I think this team is going to improve.

Sorry, we just don’t have the pieces in place yet.

The future is bright though!

I am extremely positive. Still standing by my prediction.

I believe they’ll improve, if only a little. I’m also so fucking excited to have hockey back that I’m already physically anxious in anticipation of the opener.

Not having Mueller and Hejduk absolutely crippled our secondary offense against SJ in April. A healthy Jones will help, but neither Gali or Yip belongs on a scoring line yet. Duchene and Stewart have the skills to go far this year, but scoring 1 point and -10 combined in the preseason has me expecting a slow start.

The defense is the same below-average corps plus Holos, who has never had a high ceiling as far as I can recall. Liles, Cumiskey, and Quincey need to step up their games to support the forwards, especially on the PP. Winnik, Stastny, O’Reilly, and Gali should man a potent PK, but that won’t win us any games, just keep us from losing them.

Anderson and Budaj have my complete faith to keep us in every game, but the team isn’t deep enough to win consistently. We’ll need some prospects to step it up this year and make an impact in the big league, or alternately, pray that the injury bug doesn’t make us its bitch like last season.

3…undecided. With the injury to Mueller, the day to day status of Duke, and Winnik being the only guy coming in from outside the organization; I honestly have no idea what to expect out of this team. Maybe they surprise us again, maybe the lack of depth is just too much to overcome.
Let’s just hope that no matter how the season unfolds, the Avs continue to be a fun team to watch and difficult to play against.

I can see this team finishing anywhere between 5th and 15th. Nothing would surprise me at all.

Ok a whole season without Red Wings fans whining about some perceived slight and crying foul would surprise me, but anything outside of that wouldn’t surprise me.

With Hejduk and Mueller already out, that’s definitely discouraging. However, Yip and Jones should step right in there. Hopefully Sacco rests Anderson a little over the long haul. Other than that, I’m ready to see Duchene get after it. I’m psyched!

Seriously though, I could see anything between 3rd in the West and 12th (I don’t think we suck nearly as bad as the Adjectives or the Oil).

I think that the kids could all take the next step, Ferris & Duke could come back quickly and the coaching staff could do more with what they have.

I also think that most of the kids could regress, injuries could all get more serious than necessary (’sup “training staff”) and Andy could come down from orbit.

3

I’m generally negative on my optimism about the avs. I’d say that puts me somewhere, but I’m not sure where.

Damn you Rob Blake!

As in this guy:

God-like in ability, but maniacal in facial expression

I’m leaning on the negative side in regards to end results. I’d probably pick the Avs to finish around 9th or 10th in the West, so not good enough to make the playoffs and not bad enough to get a top 5 draft pick….the worst of both worlds.

When it comes to just watching the games? I’m on the positive side. I’m still just happy to see the younger players progress and be hopeful for what the future holds. I’m not only excited for the Avs/Blackhawks game on Thursday, but I’m even excited to watch the Lake Erie game on Friday to see some more of the players in the pipeline and how they do in a real game.

Just happy to have hockey back. Perfectly content just to watch the season unfold.

Unfortunately, I think it could be An Unmitigated Disaster. Then I’ll be all happy and warm inside when they overachieve! But seriously, how many times has the team with the lowest payroll in the league done much?

I’m just excited for hockey in general and I feel the Avs did nothing this off-season to make themselves worse off.