Final Grade: Chris Stewart

Midseason Grade: C+

Final Grade: C+

Joined Team: Drafted in the 1st round (18th overall) in the 2006 draft

MHH Nicknames: Stewie

Positions:

• RW: 24
• LW: 29

Lines:

• 3rd (18)
• 2nd (17)
• 4th (16)
• 1st (2)

Linemates:

LW:

• McLeod (7)
• Tucker (6)
• Smyth (5)
• McCormick (3)
• Hensick (2)
• Willsie (1)

C:

• Hensick (21)
• Laperriere (15)
• Wolski (6)
• Willsie (5)
• Arnason (2)
• McCormick (2)
• Stastny (1)
• Guite (1)

RW:

• Svatos (10)
• Jones (8)
• Tucker (6)
• Svatos (4)
• Hejduk (1)

Ice Time:*

• TOT 12:19 (11th)
• EV 11:05 (11th)
• PK :05 (13th)
• PP 1:08 (10th)

*Rank is based on total minutes, not average per game.

Best Month: January (8 pts, 13 gp)

Career Highlights: This, of course, was Stewart's first season in the NHL.

Report: Chris Stewart's debut season was one of both promise and disappointment. At times, especially in the early going, Stewart showed a terrific combination of size and speed with a surprising dose of work ethic sprinkled in on top. As the season wore on, however, Stewart's play - and ice time - drooped significantly. After coming out of the gates with 13 points in his first 26 NHL games, Stewie finished up with just 6 in his final 27. Promising and disappointing.

It can be argued that Stewart's late-season play was not helped by the fact that he was mired on the bottom two lines and getting sparse ice time. I think that's a fair argument; I mentioned several times late in the year that I felt Tony Granato was missing an excellent opportunity to give Stewart some quality NHL minutes late in the season. The bottom line, however, is that Stewart was not working with the same consistensy and intensity late in the year that he had when he was first recalled.

That early Chris Stewart was a joy to watch - hitting, fighting (with a 4-2-2 record according to hockeyfights.com), skating and even playing some defense. He couldn't keep that momentum going, however, and that's really unfortunate...and worrisome.

One thing I really liked about Stewart was that he didn't appear to be selective about who he took on in fights. He fought a few times to give his team a boost, but also fought to protect teammates. In that area, you could say he was more Lapperriere than McLeod, and that's never, ever a bad thing (not so much a dig at McLeod as it is praise for Lappy).

In the end, Stewie's 19 points in 53 games is certainly disappointing, although his hitting and fighting helped boost his final grade from dismal to just-below-average. Let's hope this is just the beginning.

Fun Fact: Stewart (53 GP) has 7 more NHL points than his brother Anthony (105 GP)

The Chris Stewart Drinking Game: Drink when Stewie has a breakaway, but can't convert Drunk potential: Decent

What I Said Last Year: "The Avs cut Chris Stewart on Saturday, bringing the Avalanche roster down to 27. The Stewart move wasn't unexpected; he's had a good camp and preseason, but there are simply still too many people ahead of him on the depth chart."

2008 Salary (and Cap Number): $850k ($850k)

2009-2010 Status: Stewart is signed through next season at the same $850K cap hit. He becomes a restricted free agent next summer.

Outlook for 2009: As of right now, Stewart probably is penciled in as the 3rd line RW (behind Hejduk and Svatos) to start the year. Certainly he has potential to improve that situation, though, and the Avs would be in much better shape on the right side if he was able to make that jump to #2 RW behind Hejduk. Despite his inconsistent play in '08-'09, I saw enough good things from Stewart to make me believe he can indeed make that jump next year.

Next Up: T.J. Galiardi