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Colorado Avalanche Poll: Who’s the Fastest Av?

By Nadia Archuleta

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In honor of today’s Kentucky Derby, let’s turn our attention to the Colorado Avalanche. (Ok, this is an Avs site — our attention is always on the Avalanche.)

However, let’s look at an aspect that both horse racing and hockey have in common — speed. Yes, horses are far speedier than hockey players. Nonetheless, surely hockey players are the fastest bi-peds, barring speed skaters.

Never mind the tenuous connection. Let’s look at some fast Avalanche players. At the end, vote for who you think is the speediest!

Erik Johnson

Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson makes this list for two reasons. One, he actually is into horse racing:

Two, he’s faster than you might think. He’s one tall drink of water — 6-foot-4 — and a lot of that height is in his legs. That translates into a long, ice-eating stride:

Now, EJ was once asked who was the speediest skater on the team. He laughed and stated it definitely wasn’t him but probably Matt Duchene. (Yes, MacKinnon was already on the team). I don’t want to disagree, but…

Matt Duchene

Avalanche center Matt Duchene is probably the favorite, or the #2. Every game the announcers state, “Matt Duchene, skating with speed” which I think is funny. Saying “Matt Duchene skating” already implies the speed part.

That said, color analyst Peter McNabb was once asked who was faster, Duchene or MacKinnon. He said MacKinnon on the straightaway but Duchene in the corners. Guess Dutchy’s like a fine sports car!

Nathan MacKinnon

It’s going to be hard to vote against center Nathan MacKinnon since he’s actually faster than a speed skater, even when wearing full gear:

Who would pay to see Dutchy and MacK in a full-out race? Or, better question — who wouldn’t pay?

Semyon Varlamov

No, I haven’t gone off my rocker. I’m well aware goalie Semyon Varlamov isn’t known as a speedy skater — I’m pretty sure no goalie is. However, I purposely left the speed factor vague so we could look at one of his speedy saves:

Unfortunately, there’s no way to gauge if his glove hand is faster than one of the skaters above, so…

No matter. Time to vote! Who’s the speediest Avalanche player?

Next: Can Avs Players Capitalize on IIHF Success?

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