GDT: Avalanche @ Jets Thursday 11/07/24 @6:00PM MNT (Emergency GDT) Ground Control to Major Moose

[Vaslof]

Georgiev getting in a good game is so important.

 

[dahrougem2]

I thought the Avs were the better of two bad teams tonight. Not a lot going on, both teams worked very hard defensively, too.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

I get the excuse, but even the top line wasn’t really dangerous. Avs are doggy paddling.

Yeah, I get the criticism of the top line. I absolutely understand crticism of Rants. He's not creating shit, all he can do is one-time from the right circle. But I thought Nate was fine and rather good at points but definitely got snake-bit. Helly getting his blocker on the first shot and deflecting it off the post and out kind of set the tone for his night. He would do Nate things, it just didn't go in. These nights happen and I feel like he's been carrying his fair share so far this season.

I know it's an excuse and I know the right answer is that injuries are never an excuse. Except, in reality...they are. Saying they aren't is akin to saying someone put in 110%. It's an impossibility. Just like the mounting and long term injuries not effecting the team is an impossibility. Where I think some blame needs to come is is with Bednar. I don't think he's done enough to with our bottom 9 to ensure they can play a positive game. They simply do not have the wheels or the skill to play the "Avs" game. In fact, Gabe, JD, Lehky, Mikko, Mitts, Nate, and Nuke are the only forwards on the team who can and 3 of them are still on the shelf and Lehky is in only his second game of the season. I think much more than treading water is setting expectations to high. I know we all said then need to play .500 until Nuke gets back...I honestly feel like we're there and then some if not for Georgiev. Those games he threw away hurt a hell of a lot more than how the Avs group in front of him played tonight. To be fair though, Georgiev had a good night other than the first goal. He played that like shit but it was a terrible breakdown all over in front of him on that goal.

 

[Pokecheque]

Thought George was good. Avs were pretty meh… sure they piled the numbers on, but didn’t look all that dangerous. Neither did Winnipeg. Pretty ugly game really.

Glad I wasn’t the only one who thought this.

Probably shouldn’t complain about the MVP especially how well he’s played but MacKinnon really annoys me when he starts forcing that slot pass. He just needs to wind up and fire that thing, maybe create a rebound or two.

 

[sethro109]

Georgiev getting in a good game is so important.

I feel the exact opposite. Now the staff will have renewed faith in him, and he's going to continue to f*** us down the line.

 

[Pokecheque]

I feel the exact opposite. Now the staff will have renewed faith in him, and he's going to continue to f*** us down the line.

There is literally no downside to Georgiev finding his game, except maybe if they end up thinking he’s good enough to start the playoffs.

But otherwise, naw, he’s got to figure it out. Whether they play him or trade him, he’s useless to them unless he improves substantially.

 

[sethro109]

There is literally no downside to Georgiev finding his game, except maybe if they end up thinking he’s good enough to start the playoffs.

But otherwise, naw, he’s got to figure it out. Whether they play him or trade him, he’s useless to them unless he improves substantially.

I don't want him to start ever again. I want his 3.4 mil to rot with the eagles until we package it with a pick and offload it onto another team. We don't need value back, we just need the headcase gone.

 

[dahrougem2]

Glad I wasn’t the only one who thought this.

Probably shouldn’t complain about the MVP especially how well he’s played but MacKinnon really annoys me when he starts forcing that slot pass. He just needs to wind up and fire that thing, maybe create a rebound or two.

What killed me was the 2-on-1 where he clearly had a step on the Jets player but decided to force a pass to Lehkonen which the defenseman read the whole way and easily intercepted it.

Guy leads the league in shots almost annually. Just rip it.

 

[Balthazar]

There is literally no downside to Georgiev finding his game

Once again I strongly disagree.

Worst thing that can happen is CMac thinking that Georgiev is fine now so he doesn't have to make that very difficult trade to bring a new starting goalie during the season.

It's pretty safe to assume that CMac doesn't want to make that trade and if he can avoid it he will.

Then we enter the playoffs with Georgiev and Annunen again.

 

[McMetal]

Didn't watch tonight, because I was busy and figured we would get shelled anyway. Are you telling me that Georgiev only let in one goal and still took the L? F***ing hell, what a season so far.

 

[forsbergavs32]

Feels weird to have a game with Georgiev starting and the loss isn’t his fault, he played great.

That said, I want to know what kind of drugs Bednar was on tonight to put Tynan out there to try to tie the game up when he could have put up LOC, Ivan or Kovy.

 

[Gruyeriev]

That's not a percentage lol. The only team in history to do that is not the gotcha you think it is.

It wasn’t a huge gotcha just an example. Another would be the Oilers 2-9-1 start last year. Obviously not the only team in history lmfao.

 

[Gruyeriev]

Once again I strongly disagree.

Worst thing that can happen is CMac thinking that Georgiev is fine now so he doesn't have to make that very difficult trade to bring a new starting goalie during the season.

It's pretty safe to assume that CMac doesn't want to make that trade and if he can avoid it he will.

Then we enter the playoffs with Georgiev and Annunen again.

I don’t think CMac is afraid to make the trade if it’s there. I think he’s afraid at making a lateral one at best with the goalies that are potentially available. It could also be a worse trade that we gave up assets for.

 

[Bill Peckerskull]

Avs lose, Jets win, Wild win, Utah wins, Stars win.

Better start winning a lot of games soon, or they are literally gonna be fighting for WC2 the rest of the season.

14 points behind Jets. Division is already out of reach.

 

[Vaslof]

I feel the exact opposite. Now the staff will have renewed faith in him, and he's going to continue to f*** us down the line.

It's not realistic for them to get rid of him. Even if Annunen takes over the #1 spot, we still need a backup.

 

[dahrougem2]

Avs lose, Jets win, Wild win, Utah wins, Stars win.

Better start winning a lot of games soon, or they are literally gonna be fighting for WC2 the rest of the season.

14 points behind Jets. Division is already out of reach.

It'll be fine. If they get healthy, they'll run off a ton of wins. If they never get healthy, they'll be competing for WC1/2 anyways.

Just keep chugging along.

 

[chet1926]

Avs lose, Jets win, Wild win, Utah wins, Stars win.

Better start winning a lot of games soon, or they are literally gonna be fighting for WC2 the rest of the season.

14 points behind Jets. Division is already out of reach.

This was always going to be the issue. It was going be a rough go until Nuke was eligible. However it got much worse than we could ever imagined with Drouin, Colton, Wood etc. also getting hurt.

It's honestly getting to the point already that playoffs is starting to become questionable.

If we don't start getting the majority of the hurt guys back into the lineup ASAP it's going get real dicey the rest of the season trying to leap frog a shit load of teams to make the playoffs.

 

[TruePowerSlave]

Georgiev getting in a good game is so important.

Yep. Bednar will play him every game now.

 

[Pokecheque]

Once again I strongly disagree.

Worst thing that can happen is CMac thinking that Georgiev is fine now so he doesn't have to make that very difficult trade to bring a new starting goalie during the season.

It's pretty safe to assume that CMac doesn't want to make that trade and if he can avoid it he will.

Then we enter the playoffs with Georgiev and Annunen again.

Well that’s what I said in the very next sentence. But having him continue to flounder benefits no one.

 

[S E P H]

He's always been like that. I read almost all the GDT on this board and I swear in 90% of them we have random different people talking about how shitty he looks. That's 9 games out of 10.

I don't know why that's the case. He's a great player, but it seems to me the mistakes he makes in a game are just so massive or noticeable. A ton of loss-of-possession plays because he forces the play too much or lazy pens all over the ice. That isn't even mentioning how truly horrible his balance is.

Brave of you to think there's such thing as a healthy Avs team...

Avs will always have injuries, totally agree there, but this current list has been the worst we have seen by far.

 

[The Merchant]

I don't want to unfairly target Rantanen again, but am I the only one who thinks he is such a dumb hockey player considering his talent level?

Dumb and lazy aren't a great combination for a guy looking for MacKinnon money

 

[dahrougem2]

It's fair to question Rantanen's effort/never-ending-balance-issues a lot of nights but I don't think you can question his smarts. Come on, now. He's not Anze Kopitar out there but he's also not Miles Wood.

 

[amigo]

1-0 win from goal scored on 1st shot. How many times this happened.

 

[Hennessy]

I'm still on a bender (no tag), so take what I say with that in mind.
I love you gu...
Wait. No.
I didn't watch the game, but Geogiev posting a .964 is encouraging. The team needs him, regardless.
Sad stat-watching for Makar and MacKinnon. But I'll live with a 1-0 result against.

 

[Bender]

Avs lose, Jets win, Wild win, Utah wins, Stars win.

Better start winning a lot of games soon, or they are literally gonna be fighting for WC2 the rest of the season.

14 points behind Jets. Division is already out of reach.

I'm not worried actually, I'm pretty happy about the start of our season and especially the way we've been playing lately.

We have FIVE guys out of out Top-9 out with injury. I don't think there's a lot of teams out there that would remain even competitive under that scenario and we took the play to the "best team in the league*", and probably deserved to win.

(*according to the TSN announcers - jets are the greatest EVER and Josh Morrissey's head is literally going to explode because his IQ is just too advanced for ordinary humans to comprehend)

The reason I am happy about our start is because we've got some answers that we might not have gotten if everyone had been healthy. Most notably :

Kovalenko - is a sure-fire NHLer and maybe more of a middle-6 guy but someone who can sub-in on the Top-6 if needed.

Ivan - I thought he needed another year in the A. Nope, he's at the very least an NHL player and he plays a pretty solid 2-way game and doesn't make too many mistakes.

Malinski - for the most part, has improved his defensive game where he's not a massive liability anymore. He's been pretty solid except for a game or two.

Annunen - I think he's been really good and I love the way the team plays in front of him... It reminds me of the way they used to play in front of Kuemper. It's hard to say how he'd play in the playoffs when the pressure is on but he probably doesn't have to stand on his head, just be good.

Mittelstadt - imagine, he's over a PPG and plays mostly without a big name on his wing. He's been great and you can tell he made a point to try and get faster over the summer. It's noticeable from the end of last season to the start this year.

So for all those reasons, I'm actually pretty happy about how we started the season regardless of our position in the standings. Once we get guys back - our supposed lack of depth won't be so much anymore.