Random Musings on the Avalanche

Some bits and pieces of thought processes about the Avalanche...

Following the scary Taylor Hall accident earlier this week, the Avalanche will require players to wear helmets on the ice during warmups. Effort during the games, of course, will remain optional.

Kyle Quincey has no points and is a -4 in his last 7 games and looking at his career splits it is easy to see why he griped back in mid-December about being a healthy scratch. Obviously, he knew he only had about two weeks left in his season.

The Nashville Predators claimed Brandon Yip off of waivers today in an obvious bid to recapture some of the Avalanche castoff magic, a la Marek Svatos (3 points). If this works out, I'll be pre-ordering my Joaqim Lindstrom Predator's jersey. Yip, by the way, was the last remaining Avalanche pick from the 2004 draft still in the system. I know all about the ex-Avs curse, but I'm not too worried about this one.

Craig Anderson and Brian Elliott combined for 15 wins in an Avalanche unipron last year. So far this year, they have 39. FML.

Chris Stewart is 7th on the Blues in scoring, with 19 points. That's the same point total and scoring rank as Erik Johnson with the Avs. I'm still not there yet on this trade, but I'm warming up. Slowly.

Speaking of Johnson, he might want to talk to his NHLPA rep about nixing that whole realignment thing. He has been awful with the Avs against NW division opponents:

That's not just a post-trade thing, either. His career numbers are very poor against the NW. And he's actually +9 against the East. Maybe we should add him to the Stastny deal when we finally send him to Toronto?

Thanks for listening.