A Look At Highly Drafted D-men. Why Seth Jones is a Huge Risk

Ok let’s pretend you are the General Manager of the Colorado Avalanche. It’s the draft and you’re at the podium. “With the first selection in the 2013 NHL Entry draft, from the ____________ of the _____, we select____”   who would you chose? A lot of people, even after the Memorial Cup final, are saying Seth Jones. But is the #1 pick worth the gamble on a defenseman? We say it’s a gamble because of the track record of 1^st round defensemen. Here is a look at defensemen drafted in the 1^st round since 1999:

1999:

Branislav Mezei, 10^th overall

Jeff Jillson, 14^th overall

David Tanabe, 16^th overall

Kirill Safronov, 19^th overall

Steve McCarthy, 23^rd overall

Kristian Kudroc, 30^th overall

Two exceptions in this round were Barret Jackman (17^th) and Nick Boynton (21^st).

2000:

Rostislav Klesla, 4^th

Lars Jonsson, 7^th

Ron Hainsey, 13^th

Brooks Orpik, 18^th

Anton Volchenkov, 21^st

David Hale, 22^nd

Martin Samuelsson, 27^th

Niklas Kronwall, 29^th

This prospect pool is a litter richer. But with the exception of Kronwall, Volchenkov, and Orpik, the rest were pretty much busts. Sure Klesa has been a good defenseman but he was drafted 4^th overall for a reason. Columbus picked him because he was said to be the best defenseman in the draft. A franchise player, cornerstone, and can’t miss future all-star. All of which he never became. Hale, Samuelsson, Jonsson, and a few others never amounted to much either. So who was chosen after these guys? Nick Wallin, Nick Shultz, Kurt Sauer, Paul Martin, Andreas Lilja, and Lubo Visnovky, to name a few. Oh and Henrik Lunqvist.

2001:

Mike Komisarek, 7^th

Dan Hamhuis, 12^th

Igor Knyazev, 15^th

Carlo Colaiacovo, 17^th

Shaone Morrisonn, 19^th

Tim Gleason, 23^rd

Lukas Krajicek, 24^th

Jeff Woywitka, 27^th

So apart from Hamhuis and maybe Komisarek, none of these defensemen lived up to their hype and potential. Who was picked after? Fedor Tyutin, Jay Harrison, Christian Ehrhoff, Kevin Bieksa, Dennis Seidenberg, Marek Zidlicky, Johnny Oduya.

2002:

Jay Bouwmeester, 3^rd

Joni Pitkanen, 4^th

Ryan Whitney, 5^th

Keith Ballard, 11^th

Steve Eminger, 12^th

Denis Grebeshkov, 18^th

Anton Babchuk, 21^st

Martin Vagner, 26^th

Now, Bouwmeester, Pitkanen, and Whitney are all good defensemen, but if the Avs pass up Nate McKinnon for just guys like that, they’ll be kicking themselves. Who went after the 1^st round? Duncan Keith. Case closed.

2003:

Ryan Suter, 7^th

Braydon Coburn, 8^th

Dion Phaneuf, 9^th

Brent Seabrook, 14^th

Mark Stuart, 21^st

Shawne Belle, 30^th

Finally a draft with some excellent prospects in the top 10. If jones turned out like Suter and Phanuef, then it would be nice. But he could still amount to Erik Johnson. More on him later. Picked later: Shea Weber, Dustin Byfugien.

2004:

Cam Barker, 3^rd

Ladislav Smid, 9^th

Boris Valabik, 10^th

A.J. Thelen, 12^th

Andrej Meszaros, 23^rd

Jeff Schultz, 27^th

Mark Fistric, 28^th

Mike Green, 29^th

Andy Rogers, 30^th

Annnnns we’re back. Busts busts busts. Remember Cam Barker? So much hype, and so little return. Mike Green is the lone bright spot. Players chosen after: Alex Edler, Mark Streit.

2005:

Jack Johnson, 3^rd

Brian Lee, 9^th

Luc Bourdon, 10^th

Marc Staal, 12^th

Sasha Pokulok, 14^th

Ryan Parent, 18^th

Jakub Kindl, 19^th

Matt Lashoff, 22^nd

Matt Pelech, 26^th

Joe Finley, 27^th

Matt Niskanen, 28^th

Vladimir Mihalik, 30^th

Marc Staal is the lone bright spot in this draft. Well, Jack Johnson isn’t too bad either. But ask yourself this: would you want these guys or Nate McKinnon? Players chosen after: Kris Letang, Keith Yandle.

2006:

Erik Johnson, 1^st

Ty Wishart, 16^th

Mark Mitera, 19^th

David Fischer, 20^th

Bob Sanguinetti, 21^st

Dennis Persson, 24^th

Ivan Vishnevskiy, 27^th

Chris Summers, 29^th

Matt Corente, 30^th

Erik Johnson. Yea, let’s get another one of him.

Alright so since defensemen take a little longer to develop we’ll stop it here. Except for a few notables: Thomas Hickey, 2007 4^th. Drew Doughty, 2008 2^nd. Victor Hedman, 2009 2^nd. Eric Gudbranson, 2010 3^rd. Adam Larsson, 2011 4^th.

Out of these few recently drafted defensemen, Drew Doughty is the only guy we would want over Nate McKinnon. Hedman is NOT becoming what was expected of him. Adam Larsson is no difference maker. Eric Gudbranson is young so we’ll see.

So what does this mean for the Avs and Seth Jones? Taking a defenseman that early is a huge gamble. Dmen take longer to develop and aren’t always a sure thing. So is it worth the risk (yes it is a full on risk) to take a player that could turn into any of the above mentioned? There is no such thing as a can’t miss prospect, there is always risk. But the risk for defensemen is higher than that of an explosive forward like McKinnon or Drouin. These are just names and numbers, but it does open the eyes to the fact that Jones might not be as good as every scout thinks he is.

Jones is the #1 dman on one of the best junior teams in Canada. Heck, one of the best Junior teams in the world. Yes, the Winterhawks are that good because of the play of Jones, but Jones is that good as a result of his team’s play around him. Stick any 16-20 year old defenseman on the Portland Winterhawks and see if his game improves. But look at Larsson. Hedman. Johnson. All top prospects and “can’t miss” defensemen, but don’t you think Tampa Bay wishes they had Matt Duchene instead of Hedman? Don’t you think St. Louis wished they picked Jonathan Toews over Erik Johnson? The list goes on.

If the Avs take Seth Jones 1^st overall and he turns into a player like Drew Doughty or Shea Weber, then that is awesome. But what if they take him 1^st overall and he turns out to be Mike Komisarek or Branislav Mezei? It’s possible, and it is something to think about.

But the lesson learned from all of these “can’t miss 1^st round prospects”, is that mistakes can be made. A

Patrick Roy? A Bad Idea. The Avs Need Succes, Not A Front Office Family Reunion

So Patrick Roy is in the running for the Avs vacant coaching spot. He is the coach of the Quebec Ramparts and he has seen success in that role. Roy also serves as the GM and part owner of the team. But this isn’t a write up on why we don’t think he will be the next coach of the Avs. This is a write up about why he shouldn’t be.

Patrick Roy is one of the best players to ever wear the Burgundy and Blue, and will forever go down as one of the greatest NHL players of all time. He and Joe Sakic have led the Avs to 2 Stanley Cups. But come on people. The Colorado Avalanche are essentially a business, so lets throw all that nostalgic nonsense out the window. Who cares that it would be cool to have Sakic and Roy run the team again? Who cares that it would be bringing back a huge piece of history to the franchise? You shouldn’t.

The Avs are a young team who need leadership and experience to coach them. So why in the world would a successful Junior level coach be the right fit for the Avs? Roy has no pro coaching experience. Not even as an assistant at the ECHL level. So what do you think will happen when you throw a rookie coach behind the bench of young, fresh faced NHLers? You will get exactly what has been going on the past 3 years.

Look at Joe Sacco. He was a rookie coach in the NHL, and he HAD pro experience. And he still couldn’t find ways to help this team. With a team like this, it is our opinion that the Avs need a hard-nosed, tough love type of coach that will the lazy, underperforming, feel sorry for yourself, excuse making, silver lining prone Avs into responsible, accountable hockey players that thrive for victory, play a full 60 minutes, and win games. Now, one could argue that Roy’s hard personality and bad temper would be perfect for these guys. Well, we think you’re wrong. Roy can kick garbage cans, yell, scream, bag skate his players, and be the closest thing to Mike Keenan as can be, but without relevant experience at the pro level, there is a good chance that he will fail in the coaching aspect.

Bottom line: A former NHL star does not translate into a good NHL coach. Look at Wayne Gretzky. He knew the game better than anybody, but he couldn’t find a way to teach it to his team.

We see so many tweets and comments saying “aw how cool would it be if Sakic AND Roy were back?” Yea it would be cool. But it wouldn’t be successful. So forget the glory days, forget the past. Stop clinging on to old players, and don’t let their names brainwash you into thinking they will be a good coach just because they were a good player for this team. The Avs need success, not a family reunion in the front office. Roy as head coach? Bad idea.  

Colorado Avalanche Player Grades: The Goalies

You all know what player grades are. Just about every blog for every team does them. And if you don’t know, it’s pretty self-explanatory, you’ll pick it up. The players are graded on an A+ - F scale. So we’ll start the last line of defense: the Goalies. Here. We. Go.

Semyon Varlamov: Grade C. Some will say “That’s way too low for the team Varly was on!” Well yes, Varlamov did not have a great supporting cast to help him out. But our logic behind the C grading is this: In games Varlamov played great, he deserves an A. In games Varlamov wasn’t great, he deserved an F. Everyone writing for us has, combined, seen all the Avs games this season. Varlamov was spectacular, and on many occasions, the only reason the Avs picked up 1 or 2 points. But when he was bad, he was bad. Varly gets rattled, pouts, and that affects his play. Look at his road record. 1-14-2. That isn’t just because of the Avs play as a whole. Varlamov was awful most of those games. He won 11 of 33 starts. A C is being generous.

J.S. Giguere: Grade A-/B+. Some will say “That’s way too high, you just put that because of his comments on the Vegas trips!” (By the way Shane O’Brien, you having fun in Vegas with Paul Bissonette?). Well yea, his comments have a lot to do with his high grade. But as a backup goalie, the way you help your team off the ice is just as important as the way you help them on the ice. Remember Peter Budaj? Kyle Turris does. When Budaj was backup for the Avs it was like having another coach on the bench. Budaj also acted as video coordinator, or so it seemed. It helped his team and so did Gigure. Not just with the Vegas stuff. And on the ice, in the latter half of the season, Giguere was the better goalie by far over Semyon Varlamov. He played solid, got the Avs a few more points, lit a fire under the behinds of the lazy, distracted teammates, and earned his A-/B+.

Sami Aittokallio: Grade C+. We definitely had to google his name. Google: The new spellcheck. So some might find it weird to give him a grade based on his 49:20 TOI. (Had to google that too). But we figured what the heck, there’s only 2 other goalies. So why C+? Because Aittokallio looked good in net for the Avs.  Not just because he is a baby faced blonde that looks like the 6^th member of One Direction, but he was solid, had great positioning, controlled his rebounds, and made some big saves. This is of course not applicable to the first few minutes of his NHL career. But Aittokallio is going to be a good goalie. He showed that with Finland at the World Juniors a few years ago. But hey, Sami: Next time you’re thirsty, try taking a page out of Zdeno Chara’s book entitled “What to drink on the way to a Stanley Cup whilst you’re feeling dehydrated on the bench wondering how you can shamelessly plug a soft drink company for obvious under the table cash that is so much money you don’t even care that you will get in trouble by the league that bends over for their sponsors”. Apparently that’s a working title.

Up Next: Player Grades: The defense.

(Spoiler alert: They should all be getting letters sent home from the principal recommending summer school)

Where Are They Now?

Johnny Boychuk (BOS)-  42 GP, 1G, 5A, 6PTS. Boychuk is a physical force on the Bruins back end and one of their best defensemen. He hasn’t put up big numbers this year in the shortened season but his play has been nothing short of excellent.

Departure:  Colorado traded Boychuck to Washington for Matt Hendricks, who later signed with the Capitals

Jordan Leopold (BUF/STL) – 38GP, 2G, 8A, 10PTS. Leopold struggled along with the rest of the Sabres this season but there has been a resurgence in his play since going to the Blues. He is being used more on the powerplay and scored a few points against the Avs in his only contest against his former team. Surprise suprise.

Departure: Traded to the Flames for Lawrence Nycholat, Ryan Wilson, and the pick used to select Stefan Elliot.

Scott Hannan (NSH/SJS) – 32GP, 0G, 1A, 1 PT. He was never known for putting up points and he has fulfilled those expectations this year. But his play for Nashville was solid and he remained pesky to deal with in front of the net. He was hurt 3 games into his return to the Sharks, but played well. This is probably one the better Avs trades in recent memory.

Departure: Colorado traded Hannan to Washington for Tomas Fleischmann. Great trade! Fleischmann already has 26 goals this year!

Tomas Fleischmann (FLA) – 47GP, 10G, 23A, 33PTS. Fleischmann’s point production for the Panthers will continue to haunt Avs fans for years to come. His 61 points last year was no fluke as he has 33 points with Florida in this shortened season. He is their best player offensively and the Avs made a huge mistake in letting him go. For nothing.

Departure: Colorado let him walk for nothing. But don’t fret Avs fans; we didn't need his 61 points!

Peter Mueller (FLA) - 42GP, 8G, 9A, 17PTS. Mueller joins the injured castoff party in Florida. More was expected of Mueller. His 8 goals and 9 assists, while decent, are lower than what many has expected. But when you play on a team as bad as Florida this season, you never really know what these numbers mean. Look for him to turn it up next year and force more moans and groans out of poor Avs fans.

Departure: Colorado let him walk for nothing as well.

Alex Tanguay (CGY) – 40GP, 11G, 16A, 27PTS. Tanguay isn’t done yet in the NHL. His 11 goals are good for 3^rd on the Flames roster. He is revitalised from last year’s dismal performance. Tanguay only scored 13 goals in 64 games last year.

Departure: Colorado traded him to CGY for Leopold, and 2 2^nd round picks (2006, Cody Burki..?), (2007, Trevor Cann….???).

Jose Theodore (FLA) – 15GP, 4W, 6L, 3OTL, .893SV%, 0SO, 3.29 GAA. Don’t let Theodore’s poor save percentage and high GAA fool you about how he played this year. He had almost no help in front of him on a horrible, last place Florida team. While some blame still lies with Theodore, he played well, all things considered, before his season was lost to injury.

Departure: Signed as a free agent with Washington.

Wojtek Wolski (WSH) - 27GP, 4G, 5A, 9PTS. Sometimes a healthy scratch under Adam Oates, Wolski plays more of a checking role on the Capitals bottom two lines. He has almost matched his point production from all of last year however.

Departure: Colorado traded Wolski to the Coyotes for Peter Mueller and Kevin Porter.

Peter Budaj (MTL) – 12GP, 7W, 1L, 1OTL, .906SV%, 1SO, 2.42GAA. Budaj has been the saving grace for Montreal this season when starter Carey Price has been shaky and inconsistent. His record and numbers show that he still has a lot of game left. The MTL coaching staff seem to have more faith in him as well as he has played in only 3 less games this year over last season.

Departure: Signed as a free agent with Montreal

Craig Anderson (OTT) - 23GP, 12W, 8L, 2OTL, .942 SV%, 3SO, 1.68GAA. His W/L record can be deceiving but Anderson has been one of the best goalies this season. His insane .942 SV% is currently an NHL record amongst goalies who have played more than 20 games in a season. He has three shutouts, and if it weren’t for injuries, he would be almost a shoe in for the Vezina. Who knows, he might still win.

Departure: Colorado traded Anderson to Ottawa for Brian Elliott.

Radim Vrbata (PHX) – 32GP, 9G, 15A, 24PTS. Vrbata isn’t having a 35 goal year like last year, and he’s been streaky, but he is still one of the Coyote’s best players. His 9 goals in 32 games would have him on pace for about 21 goals in a full season. Good stuff.

Departure: Colorado traded Vrbata to Carolina for Bates Battaglia. Bates Battaglia. Here is his Wikipedia page in case you are like most people and fail to recall who he is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bates_Battaglia

Bates Battaglia (Karlskrona HK, Swedish Elite League).  0GP, 0G, 0A, 0PTS. He is an unrestricted free agent. Hm. I wonder why no one has signed him…

Departure: Colorado traded Battaglia and prospect Jonas Johansson to Washington for Steve Konowalchuk and a 3^rd  round pick in 2004.

Daniel Winnik (ANA)- 47GP, 6G, 13A, 19PTS. Winnik started this season strong scoring 5 goals in his team’s first 5 games. His scoring dropped off though with only 1 goal in the next 42, but he has played solid on the 3^rd line for the 2d place Ducks.

Departure: Winnik was traded to the Sharks along with Galiardi for Jamie McGinn, Mike Connolly, and Michal Sgarbossa.

Kevin Shattenkirk (STL) – 47GP, 5G, 18A, 43PTS. Shattenkirk has had another great season for the Blues. That’s what one would expect from a blue chip, top prospect defenseman. Boy would his #8 look good on the Avs blueline this season. His play sort of slowed down in past 10 games but watch for him to step up come playoff time.

Departure: After a night of binge drinking and mechanical bull rides, Greg Sherman called the Blues GM and proposed Shattenkirk and Chris Stewart in exchange for McClement, Johnson, and a 1^st round pick. The drinking/bull story isn’t confirmed, but we figure that’s what had to have happened for Sherman to think up such a deal.

Chris Stewart (STL) – 47GP, 18G, 18A, 36PTS. Chris Stewart has 18 goals for the Blues. 18! That’s 3 better than last season, a season in which he played 79 games. If this were a full season, Stewart would be on pace for about 30 goals. So what does that tell you Avs fans? He is only getting better. Wave at the Blues from the cellar Avs! They aren’t laughing with you, they’re laughing at you.

Departure: See above Departure.

Jay McClement: (TOR) – 47GP, 8G, 9A, 17PTS. Good numbers coming from a penalty killing center who plays on the bottom 2 lines every game. McClement has been absolute dynamite for the Leafs this year in terms of great defensive play and awesome penalty killing. Great season from one of the two bodies that came over from the Shatty/Stewart trade.

Departure: Signed as a Free Agent by the Maple Leafs.

Brian Elliott (STL) - 23GP, 13W, 8L, 1OTL, .905SV%, 3SO, 2.34GAA. After having a horrible start to the season, and a 2 game stint in the AHL, the streaky Elliott has gained the trust of the Blues coaching staff after solid play in his last 10 games. In those last 10 games, Elliott has only allowed more than one goal on 2 occasions while posting three shutouts in a row.

Departure: After trading Craig Anderson to Ottawa in exchange for Elliot, he signed in the offseason with the Blues.

John-Michael Liles (TOR) – 31GP, 2G, 9A, 11PTS. Liles found himself in Randy Carlyle’s doghouse throughout the middle of the season but has begged his way out. His offensive production has slipped from the last few season, but with all the great prospects on the Leafs blueline, it isn’t having much of an effect on the Leafs, who are back in the postseason.

Departure: Colorado traded Liles to Toronto for a 2^nd round pick (2012). Wait…wasn’t Quincey worth a 1^st?

Matt Hendricks (WSH) – 47GP, 5G, 3A, 8PTS. In just 47 games this year Hendricks has already scored one more goal than last season. He has played in all of Washington’s game, grinding it out on the 3^rd and 4^th lines, playing hard, being hard to play against, and providing the Caps with a great physical presence. This is the guy we gave up Johnny Boychuk for. Then let slip away for nothing. I’m beginning to see a trend in the departures…

Departure: Signed as a free agent with the Capitals.

Offensivley Challenged Avs: Pathetic Scoring Stats

Alright lets crunch some numbers. We promise you it will be more fun than math class. We have been hearing  a lot from fans in forums and on Twitter that the Avs would be playing so much better if their defense wasn’t so awful. This is true. But the 6 guys Sacco chooses out of a hat to play defense every game aren’t entirely to blame. The Avs are a horrible offensive team. How horrible you ask? Well take a look at this:

In their last 22 games the Avs have managed to score more than 4 goals just once in their 6-2 win over the Blackhawks. They’ve reached the 4 goal mark just three times, scored 3 goals three times, hit 2 goals seven times, 1 goal six times, and they’ve been shutout twice. Here is a less than fancy table for you:

# of goals per game	# of times
0	2
1	6
2	7
3	3
4	3
6	1

In their last 22 games the Avs have won 5 of them. The team has scored 47 goals for a whopping goals per game total of 2.13. The Avs defense could have been solid every night and they probably wouldn’t have won many more games during that stretch.

Sure you can argue the best offense is a good defense, but the numbers don’t lie about how bad the Avs are offensively. Colorado is 29^th in the league in goals for with 96, just one goal up on Columbus of all teams with 95, and the Jackets have a game at hand. The Avs overall GPG league wide is 28^th behind Nashville and Columbus. The Avs are 27^th when it comes to 5 on 5 goals, and 28^th when it comes to powerplay goals.

No, this isn’t because the Avs spend too much time in their own zone, and defense can’t clear pucks. That’s only part of it. For shots per game on the year the Avs rank at an impressive 13^th place, but anyone who has watched a game this year can agree with the fact that the players hardly take quality shots. They float shots in from the point, slap pucks right at the goalies when there is no hope for a goal, and never take time to set up plays. Gain the zone, shoot, whistle. Gain the zone, shoot, whistle. Rinse, wash, repeat. And that isn’t just a matter opinion. When the Avs outshoot their opponents, they have only won 33% of the games. That’s good for 28^th in the league.

The defensemen aren’t entirely off the hook. As of right now, since Stefan Elliott’s shot was tipped by Patrick Bordeleau, the Avs have one defenseman who has scored a goal this year: Tyson Barrie. Ryan O’Byrne (Who's interview with us can be found here) had one but he’s gone. This is what the offensive numbers of the Avs D look like as 12/04/13:

 Bottom line: When it comes to finding the net, this team is pathetically good and not doing so. Sure, the defense sucks and it needs to be shaken up, but don’t let those forward off the hook so fast. Now, correct us if we're wrong, but isn't there a guy that's supposed to sit behind the bench with the players during games that is supposed to help the players improve their game? We seea guy back there, but apart from the occasional scowl and badly placed time out, he doesn't seem to be doing the team any favours. The Avs currently sit in last place in the NHL, and they deserve it. 

Post Game Avs/Wings: Another Game, Another Loss

Some people have asked (okay, my grandma) “Why haven’t you done many post game write-ups recently?”. Well Grandma, because we don’t want Avs fans to read virtually the same story over and over again. So if you are someone who has missed the post-game stuff, just go to the last rip job, and where it says the opposing team, just change it to one’s the Avs have played recently. There you go. But just for excrement and giggles, we’ll do one for tonight because it wasn’t all that bad.

Well we’re pretty sure you saw this coming. The Patrick Bordeleau minor penalty, not the loss. But hey that wasn’t too big of a stretch either. So just a few quick post-game notes here:

On the decision to play JS Giguere: it doesn’t really matter who Sacco puts out there in net now. 11 games left, last in the league, why not rest Varly a bit and give Giggy some time.

On the decision to play McLeod with Landeskog’s line: Yea we have a bit more of a beef with this one. Yea Hejduk, Stastny and company are injured, but you don’t put one of your best forwards with a guy like McLeod. We aren’t bashing Mcleod’s play, he has been great this year, but he isn’t good enough to play with Landeskog and their play this game showed that. Come on Sacco.

The Olver line: wow what a game from these guys. Yea they scored, but even if they didn’t you cant deny their energy, pace, and intensity. Does this remind anyone of the old Yelle/Hinote/Podein kind of guys in the glory days?

The Avs D: the first goal could have been prevented. Zanon was sprawled out on the ice and Barrie was so out of position Joe Sacco went out and bought him a Kama Sutra book. The overtime goal could have been prevented. Datsyuk was allowed to just walk right in. Barrie on the ice for that again. But other than that, they played a good solid game. No, we don’t miss Ryan O’Byrne. We will be doing a follow up interview with him soon though so stay tuned.

The Red Wings: Boy, they sure aren’t the same team from a few years ago. How awesome is that? Hopefully they miss the playoffs.

All in all, it was a pretty good game. The first wasn't very good, bt the second period was fast and sloppy, and that can make for some fun hockey. The third was a typical Avalanche third: rush to tie then finally start playing hockey. When you play hard for 15 minutes out of a 60 minute game, you're going to find yourself in the basement. Another day, another loss. If you're dissapointed, thats fair. If you're suprised, then snap out of it.

Three Stars:

1. Giguere 

2. Olver

 3. McGinn

Dishonourable Mention:

Zanon, Barrie, 

Our "Exclusive" Interview with Ryan O'Byrne

As you should all know already, Ryan O’Byrne has been traded away to the East for a 4^th round pick. Well, we here at Avaholics Unanimous strive to bring you the most up to date and recent news in the Avalanche world, and we have not failed you here. So behold on the very first sit down interview with the newest, and hopefully not last, former Avs defenseman. So here is the transcript:

Us: Ryan, you’ve just been traded away from Colorado, the place you called home for the past few years. How does it feel?

Ryan: Well guys, I’m going to miss it. There’s nothing quite like coming to play every day in front of a half full arena, pouring your heart out on the ice for a basement team.

Us: yea we bet it’s hard. But let’s talk Toronto. What do you hope to bring to your new team in terms of play?

Ryan: Well Toronto’s defense is really hard to play against in the corners, and they play a really gritty, smart defensive game. So I think I can really soften it up, and make us a lot easier to play against. As you know, I like to spend a lot of time behind the net watching the play, so if anybody needs to know what’s happened on the ice, I’m there guy.

Us: uhhh…okay, how do plan on making life tough for the speedy, high scoring Eastern Conference forwards?

Ryan: well, I notice a lot of shots in the East come from around the hash marks area, which is great because that’s where I spend most of my time when I’m not behind the net watching. So if I can help plug up the circles in my defensive zones, teams are going to have to find other areas to score.

Us: Like in front of the net, from the corners, in the slot, and from the point?

Ryan: Yea exactly.

Us: well we can’t wait to see how your new D partner’s plus minus goes. So apart from your play on the ice, how do you expect to help the Leafs out in terms of their numbers?

Ryan: Well you know, I look at them and see they haven’t hit their potential in penalty minutes, so I think once I get on the ice I can really help them out there. Their high sticking minors are at a surprising low, and their lazy penalties are down from last year. I’m just going to go in there and try to contribute as best I can, where I can. Their powerplay goals against are pretty low too, so if the other 6 Leafs defenseman get hurt and I find myself on the PK, I’m sure I can turn that around to.

Us: yea…well, the Leafs have a little recent history with Avs defensemen, first signing Jeff Finger, and then trading for Liles. What are your thoughts on that?

Ryan: Well, Finger played a few games and got sent to the minors for the last few years, and Liles was benched a lot of this season, so I’m pretty sure I can continue the trend. It’s going to be fun.

Us: Yea we bet it will. So you’re going back to Canada, how do you feel about that?

Ryan: well I couldn’t be more excited. I know that all 4 Canadian teams in the East are in the playoffs right now, so I think with my play, I can change that.

Us: Oh wow, so you think you can help knock either Montreal, Ottawa, or Winnipeg out of the playoff race?

Ryan: No.

Us: Oh…Alright Ryan, thanks a bunch for doing this. One last question, the number 3 is already taken in Toronto, what do you think you’ll wear?

Ryan: Well numbers are really important to me, so I might go with #6.

Us: Why’s that?

Ryan: well, I figure that’s how many games it will take Dave Nonis to realize he’s made a huge mistake.

Us: Alright well on that note, Good luck in Toronto!

Ryan: Thanks guys, bye.