Alternative Universe Avs (NHL w/ fictional players)

[BirdWatcher]

The Avs score three 3rd period goals to take a 5-2 win in the game 1 against Nashville, with Terry Ross in net.
The two biggest stars on the team, Brian Hughes and Aleksandr Dugin, had good games as did our two promising rookies, RD Josh Hishon and LW Milo Holland.

[BirdWatcher]

In game 2 it was Nashville's turn to score 3 goals in the 3rd period to break a 1-1 tie and even the series.

The Avs had a number of poor defensive performances in support of Goalie Terry Ross, in particular young LW Milo Holland, RW Cedric Langevin, and LD Luke Bosum (who is primarily an offensive defenceman and did finish the season with 18 goals scored).

[BirdWatcher]

A high scoring game 3 saw the Avs score 5 unanswered goals in the 3rd period to get a 7-4 victory.
In spite of poor defensive performances again from LW Milo Holland and RW Cedric Langevin, the good play of Tommy Lockhart, and this time LD Luke Bosum, stood out and the Avs were able to win with offensive firepower, not generally a hallmark trait of this team.

[BirdWatcher]

And the Avs take a win in much more Av-like fashion in game 4, shutting down the Predators offense, holding them to 25 shots and no goals, while the Avalanche took advantage of their meagre 21 shots to win 2-0, getting yet another goal from veteran trade acquisition C Christian O'Ferrall and a 2nd period goal from RD Michal Lezak, in his first game returning from the Injury List.
Big game Goalie Terry Ross came through with another dominant playoff performance.

[BirdWatcher]

The trade that brought 39-year old C Christian O'Ferrall to Denver in mid-February is starting to look like a genius move. O'Ferrall added goals number 4 and 5 to his total for the series and the playoffs thus far and the Avs got the 3-2 win at home to move on to the next round of the playoffs.

They await the conclusion of the Winnipeg-Chicago series, in which the Blackhawks now hold a 3-2 advantage. Calgary vanquished Vancouver in 5 games while Edmonton Oilers currently hold a 3-2 advantage over Vegas.

Over in the Eastern Conference, the New York Islanders defeat Philly in 5 games, the reigning Stanley Cup champs Ottawa do the same to the New York Rangers, and the Buffalo Sabres score a 4-1 series upset over the Toronto Maple Leafs. The only series still going is New Jersey leading 3-2 against Washington.

[BirdWatcher]

In the end although the pesky Winnipeg Jets gave them all they could handle, the Chicago Blackhawks do advance with a Game 7 win to face the Avalanche in Round 2. Edmonton upsets Vegas for the honor of now having to face the seemingly invincible Calgary Flames.

Over in the Eastern Conference, the top-seeded New York Islanders take on Washington while the reigning champs Ottawa get Buffalo.

[BirdWatcher]

The Avs and Blackhawks split their season series with each team winning their two home games and dropping a pair on the road. Three of the four games were shutouts: the Avs shutting out Chicago in Denver twice and Chicago shutting out the Avs once with the fourth game, the last one chronologically, ending with a 5-2 Chicago victory.

One of those trends continued in game 1 of the playoff series between these two- there was a shutout. The other trend ended, as it was Colorado scoring the road victory to start the series.

Terry Ross stopped all 21 shots on goal in this one, Aleksandr Dugin played a great game on both sides of the ice, Jack McCaffrey, who has often been the worst player on the ice for the Avs this season, was the surprise #1 star in the game, and veteran LW Brian Hughes continued to be one of our most consistent excellent performers.

[BirdWatcher]

And the Avs jump off to a 2-0 start in the series on the road, as they get another strong game in net from Terry Ross, and the usual excellence from Brian Hughes, Tommy Lockhart, Aleksandr Dugin, and others.






In the other Western Conference series, Calgary goes up 2-0 on Edmonton, which isn't a shocker.
Over in the Eastern Conference, the Islanders are up 2-0 on Washington and Ottawa and Buffalo are tied at 1 win apiece.

[BirdWatcher]

And the Avs are now 1 win away from playing in the Western Conference Finals for a second straight year. In a game that saw a lot of shots on goal for both teams, in the end it was 19-year old rookie LW Milo Holland, who scored the game winning goal in overtime. Holland had a good all-around game and is more and more looking like the eventual heir apparent to Brian Hughes.

Chicago loses their talented young 20-year old C Santa Salh (the first overall pick in the 2021 draft) to a Grade 3-A concussion in the tough loss.






Calgary has a 2 games to 1 lead over Edmonton, the New York Islanders now lead Washington 3 games to none, and the Buffalo Sabres have taken a 2 games to 1 lead over the reigning champs, the Ottawa Sens.

[BirdWatcher]

And the Avalanche finish off the Blackhawks in rather convincing fashion in game 4 for the sweep and earn a trip back to the Western Conference Finals.
Young Milo Holland was the #1 star, RW Cedric Langevin had a great game, Terry Ross was solid again in net, and Brian Hughes was Brian Hughes.







Edmonton has somehow managed to tie Calgary at 2 games apiece (it would probably be a gift to us if they could somehow knock off Calgary or at least wear them down with a tough 7-game series).
The New York Islanders swept the Washington Caps 4-0. And the Buffalo Sabres appear to be on the verge of ousting the reigning champs Ottawa, as they have a 3-1 advantage.

[BirdWatcher]

Of course in the end the Calgary Flames were able to move past the Edmonton Oilers setting up a phenomenal challenge for the Avs in the Western Conference Finals.

And we will not have a repeat champ as Buffalo did get past Ottawa for the honor of taking on the best team in the Eastern Conference, the New York Islanders.



Both the Avs and Flames start the series with full health though the Flames will be without the services of their 19-year old, 2021 1st round draft pick, C Jackson Frank, who is serving out the last game of a 2-game suspension.

[BirdWatcher]

Unlike the Chicago-Colorado regular season series, the Calgary-Colorado series saw the road team winning every time, with the Avs taking two wins in Calgary and Calgary defeating the Avs in Denver late in the season.

But like the first game of the playoff series against Chicago, the regular season trend was reversed in the playoffs, with the home team Calgary claiming the game 1 win. It wasn't a blowout and the Avs even had the distinct shots on goal advantage (40-24) but for the first time in these playoffs the Avalanche find themselves trailing in a series.
It was perhaps the weakest game of the playoffs yet for Terry Ross. On the other hand, RW Cedric Langevin played great, and known big-game player C Nikolay Ivanov was also quite good in the loss.






In the Eastern Conference Finals the Islanders beat up on Buffalo 7-2 in the opening game.

[BirdWatcher]

The Avs will return to Denver in a 2-0 hole and they need to hope that playing in front of the hometown fans will spark a comeback in the series.
Once again the Avs outshot the Flames but this time they lost by a bigger margin and Terry Ross had another poor game. It will be interesting to see if David Mencl is in goal in the next game for the first time in these playoffs.







The New York Islanders have gone up 2-0 on Buffalo and we have the possibility of the two powerhouse regular season teams meeting each other in this year's Stanley Cup Finals. (Of course, the Avalanche still have hopes of preventing that from happening.)

[BirdWatcher]

Avs coach Jared Bednar must have had a gut feeling as he left Terry Ross in as Goalie in game 3 and it paid off in a big 6-1 victory at home.
Ross had great defensive support from RD Michal Lezak and LD Thomas Dingle and good all-around play from unsung LW Tommy Lockhart.








In the Eastern Conference Finals the Islanders easily defeated Buffalo 5-1 on the road to get to within one win of moving on to the Stanley Cup Finals.

[BirdWatcher]

In spite of some really nice performances and having played a gutsy game against the team with the best regular season record in the NHL, the Avs eventually lost game 4 in overtime and Calgary is now within one win of eliminating the Avs and moving on to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Tommy Lockhart, Brian Hughes, and Aleksandr Dugin, as if so often the case, were the top players for the Avalanche in this one. Rookie RD Josh Hishon also deserves mention for his strong game, particularly on the defensive end.

We knew this was going to be a tough series and that the chances were good that the Avs playoff run would end here again, and while it certainly isn't over yet and some hope remains, no matter what the Avs deserve credit for another great run.






Over in the Eastern Conference the Islanders wrapped up their sweep of Buffalo with a 4-2 win on the road and now await their next opponent to play for the Stanley Cup.

[BirdWatcher]

Apparently there is no quit in these Avs, as they go back to Calgary without any margin for error and get a decisive 5-1 victory.
Another good start for Terry Ross in goal, Aleksandr Yermolayev, who has often been quiet this season, scored 2 of the Avs 3 third period goals, and rookie Milo Holland had another fine game on both ends of the ice.

The Avs live to see another day.

[BirdWatcher]

Back in the Mile High City, the Avalanche see 39-year old rental C Christian O'Ferrall score his 9th and 10th goals of the playoffs in the 3rd period to give the Avs a 4-2 victory and force a game 7 in Calgary. Old man O'Ferrall, with his playoff heroics for the Avs, had the 16th top selling jersey among NHL players in the month of May.



Another great game from unsung Tommy Lockhart, more of the same from Brian Hughes, solid all-around play from young RD Josh Hishon, and a great defensive performance from C Jeremy Kelley.

Win or lose in game 7, I couldn't be more proud of this team right now.

[BirdWatcher]

So close.
Former Av Antoine Poliquin scored an even strength goal with seconds to play in the 3rd period to give the Flames a 2-1 win and end the Avs dreams and hopes of going to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Terry Ross did a fine job in net, the usual suspects continued to play well (Lockhart, Hughes, Dugin, in particular) and the Avalanche came oh so close to upsetting the team with the best record in the NHL this season.
As disappointing as this ending is, again I am so proud of what this team accomplished and how very close we came to moving on to the Stanley Cup Finals.

[BirdWatcher]

The Calgary Flames, having narrowly gotten past our Colorado Avalanche in the Western Conference Finals, take the Stanley Cup with a 5-game victory over the New York Islanders.




In the 3 seasons of this save the Cup has never left Canada, with Edmonton winning it the first year, followed by Ottawa, and now Calgary.

I believed that Chicago's dominant LW Fletcher Patton would win his second straight Hart Trophy but instead that honor went to the New York Islanders 25-year old LD Toni Virtanen, who of course also won the Norris Trophy. He was also the Ted Lindsay Award winner. Virtanen played in all 82 regular season games, scoring 23 goals with 62 assists, had a +59, and an average GR of 85. The young Finnish star is signed through 2026 and should have many great years ahead of him in his possible Hall of Fame career.
The Vezina went to 34-year old Nashville Goalie Eric Shaw who had a career year with a GSAA of 23.01, a save percentage of .923, and a GAA of 2.48. To be fair, he was also quite good two seasons ago when his GSAA was 20.61.
Toronto's Kyle Eisbrenner, who had been the first overall pick in last year's entry draft, did not disappoint, winning the Calder Trophy. He played in 77 games, scored 28 goals and collected 54 assists, had a +30 goal differential, and an average GR of 75.





Among the many players who announced their retirement at the end of the season was former Av Center/re James Joyal.

[BirdWatcher]

I have reached Entry Draft day and I am pausing to think about this offseason and what the future holds.

There have been a few moves made already (by me, I mean) including the re-signing of RD Michal Lezak to a 2-year deal. Lezak is just 24 and was an RFA and I had to make a tough decision about him and 27-year old LD Thomas Dingle. With depth at the position and the emergence of young Josh Hishon it didn't make sense (economically) to try to retain both of them and in the end I decided to keep the younger Lezak who is also considered to have more upside and has a more well-rounded game. Dingle was our 2nd assistant Captain so this leaves a bit of a leadership void, but in reality Lezak is likely in the best position to fill that as he has the requisite personality skills.



Having signed Lezak, the other big task was to fill the void left by the departure of Goalie David Mencl (though Mencl in fact has not yet been signed as a free agent). We originally thought of targeting the talented 27-year old Gabriel Marchand but in the end we decided he wanted more than we were willing to spend at this position and with Terry Ross returning as a solid option. Marchand ended up re-signing with the Montreal Canadiens as it turned out. So instead we looked for one of the few middle-tier options and found veteran (30 years old) Kazakhstan native Andriy Polischuk. Polischuk had been with San Jose for 2 and a half seasons until he was traded to Ottawa this past mid-February. He is durable (which can't be said of Ross), has great stamina and determination, and profiles as being a similar type player to Terry Ross. It could be a bit of a challenge to make sure both Goalies get enough starts and remain happy and sharp but this did seem like the best option in the current market. Admittedly, at a bit over 5 million per year we might have overpaid but again it wasn't a very deep market and we felt we had the cap space to spend.


Other than that so far our only moves have been the signings of recent draftees to entry level contracts. Having traded the rights to our 6th and 7th round picks from 2021 (C Matt Christian and RD Ash Naurato) we had to make decisions about 3 others before our rights to them expired. We signed all 3 to entry level contracts: G J. T. Soronzonbold, who might likely be a future backup Goalie for us, RD Gerald Murray, who at least looks like a possible future 7th defenceman or 3rd liner in the NHL, and RD Adam Martizes, who might develop into a useful role-player but at least is a capable injury replacement call-up type defense-first defenceman.

Likely to be more immediately impactful are draftees from last year who have now been signed to contracts and will be given a chance to earn spots on the active roster this coming season. Foremost among them is the physically intimidating C Bobby Newsome, who right now is listed at the #2 spot on our depth chart at his position (behind Jeremy Kelley), LW Ken Rechlicz (listed at #3 on the depth chart, behind Brian Hughes and Milo Holland but ahead of the under-rated Tommy Lockhart), RW'ers Bill Reynolds (4th on depth chart) and Oscar Axelsson (#6, behind Clark St. Croix, who now is most comfortable at RW as his primary position instead of Center/re, though he can play all 3 forward positions quite well). We haven't made a decision whether to pull the trigger on a contract for C Lance Williams yet but considering that he is listed as #3 on our depth chart we probably should.

So part of thinking ahead towards next season is realizing that we may be fully embracing a youth movement and that could lead to some growing pains and at least one year of under-performance as a team. Last year's rookies- LW Milo Holland and RD Josh Hishon- both pretty much justified our faith in them and Holland is now considered our second best LW with Hishon being our 3rd best defenceman overall (after Lezak and Sherwood Sharp). Our top two picks from the draft previous to that haven't been as impressive but Clark St. Croix at the very least is a solid 3rd or 4th line forward and RD/LD Craig Woodard (likely to be moved to LD primary as we are stacked at RD) still shows great promise (5-star potential) and is 5th on the depth chart among defencemen. If all or most of these 4 players take a step forward in 2023-2024 that will bode well for the team. But it is by no means a guarantee.

In the bottom-line metric of goal differential as a team, it is the goals for area where we are weaker. Our best true goal-scorer is 34-year old LW Brian Hughes, and he has average 29 goals per season the past 3 years. He has proven to be durable and isn't showing any clear signs of diminished skills but we are going to need to replace him with some younger goal scorers at some point. And likely soon. Aleksandr Dugin, at age 27, is more of a playmaker than a goal scorer, but he will get his share (averaged a bit under 26 per season in his career thus far). Young Milo Holland profiles more like Dugin than Hughes. Clark St. Croix is a decent 2-way forward but again more like Dugin, and hasn't shown any real goal-scoring talent yet. We get some goal scoring from defencemen like Luke Bosum (18 goals last season, 3rd best on the team) and Sherwood Sharp (23 goals in his first season with Colorado but only 11 last season) and young Josh Hishon looks like he might develop into more of a goal scorer.
But we really need to get a forward who is a legit goal scorer. Our young possible additions to the club this coming season aren't likely to be the solution to this. Bobby Newsome did score 44 goals in the OHL this past season and it is fair to say that he does have some skills in this area, but as an NHL player he profiles as more of a power forward, agitator, backchecking forward. Newsome is likely to make the biggest impact with his defense and his intimidation, spending a lot of time in the sin bin. Ken Rechlicz is another 2-way forward who looks more like a playmaker than a scorer on offense. The same is true of Oscar Axelsson. And Bill Reynolds. Our balanced approach has largely worked pretty well thus far, but we probably need to diversify a bit more and not put all our eggs in the 2-way forward basket.
Actually, looking at Lance Williams again I realize that he does have some skills getting open combined with decent shooting accuracy and offensive read skills. He doesn't have great shooting range but maybe he is a guy who can get some goals in close (garbage collector is one of his higher role ratings.)

But although the chances of getting an immediate impact player with our first pick in the draft later today, at #29 overall, is not high, we might be well served to target a goal scoring forward with that pick or our second round pick, looking towards the future.