Final Grade: Greg Mauldin

This report card is a joint effort by Beachie, Sandie, Paul, SlamDunktheFunk and DDC. Stats courtesy of hockey-reference.com and NHL.com

Final Grade

Final Grade: B-

Midseason Grade: B+

Position: RW

Lines:

• 4^th (17gp 4g 3a 7pt +1)
• 3^rd (11gp 1g 2a 3pt +4)
• 2^nd (1gp 0g 0a 0pt Even)

Vitals: 5'11" / 195 / Age 28 / Shoots R

Drafted by Columbus, 7^th round (199^th) of 2002 Entry Draft

Joined Avalanche: Signed as a free agent this past summer.

MHH Nicknames: Darth Mauldin

Linemates:

LW:

• McLeod 11gp 4g 3a 7pt +5
• Winnik 10gp 1g 2a 3pt +3
• Galiardi 3gp 0g 0a 0pt Even
• Yip 2gp 0g 0a 0pt -3
• Porter 1gp 0g 0a 0pt Even
• Jones 1gp 0g 0a 0pt Even

C:

• Dupuis 15gp 2g 1a 3pt -2
• O'Reilly 13gp 3g 4a 7pt +7
• Duchene 1gp 0g 0a 0pt Even

Avs with Mauldin in the lineup: 15-10-4 (.586 point %) 3.24 GF 3.17 GA

Ice Time:

• TTOI 10:32 (16^th)
• EV 9:14 (16^th)
• PK 1:15 (7^th)
• PP 0:02 (19^th)

Career Highlights: Mauldin scored his first NHL goal on November 12^th against Columbus - his first game with the Avalanche

Report: Greg, a thus far career AHL'er, was able to bring heart and passion to the Avalanche this year.  How many other players would sleep on egg crates in a locker room to be able to be the first one on the ice? Okay, so he didn't do this once he was donning the Avalanche logo, but the fact that he has done this is this shows how much being a professional hockey player means to the guy. He is willing to do just about anything to improve his game and to get ice time. And it shows. For a guy that was about to give up on his dreams, give up playing hockey and instead join the Army, what he was able to do with the Avalanche this year was outstanding.

He was given a chance to come up and play due to the ridiculous amount of injuries that the Avalanche faced, and at first, ran with it. But as time wore on and the rest of the team struggled so did Mauldin. His last goal and assist came in the middle of December, he played twelve games after this. However, when he was hot, he was hot. He had five goals this year, two of which were shorthanded, enough to tie with Daniel Winnik for the most shorthanded goals on the team, a team that was only able to get 8 shorthanded goals this year. Like a number of players he never was able to get Joe Sacco to like him as much as we did. How was Sacco impervious to Mauldin's smile is a mystery.

Fun Fact: We think the only Avs to score their first NHL goal shorthanded are Mauldin, Chris Stewart, Philippe Dupuis and Ben Guite. But don't quote us on that.

The Greg Mauldin Drinking Game: Drink when Mauldin flashes his pearly whites Drunk potential: Substantial

What We Said at Midseason: Mauldin is great. Hardworking, talented and obviously enthusiastic. Love him. 

 2010 Cap Hit: $500,000

2011 Status: UFA

Outlook for Next Season: If it was up to us, the speedy, hard-working Mauldin would have been in the lineup over a few of the more disappointing players (for example, the guy we graded yesterday). He never seemed to win over Skipper Joe, though, with less than 10 minutes of ice time in 15 of his 29 appearances. Mauldin also lost a little steam as his call-up stint wore on - he was scoreless in his last 12 games. But, we did miss that smile on the bench, that threatening speed on the penalty kill and that team leading +/- after he was sent down. After all, the Avalanche were just 8-28-2 after he was demoted. We definitely hope he's back next year...but, sadly, we don't think we can bank on that.

Next Up: Peter Forsberg