Avs Record: 2-1-0 this week, 10-5-2 overall (22 points) Current Standings: 3rd in Central, 4th in Western Conference, 7th in the League





I was able to make to the game on Saturday against Columbus so I finally have some pictures to include on this post. We did rush seats and got standing room only tickets which actually turned out to be a pretty solid spot to watch the game.

















1. An interesting observation about Pavel Francouz, he really seems to have modeled his game after former goaltender Dominik Hasek. Francouz was regularly showing shooters openings and then taking them away. This was something that Hasek excelled at, making it look like there was lot of space to shoot at, when there really wasn't. I visited Prague in the spring and Hasek is basically a god there, Francouz is about my age so he would have been about 7-8 years old when Hasek was MVP of the 1998 Olympics en route to winning a gold medal with the Czech Republic. (fun fact former Avs star Milan Hejduk was also on that team as a youngster) Francouz has a very very long way to go to reach the status of the first ballot Hall of Famer but it was interesting thing to notice none the less.





Pavel Francouz













































2. The Avs had a really rough go the last couple weeks adjusting to their ever growing injury list. They’ve won their last two, and looked very strong in a loss against Dallas before that. The two wins coming against strong Nashville and Columbus teams at home were huge for team morale and despite their slump, the Avs were still able to maintain pace in the central division. I don’t think anyone reasonably expected the hot start to last all year, even if the Avs were at full health. So maintaining pace in the division is really big for the Avs right now.









3. Last seasons Avs players update: A quick update on how our former Avs from last season are doing. Its hard to say the Avs really miss any of these players but its always great to see former guys do well.





Tyson Barrie (TOR)- 5 assists and no goals in 19 games, he’s had a tough start to the season but I do expect him to turn it around at some point. The Leafs overall haven't been too strong

Alexander Kerfoot (TOR)- 5 goals and 3 assists in 19 games, he’s been pretty solid. He was a good young player with the Avs and continues to be a good player for the Leafs

Carl Soderberg (ARI)- 5 goals 4 assists in 17 games, “Soda” was one of my all-time favorites but the Avs high tempo style of play simply didn’t fit him anymore. He’s been great down in the desert and might even earn himself a new contract in Arizona (he’s a UFA at the end of the season)

Seymon Varlamov (NYI)- “Varly” has posted 5 wins a .924 save percentage. He’s been great for the Islanders sharing the crease with Thomas Griess. He’s been a good fit on a very strong Islanders team and he continues to be an elite goaltender out east.

Patrick Nemeth (DET)- 1 goal 4 assists in 19 games, Nemeth has been decent on a Red Wings team that has struggled a lot lately (warms my heart to hear how bad they are this year). Nemeth seems to bring a similar game to the Red Wings which I’m sure they have no issues with.

Derick Brassard (NYI)- The last guy on this list might be having the best season so far he has 5 goals and 3 assists for a strong Islanders team. Brassard didn’t really show up a lot on the score sheet in his brief time with the Avs but his presence was felt for sure. He is really thriving for the Islanders.









4. Cale Makar was the 3rd star in the entire NHL this week. Congrats to him he’s been everything advertised and them some. Outside of Nathan Mackinnon he’s been our most consistent offensive player so far this year and came up huge Saturday in Columbus. I would say right now he’s easily the front runner for the Calder trophy. He currently leads all rookies in points by a healthy margin with 17 points in 17 games.





5. Lastly, there have been a lot of rumblings about Taylor Hall lately. It seems very unlikely that he will be willing to re-sign in New Jersey and lot of people have connected him to the Avalanche due to their cap space and competitive team (Hall has only made the playoffs once in his career and likely wants that to change.) I think the Avs should strongly avoid this temptation for several reasons. The first reason is that Hall will command a lot of cap space and money. The Avs have a lot of cap room but with extensions to Cale Makar, Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan Mackinnon, Philipp Grubauer, and hopefully Bowen Byram on the horizon things could get dicey. The second reason is that Taylor Hall has a pretty significant injury history, at his age, for the price its more likely that he disappoints rather than dazzles. The last reason I don’t know firsthand but there have been constant rumors of Hall being a locker issue on virtually every team he’s played for. If that’s true its not worth it, the Avalanche have worked really hard to build the strong culture they have right now and keeping that culture is worth more than bringing in a guy like Hall. On that last point obviously I’ve never met Hall and can’t confirm any of those rumors but given that they’ve followed him everywhere he’s gone I think it may be a case of “where there’s smoke there’s fire.”





Thanks and Go Avs!