Pre-Game Talk: 2023/24 Training Camp

[Foppa2118]

Avs released their group and theme night game dates.
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11 seems low. Did they cut some or am I crazy? Either way, 11 is still too many.

March 6th may be Girls Hockey Night to them, but it's still F*** The Red Wings Night to me.

 

[lionsDen]

What if Nuke reveals tomorrow that he’s part of an Odinic group?

Well then Valhalla or bust

 

[AvsGuy]

Any of our rando PTOs look like they might make the team? Kozun? Holland? Kiviranta? Tufte? Kero? Olofsson?

I'm probably rooting for Kiviranta most but maybe just for revenge purposes

 

[the_fan]

When he’s right he’s right

 

[EXTRAS]

What's makars injury?

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Meh, athletes don't owe us an explanation. He owes one to his teammates and his employer. That is it.

I disagree. We root for the team and he basically put his own needs before the team, the fans etc.

He is paid 6million a year paid by owners but fans are the ones bringing the money to owners.

If you let down the team, better explain..

Who gives a f*** anymore? The police said there was nothing criminal, the league said it wasn't investigating any further, the Avs said they've moved on, Nukes teammates have moved on, Nuke has seemingly moved on. Why are we the fans so hung up on this? He f***ed up and its over with now. Let's move on. Onwards and upwards.

If it was nothing why not just say what it was? Then we can move on too. Feels odd.

 

[Avs9296]

If it was nothing why not just say what it was? Then we can move on too. Feels odd.

Because it's personal and it's quite frankly embarrassing. For him, the team, his family.

I'm curious as to why you CANT move on without him going into exact details? We all have an idea of what happened. He f***ed up and let's move on now. His team mates have, the organization has, the NHL has.

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Because it's personal and it's quite frankly embarrassing. For him, the team, his family.

I'm curious as to why you CANT move on without him going into exact details? We all have an idea of what happened. He f***ed up and let's move on now. His team mates have, the organization has, the NHL has.

This is coming to bite us later, that's why. We are trying to Chicago this.

 

[tigervixxxen]

Any of our rando PTOs look like they might make the team? Kozun? Holland? Kiviranta? Tufte? Kero? Olofsson?

I'm probably rooting for Kiviranta most but maybe just for revenge purposes

Olofsson and Tufte are already signed, Kero is on AHL deal to be the new Eagles hero. Of the other three I think Kiviranta has the inside track. Holland looks like he hasn’t played in a while and Kozun just isn’t at the talent level. Kiviranta had the best day imo.

Ivan’s jersey number should have been 2. I guess 82 is close enough.

I tried to watch Meyers with fresh eyes but he reminds me of a cat chasing a laser pointer with how he chases the puck around.

Grateful Dead night sucks, I might have to rethink that Vancouver game now.

 

[lionsDen]

About the expected response from Nuke, whatever, lets get winning.

Also screw Grateful Dead night, give me Metallica night or Cannibal Corpse night or something.

i mean why not, this is my vote

 

[Foppa2118]

This is the kind of winning culture I've been talking about, that I think will pull RyJo and Drouin into the fight.

You just can't slack off on this team. It's not gonna fly and you're gonna hear about it from your teammates if you do. It's an all in on the Cup mindset every season. And it's probably just as palpable around the team as Wood makes it sound.

 

[Avs9296]

This is coming to bite us later, that's why. We are trying to Chicago this.

The NHL has already investigated this. The police did too. How is that the same?

 

[The Kingslayer]

Remember when Jagr said Val is going to be the best player in the world? I think we're getting that version this season.

Welcome back.

He was an absolute machine against the Bolts.

 

[Foppa2118]

credit @The Mars Volchenkov

Maybe I'm reading into this a bit too much, but did he say, "teammates support me when I went into....."?

Also, I know the passport thing is a salacious detail, but after watching all the body cam footage, I'm not sure she knew what happened exactly, and I got the impression the bad guy she was referring to was the Avs fixer, who probably gathered up her things in his room when they were trying to get her to leave while she was reportedly swinging at the doctor.

I don't know for sure, but I don't think it was Val that took the passport. They also said the hotel staff found her credit card so she didn't have that either.

Avs security:

"Yeah she was very insistent she had ID and stuff in her room, but I think she's confusing this with her hotel (hotel room?)"

The league saying they know what happened and are satisfied with how it was handled, was enough for me not to think there's something really nefarious behind it. With how they handled the Babcock and Quenneville situations, they would have brought the hammer down if there was something really bad.

Unless more comes out, I've been ready to move on with this issue for a while. I can understand why some aren't happy with the lack of answers, but we knew that was gonna happen.

 

[MaKarter]

What's makars injury?

Ha, no one tells us anything. All we have is guesses.

 

[Avs_19]

The rest of the league really let the Avs steal him for a mill. They’ll regret it.

 

[The Moops]

Maybe I'm reading into this a bit too much, but did he say, "teammates support me when I went into....."?

Also, I know the passport thing is a salacious detail, but after watching all the body cam footage, I'm not sure she knew what happened exactly, and I got the impression the bad guy she was referring to was the Avs fixer, who probably gathered up her things in his room when they were trying to get her to leave while she was reportedly swinging at the doctor.

I don't know for sure, but I don't think it was Val that took the passport. They also said the hotel staff found her credit card so she didn't have that either.

Avs security:

"Yeah she was very insistent she had ID and stuff in her room, but I think she's confusing this with her hotel (hotel room?)"

The league saying they know what happened and are satisfied with how it was handled, was enough for me not to think there's something really nefarious behind it. With how they handled the Babcock and Quenneville situations, they would have brought the hammer down if there was something really bad.

Unless more comes out, I've been ready to move on with this issue for a while. I can understand why some aren't happy with the lack of answers, but we knew that was gonna happen.

Good thoughts. I always assumed the passport issue was because her pimp kept it

 

[NorthernAvsFan]

Tatar seems like a great dude.

Nice to hear a lot of the new acquisitions talk about the winning culture too.

 

[Foppa2118]

Good thoughts. I always assumed the passport issue was because her pimp kept it

I think that was the first understandable thought, when we didn't know anything, because that's exactly what human traffickers do to keep them from leaving.

Again I don't know for sure, but when you take a step back and think about it, Val's a full time hockey player that makes millions. He doesn't need to be involved in human trafficking and he's a known public figure. Extremely unlikely that he'd be involved in that kind of thing.

And he doesn't really have a reason otherwise to take her passport. But the fixer does if he's trying to get her and her stuff out of there while she's causing a scene. He probably would come off as a "bad guy" too from her POV, given his demeanor, and that she didn't know who he was.

 

[lionsDen]

Nichuskin is my hero, don’t buckle buddy

 

[chet1926]

You’ll get better buy in from Johansen if you give him some actual talent in Rants. RyJo will want no part of a defensive shutdown line with lehky and nuke

Not exactly like Nuke and Lehk are offensive slouches. Nuke has been at basically a .85 pts/game pace the last 2 years. Lehk was over 50 pts last year.

RyJo is the 2C, he's going to get 2nd line players. End of discussion. He can do a lot worse than Nuke and Lehk. And if he can't be motivated by playing with those 2 then we might as well can the season because chances are 29 and 96 are going to be on the same line.

29 is the 1C and he gets to call his shots. If he wants to play with Rants then that is what going to happen.

 

[lionsDen]

Olofsson and Tufte are already signed, Kero is on AHL deal to be the new Eagles hero. Of the other three I think Kiviranta has the inside track. Holland looks like he hasn’t played in a while and Kozun just isn’t at the talent level. Kiviranta had the best day imo.

Ivan’s jersey number should have been 2. I guess 82 is close enough.

I tried to watch Meyers with fresh eyes but he reminds me of a cat chasing a laser pointer with how he chases the puck around.

Grateful Dead night sucks, I might have to rethink that Vancouver game now.

This sums up my thoughts on “the dead”

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Not exactly like Nuke and Lehk are offensive slouches. Nuke has been at basically a .85 pts/game pace the last 2 years. Lehk was over 50 pts last year.

RyJo is the 2C, he's going to get 2nd line players. End of discussion. He can do a lot worse than Nuke and Lehk. And if he can't be motivated by playing with those 2 then we might as well can the season because chances are 29 and 96 are going to be on the same line.

29 is the 1C and he gets to call his shots. If he wants to play with Rants then that is what going to happen.

If this is the case the Avs are more disorganized and incompetently run than I ever could have possibly imagined. And trust me, I've seen some shit and can imagine quite a bit.

I hope they didn't destroy all their collective brain cells drinking after the cup victory because they won that damn cup with Mikko running the second line, not playing with Nate. They got bounced in the 2nd round multiple times while trying to play Nate and Mikko together exclusively.

 

[Balthazar]

Not exactly like Nuke and Lehk are offensive slouches. Nuke has been at basically a .85 pts/game pace the last 2 years. Lehk was over 50 pts last year.

RyJo is the 2C, he's going to get 2nd line players. End of discussion. He can do a lot worse than Nuke and Lehk. And if he can't be motivated by playing with those 2 then we might as well can the season because chances are 29 and 96 are going to be on the same line.

29 is the 1C and he gets to call his shots. If he wants to play with Rants then that is what going to happen.

Nuke and Lehky do the same thing on the ice and will literally go in the same corner at the same time.

As awesome as they are, they are too much of the same to play on the same line which is why they haven't been good together in the past.

 

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Not exactly like Nuke and Lehk are offensive slouches. Nuke has been at basically a .85 pts/game pace the last 2 years. Lehk was over 50 pts last year.

RyJo is the 2C, he's going to get 2nd line players. End of discussion. He can do a lot worse than Nuke and Lehk. And if he can't be motivated by playing with those 2 then we might as well can the season because chances are 29 and 96 are going to be on the same line.

29 is the 1C and he gets to call his shots. If he wants to play with Rants then that is what going to happen.

They played at those scoring rates because they spent so much time with Mackinnon and/or Rantanen.

Away from Mack and Mikko neither guy has shown an ability to be a legit Top 6 forward production wise. Lehkonen was a 30 point player in Montreal and quite frankly without his PP numbers last year he wouldn't be much better then that even with Mack/Mikko.

Same thing with Val. Not a top 6 forward until he started playing with those two.

Without having Mikko on that line, it is going to struggle to generate offense. Nobody on that line will be capable of producing at a high enough rate for it to succeed.


Quite frankly if Bednar is hell bent on keeping Mack/Mikko together, I suspect it wont be very long before Drouin or Tatar ends up on that 2nd line. Those guys probably give the 2nd line a better chance at creating offense on a consistent basis, Tatar in particular is a major offensive driver at 5 on 5.


I bet by November we see something like:

Drouin - Mack - Mikko
Tatar - RyJo - Nuke
Lehky - Colton - Wood


Which quite frankly could be some solid lines as well. IF RyJo is playing at a quality level.