Ti4T Update

by David Driscoll-Carignan on Mar 18, 2009 7:30 AM MDT

24	Ottawa Senators	NE	69	29	30	10	68	181	200	18-12-6	11-18-4	6-3-1	Won 2
25	Los Angeles Kings	PAC	69	29	30	10	68	182	203	16-14-8	13-16-2	3-6-1	Lost 3
26	Phoenix Coyotes	PAC	70	29	35	6	64	172	215	18-14-2	11-21-4	2-7-1	Won 1
27	Colorado Avalanche	NW	71	31	38	2	64	187	221	18-16-0	13-22-2	3-6-1	Lost 2
28	Atlanta Thrashers	SE	71	29	36	6	64	216	240	14-18-2	15-18-4	7-3-0	Lost 1
29	Tampa Bay Lightning	SE	70	23	32	15	61	184	231	11-14-10	12-18-5	3-4-3	Lost 1
30	New York Islanders	ATL	70	24	38	8	56	176	224	16-14-5	8-24-3	6-2-2	Won 1

The Coyotes and Thrashers swapped spots in the standings, leaving the Avs where they were yesterday. Once again, if the season were to end today, the Avalanche would draft 1st, 4th or 5th. They are involved in a 3-way tie, however, so things can change dramatically on Thursday when Tampa, Phoenix, Colorado and Los Angeles all take to the ice.

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Comments

Tough point to pick up last night

I was cheering for them to win until that last fricken tying goal. Then I wanted the Wild to end it in regulation. If you aren’t going to do something good like spoil the Wild’s playoff hopes, might as well lose right. Dammit. They had a chance to pass the ’yotes, stay behind Atlanta, and inch closer to Tampa Bay. Bring up more Monsters. Start auditioning for the future while also beefing up their Ti4T chances.

MHH: Shagging Dater one contributor at a time.

by Bob in Boulder on Mar 18, 2009 11:13 AM MDT reply actions

Come on Atlanta!

Get your shit together!

I don't believe in Peter Budaj.

by BraxtanFILM on Mar 18, 2009 4:57 PM MDT reply actions

Meh

The whole Ti4T bandwagon is not anywhere near as exciting as fighting for a playoff spot. Even first round picks turn out to be busts. Just sayin’.

An ounce of confidence can carry you a mile toward winning. Oh, and Red Wings suck.

by texacogirl on Mar 18, 2009 11:15 PM MDT reply actions

And even #1 seeds lose in the first round.

I agree. I always wanna see the team do well and get into the playoffs. But, the truth of the matter is that Avs have been a mediocre, playoff bubble team since the lockout. They haven’t been a Cup contender in 5+ seasons. And they haven’t exactly had a drastic change in their draft position since the franchise moved to Denver. They’re finally starting to get build decent prospects, but I would love to see this team get a top 5 draft prospect just once to put them over the edge and hopefully help make them a contender again in the near future.

On a related note, ESPN has a recent article out about 2nd half stats and standings and the Avs stand dead last:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3995626&name=lebrun_pierre

by c0nquistad0rian on Mar 19, 2009 12:28 PM MDT up reply actions

Evidently it took the Avs time to really adapt to Tony G’s “system.” Give him more time and we’ll be longing for the return of Rockies hockey. Part of my Ti4T desires also revolve around them sucking enough to be forced into replacing FG and TG. And the other part, of course, has to do with the high draft pick. Should the Avs land the top pick, is Tavares a “sure thing?” Probably not, but he has a better chance of becoming a franchise player than say the 5th or 6th pick.

MHH: Shagging Dater one contributor at a time.

by Bob in Boulder on Mar 19, 2009 1:16 PM MDT up reply actions

Just to follow up on my thoughts, below are the Avs’ first round draft choices since they’ve moved to Denver.

2008: None (traded to Columbus in the Foote deal; traded to Flyers who selected Luca Sbisa 19th pick overall)
2007: Kevin Shattenkirk (14th overall)
2006: Chris Stewart (18th overall)
2005: None (traded to Washington who selected Joe Finley 27th overall)
2004: Wojtek Wolski (21st overall)
2003: None (traded to Los Angeles who selected Brian Boyle 26th overall)
2002: Jonas Johansson (28th overall)
2001: None (traded to Los Angeles who selected David Steckel 30th overall)
2000: Vaclav Nedorost (traded from Carolina; 14th overall; traded pick to New Jersey who selected David Hale 22nd overall)
1999: Mikael Kuleshov (25th overall)
1998: Alex Tanguay (traded from San Jose 12th overall)
1998: Martin Skoula (traded from Los Angeles 17th overall; traded pick to Los Angeles who selected Mathieu Biron 21st overall)
1998: Robyn Regehr (traded from Boston 19th overall)
1998: Scott Parker (traded from Washington 20th overall)
1997: Kevin Grimes (26th overall)
1996: Peter Ratchuk (25th overall)

What I see from this is:

*Up intil the past 3-5 years the Avs haven’t drafted that well as an organization (but, the Jury is still out on most of those players).
*Most of their first round picks have been busts (which they did do a decent job at getting a return from via trades in some cases).
*They’ve never had a pick higher than 12th overall and that pick was acquired from another team (1999, Alex Tanguay).
*They have not had any first round picks in 4 of the past 10 drafts.
*The Avalanche has always said that they would draft the best remaining player possible. I know that hindsight is 20/20, but it’s obvious in some cases that they did not do that. Just take a look at the 1998 draft and view the list of Solid NHL players drafted after Martin Skoula and Scott Parker.

My conclusion? Just once, it would be nice to see the Avalanche have a “gimme” pick.

by c0nquistad0rian on Mar 19, 2009 1:12 PM MDT reply actions