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Around SBN: The Worst Team Ever Projected?

And Now, Your Host: Jay Mohr

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The NHL Awards ceremony is happening tonight in Vegas. I won't be watching, and it's not because of Jay Mohr or the "superstars" to be featured on the show, like Snoop Dogg, Mark Wahlberg and Jamie Kennedy. Tempting as that all is, I'd rather be washing my hair. (For those who do dig seeing their favorite entertainers stiffly read lame gags from a teleprompter, we will have the requisite live thread up this evening).

Two members of the Colorado Avalanche are up for awards this evening. Matt Duchene is a finalist for the Jimmy Howard Trophy...er, sorry, that's still called the Calder Trophy. For now. And Skipper Joe Sacco is a finalist for the Jack Adams trophy.

Realistically, both individuals are facing some long odds to win. Duchene is up against defensemen Tyler Myers from Buffalo and the aforementioned Howard.  All had fine seasons. Duchene scored 55 points to lead all rookies in scoring. Myers had 11 goals and 48 points from the blueline. Howard had an off-year by his standards, but still managed to coast to a 2.26 GAA and a .924 save percentage. Myers seems to be the odds-on favorite here and I don't really have much ammunition to argue that. Frankly, I don't understand how one can compare rookie seasons from two different positions, let alone three. You can compare Duchene to John Tavares or Nic Bergfors and you can compare Myers to Michael del Zotto and Howard to Tuukka Rask...but how do you compare those guys to each other? At any rate, if Duchene were to win he'd have the lowest point total by a forward since Chris Drury won it in 1999 with 44 points (beating out Milan Hejduk and Marion Hossa). Don't bet on it.

While I can't argue for Duchene, I absolutely can argue that Sacco deserves the Adams trophy. Dave Tippett, the presumed winner, turned around a bad Phoenix Coyotes team, improving them by 28 points. Joe Sacco turned around a terrible Colorado Avalanche team, improving them by 26 points. Tippett's team improved their offense by about 8%. Sacco? 22%. Tippett's team cut their goals allowed by 20%. Sacco's? 10%. Dave Tippett turned Wojtek Wolski from a butterfly to a bumblebee. Joe Sacco turned Peter Mueller from a 4th line retread into a top flight winger. To me, we're pretty much at a wash. At this point in the article, I think you could vote for either guy and feel good about yourself.

Here's where the pendulum swings, in my opinion. Joe Sacco did all that with almost double the amount of injuries. The Avalanche lost 352 man-games to injuries last year, 2nd most in the league.  Phoenix? 186. Joe Sacco's team was one of the youngest and least-experienced to boot. The Avalanche's ten (!) rookies combined for 355 games last year. The Coyote's three rookies played in a total of 66 games. I won't even mention that Sacco did this all in his first year as an NHL coach, while Tippett just finished his 7th. Oops...too late.

Seriously, I think the job that Tippett did amongst all the uncertainty in Phoenix is impressive. Tippett has never won an Adams trophy, and that's too bad. This year, though, that award should go to Joe Sacco and, really, I don't even think it's that close. Of course, my vote counts as much as Team USA's 3rd goal against Slovenia last week: it doesn't. Tippett will win tonight, but it will be the wrong choice.

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Great case for Sacco DDC. Too bad voters are too lazy to actually delve into the details like you did.

Quitter's People United Member #33
"I am a business major in college after all." - One MHR commenter's rationale for knowing more about the Denver Broncos than I do. LOL.

by Bob in Boulder on Jun 23, 2010 9:07 AM MDT reply actions  

Exactly what I was going to say. Props for saying it far more succinctly than I would have.

Keep playing for as long as you can and for as much as you can, you big pile of Bertuzzi, cuz that paycheck ain't gonna be yours for long.

by Cheryl Bradley on Jun 23, 2010 9:10 AM MDT up reply actions   1 recs

Agreed,

But in most of the arguments for Tippet that I’ve seen, everybody is all giddy about the Yotes finishing 4th overall in the entire league with their 107 points. That seems to be the tipping/sticking point for the sissies out there who can’t do the right thing and recognize who did more with “less”, like DDC points out above.

by Brett Shumway on Jun 23, 2010 11:50 AM MDT up reply actions  

and...

both guys are deserving. Sacco just gets that slight edge IMO.

by Brett Shumway on Jun 23, 2010 11:52 AM MDT up reply actions  

I think you have to figure in how bad Gretzky was in your musings about Tippett. It’s pretty apparent that he was horrible and that the team should have been better with competent coaching. The fact that they got a good NHL coach to highlight this should be a factor. Sacco was following his own train wreck in the form of Granato, but he wasn’t inheriting a team that should have been better, he was inheriting a team that was fucking dreadful.

If we don't get our sauce, we ain't watching the game!

by Mike @ MHH on Jun 23, 2010 12:02 PM MDT up reply actions  

I really don’t think Granato was bad, the team was just bad. FG was a disaster. Everyone thought the Avalanche would be drafting Hall at the beginning of the year. Instead with 355 missing games (not just 3rd and 4th liners but top 6 guys), a team full of teenagers and a career backup goalie, the Avs were just two overtime goals away from sweeping the Sharks. If I recall everyone was saying Sacco was a huge mistake at the beginning and no one said that about Tippet. In fact that was the one good thing going for the Yotes.

by avalanchejef on Jun 23, 2010 12:23 PM MDT up reply actions  

I really don’t think Granato was bad, the team was just bad.

I’ll keep my rebuttal short -

2001-2002.

2009-2010 Colorado Avalanche - Much more gooderer than last year!

by Hopfenkopf on Jun 23, 2010 12:32 PM MDT up reply actions  

good point

He drove a Ferrari into a brick wall back then. Why didn’t the Avs think that he would also drive that Yugo into the wall in 2008-2009?

Quitter's People United Member #33
"I am a business major in college after all." - One MHR commenter's rationale for knowing more about the Denver Broncos than I do. LOL.

by Bob in Boulder on Jun 23, 2010 12:43 PM MDT up reply actions  

Lower speed?

If we don't get our sauce, we ain't watching the game!

by Mike @ MHH on Jun 23, 2010 1:33 PM MDT up reply actions  

His name’s not Dany Heatley?

by jd21 on Jun 23, 2010 3:16 PM MDT up reply actions   1 recs

WIN.

If we don't get our sauce, we ain't watching the game!

by Mike @ MHH on Jun 23, 2010 3:17 PM MDT up reply actions  

Rec!

2009-2010 Colorado Avalanche - Much more gooderer than last year!

by Hopfenkopf on Jun 23, 2010 4:58 PM MDT up reply actions  

lol, I guess that does prove the point but I really dont know if there was anything anyone could do with the team two years ago. It did pan out well for us last year (Duch and O’Riely).

by avalanchejef on Jun 23, 2010 2:00 PM MDT up reply actions  

Of course, my vote counts as much as Team USA’s 3rd goal against Slovenia last week: it doesn’t.

Similarly to the goal, it should

I'm the Hammel-Chicken wearing USA gear for now, Buffalozilla will be back after the World Cup!
Go Rockies! First and only member of the Manuel Corpas fanclub right here! :/
THIS IS BUFFALO NATION GODZILLA HAS AWAKEN - abayarde

by UZ on Jun 23, 2010 9:09 AM MDT reply actions  

I’m holding out hope for both of our Guys.
I tend to be overly optimistic until my hopes are officially dashed.

"That F******* sandwich had it coming!" -Mike@MHH

by gl avfan on Jun 23, 2010 9:33 AM MDT reply actions  

a lock

Myers will win the ROY, guaranteed. He nearly matched Duchene’s point total as an 18 yr old D Man, played against the top guys in all situations. A freak of nature. Wish Duchene would win but forget it.

by hockeyexpert on Jun 23, 2010 9:55 AM MDT reply actions  

Tyler Meyers
Born: Feb 1, 1990 – Katy, Texas

The existence of flamethrowers is proof that someone, somewhere, said to himself, "I want to set those people over there on fire, but I don't feel like walking over there to do it."

Screw the Wings.

by i2strange97 on Jun 23, 2010 10:37 AM MDT up reply actions  

You're fucking kidding.

Katy, Texas produced something other than gay-bashing, ignorant, rich preppy assholes and football players? I’m absolutely stunned. No wonder they moved to Canada, though. Kid in Katy says he wants to play hockey, especially in the late 90s, and you’ve become quite an outcast. Amazing. I just became this dude’s biggest fan.

A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day.

by A.J. Haefele on Jun 23, 2010 2:40 PM MDT up reply actions  

Myers deserves it and Duchene deserves it. Either way, I’m good.

I'm the Hammel-Chicken wearing USA gear for now, Buffalozilla will be back after the World Cup!
Go Rockies! First and only member of the Manuel Corpas fanclub right here! :/
THIS IS BUFFALO NATION GODZILLA HAS AWAKEN - abayarde

by UZ on Jun 23, 2010 3:11 PM MDT up reply actions  

Hey, if Marky Mark wants to sing good vibrations, I’m okay with it.

Sandie

"We called him Clark Kent because away from the rink, he was just a nerd. Then he'd go into the Colorado dressing room and put on his Avs jersey, and all of a sudden he was Super Joe"- Theo Fleury

by Sandie Gauthier on Jun 23, 2010 10:05 AM MDT reply actions  

I don’t believe his shirt will be off though. sorry.

Assistant *to* the Managing Editor, Mile High Hockey

by David Driscoll-Carignan on Jun 23, 2010 11:10 AM MDT up reply actions  

But, will he be in his tighty-whities?

Sandie

"We called him Clark Kent because away from the rink, he was just a nerd. Then he'd go into the Colorado dressing room and put on his Avs jersey, and all of a sudden he was Super Joe"- Theo Fleury

by Sandie Gauthier on Jun 23, 2010 11:39 AM MDT up reply actions  

Chris Drury won it in 1999 with 44 points (beating out Milan Hejduk and Marion Hossa).

Sometimes it is better not to win the Calder in the long run.

Never trust the lunch lady.

by Hardshell_Taco_del_Lowayne on Jun 23, 2010 10:11 AM MDT reply actions  

Leave Raycroft ALONE!!!

Mile High Hockey: Significantly better than the experts predicted, just like the Avalanche.

by Joe Dunman on Jun 23, 2010 10:37 AM MDT up reply actions  

“Schools out for SUMMA!!” Nice to have you back, Joe.

Keep playing for as long as you can and for as much as you can, you big pile of Bertuzzi, cuz that paycheck ain't gonna be yours for long.

by Cheryl Bradley on Jun 23, 2010 10:39 AM MDT up reply actions  

School’s been out for a month, but the other aspects of my insane life never take a break.

Mile High Hockey: Significantly better than the experts predicted, just like the Avalanche.

by Joe Dunman on Jun 23, 2010 10:41 AM MDT up reply actions  

Medications not helping as much any more?

If we don't get our sauce, we ain't watching the game!

by Mike @ MHH on Jun 23, 2010 12:03 PM MDT up reply actions  

Did you find anyone to ante up that kidney for ya?

Keep playing for as long as you can and for as much as you can, you big pile of Bertuzzi, cuz that paycheck ain't gonna be yours for long.

by Cheryl Bradley on Jun 23, 2010 1:20 PM MDT up reply actions  

I’ll just use my own.

From one of my favorite bands of all time, Good Clean Fun:

“You must remember the way
When things are up in the air
It’s like the word of the day
And today’s word is fair
If you’ve got two kidneys
It means you have one to spare
Because the people who win
Are the people who share”

Mile High Hockey: Significantly better than the experts predicted, just like the Avalanche.

by Joe Dunman on Jun 24, 2010 7:34 AM MDT up reply actions  

Brilliant!

I’d give ya mine but I may have to sell it myself for cash since I’m still jobless and I move in less than two weeks. I’m not quite, “walking the streets,” level yet, but pawning body parts is def within the realm of possibilities.

Keep playing for as long as you can and for as much as you can, you big pile of Bertuzzi, cuz that paycheck ain't gonna be yours for long.

by Cheryl Bradley on Jun 24, 2010 3:23 PM MDT up reply actions  

I think that I’ll do something else for two hours tonight and read about it over 10 seconds tomorrow.

retsasiddetagitimnuna. I’m petty sure that’s contagious, stay away.

by An Unmitigated Disaster on Jun 23, 2010 2:58 PM MDT reply actions  

For all of the uncertainty Tippett’s team was going through in Phoenix, it’s surprising no one ever mentions how Sacco was meant to be nothing but a stopgap for the position until Roy decided he wanted the job.

by wickediz on Jun 23, 2010 7:03 PM MDT reply actions  

absolutely

Assistant *to* the Managing Editor, Mile High Hockey

by David Driscoll-Carignan on Jun 24, 2010 6:07 AM MDT up reply actions  

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