The worst thing the Avs could do is learn all the wrong lessons here. It wasn't the puckmoving defenders who did the most damage to the team--it was the two guys who were supposedly going to stand up to Vegas's forecheck who all but killed them. Just because a guy is big and throws hits doesn't mean he's a good match against a tough, physical team. Nemeth and Graves, for all their vaunted size, couldn't win a puck battle to save their lives and couldn't move it out of the zone effectively, not to mention their brain-dead turnovers. Winning puck battles is a skill--and say what you will about MacDonald but if you watch him this season he was quite adept at it, despite not being a big guy. Timmins was actually much, much better at handling Vegas's forecheck than Graves and Nemeth put together. He got pushed, hit, and run over plenty of times and still got the puck moved in the right direction, and the coaches noticed. He went from virtually no ice time in the first round to 15 minutes a game when all was said and done.
You try to chase "toughness" like some white whale, you end up like Washington, who did considerable damage to their Cup window and were lucky as f*** they won it all before it slammed shut, or Buffalo, who took a good, talented team and completely ruined it for over a decade now. No, if they try and gut what they've got now that will only hurt them.
There IS a lesson to be learned, but I don't it's where you believe it is. Toughness and size IMO are a factor, but it's not the back end that needs it. It's up front. Avs need to get some better depth up front, guys who can put the puck in the net, give teams like Vegas a taste of their own medicine. Jost and Compher, and to a lesser extent, Burakovsky and Kadri, are not good enough behind the top line. They need better than that. And for the love of God, GET SOMEONE WHO CAN WIN A GODDAMNED FACEOFF.
The Avs proved they CAN play their game against Vegas and dominate, much like they did in game 5. There were stretches where Vegas couldn't muster a forecheck and had to settle for sending one guy in because the Avs were controlling the play. They lost game 5 because of stupid mistakes by guys like Nemeth and Graves, not because they couldn't handle the physicality. They absolutely COULD once adjustments were made. I'd say that was also on Bednar for taking too damned long to make those adjustments, and also on Bednar for continuing to put those two yahoos out there. Literally cost them the game.
I don't agree--it wasn't necessarily those guys in the top four who got pinned in their own zone, it was Graves and Nemeth who were out there for most of those debacles. Yes, it happened with Makar, Girard, and Toews as well, but with better puck support from the forwards that shouldn't happen. The coaches just need to make better adjustments and the players, especially the top line guys, just need to play harder and smarter in the defensive zone. AND they need better forwards. Jost was a big-time liability in the postseason, and he was last postseason as well. Compher was much better this time around than he was against Dallas...but he still wasn't anywhere near good enough. Better puck support from the forwards will go a long, long way toward fixing what went wrong in this series.
Really? We didn't get enough of injury-prone defensemen and defensemen who can't skate, we need one who embodies both of those traits?
