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Final Grade: Daniel Winnik

By David Driscoll-Carignan Updated

This report card is a joint effort by Beachie, Sandie, Paul, SlamDunktheFunk and DDC. Stats courtesy of hockey-reference.com and NHL.com

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Final Grade

Cplus_medium

 

 

Final Grade: C+

Midseason Grade: A- (really?)

Last Year: N/A

Position:

  • LW 46gp 5g 10a 15pt +4
  • RW 34gp 6g 5a 11pt -6

Lines:

  • 1st 2gp 0g 1a 1pt +1
  • 2nd 14gp 4g 5a 9pt +5
  • 3rd 60gp 6g 9a 15pt -6
  • 4th 4gp 1g 0a 1pt -2

Vitals: 6'2" / 210 lbs / Age 26 / Shoots R

Drafted by Phoenix in the 9th round (265th) in the 2004 Entry Draft

Joined Avalanche: Traded by Phoenix to the Avalanche on June 28, 2010 for a fourth round pick in the 2012 Entry Draft.

MHH Nicknames:

Linemates:

LW:

  • McLeod 13gp 2g 0a 2pt -2
  • Olver 7gp 3g 2a 5pt +1
  • Porter 7gp 1g 2a 3pt -
  • Galiardi 3gp 0g 0a 0pt Even
  • Jones 2gp 0g 1a 1pt Even
  • Yip 2gp 0g 0a 0pt -1
  • O'Reilly 1gp 0g 0a 0pt -1
  • Stoa 1gp 0g 0a 0pt -1

C

  • O'Reilly 49gp 7g 10a 17pt Even
  • Duchene 9gp 4g 2a 6pt +1
  • McClement 9gp 0g 0a 0pt -2
  • Dupuis 4gp 0g 1a 1pt -1
  • Stastny 4gp 0g 2a 2pt +3
  • Galiardi 3gp 0g 0a 0pt -2
  • Porter 2gp 0g 0a 0pt -1

RW:

  • Mauldin 10gp 1g 4a 5pt +2
  • Jones 4gp 0g 2a 2pt +1
  • Koci 4gp 1g 0a 1pt -2
  • Porter 3gp 1g 0a 1pt +2
  • Hejduk 3gp 0g 1a 1pt +3
  •  

Avs with Winnik in the lineup: 29-43-8 (.413 pt%) 2.79 GF 3.51 GA

Ice Time:

  • TTOI 16:32 (8th)
  • EV 13:28 (9th)
  • PK 2:44 (2nd)
  • PP 0:20 (14th)

Career Highlights: Winnik exactly matched his career high in goals (11), assists (15) and points (26).

Report: Certainly Winnik's highlight moment of the year was against Columbus (is it any reason the fans hate Colorado- besides the Foote debacle?) when with 3.3 seconds left in the third period he scored to tie the game up and force overtime. Surprisingly, the Avalanche even went on to win that game in the shootout. One of the rare wins for the Avs during the second half of the season. Unfortunately this timely scoring was not indicative of his scoring touch, unless you look at his short-handed goals, which he had two and a tie for the most of the team and 16th in the league. Interestingly, he also scored 2 power play goals and 6 goals occured in the third period. He was relied on heavily during penalty kill situations and avaraged almost 3 minutes on the PK per game.

For such a large man, he doesn't seem to want to get dirty in the corners and fight for the puck. He only had one fight this year, and it was against Derek Dorsett of the Blue Jackets on February 11th (can the Avs play against them more?). According to hockeyfights.com he was the winner of that fight (75% of votes).

Winnik has been a great third-line player and a great defensive-minded addition to the Avalanche. He is a the same guy game after game. With Winnik you know what you'll be getting every game, which is a great thing, especially when it comes to the penalty kill when he can single-handedly kill off 30 seconds or more by stick-handling the puck around the opposing players and giving the Avlanche a chance to recoup.

Fun Fact: Former 9th round picks who have played for the Avalanche: Winnik (2004), David Jones (2003), Brian Elliott (2003), Darren Haydar (1999), Brett McLean (1997), Wyatt Smith (1997) and Ken Klee (90). John Grahame (1994) has worn the unipron on the bench, but has not appeared on the ice. Interestingly, three goalies mentioned as potential Avalanche acquisitions this summer - Evgeni Nabokov, Tomas Vokoun and Johan Hedberg - were 9th round picks from 1994 (along with Grahame, former Hershey Bears' Frederic Cassivi and Tim Thomas).

The Dan Winnik Drinking Game: Drink when Winnik takes an unsuccessful shot on net   Drunk potential: High; Winnik was 4th among forwards in shots (just 3 less than Hejduk!) but just 4 forwards had a lower shooting percentage (Dupuis, Stoa, McClement and Forsberg).

What We Said at midseason: He may not have the best stats, but he is fantastic on the special teams, great in corners, and his defensive plays are terrific. To get a higher grade he needs to improve his face off %. It's far too low for my liking.

 2010 Cap Hit: $950,000

2011 Status: Signed for 1 more year (UFA at expiry)

Outlook for Next Season: Winnik projects to again be the Avs' 3rd line left winger, with the ability to move to the right side (or up in the depth chart) if needed. We were hoping to type that Winnik had bad luck with a miserable shooting percentage last year (6.6%) which might label him as a potential breakout candidate. But, surprise surprise, that just happens to be his career shooting percentage as well. So, we think we'll be getting more of the same next year...and that's not a bad thing.

Next Up: Jonas Holos (get those typing fingers warmed up, Dan)