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Avs acquire C Brock Nelson (50% retained) + F William Dufour for F Cal Ritchie + D Oliver Kylington + 2026 1st + Cond. 2028 3rd

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I’m still keeping my hopes up that Nelson will eventually figure it out, and things will workout. If not, then f*** it. I don’t think we’ll ever find a 2C
 
shadow1 said:
Felt the same way about tonight's game. Nelson goes to the right areas but he's playing tentatively. Every time he gets the puck on his stick, he makes a touch pass to someone else half a second later. That's a little exaggerated but the point is he doesn't have the puck on his stick a lot. When Coyle was bumped up to 2C, he was carrying the puck and driving the play. Nelson still isn't playing with that level of confidence. Had the one great chance tonight though.
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Nelson is more talented, but outside that first game, I think Coyle has outplayed him. Coyle hasn't executed on his shots much either, but he's been more engaged on the forecheck, and winning battles.

I loved that first game where Nelson just went out and played, but now he looks like he's overthinking everything. I think that's part of why Bednar put him on MacKinnon's wing, along with hoping to get him a goal for his confidence. He looked a little better not having to think about all his responsibilities at center in a new system, but not as well as they need from him.

Willing to be patient, but he needs to get back to just playing hockey. He's one of the best goal scorers on the team, and tonight he got the puck in the best spot possible in the slot, and his confidence looks so low, and he's overthinking so much, he took way too long considering to pass to both forwards near the circles, that the goalie read everything he was thinking and made a routine save. If he would have just fired the puck when he should have, he might have scored.

It's very strange how all three of Nelson, Val, and Drouin looked great individually, and together that first game, and since then they've all looked very off, except for Val tonight who was better finally.

Maybe they just need to get through the rest of these games, and take advantage of the extra practice days between the regular season and playoffs to help Nelson dial in the system, feel more comfortable, and figure out how they should play together. Hopefully they figure it out before then though.
 
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Richard88 said:
Imagine trading Byram, Rantanen, Ritchie, and two 1st's, still having a hole at 2C. Not great.
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All because they didn't want to give a little extra money to Kadri - who just won them a cup.

That said, Nelson is a proven top six center. I'm confident he'll adjust to the new team and get going here.
 
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As an Islanders fan I'd just like to bring up that Nelson has been one of the streakiest players during his career. He scores in bunches when he gets going. A lot of fans got the wrong impression of his game after the first one because he was more physical than he usually is and that's just not his game. He doesn't lay big hits. He's smooth, not fast, and he's very patient with the puck but not someone that is going to dance around or blow by defenders.

I'm not sure how he's looked defensively/positionally since coming to Colorado but that's not really a thing I'd worry too much about by the time playoffs come around.

He's not a game breaker but I think he'll be fine once he gets going for you guys.
 
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Honestly, I am willing to be patient with Nelson. He is also more of a shooter than playmaker. I didn't like Bednar's ADHD shuffling in this one, he just seems to be experimenting with combos to practice situational hockey for the playoffs, but it just looked discombobulated at best. Kadri didn't look great with us until really his third season with us. Call it system awareness, free agency bump, or whatever for Kadri but the stats are there. Nelson looks very tentative because defensively he is still feeling out where he should be. Coyle has a simpler task, and looks perfect in it....forecheck, disrupt and eliminate opportunities....less pressure as scoring is a bonus. Love his game though. I think it will come around for Nelson once he pots a few goals, and then Landy's possible return will be the final juice for a run. Patience.
 
Haven't been watching lately. He had 0.53 xG yesterday, third highest in team. Must have looked bad in reality? I did notice he got moved to the wing, maybe that helped him.
 
Vaslof said:
Haven't been watching lately. He had 0.53 xG yesterday, third highest in team. Must have looked bad in reality? I did notice he got moved to the wing, maybe that helped him.
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I'd hazard a guess that the majority of that 0.53 xG was from that shot in the slot in the 3rd period when Woll saved high glove.
 
Ararana said:
All because they didn't want to give a little extra money to Kadri - who just won them a cup.

That said, Nelson is a proven top six center. I'm confident he'll adjust to the new team and get going here.
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They were fine giving money to Kadri. He was rumoured to have been willing to stay for $6.5m. They just couldn't find the cap room since EJ didn't want to waive when they had a trade lined up with Anaheim.
 
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Maybe a little outrageous thought coming up but....
I would switch Coyle and Nelson for a while and see what happens. We are not in trouble, we probably keep winning games even if our 2C goes 0+0 the rest of the season. But we dont want our 2C go 0+0 for the rest of the season so a little healthy competition for the role, maybe Coyle doesnt have the potential upside Nelson can bring to that second line but I think at the moment, he's playing better than Nelson.
 
PK Cronin said:
As an Islanders fan I'd just like to bring up that Nelson has been one of the streakiest players during his career. He scores in bunches when he gets going. A lot of fans got the wrong impression of his game after the first one because he was more physical than he usually is and that's just not his game. He doesn't lay big hits. He's smooth, not fast, and he's very patient with the puck but not someone that is going to dance around or blow by defenders.

I'm not sure how he's looked defensively/positionally since coming to Colorado but that's not really a thing I'd worry too much about by the time playoffs come around.

He's not a game breaker but I think he'll be fine once he gets going for you guys.
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The defense has been even worse than the offense, which is non-existent.
 
Avs_19 said:
The defense has been even worse than the offense, which is non-existent.
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Interesting, he'll float from time to time but he's usually pretty good positionally. I'll have to check out some more games. I wonder if the defensive game plan is way different than what the Islanders have run because Nelson really blossomed under Barry Trotz with a very heavy defensive system.
 
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Richard88 said:
Better hope the Avs can re-sign Nelson (after he gets going) and then somehow find a replacement for Manson next year. Finding a RHD who does what Manson does won't be easy with so few assets.
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Yep, a RD that can play top 4 minutes is as hard to find as a 2C.
 
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PK Cronin said:
Interesting, he'll float from time to time but he's usually pretty good positionally. I'll have to check out some more games. I wonder if the defensive game plan is way different than what the Islanders have run because Nelson really blossomed under Barry Trotz with a very heavy defensive system.
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It's only been two weeks so I imagine a lot of it is just getting used to the new team, system, etc. It's frustrating but the hope is he'll improve with time and I'd guess he will because he's a really good player. The lost puck battles are the one area where it's difficult to excuse and the most frustrating.
 
Avs_19 said:
It's only been two weeks so I imagine a lot of it is just getting used to the new team, system, etc. It's frustrating but the hope is he'll improve with time and I'd guess he will because he's a really good player. The lost puck battles are the one area where it's difficult to excuse and the most frustrating.
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He's just not a tenacious type of guy so if that's how he's losing them I wouldn't expect that to change.
 
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