FanPost

Where do the Avs stand?

Doug Pensinger

It’s like watching a tidal wave. All through the offseason, the Colorado Avalanche were on the wrong end of every pundit and blogger jumping on the "fancy stats" wagon. Suddenly, the young team started feeling a little more pressure to perform well and continue their rapid development. The stubborn would say that this is the pressure that often accompanies a division championship. However, a chorus of beat writers and the blogosphere preached of an inevitable, and humbling, drop in the standings.

Seven games later, the Avalanche have done nothing to feed the critics their words. They’ve stumbled out the gate with a 1-4-2 record, facing adversity in the form of injuries to the goaltending tandem, as well as to the role players in the bottom-6. But aren’t good teams supposed to play through such adversities?

It is not unlikely that the Avalanche is simply off to a slow start and a little more time to develop chemistry between teammates is all that separates the unit becoming more successful. But perhaps the new season has exposed some of the weaknesses not so obvious amidst the success of last season. Perhaps the writers and number crunchers are on to something.

Coach Patrick Roy blames poor decision making and a lowered compete level, stating, "… the way I look at it is we want an easy game and until we're going to want to compete at the level we were last year, then we're going to struggle."

This is likely true to an extent. Center Matt Duchene seems to be the only core players to prove that he can consistently make a difference in the game. Nathan MacKinnon, Ryan O’Reilly, and Captain Gabe Landeskog still look effective in parts of the game, but fallen short of demonstrating that they can be one of the best players in the game consistently. The effectiveness of the Power Play has been questionable before the embarrassing home loss to the Florida Panthers.

The cold, hard truth is that the Avs aren’t done rebuilding. While we’ve reaped some reward off the development of our young players, but gaping holes remain.

Our bottom-6 has been oft-injured to start the season, but is underwhelming when healthy. John Mitchell has been a welcome return to the lineup and Maxim Talbot has proven to be an effective penalty killer. McLeod has again proven himself energetic, gritty, and reliable. Outside of that there is very little left to be excited about. The scoring has been underwhelming, and the defensive prowess has been suspect.

The Avalanche is a team of young players that are still 2-3 seasons from realizing their potential and older veterans that are 2-3 years past their prime. Brad Stuart, Jarome Iginla, Alex Tanguay, Daniel Briere, and Jan Hejda sounds like an All-Star team from ten years ago.

There are still holes in our defense. Erik Johnson can’t always carry the team on his back. Tyson Barrie has been more useful as an offensive defenseman than a 2-way player in the early goings of the season, and Nick Holden is tied for a team low (-7) with 3 shots through 7 games. That's despite having almost 21 minutes in average ice time..

Roy is going to do his best with a team full of potential, but GM Joe Sakic has more to do on his end, as well. Rick Pracey was fired for a reason, and that reason is because he didn’t draft well outside of his top-3 picks, with the exception of the 2009 draft. The Avs need role players and more depth at the wing positions.

Most of all, the Colorado Avalanche need a minute eating left-handed shot that can play the entire 200 feet of ice. This has been obvious for people following the team, but the organization has been taking its time in addressing the dire need for another talented blueliner. The refusal to do so may put the organization at risk of missing out on a playoff berth until it’s handled.

Can the Avalanche claw out of their slump? Absolutely they can. But to think at this point that they are a serious contender for the division title is questionable. Even if they make the playoffs again, it may be hard to predict that they could make it past the first round. The fans in Colorado is still a couple years off of being reminded what it is like to root for a true contender, but there still remain pieces to be added in order to remedy the glaring weaknesses of the club.

Colorado Avalanche

MacKinnon watches as the other team scores goals.

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