T1B

I would love any news that you could give me regarding the Avs.

I can get the box scores and all of that, but I can't get the fans prospective on it all.

How's Wolski doin'
How's Hejduk doin"....etc.
How much are WE hurting w/o Blake, Hinote.


Nobody else is using this forum....update me please!

Hobbes and d-townmike can probably help you out...

hum, ever heard of center ice?

i guess reading the denver newspapers online would be hard thing to do eh?




does crosstraffic have a brother?

fan point of view.

I'm sure the Avs have their own message board on their website.

But if you want this non Avs fan point of view then the Avs suck.

Better?

After watching the game on Sunday, I'm not very impressed at all with the Avs as a team. Sakic is still Sakic. Hejduk is a shell of his former self and is no longer a major factor in games. Seeing this team the way it is shows how much they miss not having guys like Drury, Forsberg and Tanguay. I think Stastny and Wolski are potential stars but Drury was one of the best big game players they had, Forsberg caused matchup problems when they had two world-class centers and Tanguay made Hejduk a better player when they were Sakic's wingers. The defense is very thin right now with injuries...Liles needs to get back soon because they have no one to QB the power play. Leopold should become a more impactful player as he gets his legs under him.

I said before the season the Avs weren't one of the eight best teams in the Western Conference and I stand by that. They've become a softer team than even the Red Wings...I can't believe I'd ever say that. The Wings were so much quicker than they were and so much more aggressive in the offensive zone. 41-12 shot advantage? They've got major issues and they are just too many teams on par or better than them that it's a real possibility that they will miss the postseason for the first time since the franchise moved to Denver from Quebec City. I will vouch for this...that call on the Holmstrom goal was garbage. How does anyone not see that Holmstrom's stick was over the cross bar? I'm glad the game finished 3-1 and not 2-1 because the Avs would've had a major beef. They still should complain about that call but at least it wasn't the GWG.

Is this considered "feeding the trolls?" Ah well, I'll play along.

You want to know how the Avs are doing? All you really need to do is look at the standings. They currently sit in 4th place in the Northwest, and currently are out of the playoffs and this could easily be where they end up come playoff time. I predict that Sakic will carry them the rest of the way, and with Liles and Leopold healthy in a few more weeks, they'll make a late-season push and squeak into the playoffs as a 7 or 8 seed.

Joe Sakic is pretty much the reason this team is even as high as they are in the standings. He's been his usual, consistent self, and comprises a large portion of the offense. Hejduk is nigh on invisible. He has a handful of goals, but has been a non-factor in almost every game. I would disagree with Shoalzie's take on Tanguay; I don't think he's missed that much because the problems go beyond what Tanguay could add to the team. But, I don't think most people realized just how much Forsberg was a factor in Hejduk's play. In his prime, Forsberg was the most creative and best playmaker in the league. Yeah, yeah, save your takes about "Divesberg." When he played in Colorado, he was a premier centerman and made his linemates better. Anyone who says differently can EAD. When Hejduk wasn't playing on a line with Forsberg, he was playing with Joe Sakic. That's a pretty good 1-2 punch, and now that Hejduk isn't playing with either of them, he has disappeared.

Meanwhile Wolski and Stastny have been very nice additions, and hopefully will be the future of the team. They both have some maturing to do, but I think they'll be among the top forwards in the league at some point, particularly Wolski if he learns to use his size as an advantage. Svatos has had a somewhat ho-hum year. He's a little inconsistent, but does contribute offensively. Do they miss Hinote? In a word, no. See Ian Laperriere.

Do they miss Blake? Let's see, a big, physical, Norris-winning defenseman who can score and quarterback the powerplay; yeah, I think you could safely say that his absence has been noticed. I've left messages for Darryl Sutter offering Jose Theodore straight up for Dion Phaneuf. Strangely, my calls haven't been returned. I think the combination of Liles and Leopold will be a good one, but the defense needs help.

They can't get rid of Theodore fast enough. Although, I will say that he was the only thing that kept last night's game from being a blowout. The rest of the team was MIA. Budaj has filled in reasonably well, but the goaltending must be addressed.

So in short, a decent group of forwards, defense that needs work and highly questionable goaltending; the future looks pretty rosy eh? This off season will be the first that they'll really be able to work a little more within the cap system, so hopefully they can address their needs adequately.