I could do player-by-player report cards, or some other detailed, highly quantitative analysis of individual performances this year. But I'm not going to do that, because other people (see: Draft Dodger and Shane, maybe Jibble) will likely do that.
No, instead I'm just going to pick the five players from the Avalanche who most impressed me this season. Their statistical output plays into my choices, of course, but I also considered a number of intangibles that probably wouldn't make many scouting reports.
So, without further ado, the following are the top five Avalanche players of the regular season:
 |
Paul Stastny Son of Stastny had a great rookie season, but even with a ruptured appendix his sophomore year was better. 71 points in 66 games. The only other player to score more than 70 points in less than 70 total games was Sidney Crosby. Sure, Stastny was inconsistent at times and lost a lot of games to injury, but the team would be nothing without him. |
 |
Jeff Finger Last season Finger caught our attention by injecting some much-needed physicality into the Avs blue line during The Streak. This season, Finger turned it up a notch. Hit after hit, solid play after solid play, he was the player we all (mistakingly) expected Scott Hannan to be. Hopefully he gets re-signed this summer, and not just because he's a trivia god. Oh yeah, and he went +12 with 19:57 ATOI. |
 |
Ben Guite I have to admit, part of the reason I picked Guite was the boss handlebar mustache he sported for much of the season. Oh, and his 11 goals. He's a gritty checking forward who can shut down almost any forward in the league, and he's had to tolerate Cody McLeod on his line for a long time now, and that takes a strong will, I'm sure. |
 |
Jose Theodore I can't believe I'm saying this, but I've been thoroughly impressed by Theo this season. When Coach Q finally decided to go with one goalie, Theodore went into full Pimp Cane mode and has been solid enough to keep the Avs going through a ton of injuries and poor coaching decisions. Could Budaj have done the same thing? I think so. But he didn't get the chance, and Theodore did, and he didn't let us down. |
 |
Marek Svatos Svatos had a horrible sophomore year, exposing himself as a weak one-sided player. But this season, before bowing out with a blown ACL, he reinvented himself. Sure, he can't pass to save his life, but he was on pace to surpass 30 goals (and had six game-winners), and his efforts on defense were transcendental. He was clogging passing lanes and even body checking, amazing for a guy who is shorter than his official height of 5-10. |
Honorable mention goes to all three of the trade deadline acquisitions: Peter Forsberg, Adam Foote, and Ruslan Salei. They've all missed games due to injuries/fatigue but when on the ice they've been invaluable. Salei has filled the role Karlis Skrastins never could and Adam Foote has taken a leadership role that nobody on the blueline seemed able to assume all season. And Forsberg. Well, we all know how good he's been (when actually playing).
I could give a list of the five worst players, but why trash anybody? The guys that have underachieved (or just plain sucked) know who they are and no doubt want to improve. Keep your heads up, fellas.
So who's in your five?