GDT: Avalanche vs Blackhawks Monday OCT 28th @7:00PM MNT (Emergency GDT) Return of the George..... 🤮

[CobraAcesS]

Maybe he motivates them to get their shit together so they can get away from him.

I took it as they're likely injured and not there anyway lol?

 

[Tommy Shelby]

Waive George, but don't send him to the Eagles. Send him to the Grizzlies. He'd be toxic AF in the AHL and I'd want him nowhere near those kids.

He'd probably get outplayed by Trent f***ing Miner if he went to the Eagles

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

It's painful to watch 8/10 shots 4Giev faces bounce off him directly into the slot lol.

Not only has he completely lost their trust, he adds consistently to the chaos a smaller defensive core has to face while letting in a goal every five shots.

Shoot the fker to the moon. It's cooked.

Georgiev plays net like a spastic cat. Always unbalanced and tight. Over anticipating, nervously athletic. Never calm cool and collected.

Annunen is the opposite right now. Alway presents his chest and pads to the puck, stays on angle to the puck and limits any herky-jerkey motions. Directs rebounds to the corners or better, absorbs them like a sponge. Cool and confident. He obviously is a good fit for the Avs defensive scheme.

Georgiev is not compatible with the scheme at all. The players observe the incompatibility and are unable to adjust to account for his style.

I know it was the 2nd game of a B2B and Bednar didn't have much choice but I can't understand how he can't see the differences btw his 2 net minders.

I want to see the new guy from Finland in net. The Finns are producing some pretty darn good goalies of late.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

I mean, he wasn’t good but the team didn’t play well in front of him either. Sort of a chicken/egg thing. The team plays nervous in front of him and he can’t bail them out.

Two really bad games in a row for Makar.

And Colton is hurt. Gonna be out for a while.

One step forward, 2 steps back.

I think Makar hurt his wrist on that uncalled trip inside the OZ zone at the blue line. He fell real awkwardly.

 

[littletonhockeycoach]

IMO it was a well earned loss. Lots of folks worked for it.

The team was tired on a B2B and as John Mitchell said, unaggressive.

But George was well rested and needed to hold the line until they found their legs.

He couldn't and he didn't. Just get his ass out of here already.

 

[CobraAcesS]

Georgiev plays net like a spastic cat. Always unbalanced and tight. Over anticipating, nervously athletic. Never calm cool and collected.

Annunen is the opposite right now. Alway presents his chest and pads to the puck, stays on angle to the puck and limits any herky-jerkey motions. Directs rebounds to the corners or better, absorbs them like a sponge. Cool and confident. He obviously is a good fit for the Avs defensive scheme.

Georgiev is not compatible with the scheme at all. The players observe the incompatibility and are unable to adjust to account for his style.

I know it was the 2nd game of a B2B and Bednar didn't have much choice but I can't understand how he can't see the differences btw his 2 net minders.

I want to see the new guy from Finland in net. The Finns are producing some pretty darn good goalies of late.

They could have played Kakko, so I give Bednar no reprieve there. He used that up continuing to play George at least two games longer than he should have IMO.

Another untested warm body exists, so playing him at all is a failure.

 

[chet1926]

Short summary please?
Did Gerorgiev f*** us again?
Who is hurt now?

Yes to George 3 goals in first 9 shots against, 2 were really ugly.

Team was a little flat and became more deflated once George did his usual give up 3 on the first 9 routine. Team never really recovered after that.

Colton probably broke his foot or ankle most likely.

 

[Grigowski]

Get used to this kind of hockey.... As long as they can get .500 hockey, so be it......

This team needs bodies in den Top 6 that can play... And we need them asap. Now with Colton out......

Bednar is playing our top guns into the ground and we havent even reached November......

And yes, we are the most injury prone team in professional sports i have ever seen... This shit goes on for years now.

And ffs, make Anunnen the starter. This team has turned their backs on Georgiev. It is clear at this point.

 

[AVSfan2daMAX]

The team was tired on a B2B and as John Mitchell said, unaggressive.

But George was well rested and needed to hold the line until they found their legs.

He couldn't and he didn't. Just get his ass out of here already.

This is my biggest problem with Georgiev. He never has his teammates back.

On a second of back to backs, you need your goalie to let you find your legs and instead you can't even record 5 saves before a goal. Then gives up a soft 2nd goal right after tying the game.

 

[Pokecheque]

Get used to this kind of hockey.... As long as they can get .500 hockey, so be it......

This team needs bodies in den Top 6 that can play... And we need them asap. Now with Colton out......

Bednar is playing our top guns into the ground and we havent even reached November......

And yes, we are the most injury prone team in professional sports i have ever seen... This shit goes on for years now.

And ffs, make Anunnen the starter. This team has turned their backs on Georgiev. It is clear at this point.

I don't know how anyone can blame him for this right now. The team is missing Landeskog, Lehkonen, Nichushkin, and now Colton. Who should he play? Kelly? Ivan? The choices are insanely limited, especially when the team is down a goal. You know you ain't getting offense from Kelly, like NONE, so that leaves maybe something from Ivan but increasing minutes for a guy like that would be a very bad idea.

It's not helping that the Makar/Toews pairing has played like shit the last two games.

Oh and he rolled Miles Wood out there, is that the guy you want out there instead? Guess what HE did? He took an insanely dumb and needless penalty at the worst possible time, then once he got back out there with the team rolling out an extra attacker and an empty net, promptly turned the puck over.

 

[henchman21]

I don't know how anyone can blame him for this right now. The team is missing Landeskog, Lehkonen, Nichushkin, and now Colton. Who should he play? Kelly? Ivan? The choices are insanely limited, especially when the team is down a goal. You know you ain't getting offense from Kelly, like NONE, so that leaves maybe something from Ivan but increasing minutes for a guy like that would be a very bad idea.

It's not helping that the Makar/Toews pairing has played like shit the last two games.

It is this mentality that runs them into the ground. Not every game is worth winning at all costs. It hurts more than it helps over 82 games. MacK being at 23+ in 60% of his game is going to lead to issues. Same with Mitts and 20. Pure matter of time.

 

[dahrougem2]

Do they?

Speaking of this, it would be nice if Avs learned how to draft capable NHL players, outside of top ten i mean. Lot of times, when i see other teams playing, the ones i dont follow that closely, i wonder about the new names on their rosters, young players they drafted god knows when (were not hyped up to be next superstars, of those i would be aware) and doing really well, even playing top six/top four positions.

Then i look at Avs and like everyone not drafted with big expectation (our big three and Landy) was brought via trade. Naturally too soon to judge the likes of Kovalenko and Ivanx2, maybe they turn out to be these players.

f***ing Dallas pretty much replaced their older core players (Benn, Seguin) with second round picks (Hintz, Robertson) and late first rounders (Harley, Wyatt Johnston, maybe Stankoven?). Us in their position would be royally f***ed.

Oh yeah the AHLers are dog shit lol. Anyone who COULD be in the AHL right now is probably up with the team.

The likes of Olausson, Foudy, Pavel, Polin, etc are career minor leaguers or Euro players.

I don't know how anyone can blame him for this right now. The team is missing Landeskog, Lehkonen, Nichushkin, and now Colton. Who should he play? Kelly? Ivan? The choices are insanely limited, especially when the team is down a goal. You know you ain't getting offense from Kelly, like NONE, so that leaves maybe something from Ivan but increasing minutes for a guy like that would be a very bad idea.

It's not helping that the Makar/Toews pairing has played like shit the last two games.

Oh and he rolled Miles Wood out there, is that the guy you want out there instead? Guess what HE did? He took an insanely dumb and needless penalty at the worst possible time, then once he got back out there with the team rolling out an extra attacker and an empty net, promptly turned the puck over.

I can absolutely blame Bednar for overplaying the top guys.

It's an October game against the f***ing Blackhawks. Why do you NEED to play MacKinnon, Makar and Rantanen 25+ minutes?

They still lost the game doing just that. Give the 3rd and 4th lines some increased minutes. He needs to f***ing relax on how much he destroys the tanks of our top guys.

 

[RECKLESS]

I think the front office and Bednar are mindf***ing the team to head injury by giving George a go after go.

So as long as George is in the roster, I call the whole roster injured. Win with that? Have not.

Edit to add: sounds brutal? Yes. But it is brutal. And it's a cold fact right now you don't win with him anywhere near the crease.

 

[henchman21]

I can absolutely blame Bednar for overplaying the top guys.

It's an October game against the f***ing Blackhawks. Why do you NEED to play MacKinnon, Makar and Rantanen 25+ minutes?

They still lost the game doing just that. Give the 3rd and 4th lines some increased minutes. He needs to f***ing relax on how much he destroys the tanks of our top guys.

I can understand it more in Feb/March-on when needed, but really MacK and Rants should be more in the 20-21 minute range for the vast majority of the season. Mitts should be 17-19. Cale 22-23. This unnecessary importance leveled on random regular seasons games hurts the team in the long run. Winning the division barely (if at all) raises your chances at winning the 1st round, and home ice is nice to have, but most series end within 6 games. It is not worth the wear and tear to put the top guys through that. Now the top guys will all plead for that ice because they are competitors, but a coach should have his eyes on April-June success... not Oct-Dec.

 

[dahrougem2]

I can understand it more in Feb/March-on when needed, but really MacK and Rants should be more in the 20-21 minute range for the vast majority of the season. Mitts should be 17-19. Cale 22-23. This unnecessary importance leveled on random regular seasons games hurts the team in the long run. Winning the division barely (if at all) raises your chances at winning the 1st round, and home ice is nice to have, but most series end within 6 games. It is not worth the wear and tear to put the top guys through that. Now the top guys will all plead for that ice because they are competitors, but a coach should have his eyes on April-June success... not Oct-Dec.

I calculated it last year given total time on ice for Stars and Avs players and IIRC by the end of that series MacKinnon and Rantanen had played roughly 16-17 more games based on average TOI compared to Jason Robertson who was the leading Stars forward.

It's insanity. It's no wonder MacKinnon looked exhausted in INTERVIEWS last playoffs let alone on the ice.

 

[henchman21]

I calculated it last year given total time on ice for Stars and Avs players and IIRC by the end of that series MacKinnon and Rantanen had played roughly 16-17 more games based on average TOI compared to Jason Robertson who was the leading Stars forward.

It's insanity. It's no wonder MacKinnon looked exhausted in INTERVIEWS last playoffs let alone on the ice.

It is just unreasonable at the pace and effort expected in they system. The Avs are not longer near the fastest team in the league, but they still try to play that way. MacK is probably the forward with the most distance skated in the league... and pretty much everything he does is with power and strength, not finesse and efficiency. It is just much different having Quinn Hughes or Kucherov who are all efficiency and smooth skating 275-300 miles than MacK who is all power. That has a long-term impact that can't be overstated.

 

[Pokecheque]

I can absolutely blame Bednar for overplaying the top guys.

It's an October game against the f***ing Blackhawks. Why do you NEED to play MacKinnon, Makar and Rantanen 25+ minutes?

They still lost the game doing just that. Give the 3rd and 4th lines some increased minutes. He needs to f***ing relax on how much he destroys the tanks of our top guys.

I don't think he can just outright throw games though. You dig yourself a big enough hole before December it takes a Herculean effort to climb out (see: last year's Oilers).

Also the team AND the coach effectively giving up against the 2nd worst team in the league sends a really bad message to everyone.

And let's be clear, I don't think playing guys a max of 18 minutes, even on the second of a B2B, is that egregious. 25 or more minutes, THAT would be bad. But I think we can all agree that ideally, 15 minutes is ideal for guys like MacKinnon/Makar/etc.

If you're going to blame someone, blame the lack of depth, blame the injuries, blame the fact that a guy who was literally brought on board to step up in situations like this, Miles Wood, is playing below replacement level hockey at the moment and then can't even stay on the f***ing ice because he keeps taking dumb penalties, and last but not least, BLAME the f***ing goalie who let in two quick goals and therefore made the team have to mount a comeback.

I would seriously consider sending Wood up to the press box to get his dumb ass sorted out. I realize the next guy up is probably Jason Polin or something like that but egads they cannot keep putting him on the ice doing what he's doing.

 

[dahrougem2]

I don't think he can just outright throw games though. You dig yourself a big enough hole before December it takes a Herculean effort to climb out (see: last year's Oilers).

Also the team AND the coach effectively giving up against the 2nd worst team in the league sends a really bad message to everyone.

And let's be clear, I don't think playing guys a max of 18 minutes, even on the second of a B2B, is that egregious. 25 or more minutes, THAT would be bad. But I think we can all agree that ideally, 15 minutes is ideal for guys like MacKinnon/Makar/etc.

If you're going to blame someone, blame the lack of depth, blame the injuries, blame the fact that a guy who was literally brought on board to step up in situations like this, Miles Wood, is playing below replacement level hockey at the moment and then can't even stay on the f***ing ice because he keeps taking dumb penalties, and last but not least, BLAME the f***ing goalie who let in two quick goals and therefore made the team have to mount a comeback.

I would seriously consider sending Wood up to the press box to get his dumb ass sorted out. I realize the next guy up is probably Jason Polin or something like that but egads they cannot keep putting him on the ice doing what he's doing.

But the problem is these games truly are meaningless. Does anyone realistically believe the Avs aren't going to make the playoffs? Just get in, that's all that matters and in all likelihood the Avs will be one of the top 3 teams in the Central.

There's no reason to keep destroying MacKinnon/Rantanen/Makar. We saw it in plain sight last year in the playoffs - they were gassed. They had nothing left. That game 6 overtime the Stars skated circles around us because they were all fresh and we were exhausted and he STILL kept throwing the top guys out there rather than giving them a break here and there with 3rd/4th line routine shifts.

It's just him being stubborn. He doesn't NEED to do this.

 

[henchman21]

I don't think he can just outright throw games though. You dig yourself a big enough hole before December it takes a Herculean effort to climb out (see: last year's Oilers).

Also the team AND the coach effectively giving up against the 2nd worst team in the league sends a really bad message to everyone.

And let's be clear, I don't think playing guys a max of 18 minutes, even on the second of a B2B, is that egregious. 25 or more minutes, THAT would be bad. But I think we can all agree that ideally, 15 minutes is ideal for guys like MacKinnon/Makar/etc.

If you're going to blame someone, blame the lack of depth, blame the injuries, blame the fact that a guy who was literally brought on board to step up in situations like this, Miles Wood, is playing below replacement level hockey at the moment and then can't even stay on the f***ing ice because he keeps taking dumb penalties, and last but not least, BLAME the f***ing goalie who let in two quick goals and therefore made the team have to mount a comeback.

I would seriously consider sending Wood up to the press box to get his dumb ass sorted out. I realize the next guy up is probably Jason Polin or something like that but egads they cannot keep putting him on the ice doing what he's doing.

It's not throwing games as much as just not over extending players. Just keep MacK to 7:30 or less (ideally more 6:30) in a period regardless of where the game is. Maybe you make exceptions based on getting a 5v3 or a just a lot of PPs in general... but if he was hovering around 6:30 and that happened, maybe it creeps up to 7:30-7:45 and then back down.

The lack of depth is certainly the main issue causing this, but the fiscal reality ensures that is going to be the case moving forward. So they have to adapt to the new reality, not just overextend top players to keep their old ways.

Mitts in particular here is going to have issues. He's not an amazing skater or super efficient anyway. He's never played this many minutes before, and as the season wears on, that'll catch up. If he's slumping in Feb-April because there is nothing left in the tank, that's less on him than it is Bednar.

 

[the_fan]

As far as top guys playing ton of minutes, I wonder what’s their ice time 5 on 5 and how it compares to other teams top players, because MacK, Mikko and Cale get tons of PP time. They’re out there almost the full 2 minutes every PP.

There is less wear and tear when you’re on PP. Yes you’re still skating and spending energy, but you don’t get body checked or roughed up on PP like you do 5 on 5. Also when on PP you don’t really back check hard and play defense. All that matters when we talk about too much ice time

 

[Pokecheque]

But the problem is these games truly are meaningless. Does anyone realistically believe the Avs aren't going to make the playoffs? Just get in, that's all that matters and in all likelihood the Avs will be one of the top 3 teams in the Central.

There's no reason to keep destroying MacKinnon/Rantanen/Makar. We saw it in plain sight last year in the playoffs - they were gassed. They had nothing left. That game 6 overtime the Stars skated circles around us because they were all fresh and we were exhausted and he STILL kept throwing the top guys out there rather than giving them a break here and there with 3rd/4th line routine shifts.

It's just him being stubborn. He doesn't NEED to do this.

They're not meaningless, especially when he desperately needs f***ing Georgiev to get back on track. A win might have gotten him a little more confidence.

Now, that said, I do agree with Henchy that maybe some adjustments need to be made to the system. He made those adjustments back in the day when he didn't have the personnel to execute his system the way he wanted to. For instance, the Nieto-Soderberg-Comeau line played vastly different hockey than the rest of the team, especially the top line. But they also need to see if they can put someone in that 3C role who can actually log proper minutes. Kelly is 4th line winger being shoehorned into a role he just isn't ready for.

 

[henchman21]

As far as top guys playing ton of minutes, I wonder what’s their ice time 5 on 5 and how it compares to other teams top players, because MacK, Mikko and Cale get tons of PP time. They’re out there almost the full 2 minutes every PP.

There is less wear and tear when you’re on PP. Yes you’re still skating and spending energy, but you don’t get body checked or roughed up on PP like you do 5 on 5

Kaprizov is the only player ahead of them this season (18:47). MacK is at 18:42 and Mikko is at 18:12. Only 3 forwards are above 18 and only 8 are above 17 (Scheifele is the only forward above 17:18 and under 18 minutes). So.. practically, Mikko is 1+ more minute than all but 3 forwards in the entire league. MacK is 30 seconds above him. Last season they were #1 and #2 (only forwards above 18 minutes) with a 40 second margin over Kucherov. 9 players ended at 17+. in 22-23 they were again #1 and #2 being the only two above 18 minutes. Only 5 forwards were 17+ that season. They play a ton of minutes 5v5.

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Long story, short... the minutes the top guys disguise the actual struggles of the team. They compromise effectiveness later for winning in the regular season. When playing bad teams, you can typically overpower them eventually with the top line and pairing. This is how they have such a good record against bad teams and don't typically lose games like last night. Nothing is free though, you're taking away from later for winning today. Which simply doesn't make sense in October.

 

[SirLoinOfCloth]

We're also completely hobbled in our top 6. No one wants Wagner and Kelly on the ice when we're trying to tie things up. I have no problem playing the top guys this much while we are missing so many of our top 2 lines. Hopefully the time evens out as we get more bodies back.

 

[expatriatedtexan]

Intresting how load management is really starting to become an issue in hockey,

 

[the_fan]

BTW, Bednar said Georgiev was good when they asked him postgame, so that probably puts a little dent in our hopes of getting rid of Georgiev. Seems like with every praise Bednar gives Georgiev, he’s safe as far as being traded or waived