Speculation: AVS Proposals/Rumors/Free Agents & Related Topics 2016-17 Part XVII

[S E P H]

It's a bit early for next season expectations but coaches who get fired early in a season are ones with expectations that get off to disappointing starts. If they start the year with a bunch of kids and it looks like they really are committing to the youth movement, why would they have any expectations next year? Or at least expectations of getting out of the gate strong?

Good point, but it will probably come down to how the eye test is. If Avs start 2-7, but look quite decent with a young squad as they did in the last two weeks of this season. He probably will extend his shelf life. However, if they start 2-7, but look absolutely horrendous, I don't see why Sakic would want to keep him.

 

[Ivan13]

I really wonder why people are saying that Andrighetto can't play on the top line. The main thing you need your top line to do is produce, and he has done that. As long as he delivers tangible results he's doing his job and can stay there as long as that continues.

Remember when DSP was a clear cut top 6 winger last year?

How about we wait for a sample size larger than ~20 games before crowning him as a top 6 winger?

PS

As for Bednar, if they want to fire him do it now. If not, let him ride out the season if he falters out the gates, at least we'll get a high pick in a great draft that offers two absolutely elite talents. No point in changing coaches mid-season next year and having the new guy be a lame duck.

 

[Bubba Thudd]

Keep Bednar for the 17-18 tank? Awesome.

 

[cgf]

That is probably a while from happening, but the big concern I would have is committing money to him. His bridge deal this year will be cheap... if he produces at a decent rate over the next couple seasons, I'd really hate to commit 3-4+m to him.



I don't think Ghetto would work well on that line, and he can't really play a typical 3rd line role well.

Yeah, unless Ghetto really cements himself and develops ridiculous chemistry with MacK; I don't see him being worth holding onto once the price tags grows. Keep him around for next year in hopes that he can stay hot until he gets surpassed, and then sell him at the TDL before we have to pay up..

 

[tigervixxxen]

People are frustrated, it is expected that people can express their frustrations without going overboard. What's important is to not point fingers at eachother

 

[Alex Jones]

Did Sakic confirm following the final game that Bednar would be brought back?

I might actually be done.

Sakic needs to be done. No reason for him to be here another day

 

[cgf]

Sakic needs to be done. No reason for him to be here another day

Are you really that impatient for the Fat Snake to come back and trade away all of our young talent for oldies?

 

[McMetal]

Of course if the line keeps rolling you go with it, I think the question is if it dries up for a bit then what.

Depends on your definition of "a bit". For Bednar, that seems to be "a period and a half" when it comes to scrambling his lines. For me, give it a few games. Every player has cold streaks, even Rantanen disappeared for a couple stretches this year. I'm tired of the constant line shuffling.

 

[McMetal]

Remember when DSP was a clear cut top 6 winger last year?

How about we wait for a sample size larger than ~20 games before crowning him as a top 6 winger?

PS

I don't understand how you could have read that and heard "He's a top line winger now and forever"...

 

[UncleRisto]

Are you really that impatient for the Fat Snake to come back and trade away all of our young talent for oldies?

Good Lord, that's Rick Nash's music!

 

[Nalens Oga]

So do you guys believe that
Ghetto-MacK-Rants
can ever be a top line? As good Ghetto has been, I'm not sure I'm sold on him actually being a top 6 player and I think we should be able to find a better 5'10" forward.

I think that's potentially a great second line but we're in trouble if it's our first. You just can't rely on Mack to be a game breaker and score consistently, he gets shut down or just disappears on his own a lot of nights. The first line needs to be Landeskog if he can get back to being a top six player, whichever pick we take in this draft assuming it's not a dman, and possibly Jost.

Of course my own opinion is that we have to do this by trading Landeskog so I don't want him pencilled into a first line either. I think it's gonna have to be offense by comittee here, we don't have a Matthews or an Eichel and we may never have a top 10 forward like Tarasenko but if our current crop of young guys includer JTC and Andrighetto keep playing well, our first round pick is a good player, and we get a decent return for Duchene/Landeskog/Barrie/whomever then we can have a lot of depth in our top 9 and rely on scoring by committee. They just have to make it work without a star forward I guess and get some serious upgrades on defence in the next couple years plus find a goalie to ice a winning team. Basically they can't afford to miss on anything now whether it be a signing or a 1st round draft pick or the return of a trade....does anyone here really trust Sakic to make 'can't miss' moves to do that?

 

[McMetal]

That is probably a while from happening, but the big concern I would have is committing money to him. His bridge deal this year will be cheap... if he produces at a decent rate over the next couple seasons, I'd really hate to commit 3-4+m to him.

If they don't want to keep him after he cements himself as an NHL top sixer, then trade him the way Chicago did with Saad. Let's not get too ahead of ourselves with him. I, for one, would love to have that problem. But he has to actually do that before we can think about giving him that much money.

 

[PennAvs]

If they don't fire Bednar or Sakic by the end of the day I´m done with this team

 

[Cousin Eddie]

If they don't fire Bednar or Sakic by the end of the day I´m done with this team

Joins an internet forum to announce his retirement from fandom. I love it.

 

[Avs44]

If they don't fire Bednar or Sakic by the end of the day I´m done with this team

Hi and goodbye, I suppose!

 

[S E P H]

Okay, serious question....

For all the people going on suicide watch (and any others) because *surprise* Sakic and Bednar are returning...do you guys honestly believe one or both of them will be here three to five years from now?

 

[chet1926]

What a bunch of babies, go cheer for another team. Go bandwagon on Chicago or Washington or something so you can cheer for a winner.

Don't expect me to welcome you back when the Avs actually get better, not every year is going to go well. And this year flat out sucked, but I'm going to rally behind my team and hope for the best going forward.

I mean I've never seen such fair weather fans. I get it, this team this year sucked. It was no fun for anyone involved with the team. That includes us fans, the coaches, the players, management and ownership.

I can't imagine what you all are like in real life, do you just quit the second something doesn't go your way at work or school? Do you say immature stuff like if my boss doesn't quit, I'm going to quit? Or the only reason I failed was my teacher didn't like me so I'm going to complain to the school to get them fired?

Please go cheer for other teams if you are going to say stuff like I'm done if so and so doesn't get fired.

 

[henchman21]

What a bunch of babies, go cheer for another team. Go bandwagon on Chicago or Washington or something so you can cheer for a winner.

Don't expect me to welcome you back when the Avs actually get better, not every year is going to go well. And this year flat out sucked, but I'm going to rally behind my team and hope for the best going forward.

I mean I've never seen such fair weather fans. I get it, this team this year sucked. It was no fun for anyone involved with the team. That includes us fans, the coaches, the players, management and ownership.

I can't imagine what you all are like in real life, do you just quit the second something doesn't go your way at work or school? Do you say immature stuff like if my boss doesn't quit, I'm going to quit? Or the only reason I failed was my teacher didn't like me so I'm going to complain to the school to get them fired?

Please go cheer for other teams if you are going to say stuff like I'm done if so and so doesn't get fired.

There isn't anything wrong with calling a spade, a spade. The resigning fandom is a bit absurd. I won't quit being a fan, I won't quit watching and cheering them on... but I don't think there is much hope to hold on to as long as Bednar is the coach and Sakic remains passive. Could both improve? Sure. Are the odds high that they'd lift this team to an acceptable level next year? I'd say that is a solid nope.

 

[Nalens Oga]

Okay, serious question....

For all the people going on suicide watch (and any others) because *surprise* Sakic and Bednar are returning...do you guys honestly believe one or both of them will be here three to five years from now?

No but I think that the problem is that it's a crucial time for us right now in terms of drafting, making at least a couple of the right trades, and developing and the Sakic & Bednar combo + whomever else is there in the background will screw it up if they're allowed to head the ship even for another half an year.

 

[PennAvs]

I honestly don't see things turned around for a long time if seasons like this don't cause monumental changes. Firing Sakic and Bednar isn't about this season but about how the future looks with these two here. It causes fans to question ownership and if they really care.

 

[Former Ladder]

Okay, serious question....

For all the people going on suicide watch (and any others) because *surprise* Sakic and Bednar are returning...do you guys honestly believe one or both of them will be here three to five years from now?

I honestly believe that one or both could be. One of the worst things they could do is to keep changing over the GM and team-building philosophies every 3 years. I think we finally have a direction and a gameplan and no delusions of how far along this team is. I think it is time to hunker down and stick to the plan and build this team's prospect pool so it can stand on its own. If we can keep moving forward with a defined plan and try to get some better results/personnel in certain support roles in the organization then we will be looking pretty good in a few years. There are still a lot of things to improve upon but we have to remember that Sakic and Bednar are still fairly new and learning but have high potential in their respective positions. Both are very smart people.

 

[AvsCOL]

They need to gut the front office, simple as that. Sakic has had more than enough time to establish a model here, and he's done nothing to suggest he has a plan at all.


I'll admit the drafting has looked pretty good the last few years, especially Rantanen, Jost and Meloche, but that's not enough. The trade deadline was the last straw for me. They totally blew an opportunity for this team to get better.

 

[McMetal]

I honestly believe that one or both could be. One of the worst things they could do is to keep changing over the GM and team-building philosophies every 3 years. I think we finally have a direction and a gameplan and no delusions of how far along this team is. I think it is time to hunker down and stick to the plan and build this team's prospect pool so it can stand on its own. If we can keep moving forward with a defined plan and try to get some better results/personnel in certain support roles in the organization then we will be looking pretty good in a few years. There are still a lot of things to improve upon but we have to remember that Sakic and Bednar are still fairly new and learning but have high potential in their respective positions. Both are very smart people.

I'd disagree about Bednar, I think he's proven that he has zero grasp of the NHL and if he wins, he wins by accident or the negligence of the other team.

But Sakic should be allowed to see this through. As far as I'm concerned, he's in his first year as GM without Roy pushing him to do dumb things. The drafting has been better and the young depth is coming, I want to see what his plan is before I call for his head. Keeping Bednar around means he wants to tank for Dahlin next year, but hey, nobody expects playoffs anyway, and if we're not going to the postseason, we should have one more year of a top draft pick before we fire him and move on.

 

[Foppberg]

What a bunch of babies, go cheer for another team. Go bandwagon on Chicago or Washington or something so you can cheer for a winner.

Don't expect me to welcome you back when the Avs actually get better, not every year is going to go well. And this year flat out sucked, but I'm going to rally behind my team and hope for the best going forward.

I mean I've never seen such fair weather fans. I get it, this team this year sucked. It was no fun for anyone involved with the team. That includes us fans, the coaches, the players, management and ownership.

I can't imagine what you all are like in real life, do you just quit the second something doesn't go your way at work or school? Do you say immature stuff like if my boss doesn't quit, I'm going to quit? Or the only reason I failed was my teacher didn't like me so I'm going to complain to the school to get them fired?

Please go cheer for other teams if you are going to say stuff like I'm done if so and so doesn't get fired.

Really though, I know things are bad but that's sports. The vast majority of a fans fandom is about endearing the years of mediocrity for those championship years, and a lot never get that.

Leafs haven't won in 48 years and have dealt with one of the worst owners in league history. Blues have never won in their 45 year history, Buffalo is a cursed sports town. There's teams with decades worth of mediocrity, meanwhile we inherited a borderline dynasty and have 2 cups (and should probably have more honestly) in 22 years to show for it.

I get people who are just taking out frustration, but if people are actually considering ditching the team because things aren't progressing the way you had hoped, then you're not a real fan. You never know what could happen, especially when it comes to the Avs, things happen out of thin air. Latest example would be the Roy firing, if anybody said they saw it coming they'd be lying.

The way I see it, I hate the team to be the way it is now, but whenever we do become successful again, it'll be that much sweeter.

 

[AllAboutAvs]

Really though, I know things are bad but that's sports. The vast majority of a fans fandom is about endearing the years of mediocrity for those championship years, and a lot never get that.

Leafs haven't won in 48 years and dealt with one of the owners in their history. Blues have never won in their 45 year history, Buffalo is a cursed sports town. There's teams with decades worth of mediocrity, meanwhile we inherited a borderline dynasty and have 2 cups (and should probably have more honestly) in 22 years to show for it.

I get people who are just taking out frustration, but if people are actually considering ditching the team because things aren't progressing the way you had hoped, then you're not a real fan. You never know what could happen, especially when it comes to the Avs, things happen out of thin air. Latest example would be the Roy firing, if anybody said they saw it coming they'd be lying.

The way I see it, I hate the team to be the way it is now, but whenever we do become successful again, it'll be that much sweeter.

Well said.