Revisiting MHH's 2013-14 Avalanche Season Analysis: Part 9 - Individual Performance Predictions

Let's talk numbers. Who's going to be the leading scorer? Who's going to scrape the bottom of the barrel in goals? Which defenseman will top the blueline in points? Who gets the most PIMs? Which player is going to be the game-changer for the Avalanche, finding ways to will wins that would otherwise be sure-fire losses?

What Andi said then:

Leading Scorer: Duchene, 30 G / 50 A / 80pts
Fewest Goals (Top 9 forwards): Downie, 10G
Fewest Goals (Team, 20+ GP): Sarich, 1G
Top Blueliner: Johnson, 5G / 20A / 25pts
Most PIMs: McLeod, 150 PIM
Game-changer: Varlamov (I hope)

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What Cole said then:

Leading Scorer: Matt Duchene 60-70 points and finally, FINALLY 30 goals
Lowest Scorer: Cory Sarich and Patrick Bordeleau with 1 each
Top D: Erik Johnson with 28-35 points
PIM’s: Cody McLeod, as always
Game Changer: Matt Duchene

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What Mike said then: I see Duchene as the leader in the goalz category with Pappy holding down the points lead. If Stastny is used like it looks like he's gonna be used, he'll be the "big name" at the bottom of the points/goals heap. Other than him, Mitchell will lead the team in lack of points. Barrie should command the most offensive output on the blueline and Cody Mac will lead in PIMs. I think the team will lean on Duchene heavily to be the game changer, but my hope is Varly gets the opportunity to steal some significant games as well.

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What Steve said then: No surprises in my picks.

Who's going to be the leading scorer? P.A. Parenteau but the whole top line will be close
Who's going to scrape the bottom of the barrel in goals? Cory Sarich for obvious reasons; hopefully Jamie McGinn stops scraping the paint off the pipes
Which defenseman will top the blueline in points? Tyson Barrie for obvious reasons
Who gets the most PIMs? Cody McLeod for being Cody McLeod
Which player is going to be the game-changer for the Avalanche, finding ways to will wins that would otherwise be sure-fire losses? Ryan O'Reilly. pls.

What Steve says now: Lol, Parenteau oops. Pretty happy with the rest of this:

Scorer: Duchene/O'Reilly
Goals: Sarich only had one, tied for the least who actually scored any. And haha what a goal it was, but I can't find a clip on youtube D:
D-man points: Erik Johnson edged Barrie by a point
PIMs: Cody McLeod
Game changer: I'm happy with ROR here given that he tied Duchene for game winning goals and I can't find game tying goals.

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What Earl said then:

Scoring: Duchene
Goals: PA, Landy
Fewest Goals: Sarich, Olver
PIMs: Bordy
Game-changer: The whole team

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What AJ said then: Leading scorer will be Dutchy. Least goals will be Sgarbossa, who again won't score in another call up opportunity. Top blueline point scorer will be EJ. Most PIMs goes to Cody Mac simply because he's going to earn his spot in the lineup more consistently than Bordy. Game-changer had better be Landy, damnit.

What AJ says now: Wow did I ever drill this one. Dutchy led in goals, Sgarbossa didn't score at all in the NHL, EJ led the blueline in points, Cody Mac got top PIMs, and Landy was widely credited with being one of the reasons the Avs were as good as they were last year thanks not only to his on-ice play but his locker room contributions. The other guys you could say were game-changers for the Avs were O'Reilly, Barrie, and MacKinnon, who combined to score 16 GWGs last year.

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What Cheryl said then:

Leading Scorer: Matt Duchene
Lowest Scorer: Patrick Bordeleau
Top D: Erik Johnson although Tyson Barrie won't be far behind
PIM’s: Patrick Bordeleau, even without the fighting majors. Still won't ever get the benefit of the doubt.
Game Changer: Gabe Landeskog and Ryan O'Reilly will share that honor on the ice, but the bigger difference will be behind the bench with Patrick Roy

What Cheryl says now: Really proud of myself for calling the D like that. Roy was kind of a cop out because of course he was.