Prediction time! Please make your bold predictions here so we can all marvel or point and laugh at the end of the year. How many points will the Avalanche finish with? How deep will they go in the playoffs? Who will lead the team in scoring? Who will be the top-scoring defenseman? And who will top the team in penalty minutes?

David Driscoll-Carignan, Mile High Hockey: 98 points, thanks in part to a resurgence of J.S. Giguere.  2^nd round exit. Stastny leads the way with 72 points while Johnson scores 44 on the blueline. Shane O'Brien has a pugilistic resurgence and leads the team with 150 penalty minutes. And Jimmy Howard wins the Calder for the 23^rd straight time.

Adrian Dater, Denver Post: I'll say they finish 11th (sorry). Leading scorer: Duchene, 69 points. Top-scoring D-man: Elliott - 41 points. Penalty-minute leader: The Highlander, of course.

Brett Shumway, Mile High Hockey: Avs will finish with 99 points.  Get tossed in the first round. Duchene will lead the team in scoring. EJ leads the D. And although O'Brien will make a valiant effort, Cody Mac will continue his reign as PIM king.

Matt Muzia, SBN Denver: The Avalanche finish second in the Northwest Division with 100 points, good enough for sixth in the Western Conference. Paul Stastny has a rebound year with 80 points, and (Bold Prediction Alert!) Colorado finishes top 12 in Goals Allowed.

Ryan Boulding, The Avalanche Guild: I hate making predictions as they are based on basically nothing when it comes to the Colorado Avalanche. Injuries, strange decisions, awkward trades have an unforeseeable impact on the season. While the diehard fan in me predicts winning the Stanley Cup, the realist sees something more like a close sixth or seventh place finish with a first round exit unless the stars align. I wouldn't put it past this team to be an eighth seed upset like the Canadians last season or the Oilers from a few years back. 99 points will bring them in and Stastny will lead in points. Duchene will lead in goals. The Burgundy Brigade will be the next big thing for fans. John-Michael Liles won't be fourth on the team with 46 points and Stoa won't be worth keeping track of. Erik Johnson will lead defense in points unless Elliott plays, then it will be Elliott by a mile. Penalty minutes will to go to either Cody McLeod or Shane O'Brien.  Whatever happens, beating the finish from last year should be easy and it will certainly be a fun year of our favorite sport.

Mike Verminski, Put It On Ice: The they will finish with 83 points, but still miss the playoffs. I think Stastny will get his mojo back and lead the team in scoring next season. Jonson should be the top scoring defenseman and McLeod will definitely lead the team in penalty minutes!

Nic Zamora, Avaholics Anonymous: The Avs will finish with 95 points which will be good enough for 8th spot in the playoffs. There will be no sweep but the team will not go down without a fight and take it to 6 games in the 1st round but will not make it farther than that. I'll say Matt Duchene takes that next step and leads the team in scoring with 85 points while Cody McLeod leads in PIMs with 180.

AJ Haefele, Mile High Hockey: I'm seeing the Avalanche finishing the season with 90 points because injuries WILL happen and at the end of the day, this still is not a deep enough team to overcome long-term injuries to key players. With a 90 point season, I don't see the Avalanche making the playoffs. I think Matt Duchene will be lead the team in scoring (77 points) and Erik Johnson will be the top-scoring defenseman (46 points). The top PIMs getter will be Cody McLeod with 112.

Cheryl Bradley, Mile High Hockey & Avalanche Breakaway: How many points will the Avalanche finish with? 92 How deep will they go in the playoffs? They won't make it, falling just short of a playoff berth in 9th or 10th place in the West. Who will lead the team in scoring? Matt Duchene (80 pts) Who will be the top-scoring defenseman? Erik Johnson (50 pts) And who will top the team in penalty minutes? Cody McLeod (130 PIM)

Sean Payton, Anyone But Detroit:

Points: 97 points - finish 7th in the Western Conf

Playoffs: Lose in first round

Scoring leader: Duchene

Defenseman scoring leader: Johnson

Penalty mins leader: McLeod

Angélique Murray, Colorado Avalanche Prospects, Mile High Hockey & Chicks Who Give A Puck: I think this team has the potential of making the playoffs. Certainly things have to go right, namely a healthy Peter Mueller in post Phoenix and pre Rob Blake hit form. Erik Johnson needs to come into his own, especially considering this is a contract year. Semyon Varlamov has to perform and quickly considering the high price the Avalanche paid.

With that being said, it took 97 points to make the playoffs in the Western Conference last year and that would involve a 29 point improvement from the Avalanche this year to reach that mark. Better goaltending and a bigger and more rugged defense will certainly help. I'll put Colorado at 94 points. Depending on how things work out, it could be enough for them to slide into the top eight.

Even if they manage to get in, I'm expecting they'll be one and done. Matt Duchene will get his first 80 plus point season and lead the team offensively. A nod to Erik Johnson as the top scoring defenseman with at least 40 points and Cody McLeod will lead the team in penalty minutes (shoot for 200 Highlander).

Jaye Horbay, Mile High Sticking:

Final Points - 98 pts

Playoffs - second round loss

Scoring Leader - Duchene 85 pts

Top Scoring D man - Quincey 50 pts (please please please)

Top Penalty Mins - Shane O'brien/Kyle Cumiskey tied, each one of them being stupid and costing us at least one game.

David from Slovakia, Eurolanche: Points: 96, Playoffs: As a die-hard fan = Stanley Cup, as a realistic person = 2nd round. Scoring: Duchene, D-man: Johnson. PIM: Winnik.

Pavol from Austria, Eurolanche: Points: 74; No play-off next year; Top scorer: Duchene; Top-scoring defender: Johnson; Top in penalty minutes: O'Byrne.

Aaron Musick, HockeyBuzz: I already have this posted for everyone to mock/marvel at but I think Matt Duchene gets 90 points this year. I think he is going to explode. In addition, I think Semyon Varlamov will get 37 wins and the Avs 98 points and find their way into the playoffs. Then again that is total and complete optimism talking.

Mike Chambers, Denver Post: Much improved defensively, Avs make the playoffs with 96 points. Duchene is the top scorer.  Quincey is the top offensive guy on the blue line. McLeod fights the most.

Geoff Rosenthal, The Avs Factor: The Avalanche will finish with 93 points, good enough for second in the Northwest Division and eighth in the Western Conference. They will advance to second round of the playoffs after knocking off the Vancouver Canucks in round one. Matt Duchene will lead the team in scoring with a cool 87 points, while Stefan Elliott will emerge from the AHL to lead the defensemen in scoring (ala Kevin Shattenkirk). The penalty minute king, Cody McLeod, will return to defend his belt. Peter Mueller will not get injured. Joakim Lindstrom will receive the Jarsoslav Hlinka treatment. Paul Stastny will not be traded.

Andi D, Mile High Hockey: I think the Avs will finish with 98 points, good for 8th in the West, and just barely squeek into playoffs.  I expect them to push the first round to at least 6 games, but I highly doubt they'll make it past the second round.  Dutchy will lead the scorers with around 85pts in the regular season, and EJ will lead the blueline with about 40pts.  O'Byrne will lead the team in PIM because he'll get more minutes than McLeod or O'Brien this year (the other two candidates for the top PIM award).  I also expect that some of our numerous blueliners will be traded for young, top 6 caliber wingers at some point, and that Erik Johnson will be wearing a C on the front of his jersey. 

Derek Bell, Mile High Hockey:

Record:  44-29-9 for 97 points, finish 2nd in Northwest behind the Vancouver Canucks and 7th in the Western Conference.

Playoffs:  The Avs will make the playoffs this year, but unfortunately fall in the first round to the Pacific Division champion Los Angeles Kings.

Leading Scorer/Defenseman:  Mighty Matt Duchene (35 goals/86 points)/Erik Johnson (10 goals/36 points)

Penalty Minutes Leader:  Cody McLeod (206 PIM)

Austin Snow, Avs Chill Zone: I think the Avalanche hit the 96-point mark and end up in the #7 seed. Again, maybe that's shooting a bit high, but there are significant improvements from last season, and the team is due for a season without many major injuries.  They're also due for a semi-final win. I say they extend the 2nd round series 7 games but lose out on their bid to make to the conference finals.

Duchene will again lead the team in scoring, but Stastny won't be far behind. I say Dutchy hits 90 points thanks to the addition of Mueller on his line, but I also have a feeling that Mueller will go down again with a concussion.

Quincey will be the top scoring d-man with 50 points, and O'Brien leads the team in PIMs with 120ish.

Mike @ MHH, Mile High Hockey: 87, miss playoffs, Johnson, McLeod.

Stephen Crociata, Mile High Sticking and SBNation New York: The Avalanche will finish with 96 points. They will lose in the 2nd round of the playoffs. Matt Duchene will lead the Avalanche in scoring with over 80 points. Erik Johnson will lead defenseman in scoring with 42 points. Brad Malone will top the team in PIM. Also Gabriel Landeskog will win the Calder.

Final tally: 16-6 in favor of the Avalanche making the playoffs. Duchene received 17 votes to lead the team in scoring, with 4 votes for Stastny and one no vote. Johnson was the leading vote-getter for defensive scoring, with Elliott and Quincey each receiving 3 votes. Cody McLeod got 13 votes for penalty minutes, with Shane O'Brien receiving 3, Ryan O'Byrne 2 and Daniel Winnik (!) getting one nod.

Of course, we'd like to hear your bold predictions in the comments section.

I'd like to thank everyone who participated in the roundtable this year. It was a lot of work to put this together, but the answers made it totally worth it. The Avalanche have a great community of writers supporting the team and this roundtable is just a small sample of the wealth of talent out there. We hope you'll take some time to visit the great sites we've been linking throughout the Roundtable, as well as some of our favorites who weren't able to participate this year, like JibbleScribbits and Avs Hockey Podcast.

For reference, here's the questions we covered this year. And, all the previous questions are archived here.

• Meet the cast
• Day 1: A blast from the past
• Day 2: Moving vans
• Day 3: Looking back at the trades
• Day 4: Skipper Joe
• Day 5: Varlamov and the lottery
• Day 6: Moving on up?
• Day 7: Ryan Stoa
• Day 8: Gabriel Landeskog
• Day 9: Breakout player
• Day 10: The D
• Day 11: The Goalies

 The roundtable may be over, but the season is just about to kick off in a big way as training camp starts tomorrow. We actually have a big training camp preview coming later today, so don't change that dial!

The only question mark about the Avalanche goaltending going into last season was whether Craig Anderson would play 60 games or 70 games. Things didn't quite work out as expected and the Avalanche have gone in a different direction between the pipes. How confident are you in the tandem of Varlamov and Giguere and how many games do you see each playing

Yes, yes, the goalies again. Looking back, we probably had one too many goalie questions and perhaps could have had one more about the forwards. But, damn, the goalie position is just so vital and the Avalanche have been trying to replace Patrick Roy for so long, and having Craig Anderson do his Lucy-pulling-the-football-away trick just makes everyone crave a competent goalie all that more.

Adrian Dater, Denver Post: I'll say 52 for Varly and 30 for Jiggy. People forget it was only four years ago that Jiggy led a team to a Stanley Cup. He says he's healthier than he's been in years after sports hernia surgery, so I think he'll be good. I cannot say either way on Varlamov until I really see him play a few games. You just never really know a player until you see him live for a while. You simply can't know a guy by watching tape - it has to be in person. It's weird that way in hockey - you only really watch the guys on "your" side. Everything else is a blur.

Brett Shumway, Mile High Hockey: In the wake of the Avs saddest tandem ever in Budaj/Elliot, I'm so confident in the new additions that I went out and got a tattoo covering my entire back of Varly and Giggy tending creases opposite of each other with a grave stone in between them that reads: R.I.P. Craig Anderson 2009-2011. [Thankfully, photos weren't provided]

Matt Muzia, SBN Denver: I like this tandem quite a bit. Everything you hear from Varlamov makes me as a fan scream "Yes! I want this kid on my team!" His stats in limited play are off the charts good, and he's genuinely exciting to watch. I'd love to see him start 55 games this year, but will be happy with 45. Giguere is Giguere. Still good enough to be a quality backup, but if he starts more than 25 games next year there could be trouble.

Ryan Boulding, The Avalanche Guild: I'm confident that Semyon Varlamov will work to stay healthy and that he'll easily beat his career high in games played. I could see him somewhere in the 50's to start. It will be interesting to see where Jean-Sebastien Giguere fits into all of this as he's had offseason surgery. He also apparently has a water absorption issue, which could hinder him in stretch games. The beauty though is that the Avalanche have a secret weapon with Cedrick Desjardins down in Lake Erie now. Depending on how he has rehabbed his surgically repaired shoulder, he could easily pick up any slack left behind. I'm less concerned about games played because I know that, between the two or three of them, the Avs are far better off in goal than they have been in years.

Mike Verminski, Put It On Ice: I'm fairly confident, but nervous because both have a history of injuries. If both remain healthy throughout the season, which isn't likely, I want to see Varly play 50-55 games and Giggy get the rest.

AJ Haefele, Mile High Hockey: I'm extremely confident in the ability of both players to fill the roles I believe the team envisions each guy in with Varly as the starter and Giguere as the veteran backup. The health is the only real question for me and my confidence there is pretty shaken. A lot of talk has been made of Varly's issues with the Capitals training staff and that being a big reason for his prolonged injuries but with Colorado's injury history over the last...5-10 years or so, I'd say coming to Colorado isn't likely to be a magical elixir for him. Ideally I would say 50-55 starts for Varly and the rest for Giguere. Realistically...well, I hope we have Ray Emery's number lying around...

I'm very confident in the goaltending tandem for the Avs going into next season. I think both goalies are determined to prove themselves: Varlamov wants to show he's an elite goaltender in this league, while Giguere wants to remind everyone he still has it. How many games they play depends, obviously, on health. This is the beautiful part of this tandem, though. If either one goes down, I feel certain the other will be able to pick up the ball and run with it. Er, wrong sport. But you meant what I knew.

Cheryl Bradley, Mile High Hockey & Avalanche Breakaway: Varly brings that swag and killer instinct Avs fans love so much. He's able to make those acrobatic, highlight reel saves that leave you wondering how the hell the puck didn't hit twine. Giguere brings a solid veteran presence that calms the nerves. I can already hear myself saying, "It's cool. Jiggy's got this." Either way, the team in front of these goaltenders will feel secure, knowing their boys will be there to help them out and steal some games when needed. I predict, injury free, Varlamov will play 55 games, and Jiggy will man the net for 27.

Angélique Murray, Colorado Avalanche Prospects, Mile High Hockey & Chicks Who Give A Puck: It's hard to imagine the Avs goaltending situation being worse than last season. My biggest fear with the new duo is injuries. I'm also not sure how much Giguere has left in the tank. Nonetheless, I expect he'll start at least 25 games this year with the remaining starts going to Varlamov. If Giguere plays more than 25 games, that's probably not good news for the Avalanche when it comes to Varlamov's condition or performance.

Jaye Horbay, Mile High Sticking: I think based on last years' numbers; a wet mop could have stopped more than the Elliott/Budaj/NotGiveAShitAndy trio. This being said, I'm pretty confident the overall Goals Against will be less than last year.  I see Varly playing about 60-65 games this year and Jiggy cleaning up the mess at 15-20. All of the above of course hinges on someone not tweaking this or pulling that and sending yet another year into a free falling tailspin of doom. Did I say I was confident a couple sentences ago? What I really meant to say was I'm slightly concerned that all these ‘experts' are right and we have two lame duck goalies - again. /starts erecting shrine to hockey gods.

Sandie Gauthier, Mile High Hockey: I'm cautiously optimistic. I think it'll be a fairly even split, perhaps 45 games for Varlamov and 37 games for JS Giguere. 

David from Slovakia, Eurolanche: Firstly, I remember how everybody was mad about Varlamov´s trade. But then when Giguere was added, most of fans had started to like our new goalies. I like them too - on the one side is still young goalie and on the other side veteran and the Stanley Cup winner. If everything goes good, Varlamov will play 60 games and Giguere the rest.

Pavol from Austria, Eurolanche: : As I said before, we have two very balanced goalie tandem, so I am very confident with that. Management said that Varlamov will be the goalie number one and I like that idea. I think Semyon can play like 50 - 60 matches, the rest will be taken by Giguere. Anyway, everything will depend on Varlamov's form.

Aaron Musick, HockeyBuzz: Cautiously optimistic. They have talent but it's either unproven or appears to be in the past. Both have injury problems as well. Assuming health, Varlamov should play 55-60 games and Giguere 25-30 games.

Mike Chambers, Denver Post: I think it's a good youngster/veteran rotation and they'll go around 52-30 in starts if both remain healthy.

Geoff Rosenthal, The Avs Factor: As a friend/Caps fan told me yesterday, "Varly will be good as long as he can stay healthy." The Avs seem to be cursed when it comes to medical issues; thus, my overall level of optimism is just one step above sea level. But I think if Varlamov CAN stay healthy, he's looking at playing 50-55 games.

Andi D, Mile High Hockey: Despite their injury records, I'm very confident in Varly and Giggy.  Varlamov is the future of this franchise - after what we gave up to get him, I doubt we'll be trading him for another Brian Elliott.  Besides, the "Colurahdo Havalanche" were his favorite team growing up and he seems positively thrilled to be wearing the burgundy and blue.  That attitude, combined with his buckets of talent and (from what I can tell) his desire to put all this "he was the Caps third goalie" nonsense to bed should help propel him to the starting position.  Giggy will be a backup, but could easily be one of the best backups in the league.  Even at 35, he's still a Conn Smythe winner with years of experience.  Despite his recent run-ins with injury, I'm hoping he still has a few more years left in the tank.  Tim Thomas is 37 and still awesome - there's no reason why a 35 year-old Giggy can't be at least decent at his age.  I expect around a Varly 52 / Giggy 30 or so split this year because Giggy will constantly be pushing Varly for that top job.  This is the best goalie tandem we've had since Roy left. 

Derek Bell, Mile High Hockey: This is the most excited I've been about a goaltending tandem since Roy and Aeibischer during the 2000-01 season, and we all remember what happened that season. Now let's be 100% clear here, this team is NOWHERE near as talented as that team was. As a matter of fact I don't think another Avs team will ever boast that kind of lineup again, but I digress.  I believe that Varlamov will be the starter on opening night being that the Avs paid as much as they did for him. I predict Varly to start somewhere between 55-60 games with Giggy starting the remainder of the games.

Austin Snow, Avs Chill Zone: I am quite confident, but how can't you be when the team finished last season with Budaj and Elliott?

I think Varlamov stays relatively healthy through the year, and he plays 50-60 games. Giguere will be able to play 20+ games competently, and maybe even pretty successfully. 

Mike @ MHH, Mile High Hockey: In a perfect world, pretty confident. In a world filled with exploding groins, not very.  25, and 35, respectively.

Stephen Crociata, Mile High Sticking and SBNation New York: I'm quite confident, maybe too confident, but I believe the Avalanche have a tandem who complement each other well. Varlamov will have a great teacher in Giguere and the fact neither guy will have to over work will allow for both to stay healthy. I see Varlamov starting 48 games and Giguere 34.

David Driscoll-Carignan, Mile High Hockey: In three of his four years as a coach, Joe Sacco has evenly distributed the goaltending duties. Other than Anderson's 71 start freakazoid season in '09, no other goalie has seen 50 starts under Skipper Joe. Meanwhile, J.S. Giguere has never had less than 30 appearances in a season since turning pro and Semyon Varlamov has yet to make 35 appearances as a pro. I think the split is going to surprise people. It says here that Giguere has a comeback season and starts 60 games.

Of course, I'll look like a genius if I'm right. If I'm wrong, I can always come back and edit it. Either way, we close things up tomorrow with some final bold season predictions.

Assuming everyone is healthy, who do you think will be the six defensemen in the lineup on opening night?

Not surprisingly, answers are all over the place here without any logical way to organize them. So, I'm presenting them as is first and then breaking it down at the end.

Stephen Crociata, Mile High Sticking and SBNation New York: Erik Johnson, Ryan O'Byrne, Jan Hejda, Kyle Quincey, Shane O'Brien, Steffan Elliott.

Mike @ MHH, Mile High Hockey: Hejda, Quincey, Hunwick, ROB, SOB, Johnson

Austin Snow, Avs Chill Zone: EJ, Quincey, O'Byrne, Wilson, Hejda, and Elliott. I think Elliott gets a look through the first 10 games of the season, and he stays if he can play. Otherwise I think Sacco will rotate Hunwick and O'Brien as the 7th d-man.

Derek Bell, Mile High Hockey: Erik Johnson and Jan Hejda; Kyle Quincey and Matt Hunwick; Ryan O'Byrne and Duncan Siemens

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Other than Gabriel Landeskog, who on the Avs do you think will have a breakout year this year?

I deliberately did not provide any criteria for this question as I wanted to let each writer to come up with their own. The end result is that we got a wide variety of answers. Er, with one exception.

David Driscoll-Carignan, Mile High Hockey: Last year I picked T.J. Galiardi and he wound up with 15 points. This year, I'm going to take...T.J. Galiardi. Clearly, I am an idiot.

Clearly, I'm a genius because Galiardi was the overwhelming favorite response.

Angélique Murray, Colorado Avalanche Prospects, Mile High Hockey & Chicks Who Give A Puck: I'm looking at TJ Galiardi as the player I expect to breakout this upcoming season. No, he's not going to put up 90 points, but I expect we'll see more of the player we saw against the San Jose Sharks in the 2010 Western Conference Quarterfinals. So, I'm predicting a 20 goal/30 assist season for Mr. Galiardi.

Mike @ MHH, Mile High Hockey: The hipster pick is T.J. Galiardi, right? That's a thing now, right?

Geoff Rosenthal, The Avs Factor: T.J. Galiardi. If all goes according to plan, he will finally be playing on the third line, a role that he is exceptionally suited for. He will play alongside Ryan O'Reilly (another breakout candidate) and hopefully channel the energy he had in the 2010 playoffs when he became a monster against the San Jose Sharks. Don't let me down, Gali.

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Three players have scored 50 points as a rookie in an Avalanche uniform: Paul Stastny (78), Matt Duchene (55) and Alex Tanguay (51). Will Gabriel Landeskog become the fourth? What sort of season do you expect from him?

First of all, I somehow borked the question as two other rookies scored 50 points with the Avs (can you guess?). But the meat of the question remains and I was pleasantly surprised that there weren't a lot of outrageous claims in the responses. I think everyone had a very level-headed response with reasonable expectations. In other words, not very blogger-like.

Stephen Crociata, Mile High Sticking and SBNation New York: Gabriel Landeskog will have experts say "I knew he was good, but this good?" I expect Landeskog to be the 4th Avs rookie to score over 50 pts.

Derek Bell, Mile High Hockey: 35 goals, 32 assists for 67 points

David from Slovakia, Eurolanche: I am really surprised by predictions and expectations from the scouts about Landeskog rookie season. He has to be smart player - everybody talks about that. But personally, I really do not know what I should think about it and what should I expect. First of all, he is European and you remember that Colorado has only a few successful European players in the 21st century. In spite of that I expect traditional 50 points from him.

Jaye Horbay, Mile High Sticking: I expect nothing less than 100 points and 2 Calder trophies. That's right, TWO. Okay, seriously though, I don't think at 18 he can be the ‘power forward' that we all project him to be, especially coming straight from the OHL. I think if you throw him with the right line mates, he's got the tools and skill for at least a good 45-60 points, depending if he gets PP time.

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Ryan Stoa was the Avs' first draft pick in the 2005 draft - 10 spots ahead of Paul Stastny - but has yet to find his groove at the NHL level. Has the window of opportunity closed on him?

Several people feel that the answer is an emphatic "yes"...and the majority of them said that as efficiently as possible.

Ryan Boulding, The Avalanche Guild: If you have met me or heard me talk about Stoa, you know that I think the window of opportunity shut in his face before last season even started. By the end of the year, I was flabbergasted as to why he was getting ice time over guys like Greg Mauldin or even Philippe Dupuis. Stoa seems to have the "Chris Stewart" story going on except, instead of working his ass off and evolving into an NHL quality player, he has peaked in the AHL where he clearly succeeds. Stoa isn't worth developing any longer. I actually used to mix up former forward Chris Durno and Stoa all the time, and Durno got his walking papers after the 2009-10 season. The two were the same slow player to me and Stoa needs to follow in his doppelganger's footsteps.

Sean Payton, Anyone But Detroit: Stoa had his final chance to show the Avs and the rest of the league that he belonged in the NHL when he played in 16 games during the final quarter of last season.  Result?  All of 2 assists.  Result of that?  Window closed

Stephen Crociata, Mile High Sticking and SBNation New York: I've been done with Stoa for a while now. Although I'm quite sure sometime in the future he will have a few "Ovechtricks" vs the Avs.

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The Avalanche ranked 15th in goals scored and 30th in goals allowed last year. Which of these areas will see the biggest improvement (if any) next year?

As you might expect, pretty much everyone looked at the Avalanche goaltending and concluded that...well, let Mike tell it...

Mike @ MHH, Mile High Hockey: Goals allowed of course. Nowhere to go but up!!

Nic Zamora, Avaholics Anonymous: Well there's no way to go but up and with the bigger defense and potentially better goaltending, the goals against should be much lower than last season. Hopefully this is the case because no way we make the playoffs giving up that many goals. Goals for, I think, will be right around the same since we aren't going to be getting as much offense from the defense after losing guys like Liles and Shattenkirk.

Adrian Dater, Denver Post: I would definitely say it'll be the latter. Not only is Varlamov and J.S. Giguere already an automatic upgrade over Elliott-Budaj, but the defense clearly looks better on paper. Jan Hejda and a healthy Kyle Quincey will add a lot more size back there, and I really think Stefan Elliott has a chance to be a real good rookie this year. On paper, things look better offensively too really. Yeah, they lost Fleischmann, but they should get Peter Mueller back, and Gabriel Landeskog has all the right ingredients to make a positive impact this year. I also think Duchene will be better, and I think TJ Galiardi will have a bounce-back year. But still, goal-scoring figures to be the team's biggest problem - especially on the power play.

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How worried are you that the 1^st round pick we traded to Washington for Semyon Varlamov will end up as a lottery pick?

I was a little surprised by the responses here. Avalanche bloggers tend to be a fairly pessimistic bunch, but only a few are overly concerned.

Nic Zamora, Avaholics Anonymous: Terrified. I've had the pleasure of watching a lot of Varly over the past couple seasons. He was brilliant in the playoffs but collapsed in that game 7 against the Pens. There have also been the injuries which pop up every season. If any of those injuries happen again this season, we're screwed. Hopefully he can find a way to stay healthy because when he is healthy, he is one of the top goalies in the league.

Derek Bell, Mile High Hockey: That is definitely a concern for me. You can look as far back as just 2 years ago when Toronto traded it's 1st round pick to Boston in the Phil Kessel deal (that pick ended up being Tyler Seguin) to see how that can backfire on a team. Now that's not to say that Toronto be a completely different team with Seguin. They certainly would be a lot better off if they had a player of Seguin's caliber in their lineup to play alongside some of the other young talent in their lineup. 

Angélique Murray, Colorado Avalanche Prospects, Mile High Hockey & Chicks Who Give A Puck: The Avs are betting that potential will be realized and very quickly with the acquisition of Varlamov. There is no doubting the risk considering the depth of the 2012 draft class. The Avs inability of developing their own goaltenders has put them in this position of having to sacrifice so much. It's hard not to be worried.

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