I have faith in Budaj for the occasional game here and there. He has the motivation of either succeeding, or being banished to the AHL, likely for the rest of his career.

He always seemed to do fine when he had to earn a job, but never when he had to keep it. On the other hand, he clearly sees what Mr. Anderson is doing and may already be resigned to the fact that he’s got no shot at being a No. 1 again, in which case, his motivation may be limited.

I’ve been in a while…we have started some previous seasons with a better team, but this team excites you win or lose (luckily not much of the losing lately). Just the fact no matter what end up happening this season these kids will grow together, and this team should just end up getting better and better with experience. Lets not forget some of the other prospects who will be on the pro team soon like Shattenkirk, Stoa, and Elliott. There is no reason this team cant perform up to the standards of the 95-06 Avalanche teams. Set at center for years to come and young defenders ready to take the helm soon…an acquistion like Kovalchuk may even make this team Championship capable sooner than later…either way I think we are starting to see the light @ the end of the tunnel.

It’s amazing to see how the Avs youngsters are rising up to the challenge every game!

Edmonton Tomorrow, Calgary Wednesday

but power rankings are made for current rankings not two weeks, two months or two years from now, pierre lebrun…sir you are an idiot

I’ve actually been thinking about this.

1. Goaltending, Anderson is making that extra 1-4 saves that Budaj couldn’t and Raycroft wouldn’t.
2. Defense, I think Clark, quit on Granato last year, and he’s playing much better this year, Foote and Hannan look good add in Quincey and his ass kicking, and the net effect is that everyone else (I’m looking at you Salei) has been pushed down the depth chart and are better for it.
3. Quit on Granato, that’s a common theme, Sacco may not just be a place holder for Patty Roy, I don’t think the avs would have started this way under #33. The avs shoot on the PP (for the most part) and they attack the puck on the PK, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an avs coach let his team kill penalties like this, it’s amazing what happens when you have a system.
4.Arnason-gone, Raycroft-gone…addition by subtraction. Even Guite and his stache’ would be in the AHL on this years team
5. Smyth and Lappy, I’m not sold on this, but the team did get a lot better now that they are gone, it’s not like they are the fleetest of foot.
5.Sakic-15 games, Stastny-45 games last year, 48 total points over the whole year. Stastny, O’Reilly, Duchene 11 games each- 33 games and 26 points combined. It’s amazing what happens when you have depth down the middle. I love sakic but he may as well not have been on last year’s team, and I think I might chose to remember him as ending his career leading the team in scoring in the 08’ playoffs.

They’ve blow leads in 5 games that they ended up losing (St. Louis twice, Colorado twice, Phoenix once). Coincidentally, if you take ConkBlock’s save % last season, and project it onto the team this year, they would have given up 5 less goals.

This means that instead of sitting at 3-4-2 they could be 5-2-2 or 5-3-1. This would put them in fine position. Also noteworthy: Les Ailes would have been a 6-seed, AT BEST, without ConkBlock there to bail them out last season.

Paraphrasing James Carville: “It’s the goaltending stupid”

Gotta get to class…economics ugh __ …be back to around 5:30….the joys of being a college student haha

FWIW:

Anderson has a career .919 save %. Since joining the Panthers in 06-07 he has played in 64 games and has a sparkling .930 save %.

I see no reason he can’t keep it up honestly.

So are you guys gonna claim Yelle off waivers so he can retire an Av?

Is supposed to start for his 12th straight game tomorrow night.

Budaj is not leaving with the team, but will make the trip at some point (hopefully)

Logic would say Anderson is getting one of the next two nights off…you’d think.

I will be scared if Weiman starts.

but last week, I pointed out to Marty McSorley (who had said the previous two weeks that the Avs’ success wouldn’t last) how well the team was playing and that they were still at the top of the Western Conference. His response? “I just didn’t realize that they are so damn good. They’ve got a serious chance to go deep (in the playoffs).”

I believe a lot of people out there, media included, think the same way; however, they’re reluctant to admit it because the Avs are already making them look like idiots. If they say the Avs have something and then they tank, they’ll look even more foolish. Better to stay conservative (or even dismiss them altogether) and feign surprise if things go well and do the whole “I told you so” if things don’t. It’s stupid and biased and chicken shit…but I really wouldn’t expect much else.

Who are the avs? January 1 of this year the team was in 9th place, tied in points with columbus for the last playoff spot. We were talking on this site about what the avs should do to get into contention. Then the bottom fell out of the barrel. Tony Granato had no system and some players quit on him, some players had bad years and just about everyone was hurt at some point. This years avs are reaping the benefits of both of those teams, you get the good young players from the team that finished third from last and you get a decent contending team from before the bottom fell out. Oh and having a coach that knows what he’s doing should not be counted out. —I know that’s a bit harsh on Tony G, I love the guy and have a kings #21 jersey, but his track record proves it.

Why does everyone say a goalie wears out? I mean, every other player is capable of playing every single game.

In addition, Brodeur has played more than any other goalie the last decade. Sometimes close to 70 games per season. His numbers are always great. Not good, great.

I think the goalie getting tired myth is just that.

At the end of this coming week the avs will have played in over a 1/4 of their total road games in the first month of the year. Even when they cool off they have a lot of home games left.