals  1. Dominic Hasek (199th Overall, 1983, Chicago Blackhawks): The Dominator was only selected in the 10th round by Chicago back in 1983 (Hasek didn't even know this until months later) and took 7 years to come play in the NHL from the Czech Republic. But when he arrived, he changed goaltending forever collecting 6 Veniza Trophy's and two Hart Trophy's over a 17 year career taking in Buffalo, Ottawa and the Red Wings where he won...

Soon the 2013 NHL Draft in New Jersey will upon us and experts are already lining up their top prospects and so far young US Defenseman Seth Jones currently tops the list of young guns and in the European category, Finnish centre Aleksander Barkov is looking like being the top European pick and his outstanding stats playing for Tappara confirm this fact. But there is one name ranking at number 2 on the list of mid term rankings that deserves serious attention and it comes in the form of Canadian centre Nathan Mackinnon who plays for Halifax Mooseheads in the Quebec Major Junior League, and his stats so far are quite simply incredible! Last season his picked up 78 points which included 31 goals and 47 assists! Based on why I've seen so far, this 17 year old possesses all the key ingredients for succeeding in the NHL- speed, skill and most importantly a goal scoring touch! I know you can never predict how a young man's future will turn out- all I can say I hop...