Avs Record: 25-15-4

Current Standings: 2nd in the Central, 2nd in the Western Conference













Pre game festivities at Tivoli Brewing









1. The World Junior tournament ended a few days ago with Team Canada defeating Team Russia 4-3 in the gold medal game. It was a mixed bag for Avs prospects probably the best showing was for Finnish goaltender Justus Annunen who had a 30 save shutout against the US in a quarter final victory. Here's a quick recap of how the 4 Avs prospects did:





Bowen Byram D (Canada)- Byram had 2 assists on Canada's blueline. He won a gold medal but I’ll be honest he didn’t make a huge impression on me throughout the tournament. I’ve heard from several people that he was sick the entire tournament which would make sense as he missed Canada’s semi final game against Finland. Overall I think Byram’s performance isn’t terribly concerning and he did pick up an assist in the gold medal game. I still expect big things to come from Byram in the future.

Sampo Ranta F (Finland)- Ranta was solid if not a huge offensive force. He picked up 2 apples on a surprisingly good Finnish team. Ranta certainly has some potential going forward and will be a fun one to watch going forward. You really can't complain about him in this tournament.

Danila Zhuravlyov D (Russia)- Zhuravlyov had a phenomenal tournament. I’ve always said that a good defensive defenseman is a guy that you rarely notice. Zhuravlyov did a great job as a lock down defenseman. He was a huge part of the Russian silver medal team and had this fantastic play in their close semi final victory. He also chipped in 2 assists in 7 games. I'll make a bold take here I think of the 4 players Zhuravlyov is the guy who will make the biggest impact for the Avs going forward. He brings a strong defensive game from the back-end that the Avs have been craving for years. That's not to say that the other 3 players here won't play for the Avs or make an impact but Zhuravlyov fits the team needs the most.

Justus Annunen G (Finland)- Saved the best for last in terms of tournament performances, Annunen has firmly established himself as one of the top goaltenders who isn’t playing the NHL right now. Annunen backstopped a Finnish team to the semi finals and was a steady presence all the way through. He had a tough semi final against Canada but I don’t really hold that against him. Same goes for the Bronze medal game I never really take a bronze medal game seriously. Annunen is one to watch right now, he has excellent positioning and doesn’t get intimidated easily, he has real potential to be a goaltender in the NHL in the next 3-5 years.









2. Nathan Mackinnon has been unreal for the Avs this year. He’s got a case to be the best player in the league if he continues this pace. I don’t spend a lot of time talking about Mackinnon on this blog because he’s just that good every single night. I think we can really start to take a guy like Mackinnon for granted sometimes and its worth mentioning he’s having one of the best most consistent seasons of his career. Whatever “it” is when comes to being good at hockey Mackinnon has it in abundance. He looks like a guy who's playing beer league a level too low against a bunch of guys.









3. I try to avoid being overly negative or talking about the same thing several weeks in a row but the Avs special teams is costing them games right now. The power play in particular has been beyond awful, yes they had a really good game against S. Louis but they need more. There’s really no reason a team with Cale Makar, Mikko Rantanen, and Nathan Mackinnon should be struggling this much with the man advantage. I do think Mikko Rantanen is still nursing an injury a little bit, I can speak from experience with high ankle sprains that they take a long time to heal and really feel right. I think the biggest issue for the powerplay right now is that they simply need to shoot more. Once again the Avs were having power plays without shots, which is simply not going to cut it. The Avs as a whole are kind of in a lull right now, once they start to break out of their funk I do expect the power play to improve. Until the power play improves it does it will continue to cost them games.









4. Sam Girard has quietly been fantastic the last couple weeks. Girard had a pretty tough start to the season but has really turned it around the last several games. He’s been one of the brighter spots in the last few games, games in which the Avs have really struggled. Girard signed a big deal this offseason, a deal that I still maintain was a huge steal for the Avs, he’s the perfect 2nd paring two-way defenseman. Personally I would like to see Girard more on the powerplay as he’s an excellent PP quarterback. Its great to see Girard turn it around though he’s an easy guy to root for and he clearly enjoys being in Colorado.









5. I think this is a good time to look ahead at the Avs goals going forward for both this season and the upcoming decade. For this season the Avs idea of a successful season will hinge on playoff success, nothing more, nothing less. I think realistically a conference finals appearance would be the minimum to be considered a successful season. Making it that far is really hard only, 4 out of 31 teams do so every year. The Avs have a team that is built to go deep in the playoffs and anything less than a Stanley Cup would be a bitter pill to swallow, however simply going further than last season would be huge. Should the Avs make it that far it would mark the 3rd straight season of playoff improvement which is huge given the state of the Avs just a few seasons ago. As for the goal for the decade, I think anything short of Gary Bettman handing Gabriel Landeskog the Holy Silver Trophy would be a disappointment. This Avs team is built to win several Stanley Cups in the next 5-10 years and the city of Denver is one of the most loyal hockey cities in the league. It would be an awesome spectacle if this core can get it done for the city and everyone else involved in the organization.