







Hello all! Happy Holidays whatever tradition you may celebrate. Back after the break with a double edition of 5 thoughts. I was out of town for a little more than a week with no internet so I was unable to watch a few of the games but I did attend the Carolina game Thursday so I’ll have pictures to go with this double edition blog. I appreciate everyone’s patience and hope you enjoy the blog! Also whatever you find yourself getting into on New Years be safe.





1. It was great to see the warm reception Tyson Barrie received on his return to Colorado. I think it paints a great picture of Colorado. Its also great to see how the fans treat their players seeing a guy like Barrie get nothing but love is promising. There’s always guys like Matt Duchene who seem to have worn out their welcome but that was absolutely not the case with Barrie (who will come up a bit later in this article). It was simply time for Barrie, he will command a good salary on the open market (and deserves every penny of it) something the Avs couldn’t afford in their long term plans. Fans should never be angry at a guy for following Barrie's path. Avs fans have almost always been extremely classy towards former players (not counting guys who kind of deserved the boos) its a trend that I hope to see continue from Avs faithful. Players take notice of this kind of thing when they are looking at team, its a small contribution we can make as fans but every little bit helps.









2. The Avs are finally getting healthy again! For a while there it seemed like we were losing guys every single game. It was both frustrating and interesting. It was awesome to see some guys get an opportunity they may not have had otherwise but I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say that I'd love to see no more injuries the rest of the year. Once Cale Makar returns after the break it will be great to see the battle station fully operational again. (sans Colin Wilson sadly)









3. What Pavel Francouz is doing with the Avs right now is fairly unprecedented. Coming over from larger ice in Europe and Russia is extremely difficult for a goaltender. A lot of goaltenders use the lines and dots inside the offensive zone to set their angles so having all of them changed is a tough adjustment. I honestly can’t think of another goaltender who has come over at Francouz’s age and done this well. Occasionally you will see a player make the transition from the larger European ice to the smaller North American ice, but it usually only happens after a few years in Europe not 10. I’ve honestly seen very few skaters accomplish this transition this much less goalies. The Avs took a big risk on Francouz and it’s really paying off in spades right now.









4. With Taylor Hall getting traded to the Coyotes (likely the best scenario overall for the Avs honestly) lets have a look at some other guys the Avs might potentially pursue via trade before the end of the season. This is just a quick look at some guys with expiring contracts that might be a good fit for the Avs, on teams that appear to be sellers before the trade deadline. Guys I like: Chris Kreider (NYR), Sami Vatanen (NJD), Tyler Toffoli (LAK), Kyle Clifford (LAK), J.G. Pagaeu (OTT). Guys I don't like as much: Wayne Simmonds (NJD), Andy Greene (NJD), Zach Bogosian (BUF). Guys that are interesting potentials: Joe Thornton (SJS), Tyson Barrie (TOR), Mike Green (DET). I'll delve more into these potentials a little further down the road when the standings are a little more clear. Teams will rise and fall in the next month or two so the potential trading partners will almost certainly change for the Avs.









5. The Avs power play really needs to improve plane and simple. Missing Cale Makar isn’t a good enough excuse for how awful this power play has been lately. There’s way too much talent for this team not to be burying 1 or 2 PPG a game at least. Especially since the Avs have been getting a lot of opportunities lately to boot. I know its an old joke but the biggest issue to me is simple: the Avs need to shoot the puck more. At the game I went to against Carolina they had two separate power plays without a shot that's just not going to cut it. They need to fix this soon, special teams can make or break a team come playoff time.













6. A quick thought on Tyson Jost and J.T. Compher: These two have always had similar development paths and roles for the Avs. Right now both are top 9 forwards for us who tend to lean towards the lower half of the 9. I know this is probably a little disappointing for people who expected them to be top line forwards but honestly it’s a good thing for the Avs. A team having steady homegrown talent in your 2nd-4th lines is a great indicator of success in roster construction. Compher and Jost are both extremely steady and don’t make a lot of mistakes, they also have both proven to be excellent playoff players. There’s certainly still time for both of them to become offensive stalwarts but for now we should appreciate having a steady, young presence anchoring our lower lines. For years the Shjon Podeins, Chris Drurys, and Dan HInotes were a huge part of the Avs success hopefully Jost and Compher can be a similar presence for us for many years to come.









7. I’m a huge fan of the podcast Spittin Chiclets (yeah the guys are total meatheads but they're the best at getting guys to open up with stories you wouldn't hear on other podcasts) There have been several former and current Avs on the podcast. I thought I would go through and list all of them, so if you find yourself bored or just unable to deal with your family during the holidays here’s the list for your listening pleasure. I have listened to most of them and I would say Matt Duchene, Brandon Yip, and TJ Galiardi were the most interesting to me. They are all on Spotify and have the timestamp of when the actual interview starts parenthesis next to them.

196- Nathan Mackinnon (21:54), 193- Max Talbot (45:44),185-TJ Galiardi (34:50), 182- Matt Duchene (34:00), 166- Brandon Yip (47:50), 161- Matthew Barnaby (28:45), 145- Ray Bourque (26:02), 132- Tyson Barrie and Erik Johnson (23:04), 117- Shane O’Brien (27:35), 109-John Michael Liles (62:56), 103- Tyson Jost and Blake Comeau (40:22), 61- Brad May (20:59)









8. Avs need to close out games much better, twice in the span of two games they blew 3rd period leads. That just simply isn’t something Stanley Cup champions do and if the Avs are serious about winning it all they need to nip this issue in the butt right away.









9. I gotta give a shout out to the Avs fan experience staff who upgraded all 3 of us at the Carolina game the other night to lower bowl tickets! It was something that’s never happened to me in all the years I’ve been attending Avs games. It’s a cool gesture and one that we really appreciated. Also side note: Ryker is killing it with the mullet the other night.

















10. The famous World Junior U-20 Championships are starting the day after Christmas. The tournament has grown a lot in the last several years. Its a great look at the prospects that might be drafted as well as current NHL prospects. The Avs have 4 guys playing this year so it'd be a great thing to tune into if you find yourself up early enough. I'll include game times so you can watch. Its always a cool tournament to watch and great look at prospects playing against top tier talent. The Avs have a few guys that made the teams and few notables that did not. For those that made it Bowen Byram was a lock if healthy and he’ll anchor the defense for a heavily favored team Canada, Justus Annunen has been a phenom and will tend the net for team Finland, forward Sampo Ranta will join Annunen on team Finland, and lastly Danila Zhuravlyov will patrol the blueline for team Russia. Also he's not an Avs prospect but Jack Drury (nephew of my all time favorite Av Chris Drury) will be playing for team USA.

I believe that TSN will be streaming the games if not there's also a great source on Reddit (you know the one).

Here's a quick list of all the games that Avs hopefuls are playing in All times in Mountain Standard Time: December 26: 7:00 AM Russia-Czech Republic, 11:00 AM USA-Canada / Finland-Sweden

December 27: No Avs Prospects

December 28: 7:00 AM Finland-Slovakia 11:00 AM Russia-Canada

December 29: 7:00 AM Finland-Kazakhstan 11:00 AM USA-Russia

December 30: 7:00 AM Canada-Germany

December 31: 7:00 AM Russia-Germany 11:00 AM Finland-Switzerland / Canada-Czech Republic

Playoffs will follow and begin the next day.





Cheers everyone, I hope the holidays find you well this year and go Avs!



