Dater: Opponents Finally Taking Full Advantage of Avs Injuries
Adam Foote: "I think they're just tired"
The short summer. Then, the injuries. Then, the fatigue of the few remaining top guys still playing. Lather and rinse on those three things and it’s not a huge surprise the Colorado Avalanche are really struggling right now. If ever there was a team that is starting to look really tired, mentally and physically, it’s the Avs.
A fifth straight loss tonight, this time 4-2 to the Vancouver Canucks. A 2-0 lead, second period, things looking great and…a mess from there.
The Avs got away with all those early injuries because of a couple major reasons: Goaltender Alexandar Georgiev stole some games (remember that one in Madison Square Garden against the Rangers?) and generally was excellent, and Mikko Rantanen, Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar were leading the way and making clutch plays to win games.
But the weight, the pressure being put on those top guys night after night, while a whole third of the team or so remains out with injuries, is finally catching up to Jared Bednar’s club.
Look at tonight’s minute log, for instance: Makar played 30:17. Devon Toews played 26:45. MacKinnon played 25:55 and Rantanen 25:57. MacKinnon had been out a month and looked like he was flying out there tonight, while Rantanen was just superb, with nine shots on goal.
But Makar and Toews are starting to look a bit fatigued. They had a rare bad sequence together, on Vancouver’s third goal, which prompted Georgiev to slam his stick on the crossbar not once, but twice. Toews was caught gliding slowly back to a puck in the second period, thinking it would be icing. It wasn’t, and a few seconds later, he was in the box because he and his teammates were thus caught chasing the play.
Toews has been a wunderkind, but, yeah, that lost icing and subsequent penalty started to swing the game Vancouver’s way.
The Avs just aren’t getting good enough play from the lower-tier, secondary guys to win games right now either. Logan O’Connor, Cogliano, Ben Meyers, Martin Kaut, Alex Newhook - just not enough offense from these guys.
I thought John-Michael Liles made some good points tonight on Altitude TV, about the problems right now:
“You can see that teams are really starting pick on some of the spots, you know, when Nathan MacKinnon’s out (there) and trying to take advantage of that,” Liles said.
In other words, teams are throwing all their resources at the MacKinnon line, because they know that if that line gets slowed, the Avs have a lot lesser chance to win. Nobody else is stepping up offensively.
More Liles:
“Alexandar Georgiev was at the top of his game, top five in the league in saves percentage. He’s still playing well, but he’s just kind of tapered off a little bit,” he said. “When you’re struggling with injuries and you don’t have that secondary scoring, goaltending can really elevate you and allow you to win some games. But I think if the power play can get going and protect him more and he can get back in that top five, top seven, in the league I think they’ll be just fine.”
“You’ve got to find a way through it, and ultimately it’s getting things out in the open. If you whisper and start going behind guys’ backs, that’s not going to make anything better. You have to be out in front of it, coaches have to be out in front of it and the players have to own up to these things. You always say a good team never loses three games in a row. Well, the Avs have lost five games in a row now and they need to find a way out of this.”
Liles’ partner at Altitude, a guy named Adam Foote, said this on Altitude about what’s going on right now:
“It’s fatigue. When you see some of the mishaps with the top players, especially on the power play…execution is the first sign of fatigue,” he said. “They’re playing big, heavy minutes. I don’t think it’s a bad locker room, I don’t think there’s anything going on. Of course, they miss their captain, but I think they’re just tired.”
I do too, but they’re going to have to find a way to get some energy back somehow. Obviously, it would help if they could just get guys like Landeskog, Nichushkin, Rodrigues, Byram and Manson back, and keep them healthy.
Until then, Bednar has no choice, really, but to keep riding his remaining top guys and playing them more than he probably wants. The other guys just aren’t stepping up. There’s a lot more hockey to be played, but right now things are not good with the defending Stanley Cup champs.
Both Liles and Foote both reiterate that they think the Avs will make the playoffs this spring. So do I. But it’s not seeming like such a lead-pipe cinch anymore, is it?
I agree AD. Many of us have said for quite sometime that the top line and d-pair are being used to much. With the entire 2nd line and 2nd d-pair out, few people have stepped up. Compher is really a good 3C, who can step up when needed, but not a 1C. Cogliano is a great 4th liner, but not a top 6 forward.
The lack of production from the bottom 6 has been frustrating. Cogliano and O'Connor are producing as well as expected, but they are not offensive threats. Newhook has really disappointed this season. I think he needs to understand, as well as the Avs, that he is better as a winger than as a center. He is also, at least on the Avs, destined to be on the 3rd line. When everyone is healthy, he cannot fit into the top 6.
Other than Compher, no one in the bottom 6 has done much offensively. Because of injuries, most of those playing bottom 6 minutes would not even be playing on the Avs. Kaut, Meyers, MacDonald, MacDermid, Malgin, Hudon, Foudy, Ranta, D. Hunt, Megna, Galchenyuk, and a few others have played over 150 games combined and have only 3 goals and 5 assists. On the defensive side, B. Hunt and Englund have played 33 games and have 3 assists.
I remember back to the Nashville game to the overtime goal by Girard. While Girard and Rodrigues were on the 2 on 1, Makar was struggling to even keep up on the back of the play. He was gassed. Had Girard missed and Nashville was able to race back the other way, I do not think Makar would have been able to defend on the play.
On the bright side, Rantanen, MacKinnon, Lehkonen, Compher, Rodrigues, and Nichushkin are on pace for great years, when they are healthy and in the lineup. When Nichushkin and Rodrigues return to the top 6, the Avs will still have a bottom 6 that is not producing much offensively. They will hopefully be better defensively with the return of Helm.
It may be time for the Avs to trade for someone who can provide some offense to the 3rd line and able to move up when necessary. On the UFA side, you have someone like Max Domi who has 25 point this season, which would put him right behind Lehkonen. His cap hit is $3 million. He could be 3C, allowing Compher or Newhook to play on the 2nd line. He could also add to the PP. Other UFA's are either very expensive or not really adding any offensive numbers that Newhook isn't providing. That said, right now scoring any goals would be good from the bottom 6.
Newhook, O'Connor, Kaut, Lehkonen, Cogaliano have to pick up the slack offensively but they don't. What can the management do at this point? Wait for some players to return from the injury list and hoping that will save the season or shake things up on the secondary scoring by making a few trades? Time start to run out a little, my friends.