The Top 3 Bustiest Avs Draftees

Every team has their drafts that they would love to do over, and picks they wish they would have stayed away from. Because in the years following, it is always made clear, in hindsight, who should have been left off the scouts list. Instead, teams are left with a relatively unknown name in their list of prospects. Some of the most well-known draft busts are Patrik Stefan, Scott Scissons, Rick DiPietro, and Alexander Daigle.

Like every team, the Avalanche also have a nice little list of top drafted players who amounted to nothing. Here are the top 3:

Peter Ratchuk: Colorado drafted this promising defenseman in 1996, the Avs 2nd draft, in the 1^st round, 25^th overall. Ratchuk was seen as an offensive defenseman who scored 23 goals and 31 assists in his last year of junior (Hull Olympiques, QMJHL). The Avs chose not to sign Ratchuk to an entry level deal, making the young blueliner a free agent. Ratchuk went on to play 32 NHL games with the Florida Panthers, scoring 1 goal and an assist. He then toiled in the minor leagues and Europe before retiring in 2011.

Other players the Avs could have drafted: Zdeno Chara, Tom Poti, Toni Lydman, Pavel Kubina, Willie Mitchell, Tomas Kaberle, Fernando Pisani.

Mikhail Kuleshov: Hardcore Avs fans might remember Kuleshov. After being drafted 25^th overall in the 1999 entry draft, he went on to play in 3 games for Colorado in the 2003-04 season. He went 0-0-0, -1. So why is Kuleshov listed as an all-time bust? After being drafted in the 1^st round, in ’99, Kuleshov went on to play 31 games over 3 seasons in the Russia Super League. He scored a total of 2 points, all assists. The Avs then brought the young left winger over to North America, where he suited up for the old affiliate Hershey Bears (AHL). He never scored more than 8 goals in any of his 4 AHL seasons (19 total), and eventually went back to Mother Russia where he would never score another goal in the RSL. Kuleshov retired in 2006. In Soviet Russia, hockey plays you.

Other players the Avs could have drafted: Ryan Miller, Henrik Zetterberg, Martin Havlat, Mike Commodore, Jordan Leopold, Craig Anderson, Chris Kelly, Mike Comrie, Brian McGrattan, Ryan Malone, Georges Parros.

Kevin Grimes: Grimes was drafted 26^th overall in the 1997 Entry draft. Grimes was a tough, hardnosed defenseman that was capable of putting up some points. But the Avs wasted this first round pick on a player that never made it out of the ECHL or IHL. After junior, Grimes never scored more than 2 goals in a season, and after seeing his playing time and games dressed decrease, he retired in 2004 with only 460 pro games under his belt to go along with just 15 goals. After not being extended a contract by the Avs, Grimes re-entered the NHL draft, but was passed over. Talk about a fall from grace.

Other players the Avs could have drafted: Max Afinogenov, Peter Sykora, Joe Corvo, Jason Chimera, Kyle Calder, Mike York, Matt Cooke, Brian Campbell, Shawn Thornton, Andrew Ference, Kristian Huselius. 
We expect a thank you card from his mom for writing the first hockey story on him in 10 years. You're welcome. 

(This hockey card is pretty much worthless)

Dishonourable Mentions: Nigel Williams (2006, 51^st) Jonas Johansson (2002, 28^th) Serge Soin (2000, 50^th) Graham Belak (1997, 53^rd) Yuri Babenko (1996, 51^st)
***A Twitter user reminded us of Vaclav Nedorost (2000, 14th)

  

Post Game Avs/Oilers: Pathetic

Wow. Just wow. How can a team that looked so great against San Jose and Chicago look so horrible against the Oilers? Oh, we know why. Because it’s the Colorado Avalanche and they are impressively inconsistent. A horrible game against the Blue Jackets, three great games against the Hawks and Sharks, and a horrible game against the Oilers. So who are the Avs? Are they the great team we saw the past few games or are they the pathetic team we saw tonight? Well I think it’s safe to say they are neither. They are still a bad team. Not good. But they are on average better that what we saw against the Oilers. So, in summary, another Avs loss, another absolute joke of an effort, another divisional loss, and another game toward missing the playoffs yet again. Good job team. Pathetic.

Let’s examine some individual efforts tonight shall we?

Ryan O’Byrne: Are you kidding me Sacco? You send Barrie down before the game starts and you dress this useless oaf who goes on to take not one, but TWO bad penalties in the 2^nd, and is, of course, on the ice for a few goals? O’Byrne needs to sit. I don’t know what Sacco sees in him to keep him on the ice.

Matt Duchene: He had a bad game. A BAD game. On the ice for two of the Oilers first three goals, him, McGinn, and Parenteau all had poor outings.

Gabe Landeskog: The blown tire that led to the first goal was a bad break; you can’t fault him for that. But the rest of the game? Yea you can fault him. I don’t know why he is playing with Stastny and Jones. They have done hardly anything as a line and it clearly isn’t a good fit. This isn’t EA Sport’s NHL 06 Joe Sacco. The chemistry might look good in the “Edit Lines” screen, but when it’s this bad on the ice, maybe you should change it up huh? Oh no, sorry. Those duties are usually reserved for real NHL coaches. Not bumbling airheads that put on a suit and stand behind a bunch of NHL players during a game. Because right now, that’s pretty much your only contribution to the team.

The list goes on. I’m sure we could find a few things to say about everyone in the lineup tonight. But we won’t. With this loss, the Avs now find themselves back in 14^th place in the West. Now, obviously Joe Sacco isn’t a mathematician because, you know, he didn’t know how many players to put on the ice, but last time we checked the official NHL rulebook, you need to be 8^th place or better to make it into the playoffs.

Oh, yea the Hejda no-goal was bogus, but come on. After the first 10 minutes you could tell the Avs weren’t going to win. So if you’re one of those people who constantly blame the refs, then you obviously don’t watch the game and get your information from Twitter. Because anyone who can sit back after games like tonight and say “Man we would have had them if it wasn’t for the zebras” pretty much doesn’t know a darn thing about hockey or this team. So to all you people out there who fit that description, there is only a few things you need to know: The Avs are inconsistent, Joe Sacco is an idiot (just to be clear we aren’t on the Fire Sacco train, we choose to be neutral, but he is an idiot behind the bench), and when we have bad nights, they’re BAD nights.

A little side not on Sacco: While he can be blamed for the Avs overall poor performance, he can’t be blamed for the loss tonight. He can’t make the players skate harder and play stronger on individual nights. The ones to blame tonight are those who slip the Avs jerseys over their heads and collect paycheques from KSE. We don’t know about you, but we hope donate tonight’s salary to charity so at least someone can benefit for their awful performance.

Three Stars:

Tyson Barrie

Mark Olver

Greg Zanon

Dishonourable Mention:

Go to the Avs website and click on ROSTER. Are you there? Ok, that’s who.

Avs/Oilers Preview: Precious Points On The Line

By Chloe

(@ChloeColorado)

If all good things come to an end, tonight is the night that momentum from one Blackhawks-killer will come to a screeching halt.

The Avalanche and Oilers will meet for the fourth time this season tonight at the Pepsi Center, in a game that is proving to be extremely important for both clubs.

The Oilers, reaching the end of their insane nine-game road trip, look to jump the Avs and claim the third spot in the Northwest Division with a win on enemy ice. But if the Avalanche—who have a terrific 8-2-1 home record so far—can manage to string together three straight wins for the first time this season, it will put Edmonton three points behind in the Western Conference standings, essentially turning the dynamic young teams’ postseason chances into a playoff pipe-dream. The Avs have a game in-hand on the Oilers, so losing these two points would be a devastating blow.

Both teams are relatively healthy, with Ryan Jones expected to return to the lineup for Edmonton after being a healthy scratch in their game against Chicago. If that happens, changes will have to be made to accommodate Jones, presumably so that he can join Nugent-Hopkins and Eberle on their high-scoring line. Goal tender Devan Dubnyk left the Chicago game midway through the second period and his status for today’s game seems to still be up in the air.

The Avalanche saw the return of Ryan Wilson in their theatrical buzzer-beating win over the Sharks on Sunday, and Coach Joe Sacco indicated that no lineup changes are expected for this game, leaving Olver and Barrie as healthy scratches once again. Varlamov will be in net tonight, in a move that I don’t personally agree with—as I fear that this intense schedule is bound to catch up to him at some point… I just hope that night isn’t tonight.

My game prediction for tonight is an Avalanche victory. I just don’t see Edmonton pulling enough energy together to beat an Avs team that is frankly on more of a roll than their record indicates. Both teams are desperate for points, but the Avalanche are playing consistent hockey and the Oilers will be gassed from their dismal road trip that has so far left them 1-5-1.

The game begins at 7p.m. 

Scratch and Win?

Twitter

So as you may or may not know, Tyson Barrie has been scratched for the last couple of games, and will be scratched for the next few it looks like. We here at Avaholics Unanimous understand that when a team is finally starting to gel and put up some points, you don’t want to fix anything that isn’t broken. That’s fine. But what the Avs management, mostly Joe Sacco, is doing to Barrie is wrong. Sacco said Barrie was going to be scratched before the 2^nd game of the home and home versus Chicago. His reasoning: the last 2 games, Barrie’s level of play had dropped. That’s fair. You want to ice your best players all the time. But it certainly isn’t doing Barrie any favours. Here is our theory:

Tyson Barrie is a young kid playing in the NHL  on a team with 8 defensemen on its active roster. He is  the only one as of right now that is eligible to skip waivers before being sent down to the minors. That makes him expendable and the most likely to see his time in “The Show” this season cut short. That is a lot of pressure to put on a youngster.

Look at it this way; we have all been in the position before where we make a mistake at our jobs, get yelled at, and then go back to work. Only when we go back to work, we are often so afraid to make another mistake that we end up screwing up on a ton of different stuff. We aren’t sport psychologists, but we don’t see how this would be any different on Barrie. His NHL job security is at risk, and any time he makes a few mistakes (which he is going to do for pete’s sake) he gets taken out of the lineup. We can’t help but think that if Sacco gave him more leeway and didn’t punish him for a bad game, Barrie’s overall play would be more relaxed, more confident, and just better. Remember when EJ and Wilson went down, and Barrie was put back into the lineup earlier in the year? He was one of our best defensemen on most nights and he was playing great. You could see he was confident, knew it was okay to slip up a few times, and knew the possibility of him getting scratched was low. Bottom line, he knew he could just go out and play.

So what happens? He has a few “bad games”, guys get healthy, and he sits. Good strategy coach. Because the best way to develop a budding 21 year old defenseman is to have him watch games up in the press box. If and when he returns to the lineup it will be interesting to see if he plays well with the microscope examining his every play. It seems like Sacco isn’t looking for reasons to keep him in the lineup, he is looking for reasons to scratch him.

Oh and a little side note, in his last 3 games against Columbus, Detroit, and Chicago, Barrie averaged just under 21 minutes of ice time, picked up an assist, was +1 with 7 shots, had 4 hits and a couple of blocked shots. That doesn’t seem so bad.

Ryan O’Byrne in his last 3 games you ask? About 20 minutes ice time, -2, a bad penalty, and multiple untimely icings. Hm.

Post Game Avs/Sharks: Dutch the Clutch

Well, after a ghastly performance against the Blue Jackets and a close loss against the Hawks, the Avs seem to be back on track. Well that isn’t entirely accurate because from the start of the season, they weren’t on any kind of track. But the win versus Chicago (Chelsea Dagger anyone?) and the OT win Sunday against the Sharks, the Avs look fast, healthy, and complete. Yes they have a less than optimal defensive corps that makes mistake after mistake after mistake. But EJ is back and playing great, and Wilson had a solid game (hit, blocked shot, 2 SOG, +1) so now it is an option to sit guys like Zanon. Look for the Avs to get rid of a defenseman soon or send Barrie down to the farm. With a solid top 3 lines, and a great 4^th line wrecking crew, the Avs are in a prime position to get some points and move up in the standings. There are no excuses anymore to be successful.

Tonight was a fairly good showing by the Avalanche. But don’t let Duchene’s last second OT goal fool you into the thinking the Avs played pristine. The third period was not great and once again Varlamov stole it for them in the final 25 minutes of play. The bottom 4 defense played a bit of a choppy game with some untimely icings, bad penalties, and poor play down low in their own zone. Oh, did we say the bottom 4? We meant Ryan O’Byrne. He needs to be better.

But there was a ton of optimism to be dragged out of this performance.

Matt Duchene: Wow! His speed is intense and he always seems to have the extra step. He is playing with his heart, with his body, and with his brain. Smart, good hockey and it is a big reason he and his team are starting to put up some points. Last second goals don’t seem to hurt his case either. Clutch

Semyon Varlamov: We have already said it but Varly is playing great. When the Avs D mess up, or when opposing players get open, Varlamov has been there to stop them. His solid, confident play has provided the Avs with some breathing room and assurance.

Jan Hejda: He looked horrible to start the season and was a healthy scratch early in the year. And now, you can hardly notice him on the ice. For a defensive, hard-nosed defenseman in the NHL, that is all you can ask for. People only notice guys like him when they make mistakes and cost their team. But Hejda has played great defensive hockey as of late and we think we speak for every Avs fan out there when we say he should keep it up.

*Reminder: If the Avs tank and are at the bottom of the standings at the end of the year, look for them to move Hejda. He is in the last year of his contract and he would be a key asset to a contending team.

Overall, tonight was a good game. The powerplay was working, the penalty killing did its job, although iffy at times, and all 4 lines contributed in their own way and that led to the Avs victory tonight.

Upcomming: Avs/Oilers on Tuesday night. This is a big one.

3 Stars:

1.  Matt Duchene

2. Semyon Varlamov

3. Erik Johnson

Dishonourable mention:

Ryan O’Byrne

Come At Me Hawks Fans

By:

Chloe (@ChloeColorado)

Go ahead and crucify me, but I have to ask. Are the Blackhawks really that good? Common wisdom says that records don’t lie, and 22 straight games with at least a point—well that’s a pretty great record. I shouldn’t even question the success of a team that has yet to lose in regulation, especially as a fan of an Avs team that just stumbled to the Blue Jackets in a snoozer of an afternoon game. The Blackhawks play smart, quick, entertaining hockey. Of course they are a good team. Finding a way to win in different situations is the definition of an elite team in the NHL. No one is questioning that.

But when any team in sports chases history like the Blackhawks continue to do, perspective is important. The Blackhawks bandwagon is at cruising at top speed, and while it’s doubtful that they will make it all the way through the season without a regulation loss, it’s easy to see how fans and critics alike can get caught up in the romance of it all. I am not trying to take anything away from the best team in the NHL, nor am I trying to find a way to validate the shortcomings of the eight-win Avalanche by tearing down a team that has clearly proven themselves time and time again.

 My problem—and I don’t think I’m alone on this one—is that in the shortened season the eastern and western conference teams will not play each other. As a fan of a team that is still struggling at the bottom of the pile in the west, it is definitely easier to criticize greatness than to admit defeat, but I have to wonder whether the Blackhawks would still be writing their page in the history books if they had to play the elite teams of the east like the Habs or Bruins or Penguins.  It’s an academic question at best, one that no one will know the answer to unless they make it to the Stanley Cup finals.

While breaking down the results from the Blackhawks season so far (because honestly I’m sick of thinking about the O’Reilly saga and wanted to find some other way to waste my time,) something really jumped out at me. Of the 19 wins that the Blackhawks have, seven have been decided in overtime or a shootout. Of the remaining 12 wins, another five have been one point wins—meaning that the Blackhawks have only won seven games by more than one point. What’s more— in 12 of their games they have come back from behind. My initial thought (and those of lots of Blackhawks fans out there I’m sure,) was that it just proves that they know how to grind it out and don’t get discouraged when they fall behind. They can win in different situations which is exactly what you want from your team. Thinking about it more though, I am starting to notice an interesting nuance in the fairytale of the Blackhawks season.  For a team that is touted as being so elite, they somehow can’t manage to carry a lead or put their opponents away early on any consistent basis.

This may be a moot point, after all at the end of the season a win is a win and it doesn’t matter as long as you get those points, right? I just can’t help but wonder if the Blackhawks are really worth their first place spot in the NHL, or if they are just a very good team that has capitalized on the misfortunes of a weaker conference and squeak out wins at the end. The only other western opponent so far with a record even close to the Blackhawks has been Anaheim—who beat Chicago in overtime. What does that say?

The Blackhawks have been lucky so far with players staying healthy—unlike the lowly Blue Jackets—who were without their top defensemen and two centers the last time they met the Hawks. But even with their obvious disadvantages going into that game, they still managed to take the best team in the NHL to overtime before coming up short in the end. It has been said time and time again that in the NHL there are no easy victories, and that the worst team in the league on paper is usually not that far off from being the best. If this holds true, then it’s no surprise that the Jackets gave the Hawks a run for their money. In reality however, it is hard to think that a team with so many injuries that have less than half the points of the Blackhawks could have given them this much trouble.

I can’t say that it doesn’t brighten my mood to think of the way the Jackets played them, knowing that the Avs will meet them twice in the next few games. Could the Avs be the team to end their streak? All I can say is that I can’t wait to watch hockey this week, and will have plenty of popcorn ready.

The real test for the Blackhawks will probably not come until the playoffs, and I hope for the sake of the history books that they really prove to be the best team. I love hockey with all of my heart, and have struggled this season to decide if the lockout will compromise the results of the sport that takes up so much of my time. What I would hate to see is a team that has been touted as the best of the best fall flat in the playoffs when it counts the most. I want to believe that the 48 game compressed schedule will not affect the outcome, and that the streak by the Hawks is just as valid as any other great run in hockey history. At this point I’m just not convinced that the Blackhawks are head and shoulders above the rest of the league as their record suggests—but for the sake of the game—I hope I’m wrong.