Adrian Dater is the Avalanche beat writer for the Denver Post. He has been covering them since, well, forever. He is also the author of "Blood Feud," a book that details the war on the ice between the Avs and the Dead things. (Rivalry is too weak a word to describe it. I still get shivers every time I see Roy launching into that attack on Vernon).

Unfortunately, there appears to be a groundswell of negative opinion of this beat writer around these parts. Some of the criticism levelled at him is unfair, some of it fair, in my opinion.

The main beefs that I can tell are:

• For a person with unrivalled access to the Avs, some of the big stories are not followed up on - ie. players with concussions and how they are getting on. Even if nothing has changed, it would be nice for a little update now and then to say that.
• Then calling people idiots for them daring to ask why there is no follow up about it.
  
• Being outscooped. Whilst AD was active on twitter during the draft, he was slow getting the news out about a couple of trades in Free Agency.
• There appears to be an undercurrent of bitterness running through his writing. Whether that is on his blog, his official column or in his book. He mentions a few times in his book that to be accused of homerism is the worst sin a pro sports reporter can do, so I wonder if he is determined to be so far the other way, that his writing reflects that (in a negative way) on the Avs.

On the other hand:

• Adrian has to work under the cloak of silence that is KSE's modus operandi. How can he possibly break all the news if he is not told? Of course, that being the case, why doesn't he at least get first dibs on a few stories? Come on KSE, throw the dog a bone....
• People can be idiots sometimes. Not that Dario is, or was being, but to be fair, AD didn't say "You're an idiot," he said to someone else that "people who think that, are idiots." Not a direct criticism per se, but still, on Twitter, anything bad that you write, can come back and bite you.
• As an insomniac, I can sympathize with Dater's sleeping problems and I don't think people are as aware of how debilitating it can be. Whilst we have all had a joke with his Ambien addiction, there is a possibility that it could be personality damaging.

This post is not meant to be inflammatory. I do not want to roast Dater and would welcome any input he may have as I know that occasionally he prowls these boards. My personal feelings are neither here nor there, but I wanted to put it out there purely in the context of "After all these years, should the Avalanche get a new beat writer?"

No matter how much you love your job, you can get jaded and that jadedness (is that even a word?) can impact performance and enthusiasm for it.

So, simple question - Should Adrian Dater remain the beat writer for the Avs?