The Monsters started a four game road trip this past week in the state of Texas. A couple of prospect defensemen swapped places. The Avalanche waved good-bye to their 2006 draft class. Boston University and Boston College get ready for the Beanpot. Duncan Siemens is involved in a scary incident. More news and notes in this edition of TWIAP.

Continue reading this post »

The Lake Erie Monsters seem to have Hamilton's number; at least for this week. Tyson Barrie is heading to Atlantic City, but it's not that kind of trip. Boston University had its hands full this past weekend with Maine. Minnesota made sure that Kent Patterson didn't have to break a sweat against St. Cloud State. More college hockey news and a check-in on the standings in the Canadian Hockey League in this edition of TWIAP!

Continue reading this post »

Alrighty!  Time for another Friday photosho thread!  You all know what to do (take the image, add something to it, put it on a different background, do both, etc.).  If you don't have photoshop, there are other free programs that will work as well, although I would highly recommend downloading a program like GIMP or Picasa instead of trying to make MS Paint work.  But that's just my two cents on the matter.  

This weeks pic has Jay McClement getting a little Jiggy with it against Nick Leddy, so have fun with that.  I can't wait to see what you guys come up with!  

I could probably leave it at that, but since I haven't figured out how to let SB Nation allow me to post this with under 150 words, i guess I'll ramble on for just a little bit longer.  I need 10 more words, so LET'S GO AVS!  

All week, I've been diving into depth on the 4 areas within the Avs' organization that will have a major effect on the team this year.  In case you missed them, I covered the Avs' Offense, Defense, Goalies, and Coaches/Management.  Today's article is just barely going to skim over them, so if you want more info, I'd suggest checking those out.  

So here we are.  The Avs' 2011-12 season starts tomorrow.  Peter Forsberg's jersey retirement banner is in the Pepsi Center ready to be raised.  The Wings are getting ready to make the trip to the city that housed their greatest rival for over a decade.  Skates have been sharpened, patches sewn, sticks taped.  The freshly zambonied ice waits patiently for the team's first game.  

What sort of an Avalanche team will skate out there tomorrow?  The last time the team was on that ice, it was last April - the 10th to be exact.  The two bottom teams in the league were facing off one last time.  The game was meaningless in the standings, but not for the fans.  Adam Foote, one of the greats from the golden years of the Avs, gave them one last rousing shift to cheer about, and David Jones gave them an overtime win to end the worst year in the team's history.  

But those moments are gone now, passed into history as all the Avs seasons have before.  The 2010-11 season was over, that chapter in the Avs' story closed.  The ice was melted and the off-season began. 

Over the next few months, the Avs said their goodbyes to lots of players.  Adam Foote hung up the skates after 19 seasons in the NHL.  John-Michael Liles was traded to Toronto.   Goalie prospect Brandon Maxwell's rights were waived.  Goaltenders Peter Budaj, Brian Elliott, John Grahame, and Jason Bacashihua left to free-agency, completely cleaning out the depth-chart for that position. Philippe Dupuis, Tomas Fleischmann, David Koci, Ray Macias, Shawn Belle, and others joined them.   All told, 9 players that donned the burgundy and blue only a few weeks before were no longer a part of the team.

But the Avs welcomed many new faces into the fold.  Left wing Joakim Lindstrom returned from the SEL to sign with the club, and Patrick Bordeleau officially inked with the team that had given him a tryout the year before.  Winger Gabriel Landeskog and defenseman Duncan Siemens (along with 4 other bright prospects) joined the organization during the draft.  Free-Agency day saw Semyon Varlamov join via a trade with Washington, and over the next few days, goalies Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Cedrick Desjardins, defensemen Jan Hejda and Shane O'Brien, and forwards Chuck Kobasew, Evan Brophey, and Patrick Rissmiller also signed on.  7 new additions will be be on the team opening night.  

Losses came to the hockey world this summer as well.  Between 3 apparent suicides and a terrible plane crash, over 40 current and former NHL players (including ex-Avs Wade Belak, Ruslan Salei, and Karlis Skrastins) passed away.  Training camp finally rolled around to help ease the pain.  In Denver, the Avs' veterans returned to the ice, a year older and wiser and looking for the chance to prove that last season was a fluke.   Fresh-faced rookies joined them, hoping to impress the coaches enough to earn a spot on the team.  All the new signees were there as well, striving to make a good first-impression on their new club.   The annual Burgundy and White game showcased the team's talent, including an incredible highlight-reel save by the new starting goalie.  Preseason saw some ups and downs as players were evaluated, chemistry formed.  Cuts were made.  The roster was finalized two days ago.  

So what sort of a team will meet the Wings tomorrow night?  A very different one from the one last year.  Between the new arrivals and the players returning from injury, every area of this team has been altered and improved.  The forward corp is as fast and dangerous as they were last year when they led the league in scoring, but now they've been joined by a few new faces and have another year of experience under their belts.  The defense looks nothing like last season's - it's bigger and tougher and will be much more effective against the physical Western Conference.  The goalies are both new and bring more talent to the table than any duo since Roy left.  The organization's depth is better as well - even if injuries strike, quality players will be joining the club instead of career AHLers.  

The overall team is young, energetic, and has something to prove to the hockey world and to themselves.  They'll be looking to put the past behind them and start moving towards creating a new dynasty in Denver.  They won't get there this year (the process will be much longer than that), but some of that foundation will be laid over the next 82 games and perhaps a few in the post-season.  There will be ups and there will be downs, but at the end of the day, this season is about moving towards something - something not seen in the Mile High City since 2001.

So what can fans expect this season?  Predictions after the jump....

Continue reading this post »

On any team, the support staff is often just as important as the players to the success of the organization.  The Avs are no exception.  This group of people is often overlooked, but their experiences and decisions play a vital role in the shaping of this club.  

The makeup of the Avs' management and coaching staff is very family-centric, for better or worse.  This applies in two ways:  first, the literal meaning (there are two father/son pairings very, very high up in the organization) and the other, a more symbolic one (the majority of our staff members were either promoted through the Avs' ranks or donned a burgundy and blue sweater at some point).   The term "Building from Within", used by General Manager Greg Sherman to describe the process of drafting and developing the future Avs stars instead of trading for them later on, can also be used to describe the Avs way of thinking when it comes to off-ice personnel.  In some ways, this is a good thing - it makes the organization a worker-friendly one because promotions are handed out fairly regularly, but it also may limit the Avs in terms of new ideas and ways of approaching problems.  It's possible this mentality helped contribute to the traditional secrecy of the organization, but the secretive personalities in charge of the Avalanche may have something to do with that was well.  

Another important thing to note is that the management (and really, the team as a whole) can be divided into 2 eras:  Pre-2009 and Post-2009.  After the "season that did not exist" ('08-'09) and the retirement of Sakic, the team ended up in the cellar of the Western Conference.  Since then, almost everyone in a major position (besides the President) has been replaced.  There was even a slight transition of owners in the summer of 2010.  When this team talks about rebuilding, they don't just mean with the players.  The front office staff and the coaches are new too.  Top to bottom, this is an organization essentially entering its third season, despite the fact it's been in Colorado for 16.  However, the management has shown that it has learned from its past success and mistakes - the first 13 years of the Colorado Avalanche are not ignored, even though they are clearly a thing of the past. 

This organization also tends to play things very close to the vest.  Over the past year, the management has made an effort to open up and keep the fans more informed, but the old saying is "if you hear about an Avs trade, then it isn't going to happen".  Trades, when they do come, are often huge and catch people off-guard because the Avs never let on when they're up to something.  It's that way with everything (determining the Captaincy, moving players down the AHL or calling them up, free agent signings) - everything is very hush-hush.  It's a very different dynamic than many teams have, and it does take some getting used to.  It's also a fairly common source of frustration for the fans. 

However, the first step in understanding this very secretive organization is to understand the people in charge.  After the jump, there's a breakdown of all the major behind-the-scenes players of the Avalanche.  Just strap yourself in - it's a long one.   

Continue reading this post »

Craig Anderson, Brian Elliott, Peter Budaj, John Grahame, and Jason Bacashihua - these were the goalies in the Avs system last year.  Guess how many are still with the organization?  

Zero.  

That's right - zip, zilch, nada.  After an abysmal season, the Avs completely cleaned house, clear through the back-up position of their AHL affiliate.  

Anderson - the hero that almost single-handedly secured the 2010 playoff berth for the Avs - looked horrible in the first half of the 2010-11 season.  Instead of the nice 2.63GAA he had put up the previous year, he stayed at a near constant 3.28GAA and below .900%.  He was then traded to Ottawa in February for another struggling netminder - Brian Elliott.  Anderson returned to better than his 2010 form while playing with the Sens, posting an unreal 2.05 GAA and .939%.  Elliott.... didn't.  Granted, he didn't have the greatest defense in front of him (by this point, the Avs were deep into their defensive depth charts due to numerous injuries), but he was leapfrogging Budaj for the title of worst Avalanche goalie.  It didn't work out well.  The two netminders both finished with above a 3.20GAA and well below a .900%.  The Avs realized that neither of those goalies were ever going to be legitimate starters in the NHL and that Grahame and Bacashihua didn't have a future above the AHL level, so they chose not to renew their contracts and turned their attention elsewhere.  

July 1st brought sweeping changes to the Avs as far as goalies were concerned.  The day started off with a controversial trade with Washington that brought 23-year-old Semyon Varlamov to Colorado.  A few hours later, free-agent and former Conn Smythe winner Jean-Sebastien Giguere joined him, and a week after that, another young goaltender named Cedrick Desjardins was signed.  

What does all of this mean for the Avs?  2011-12 is a completely fresh start for the position the Avs have been struggling to fill since Patrick Roy left.  Each of the new goaltenders are high-risk high-reward gambles - the Avs are just hoping one or more of them work out.  But even if that's not the case, due to good drafting in the past few years, there are a few rookies in the system who might be able to step up in a few seasons.  

I'll explain more after the jump....

Continue reading this post »

With pre-season over, it's time to start looking forward to the regular season and what it holds for the Colorado Avalanche.  But if you've been out of the loop this summer, don't worry - we'll get you all caught up before opening night this Saturday.  Yesterday, we looked at the forwards.  Today is all about the D.  

The biggest thing to remember when looking at the Avalanche's defense is to completely forget about last season.  This defense looks nothing like the one from last year - judging them by how they preformed for the past 12 months isn't going to get you anywhere at all.  In fact, there are only three members of the '10-'11 opening night D-squad still with the team:  one was out for nearly the entire year with an injury, one is fighting for a spot, and one is injured but probably going straight to the Avs' AHL affiliate in Cleveland when he gets better.  Between new faces and returns from injuries, this year's squad looks completely new.  

Why the makeover?  '10-'11's defense ended up as a failed experiment.  The Avs decided to go with fast players instead of big ones.  Yes, there were some guys that could hit, but they weren't exactly huge and that was about all they could do.  And the guys who were good at helping out the forwards?  Well, they were lacking in their own zone and got completely owned more times than not while trying to play defense.  Even though they looked good in the pts column, when it comes right down to it, the defense was just not very defensive.  It only got worse once the injuries started rolling in (through trades and injuries, the Avs dressed 17 different defensemen last year).  They were eaten alive in the competitive Western Conference.  

The Avs realized their mistake about midway through last season and have been progressively beefing up the blueline since.  The team has gone from one of the smallest defensive corps to one of the biggest by adding 2 inches and 25-30lbs to their AVERAGE size.  They may have sacrificed a little speed in doing so, but even the big guys move pretty well and can help out in fast break situations.  And our blueline offense is still fairly strong - there are now a number of players with heavy shots from the point that should give goalies grief all season long.  

And if that wasn't enough, there's a whole slew of rookies just waiting for callups.  They'll be ready to go in anywhere from a few months to a few years.  Add in the fact that only 5 of 12 of the defensemen competing for a spot this season have a job next year, and things should get interesting very quickly.  

More to come after the jump...

Continue reading this post »

Greetings Avalanche fans! This is the first of a weekly series that will cover the news and events of Colorado Avalanche prospects throughout the season. Wont you join me on my journey into the depths of the Colorado Avalanche organization?

Continue reading this post »